My Favourite Elliott Smith Song

The journalist and documentary maker Louis Theroux joins us for the very first episode of the My Favourite Elliott Smith song. Find out his number one Elliott track, how he got into the singer and the story of how the pair crossed paths in London.

William Todd Schultz, the author of Torment Saint - an Elliott Smith biography - joins us for the second episode of the podcast. As well as discussing his favourite Elliott track, he also talks about how he came to write the book and what we learnt when while working on it.

In this episode, we speak to Nickolas Rossi, the director of Elliott Smith documentary Heaven Adores You. As well as talking us through his selection, Nickolas also discusses how he came to direct the film and what it was like using Elliott's music as his soundtrack.

In the fourth episode of the My Favourite Elliott Smith Song podcast, we speak to Denny Swofford. Denny is the co-founder of Cavity Search, the record label that released early Heatmiser Singles and Elliott Smith's first album, Roman Candle. Hopefully you enjoy this chat - Denny's got some great stories about the Heatmiser days in Portland and listen out for his take on hearing, for the first ...

In this episode, we speak to singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers. Phoebe was one of the breakthrough artists of 2017 with her album, 'Stranger in the Alps', in many people's best of the year lists. She's a big fan of Elliott's and you can really hear his influence coming through on some of the songs on that album. It was great to speak to her about (what else) her favourite Elliott Smith Song, h...

In this episode, we speak to Ross Harris. Ross directed three music videos with Elliott Smith - Coming Up Roses, Heatmiser's Plainclothes Man and, perhaps Elliott's most iconic video, the one for Miss Misery. You may also know him as the robot hand salesman in the documentary on Elliott, Strange Parallel. But, much more than those impressive credentials, Ross was a friend of Elliott's, and he ...

In this episode we speak to Sadie Dupuis. Sadie is a New York based musician, who is the founder and lead singer of the band Speedy Ortiz, and she's also got a solo project called Sad13. Sadie is a huge Elliott Smith fan and is incredibly knowledgeable about his work. She speaks about his music, and the culture surrounding it, with a passion and good humour that will be very familiar if you fo...

In this episode we speak to New York-based songwriter and musician, Kevin Devine. Kevin is a huge Elliott Smith fan and has covered his songs many times, so it was great to get the chance to speak to him. He's also worked closely with Rob Schnapf - the producer behind Either/Or, XO, Figure 8 and From a Basement on the Hill - and here we discuss how their relationship came about, as well as what...

In this episode, a first for My Favourite Elliott Smith Song, we hear from two guests: the musicians Jessica Lea Mayfield and Seth Avett. Both artists made their names separately, Jessica as a singer-songwriter and Seth as part of the band the Avett Brothers, but they joined forces in 2015 to release the album Jessica Lea Mayfield and Seth Avett Sing Elliott Smith. It was so enjoyable speaking...

In this episode, we speak to the singer/songwriter Beatie Wolfe. Beatie has built a reputation as an innovator - she combines music with technology and, last year, she was named in Wired magazine's people changing the world. Importantly for us though, she's a huge Elliott Smith fan. Such a big fan, in fact, that she's written a song - called Little Moth - in tribute to him and had it beamed in...

This episode is with the animator Craig Bartlett. Craig is perhaps best known as the creator of children's TV shows such as Hey Arnold and Dinosaur Train. As well as being a great animator, Craig is also a huge Elliott Smith fan. In this edition, he talks us through his favourite Elliott Smith song, as well as an Elliott comic he drew - you can find that comic on our website myfavouriteelliott...

In this episode, we speak to musician, songwriter and author Amanda Palmer. Amanda came to prominence during the early 2000s as one half of the duo the Dresden Dolls. She's since gone on to release several successful solo albums and books, including 2014's The Art of Asking. You probably won't be surprised to find out that Amanda is also a huge Elliott Smith fan - she even appeared on an Ellio...

The musician Max Bloom is our guest on episode 13 of My Favourite Elliott Smith Song. The frontman of the band Yuck talks us through his pick for his favourite song, his experiences covering Elliott as part of the Say Yes tribute album and why (in a weird kind of way) his music reminds Max of a certain British comedy character (see more on this in the links below). This interview was recorded ...

Our guest for episode 14 is the musician Jason Lytle. Jason made his name as the frontman of Grandaddy, and it was with that band that he met Elliott Smith for the first time. Grandaddy had just released their second album, The Sophtware Slump, while Elliott had recently put out Figure 8, and they had been lined up to tour together. In this interview, Jason discusses the moment he met Elliott ...

A few years before he passed, Elliott Smith bought a recording studio in Van Nuys, California. He poured his heart and soul into the place - buying vintage analogue equipment and staying in there for weeks at a time to try and fix it. He called the studio New Monkey because, it is said, this big new commitment was like a monkey on his back. In this special episode, we speak to the three guys w...

Yoni Wolf joins us from his holiday in North Carolina for episode 16 of My Favourite Elliott Smith Song. Yoni is a musician and producer from Cincinnati, Ohio, and is probably best known for his work with his band, Why? Although his work is musically quite different, Yoni became interested in Elliott Smith because the sentiment of his music resonated with him. He talks about this during the ep...

