Best Charles Cassidy Podcasts (2025)

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Episode 14: Shavez Cheema, Borneo 52:24

7h ago52:24

52:24

Charles and Jon talk to Shavez Cheema, founder of Borneo1Stop Wildlife, from his home in Sabah. Shavez talks about a childhood in Brunei surrounded by wildlife and how, at the age of nine, he was inspired to work in conservation after seeing a neighbour's senseless killing of a monitor lizard. We discuss the massive potential for growth in conserva…

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Episode 708: Samantha Crain 1:00:36

5h ago1:00:36

1:00:36

Gumshoe is a record about connections in a world where being alone is increasingly becoming the default. It’s the latest from Oklahoma-based singer songwriter, Samantha Crain. For 15 years, the Choctaw musician has shared stages with some of indie music’s biggest names. More recently, she’s found herself scoring films, including 2023’s Fancy Dance,…

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65: Religion as Make-Believe (with Neil Van Leeuwen) 58:14

14h ago58:14

58:14

Is religious belief a form of make-believe — and if so, what deeper truths might we be acting out? Neil Van Leeuwen joins Igor and Charles to explore the psychological roots of religion, the nature of belief, and how sacred values shape group identity. Igor reflects on the blurring line between religious and political convictions, Neil argues that …

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Episode 707: Craig Thompson 53:22

5d ago53:22

53:22

With Ginseng Roots, Craig Thompson returns to his childhood -- subject matter that already proved a rich vein for his beloved 2003 book, Blankets. While his latest once again explores the family dynamics of a religious upbringing, the work casts a much wider net. His family's economic dependence on ginseng is a starting point for exploring the root…

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Episode 706: Grey Delisle 39:56

13d ago39:56

39:56

About 40 minutes into the conversation, Nickelodeon calls. They need her in the studio post haste. It’s a fitting spot to end things for an artist as in demand as Grey Delisle. While she’s known as voice artist with hundreds of credits – including The Simpsons and Scooby-Doo – we’re here for something else altogether. Delisle also has a vintage cou…

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Episode 705: Amy Irving 39:34

19d ago39:34

39:34

When Willie Nelson suggests you record an album of his songs, you do it. Amy Irving and the country legend met on the set of 1980’s Honeysuckle Rose and remained close ever since. Irving features on the album’s soundtrack, despite a latter turn as Jessica Rabbit’s singing voice, a music career was never on her radar. Her solo debut, Born In a Trunk…

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Episode 704: Anika 45:08

27d ago45:08

45:08

Abyss is a dark, heavy album for a dark, heavy time. A journalist in a former life, Anika never shies away from the bleakness. The Berlin-based singer made a point of recording her third solo record with minimal overdubs, in a bid to capture the immediacy these the songs require. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

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Episode 13: Venkat Sankar & Nicole Haseley's Big California Year 50:28

1M ago50:28

50:28

Charles and Jon talk with mammalwatching power couple Venkat Sankar & Nicole Haseley from their base at Stanford University in California. Nicole and Venkat 'accidentally' turned 2024 into a Big California (Mammal) Year and ended up seeing a record breaking 150 species in the state by December 31. They talk about some of their big year's highs and …

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Episode 703: Benmont Tench 43:06

1M ago43:06

43:06

At age 11, his fate was sealed when Benmont Tench met Tom Petty at a Gainesville music store. Fueled by the recent British invasion, the pair made music together for the first time at The Sundowners. A decade later, Petty recruited the keyboardist for Mudcrutch, the Southern rock band that soon evolved into the Heartbreakers. For the past six decad…

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Episode 702: Luke Lalonde (Born Ruffians) 48:59

1M ago48:59

48:59

Vladimir Nabokov's 1951 memoir, Speak, Memory, opens with a quote describing life as the content between two dark eternities -- the before and the after. Though teaming with potential existential dread, the quote is a hopeful one for Luke Lalonde. The sentiment inspired "Mean Time," the first single from Born Ruffians' forthcoming LP, Beauty's Prid…

