KEXP's Sound & Vision airs every Saturday morning from 7-9 AM PT, featuring interviews, artistry, commentary, insight, and conversation to that tell broader stories through music, and illustrate why music and art matter. You can also hear more stories in the new Sound & Vision Podcast. New episodes are out every Tuesday. Subscribe now and listen below.
For M Ward’s tenth studio album, the folk artist focused on migration, spurred to write new songs after seeing the response by Western governments to an influx of refugees and displaced people.
“Just spending time on tour and noticing the similarities of the different immigration crises in Europe and in America,” says Ward.
In the midst of this larger story, Ward was inspired by a little bit of his own story, tracing the movement of his grandfather, who immigrated in the 1920s from Mexico up to Los Angeles. The final product was Migration Stories, an 11 track album following an amalgam of people across the world throughout history.
Sound & Vision host Emily Fox spoke with Ward about the album and the stories behind it.
On the breadth of narratives in Migration Stories:
On Ward finding inspiration for the album form his grandfather’s story of migration:
On the track “Unreal City:”
On the effects of COVID-19 on touring:
Sound & Vision host Emily Fox spoke with musicians on Twitch about creating online fanbases and making money live streaming.
The MC of Seattle hip-hop group Blue Scholars fused his music industry knowledge and love of culinary arts to switch up his main hustle. This is part of Sound & Vision’s Day Jobs series which explores musicians who juggle day jobs with their passion in music.
Thirty-three years after his first release on the label, Mudhoney’s frontman is still shipping out copies of his records as the Sub Pop warehouse manager. This is part of Sound & Vision’s Day Jobs series which explores musicians who juggle day jobs with their passion in music.