Our guest for episode 17 is Marissa Nadler. Marissa is a singer-songwriter based in Boston, Massachusetts. She regularly cites Elliott Smith as a big influence on her and also took part in the same Elliott tribute show as our guest for episode 16, Yoni Wolf. In this interview, Marissa talks about covering Elliott for that show, how his music has helped her as a shy person and her selection for...

Episode 18 of My Favourite Elliott Smith Song is with Andy Hull. Andy is a musician probably best known for his work with the band Manchester Orchestra. He also has a couple of other side projects too and one of those is called Bad Books, which is a collaboration with Kevin Devine - a former guest on this show. And Andy was recording with Kevin when we called him up for this chat. It was a lo...

Our guest for episode 19 is the musician Pete Krebs. Pete is somewhat of a legend on the Portland scene. His band Hazel broke through in the early '90s at a similar time to Heatmiser. As well as playing numerous shows with Elliott Smith, Pete was also good friends with him - the pair drank in the same bars and worked the same construction jobs to fund their music careers. They even released a ...

Our guest for episode 20 is the musician Jade Bird. Jade is a hotly tipped artist from the UK - in the last year or so she has been on the BBC's Sound of 2018 list and Rolling Stone have called her a country artist to watch out for. She's also a massive Elliott Smith fan, albeit one who has discovered his music relatively recently. She can, of course, be forgiven for this though, as she just t...

Our guest for episode 21 is the film director Steve Hanft. Steve made his name making music videos for artists such as Beck, which led him to eventually directing the 1998 Elliott Smith documentary Strange Parallel (although calling it a documentary is perhaps doing it a disservice). It's part music performance, part interview but mostly a surreal dream involving Elliott - if you haven't seen ...

Our guest for episode 22 is the musician Mary Lou Lord. Mary Lou was great friends with Elliott. The two of them met at a gig in Seattle arranged by Slim Moon, the founder of the record label Kill Rock Stars. She was already on the label and, of course, Elliott would soon follow. In this interview we talk through Mary Lou's favourite song choice, hear more about the time she saw Elliott for t...

Our guest for episode 23 is Aaron Embry. Aaron is a musician who played in Elliott Smith's band during the Figure 8 tour in 2000. They played many shows together across Europe and the US, with Aaron on keys and long-time Elliott collaborators Sam Coomes (from Quasi) and Scott McPherson on bass and drums respectively. In this interview with Elizabeth Withstandley, Aaron talks through his perso...

Our guest for episode 24 of My Favourite Elliott Smith Song is Lindsey Jordan. 2018 has been a great year for Lindsey and her band Snail Mail. They released their debut album, Lush, in June and they’ve been touring pretty much non-stop ever since. So we were really lucky to catch her during some rare time off at her home near Baltimore, Maryland (USA) to talk through her favourite song pick, a...

Our guest for episode 25 is the actress and musician Emily Kinney. Emily made her name on the TV show The Walking Dead, where she played the character Beth Greene. She's seen been in several other programmes and has released three albums, with her most recent, 'Oh Jonathan', coming out in August 2018. She discovered Elliott Smith's music while she was starting out in her acting career in New ...

Our guest for episode 26 - and the first of the year - is John Paul White. John Paul is a musician from Muscle Shoals, Alabama. He's worked as both a solo artist, as well as in The Civil Wars - a duo he formed with Joy Williams that won an impressive four Grammys. His Southern charm makes listening to him very easy, but there's substance behind what he says too. Elliott Smith had a huge impac...

The musician Jim Fairchild joins us for our final episode of series one. Jim plays guitar in Grandaddy - alongside our former guest Jason Lytle - and Modest Mouse, and he also works as a solo artist too. It was when he was with Grandaddy that Jim first got to know Elliott Smith properly. The band joined Elliott on tour following the release of Figure 8 and they built up a friendship after tha...

Today (18 April) is the anniversary of the release of Figure 8. It's Elliott's fifth studio album and the last he put out before he died. It can feel, at times, feel a little underrated. But listening to it again (as well as to From a Basement on the Hill) you can't help but feel excited by where Elliott would have gone musically had he stayed with us. In this episode, we celebrate the album....

We're back with a new series and a (very slightly) different episode format.  Our main guest here is the musician Ken Stringfellow. Ken knew Elliott during the '90s and '00s, and was part of a project called the Color Bars Experience which toured France playing Figure 8 backed by a chamber orchestra.  After Ken talks us through his favourite song pick, we take a closer look at Elliott's first s...

Our second episode of season two is a bit of a literary special. We have two authors joining us, Becky Albertalli and David Arnold, both writers of young adult fiction.  Becky is perhaps best known for her book Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda, in which the main character (Simon) is a big Elliott Smith fan. The book was recently made into a film called Love Simon.  David is the New York Times b...

In the third episode of our second series we have two interviews for you. We start with drummer Scott McPherson discussing his favourite song pick, before musician and artist Sean Croghan tells us about the development of the Elliott Smith self-titled album and the impact it had on the music scene in Portland, Oregon.

