A Grammy-Nominated Singer Performs and Explores Music's Power
In times of deep sorrow or joy, humans have always turned to music. Archaeologists have found evidence of instruments among very early civilizations. Spiritual communities have centered on music for centuries. We teach our children their ABCs and how to brush their teeth with songs. We dance out our feelings and cry along with sad tunes. What is it about music that enables it to work so powerfully on our bodies, minds and emotions?\n\nThat is one of the core animating questions of this conversation with Allison Russell. Russell is a Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter whose debut album, \u201cOutside Child,\u201d was named one of the best albums of 2021 by critics at NPR and The Times.\n\nRussell has played in bands including Birds of Chicago and Our Native Daughters, traversing folk, rock \u2019n\u2019 roll, Celtic music, the blues and other genres. But alongside her powerhouse vocals and gorgeous melodies, Russell infuses a deep scholarly curiosity into her songs \u2014 not just about the nature and power of music, but also what it can teach listeners about our world.\n\nDigging into archives and family history, she explores themes like generational trauma, our relationships to diaspora and migration and how music can build empathic bridges between us in times of deep division. But above all, her songs testify to the sheer human capacity for resilience: our capacity to transcend our darkest times if we hold on, reach out to one another and seek out art that helps console.\n\nIn this episode, Russell performs four songs with a full band, so listeners can enjoy her infectious art. And then we use those songs as jumping-off points to explore the deeper ideas embedded in her music: why we fall into melodies so soon after our births; how music moves us differently from how books or speeches do; how sound can help regulate our emotions, slow our breathing and rewire our neural networks; how Russell\u2019s melodies and vocal performances come together in her mind; why songs can at times be more persuasive than nonfiction; why our unwillingness to divulge painful secrets goes back to the Victorian era; how generational trauma like the Middle Passage connects to personal trauma in the present; how Russell structures her songs to help people transcend profound pain; what message Russell would send to people who are struggling and much more.\n\nThis episode contains references to sexual abuse.\n\nMentioned:\n\n\u201cThe Transmogrification of Trauma into Art\u201d by Allison Russell\n\n\u201cBarley\u201d by Birds of Chicago\n\n\u201cReal Midnight\u201d by Birds of Chicago\n\n\u201cSongs of Our Native Daughters\u201d by Our Native Daughters\n\n\u201cThe Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald\u201d by Gordon Lightfoot\n\n\u201cTake Em Away\u201d by Old Crow Medicine Show\n\n\u201cThe Art of Disappearance\u201d by Hanif Abdurraqib\n\nMusic and Book Recommendations:\n\nThe Bone People by Keri Hulme\n\nA Fortune for Your Disaster by Hanif Abdurraqib\n\nBreaking the Thermometer by Leyla McCalla\n\nCarry Me Home by Mavis Staples and Levon Helm\n\nThis episode was guest hosted by Annie Galvin, the associate producer of \u201cThe Ezra Klein Show.\u201d Galvin has covered books and music for almost a decade and hosted a season of \u201cPublic Books 101,\u201d a public-scholarship podcast she co-created.\n\nThoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.\n\nYou can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of \u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\u201d at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.\n\n\u201cThe Ezra Klein Show\u201d is produced by Annie Galvin and Rog\xe9 Karma; fact-checking by Michelle Harris, Mary Marge Locker and Kate Sinclair; original music by Isaac Jones; mixing by Carole Sabouraud and Isaac Jones; audience strategy by Shannon Busta. Special thanks to Kristin Lin, Kristina Samulewski and Erika Duffee. Russell\u2019s band is Monique Ross, Chauntee Ross and Mandy Fer. Additional thanks to Jeff Gruber of Blue House Productions and Allison\u2019s touring engineer, Ross Collier. The songs Russell performs in this episode were written by Allison Russell and Jeremy Thomas Lindsay.