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Episode 701: Gabríel Ólafs 44:24

2M ago44:24

44:24

Polar is as much an exercise in world building as it is a classical album. Icelandic pianist Gabríel Ólafs describes a lifelong desire to score films. In the meantime, he’s making his own. The new record combines worlds defined by his compositions, narrated by work from science-fiction author, Rebecca Roanhorse. It’s fascinating latest chapter from…

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Episode 700: Chester Brown 47:46

2M ago47:46

47:46

Since its debut at last year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Paying For It has garnered rave reviews from critics, drawing comparisons to fellow comic adaptation, Ghost World. Based on Chester Brown’s beloved 2011 work of the same name, the film centers around Brown and a fictionalized version of Sook-Yin Lee, the director who also happens t…

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64: The Potency and Potential of Social Networks (with Nicholas Christakis) 59:14

2M ago59:14

59:14

Are your choices really your own — or are they quietly shaped by the people around you? Nicholas Christakis joins Igor and Charles to reveal the hidden power of social networks, from the surprising spread of kindness and cooperation to the ripple effects that shape our health, decisions, and even our wisdom. Igor uncovers the invisible social force…

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Episode 12: Sid Francis, China 58:14

2M ago58:14

58:14

Charles and Jon talk to legendary mammal guide Sid Francis from his home in Sichuan. Sid runs through a career as geographically diverse as it is professionally. After studying agriculture in the UK he worked as - among other things - a shepherd in the Falkland Islands shepherd and a school teacher in Denmark before moving to China and becoming a w…

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Episode 699: Lloyd Kaufman 51:41

2M ago51:41

51:41

One thing you should know about Lloyd Kaufman is that he isn’t dead. The introduction to Mathew Klickstein’s new interview collection is very adamant about this. The Troma founder was certainly well enough to engage in an hour-long conversation about the early days of indie filmmaking, Michael Bay and making transgressive art amid a second Trump ad…

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Episode 698: Duke Amayo 56:44

2M ago56:44

56:44

At 17, Duke Amayo moved from Nigeria to U.S. for a football scholarship at Howard University. Despite his study, a career in medical illustration wasn’t in the cards. After making his way to Brooklyn, he landed a role as the frontman of beloved Afrobeat band, Antibalas. Amayo set out on his own, after nearly a quarter-century with the band. The mus…

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63: The AI Mirror: Why Machines Reflect Us More Than They Think (with Shannon Vallor) 44:30

3M ago44:30

44:30

Can AI ever be truly wise, or are we just seeing reflections of ourselves? Philosophy Professor Shannon Vallor joins Igor and Charles to explore how technology shapes human wisdom, why we’ve been thinking about AI all wrong, and what it really means to align machines with our values. Shannon unpacks the AI Mirror metaphor, suggesting that today’s A…

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Episode 697: Denison Witmer 47:42

2M ago47:42

47:42

Recorded over the course of two years, Anything At All is, fittingly, about slowing down. Denison Witmer finds beauty in domesticity. It’s a meditation on mindfulness, fatherhood and even banal. Witmer’s 11th album is also a collaboration, birthed from a songwriting session with long-time friend, Sufjan Stevens, who also came on as producer. Hosted…

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Episode 696: Charles 'Wigg' Walker 44:56

3M ago44:56

44:56

Seventy years since kicking off his music career in his hometown of Nashville, Charles “Wigg” Walker is still madly in love with music. This Love is Gonna Last is the soul singer’s first album in more than a decade, and a testament to surviving all that life throws at you. Dedicated to his late-wife, who passed in 2024, the album is a joyful celebr…

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Episode 695: Jenny Toomey and Kristin Thomson (Tsunami) 40:44

3M ago40:44

40:44

After 35 years, Tsunami returned with a bang. The Virginia-based band capped off 2024 by reuniting to deliver a massive, career-spanning boxset, Loud As. During their time away from the band, however, Jenny Toomey and Kristin Thomson were never too far apart. The roommates, turned bandmates, turned cofounders of indie label, Simple Machines never s…