Our guest for episode four of our second series is the musician Benjamin Langford-Biss. Ben is a guitarist and vocalist for the alternative rock band As It Is. He calls Elliott Smith his 'favourite ever artist' and makes it part of his mission to spread the word about Elliott's music among his fan base. In this interview, we discuss keeping Elliott's legacy alive, how Ben works in his influence...

Our guest today is the musician Martin Courtney. Martin is the lead singer and guitarist in the band Real Estate.    He’s been big into Elliott Smith since he was in high school and can even be found tweeting about Elliott from time to time – which is actually how we realised he was a fan in the first place.    In this interview, we discuss his favourite song pick, we talk about how he came acr...

In the sixth episode of this series, we're joined by Charlie Campbell, formerly of Portland band Pond, and Douglas Jenkins from the Portland Cello Project. First up, we hear from Charlie on his favourite song pick, what it was like playing and touring with Elliott during the '90s, and he also mentions one or two regrets he has about the time they spent together. We stick with the Portland theme...

Our guest for today's episode is the comedian, musician, actress and writer, Margaret Cho. Margaret is multi-talented, so you may know her from films such as Face Off, TV shows like Drop Dead Diva or her successful stand up and music careers. Margaret is also a huge Elliott Smith fan, which came to light most prominently in the day following his death in 2003 when she posted a heartfelt blog on...

Our guest today is the musician Laura Stevenson.  Laura is from New York and has released five albums over the course of her career, including, most recently, The Big Freeze which came out in March.  Laura is also a big Elliott fan, whose work has been influenced considerably by him. In this interview we talk about how those influences come up in her music, her covering the song Angel in the Sn...

Our guest today is Slim Moon, the founder of the record label Kill Rock Stars.    KRS put out two Elliott Smith albums, the self-titled record (1995) and Either/Or (1997), so Slim had pretty much a front row seat as he saw Elliott firmly establish himself as a successful solo artist.    As you can imagine, Slim has some incredible stories to tell – both about his favourite song pick, his relati...

Musician, writer and podcaster John Roderick is our guest for episode 10 of season two. John was part of the music scene in Seattle during the '90s, while Elliott Smith was making a name for himself in nearby Portland. He saw Elliott play numerous times and admired the way he was able to carve his own sound, which was distinctive from a lot of other artists in the Pacific Northwest at the time....

Our guest today is the musician Sameer Gandhia. Sameer is the lead singer of the band Young the Giant, a Los Angeles based group who've released four albums so far, including, most recently, Mirror Master, which came out about a year ago. He is also a big Elliott Smith fan, and in this interview he talks about how he's finding new appreciation for Elliott as his own career progresses, how he be...

Our guest today is the musician Prateek Kuhad. Prateek is a singer/songwriter currently based in New Delhi, India, though his life as a touring musician means he often finds himself further afield than that. He grew up in India as an aspiring musician but it wasn't until he moved to New York to go to university that he really got into Elliott Smith. In our interview, he discusses when it all cl...

Our guest for episode 13 of our second series is the musician, James Alex. James is best known for his work with the punk rock band, Beach Slang, based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the US. They've released two studio albums - as well as one under the name Quiet Slang - with another on the way in the early part of 2020. James is, unsurprising, a massive Elliott Smith fan. In this interview, ...

Our guest today is the musician Ellen Kempner. Ellen leads the band Palehound, who released their third studio album, Black Friday, earlier this year. Ellen cites Elliott Smith has a major influence on that record, as well as on all of her previous work too. In this interview, we discuss how those influences come through in her music, how she was introduced to Elliott by a former guest on this ...

Our guest for our final episode of 2019 is the musician Rob Grote. Rob is the lead singer and guitarist in Philadelphia band, The Districts. He's also a massive Elliott Smith fan, and in this interview we talk about his selection for his favourite song, some of the Elliott lyrics he likes and why his music is really for any occasion.

Our guest for our final episode of this season is the musician, Fenne Lily. In addition to our chat with Fenne, we also hear from Ross Harris, who directed the music video for Fenne's favourite Elliott Smith song, and we also speak to SweetAdeline.net founder, Charlie Ramirez.

Kicking off our third season is the musician, Christian Lee Hutson. Christian is a singer-songwriter based in Los Angeles. He's currently preparing to release his third album, which has been produced by his friend and collaborator (and former guest on this show) Phoebe Bridgers.

Our guest today is Joan Wasser (aka Joan as Police Woman). Joan is a musician, who started off her career playing with several bands including the Dambuilders, Antony and the Johnsons and Those Bastard Souls. Since the early 2000s, Joan has principally released music as a successful solo artist, releasing five regular studio albums, plus an EP and a couple of collections of covers.

Welcome to a season three bonus episode! Our guest today is the actor Joe Gilgun, who's been in films and TV programmes such as This is England, Misfits and Preacher, and you currently see him on screens in the UK in Brassic, a show he also created.

Our guest today is the writer and podcaster, Merlin Mann.

Our guest today is the musician Ben Gregory.

Our guest today is the musician, Josh Burgess.