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by Mark Caro
There may be nothing more inspiring and entertaining than relaxed, candid conversations among creative people. Mark Caro, a relentlessly curious journalist and on-stage interviewer, loves digging into the creative process with artists and drawing out surprising stories that illuminate the work that has become part of our lives. The Caropopcast is for anyone who wants to dig deeper into the music, movies, food and culture that they love.
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The most recent episodes — sign up to get AI-powered summaries of each one.
- 4 days ago1h 8m
Natalie Merchant
After making widely loved music as a solo artist and, beforehand, with 10,000 Maniacs, Natalie Merchant is focusing on children for her latest project, Cabinet of Wonder. Spurred by her work with Head Start preschoolers in upstate New York, Merchant set Mother Goose verses to music and collaborated with members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chicago Children’s Theatre to bring the recordings and videos (starring her as Mother Goose) to life. In this wide-ranging conversation, Merchant speaks of the allure and legend of Mother Goose; describes why working with children is bringing her more joy than pursuing another solo project; and reflects on joining 10,000 Maniacs at age 17, co-writing with band members, working with various producers and feeling compelled to leave after 1992’s hit-filled Our Time in Eden. Did she have any inkling that her first solo album, Tigerlily (1997), would propel her to new artistic and commercial heights? (Photo by Joe Mazza)
- 1 weeks ago1h 6m
Susan Orlean
Susan Orlean has a brilliant talent for crafting compelling narratives from idiosyncratic topics that have piqued her interest: orchid poachers in Florida for The Orchid Thief, a movie star dog for Rin Tin Tin: The Life and the Legend and the Los Angeles Central Library for The Library Book, among others. Last year she shifted the focus to herself for a revealing, inspirational memoir, Joyride, that celebrates pursuing one’s curiosity into odd corners. Here Orlean, who preceded me at the Boston Phoenix by a few years, discusses when she knows a topic has reached critical mass to become a book, whether she does all of her reporting before she begins writing, how she decides how much of herself to put into a story, whether she can write whatever she wants now and how her life was affected by Meryl Streep portraying a fictionalized version of her in Adaptation. (Photo by Chloe Aftel.)
- Aug 13, 20261 min
Caropop Summer Recess 2026
We're going on break! We'll be back the Thursday after Labor Day! In the meantime, you can listen to this message and catch up on old Caropop episodes (no way you've heard all 237!) and check out what we've posted on our Caropop YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/@Caropopcast. Please hit "subscribe" while you're there. Enjoy your late summer, and we'll be back with you soon!
- Aug 6, 202655 min
Laura Benanti
Laura Benanti is a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical star who noticed some things while looking back on her life and career. She has channeled these observations—about being a perpetual people-pleaser and evolving from The Sound of Music-starring ingenue to a fortysomething singer, actor and mother—into a one-woman comedy-musical show Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares (which plays at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Aug. 6-9). Here she talks about how she created the material and co-wrote the songs, how different cities and audiences affect her performances, whether she grew up preferring singer-songwriters or musical soundtracks, how she connected with Stephen Colbert and crafted her Melania Trump impersonation on The Late Show, how she’d like to keep scratching her comedy itch, how television factors into her plans and what it might take to get her back onto a Broadway stage. (Photo by Heather Gershonowitz)
- Jul 30, 20261h 5m
Michael Hampton (Funkadelic/Parliament)
Michael Hampton earned the nickname Kidd Funkadelic as the hotshot guitarist who at age 17 joined the Funkadelic/Parliament universe after wowing P-Funk leader George Clinton with his rendition of Eddie Hazel’s epic “Maggot Brain” solo. Hampton eventually made “Maggot Brain” his own and turned in much more head-spinning guitar work, including on Funkadelic’s relentlessly funky “(Not Just) Knee Deep.” Hampton takes us along for the concurrent run of classic 1970s Parliament and Funkadelic albums, such as Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome and One Nation Under a Groove. When he entered the studio, did he know which band's session it was? Was the scene as much of a party as it sounded like? Did that atmosphere help or get in the way or both? Hampton also discusses his new mini concept album, King Kong, and how, with and without P-Funk, he continues to make his guitar sizzle and sing. (Photo by Philip Samuel Smith)
- Jul 23, 20261h 8m
Urge Overkill/Exit the Dragon
Urge Overkill appeared to be riding high after the critical triumph of its 1993 album, Saturation, and the prominent appearance of its Neil Diamond cover, “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon,” in Pulp Fiction in 1994. But by the time the alt-rock trio reunited with producers the Butcher Bros. to record the follow-up album, expectations and circumstances had changed. As singer-songwriter-guitarists Nash Kato and Eddie “King” Roeser recall here in stark detail, the two of them were in different places personally and musically, drummer Blackie Onassis was fighting his own demons, and an unhealthy environment developed around the Butcher Bros.’ new studio outside Philadelphia. Exit the Dragon, the resultant album that recently marked its 30th anniversary, is a dark, slithery, ragged work that has achieved a lasting power amid its tattered nerve endings. What happened here, and why did Exit the Dragon turn out to be the final Urge Overkill album featuring Kato, Roeser and the late Onassis? (Photo: Jerod Herzog)
- Jul 16, 20261h 13m
Jason Ringenberg (Jason and the Scorchers/Still Standing)
Jason and the Scorchers (née Jason and the Nashville Scorchers) were cowpunk trailblazers before anyone was talking about alt-country or Americana. Frontman/songwriter Jason Ringenberg and his bandmates, including fiery guitarist Warner Hodges, infused country music with punk energy to thrilling effect. After EMI America signed the band and added its high-octane cover of Bob Dylan’s “Absolutely Sweet Marie” to its 1983 EP, Fervor, hopes were high. The first album, Lost & Found, generated rave reviews, yet when it came time to make the follow-up, the band had reached a pivot point. To mark the 40th anniversary of that second album, Still Standing, Ringenberg digs deep into the life-altering experience of making it and its aftermath. How did his songwriting change? Why did they hire Cheap Trick producer Tom Werman? Was the plan always to release a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “19th Nervous Breakdown” as the first single? How did Ringenberg get from a downstate Illinois farm to this point? Bonus: There are baby chicks. (Photo by Marty Howell)
- Jul 9, 202656 min
Glenn Morrow (Bar/None, Cry for Help)
Glenn Morrow owned and ran Bar/None Records for decades, signing acts such as They Might Be Giants, Yo La Tengo, Freedy Johnston, Alex Chilton, Ezra Furman and the Feelies. Morrow previously was a writer/editor at the influential punk/new wave magazine New York Rocker, and he fronted bands: “a” was the first to play at the late, great Maxwell’s in Hoboken; the Individuals boosted the power-pop scene; Rage To Live was Bar/None’s first signee; and Glenn Morrow’s Cry for Help, his current group, is about to release Our Final Album Vol. 1. Morrow reflects on his intertwining roles as journalist, label owner and musician. What made Maxwell’s such a special club? How did Bar/None seem like an extension of New York Rocker? How did he feel when Bar/None artists "graduated" to major labels? What’s next for this 70-year-old newly retired music executive still making music?
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About Caropop
There may be nothing more inspiring and entertaining than relaxed, candid conversations among creative people. Mark Caro, a relentlessly curious journalist and on-stage interviewer, loves digging into the creative process with artists and drawing out surprising stories that illuminate the work that has become part of our lives. The Caropopcast is for anyone who wants to dig deeper into the music, movies, food and culture that they love.
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