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Episode 694: Chuck Ragan (Hot Water Music) 50:04

3M ago50:04

50:04

“I am edging away from apathy,” Chuck Ragan bellows, “I am drifting away from the dark. The rain has got my mind in motion.” The stanzas that open Love & Lore, the latest from the Hot Water Music frontman, feel strangely appropriate as we speak. Ragan is a few days out from dealing with a flooded basement, courtesy of torrential rains. It’s a conse…

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Episode 11: The Horn of Africa 57:04

3M ago57:04

57:04

In the first episode of 2025 Charles and Jon talk about their December 2024 trip to Ethiopia's Somali Region and Djibouti. From Dik-diks to Dibatags we discuss some of the rare mammals we encountered along with spectacular species like the poison-covered Crested Rat. We describe the agony of arriving in a camp that looked like the set from a slashe…

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Episode 693: Chuck Prophet 41:44

4M ago41:44

41:44

Music is, at once, a vector for connection and escape. Chuck Prophet found both, as at a bar in San Francisco’s Mission District. Cumbia, a popular dance genre born in Columbia, pulsates through Wake the Dead. Forty years into his professional and on the other side of a battle with stage four lymphoma, the album finds the Bay Area musician with a n…

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Episode 692: Tarriona “Tank” Ball 32:02

4M ago32:02

32:02

Following the release of Tank and the Bangas' Grammy nominated The Heart, The Mind, The Soul, singer Tarriona “Tank” Ball returns to the show. The three-part collection presents a new side of Ball for those only familiar with the Bangas' joyful New Orleans funk. Prior to her time as a music star, Ball sharpened her lyrics as a rising star in the wo…

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Episode 691: Rafael Cohen (Las Palabras, !!!) 49:23

4M ago49:23

49:23

Fe finds Rafael Cohen returning to his roots on multiple fronts. The latest from the !!! multi-instrumentalist's Las Palabras finds the musician returning to his native Spanish, while pulling the thread of his family's Jewish faith. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Episode 690: Grant Mullen (Naked Giants) 44:00

4M ago44:00

44:00

What does “maturity” mean for a rock band? The answer is, perhaps, a bit easier to answer when you’ve been together since age 18. For Naked Giants, it means grown up things – getting jobs, starting families. It’s not necessarily fodder for a band’s young punk days, depth of subject is in an important part of growing up as a band – and having a fanb…

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Episode 689: Ruthie Foster 58:50

4M ago58:50

58:50

Last month, Mileage scored Sun Records’ first-ever Grammy nomination. It’s hard to believe for a 72-year-old label that was once home to Elvis Presley, Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash. The album, Ruthie Foster’s latest, finds the musician reflecting on the ups and downs of a long career. It’s a journey that found Foster serving in the Navy, moving to N…

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Episode 10: Marcelo Gavensky and Argentina 49:53

4M ago49:53

49:53

In the last podcast episode of 2024, Charles and Jon talk to Marcelo Gavensky from his home in Buenos Aires. Marcelo is director of Birds Argentina, a tour company that recently expanded into running mammalwatching safaris. Marcelo talks about the varied career that led him to establish his tour company. He describes some of his favourite encounter…

1
Episode 688: Anna Butterss 45:12

5M ago45:12

45:12

Mighty Vertebrate hits different. In a world of sound a likes and slow burns, Anna Butterss' latest solo record makes itself known from immediately out of the gate. The album is as eclectic as it is fresh -- unsurprising, given the musician varied career, performing as the bassist for Jason Isbell's group, performing along side Phoebe Bridgers and …

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Episode 687: Zac Carper (Fidlar) 44:38

5M ago44:38

44:38

During our conversation, FIDLAR frontman Zac Carper reminds me of band’s acronym, Fuck It Dawg, Life's a Risk. Spontaneity has been a driving force throughout the band’s 15-year existence, but time comes experience and – hopefully – a bit of reflection. Surviving The Dream -- the band’s first record in five years – offers up that introspection, int…

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62: Experimental Philosophy: Testing the Limits of Wisdom and Knowledge (with Edouard Machery) 57:10

5M ago57:10

57:10

What happens when philosophers start running experiments? Edouard Machery joins Igor and Charles to explain the principles of experimental philosophy, the surprising geography of wisdom, and why we should be skeptical about trusting science too much. Igor digs into what's universal vs what's local about how we think, Edouard explains why bad habits…

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Episode 686: Kenny Wayne Shepherd 28:30

5M ago28:30

28:30

Released in September, Dirt On My Diamonds Vol.2 finds Kenny Wayne Shepherd doing what he was put on Earth to do. With eight tracks spanning a collective hour, it's a tight set that packs a punch, while expanding the songwriting depth that has been a fixture at this stage of his career. Thirty-four years after signing to a major label at age 13, th…

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Episode 9: Rodney Jackson and Snow Leopards 1:00:51

5M ago1:00:51

1:00:51

Charles and Jon talk with Rodney Jackson the director of the Snow Leopard Conservancy, who is widely considered the leading world expert on the snow leopard, having devoted over forty years to researching and conserving this elusive cat in South and Central Asia. In a wide-ranging chat Rodney describes his journey from a young boy looking for wildl…

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Episode 685: John Davis (Superdrag) 51:03

5M ago51:03

51:03

Few who have walked the Earth can write a pop song like John Davis. That prowess catapulted his group, Superdrag to massive success on the back of its 1996 single, "Sucked Out." The group's trajectory from there isn't wholly dissimilar from other groups who released a hit during the decade. The music business took an aggressive turn, culminating in…

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Episode 684: Samuel Herring (Future Islands, Hemlock Ernst) 55:48

6M ago55:48

55:48

Plenty of musicians talk about 'leaving it all on the stage,' but few have offered as demonstrable an example as Samuel Herring. His live performance is a conduit for unbridled emotion, capturing mainstream attention as the frontman for Future Islands. As Hemlock Ernst, Herring's lyrics offer insight into life experiences, no better exemplified tha…

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Episode 683: Michael Des Barres 51:37

6M ago51:37

51:37

Released in October, It's Only Rock n Roll is a celebration that has formed the backbone of Michael Des Barres' life. The album's one dozen tracks find the singer paying homage to the biggest names of the glam era, from T. Rex to Roxy Music. Des Barres' own musical career spans more than half a century, including an appearance at Live Aid as the he…

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Episode 8: Coke Smith and Jirayu 'Tour' Ekkul (Thailand) 1:06:56

6M ago1:06:56

1:06:56

Charles and Jon chat with two Bangkok-based mammalwatchers, Alexander Coke Smith and Jirayu 'Tour' Ekkul. Coke, an American, moved to Thailand a decade ago. He has travelled extensively and many mammalwatchers will be familiar with his superb photos and trip reports. Tour, a Thai citizen, began running trips in the Gulf of Thailand in 2012 to watch…

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Episode 682: Mike Campbell (Dirty Knobs, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers) 40:22

6M ago40:22

40:22

Tom Petty's unexpected death in October 2017 effectively marked the end of the Heartbreakers. The band reunited a handful of times to pay tribute to the late singer, but its members have otherwise used the unfortunate opportunity to explore life beyond its confines. For Mike Campbell, the event marked the beginnings of a second career. His guitar p…

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61: Beyond Bias: Group Identity, Wisdom, and the Climate Crisis (with Leaf Van Boven and David Sherman) 1:08:36

6M ago1:08:36

1:08:36

Can our political identities get in the way of wise action, even on existential issues like climate change? Leaf Van Boven and David Sherman join Igor and Charles to unpack how we perceive environmental policy through the lenses of group identity and social norms, revealing how misperceptions fuel inaction. Igor considers how group beliefs can over…

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Episode 681: Kishi Bashi 44:38

6M ago44:38

44:38

Released at the end of August, Kantos is a “party album about the possible end of humanity as we know it.” A few months later, that possibility seems ever more probable. A one-time resident of both New York City and Athens, GA, Kaoru Dill-Ishibashi now spends his days in the Santa Cruz Mountains of Central California, heading over Highway 17 to sur…

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Episode 680: Breymer 51:17

6M ago51:17

51:17

When I Get Through follows Breymer's (Sarah Walk) journey up to the day of their top surgery. It's a candid account of the conversations and emotions that precede such a life alternating moment. The musician joins us to discuss the journey and the decision recount the events on their new LP. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more informati…

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Episode 679: Matt Wagner and Kelley Jones 44:05

7M ago44:05

44:05

Halloween comes early this year, as Matt Wagner and Kelley Jones join us to discuss the final days of their Kickstarter campaign for Dracula Book II: The Brides. The comics veterans talk about their planned four volume series and the lasting legacy of Bram Stoker's monster. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

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60: Wisdom, Love, and the Lexical Fallacy (with Alan Fiske) 1:13:00

7M ago1:13:00

1:13:00

Why do we have such a hard time figuring out what we’re feeling? Alan Fiske joins Igor and Charles to unravel the mystery of emotions, revealing why your gut feeling might not be as clear-cut as you think. Drawing from his research into Kama Muta—a heartwarming rush of connection—and his critiques of how we label emotions, Alan sheds light on why m…

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Episode 678: Shannon Wheeler 55:31

7M ago55:31

55:31

New Yorker cartoonist Shannon Wheeler returns to the show. The artist recently launched a Kickstarter campaign to release a new book collecting minicomics and other appearances by his best-known creation, Too Much Coffee Man. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Episode 677: Franz Nicolay (The World/Inferno Friendship Society, The Hold Steady) 41:08

7M ago41:08

41:08

Band People is part music writing and part business book, rounded out by academic research and a host of footnotes. It's a pragmatic look at the life of road warriors in an increasingly untenable industry. More than anything, however, it's a labor of love from lifelong touring musician, Franz Nicolay. Transcript available here. Hosted on Acast. See…

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Episode 7: Fernando Tortato & Jaguar tourism 59:49

7M ago59:49

59:49

Charles and Jon talk to Fernando Tortato from his home in Cuiaba in Brazil's Pantanal. Fernando is Brazil Conservation Program Coordinator for Panthera, the global wild cat conservation organization. Dr Tortato talks about his work researching and championing the rapidly growing Jaguar tourism industry in Brazil. Twenty five years ago it was very d…

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Episode 676: Steve Cropper 30:52

7M ago30:52

30:52

He's quick to laugh with a twang that betrays his Southern Missouri origin. Steve Cropper discusses his accomplishments with modesty, rarely offering a glimpse into a career that profoundly impacted the course of 20th century popular music. As a core, founding member of Booker T & the MGs, the guitars helped form the backbone of the Stax Record sou…

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Episode 675: Graham Wright (Tokyo Police Club) 55:34

8M ago55:34

55:34

In November, Tokyo Police Club will play its final show. Saying goodbye is never easy, but the Ontario-based band's members seem surprisingly okay with the whole thing. At the end of the day, very few of us manage to eke out a 20-year career playing with high school friends. Graham Wright acknowledges that, perhaps, the reality of the situation has…

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59: Shaping Reality and Relationships: The Science of Connection and Expectation (with David Robson) 49:40

8M ago49:40

49:40

Can our expectations about ourselves and others reshape our lives? Science writer David Robson returns to explore how our expectations don’t just change personal outcomes—they influence how we connect with others. Drawing from his books The Laws of Connection and The Expectation Effect, David reveals the hidden psychology behind social interactions…

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Episode 674: Dash Shaw 56:52

8M ago56:52

56:52

Comics and animation can both be grueling -- especially drawing a 400 page comic or animated a hand-drawn, feature length film. As such, one must be discriminating in choosing such projects. For Dash Shaw, the choice comes down to two principles: 1. It has to seem like he's the only one who can create it and 2. It needs to contain an element of "wh…

Podcasts Worth a Listen

Charles Cassidy Podcasts

Podcasts Worth a Listen