Songcraft: Spotlight on Songwriters

Songcraft is a bi-weekly podcast that brings you in-depth conversations with and about the creators of lyrics and music that stand the test of time. You probably know their names, and you definitely know their songs. We bring you their stories.

Songcraft: Spotlight on Songwriters is a interviews podcast hosted by Unknown Host, with 327 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

Unknown Host hosts Songcraft: Spotlight on Songwriters, a interviews show with 327 episodes published.

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  Songcraft: Spotlight on Songwriters

  Ep. 285 - MAGGIE ROSE ("Red Shoes")

  Aug 14, 20261h 14m

  Two-time GRAMMY nominee and Americana Music Association Award nominee Maggie Rose joins us to chat about the development of her creative voice and her excellent new album, Half Moon . PART ONE Paul and Scott discuss Brandie Carlile's recent live cover of Alanis Morissette's "Uninvited," which leads to a conversation about cover songs before spiraling out of control into despair about aging. PART TWO Our in-depth conversation with Maggie Rose ABOUT MAGGIE ROSE Maggie Rose earned her first GRAMMY nomination, for Best Americana Album for her No One Gets Out Alive LP, in 2025. Later that year, the Americana Music Association nominated her for Emerging Act of the Year. The recognition was hard won. After moving to Nashville in 2009, Rose released her debut album, Cut to Impress , in 2013, which yielded the Top 40 country single “I Ain’t Your Mama.” She went on to release a handful of EPs, albums, and singles that explored a broader sonic landscape, including original songs such as “Body on Fire,” “Change the Whole Thing,” “Saint,” and “Poison in My Well,” a duet with Grace Potter than earned Rose her second GRAMMY nomination in 2026. Maggie’s fifth studio album, which was just released, is called Half Moon . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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  Songcraft: Spotlight on Songwriters

  Ep. 284 - PAUL OVERSTREET (Forever and Ever, Amen)

  Jul 23, 20261h 35m

  Country Music Hall of Famer, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Famer, 2-time Country Song of the Year GRAMMY winner, and 5-time BMI Country Songwriter of the Year Paul Overstreet gives us a peek behind the curtain of his legendary career. PART ONE: Scott does his best not to throw a certain individual under the bus with a very funny story involving Paul Overstreet. Plus, the guys pay tribute to the late Joe Melson, past Songcraft guest and primary Roy Orbison collaborator. PART TWO: Our in-depth conversation with Paul Overstreet ABOUT PAUL OVERSTREET Paul Overstreet is one of the most successful songwriters in Nashville history and among the three inductees in the Country Music Hall of Fame’s class of 2026. His catalog of classics includes “Same Ole Me,” recorded by George Jones, as well as the Randy Travis hits “Digging Up Bones,” “No Place Like Home,” “Deeper Than the Holler,” “On the Other Hand,” and “Forever and Ever, Amen.” The latter two were both named Song of the Year by NSAI, the CMA, and the ACM. Additionally, “Forever and Ever, Amen” earned a Grammy award for Best Country Song in 1988. Overstreet won another Best Country Song Grammy in 1992 for “Love Can Build a Bridge,” which was a major hit for The Judds. Other highlights of the Paul Overstreet songbook include the number one hits “A Long Line of Love,” recorded by Michael Martin Murphy,” “When You Say Nothing at All,” which was a hit for both Keith Whitley and Alison Krauss, and “Some Beach” for Blake Shelton. In addition to his achievements with other performers, Overstreet became a successful recording artist in his own right. He reached the top of the charts in 1987 with “I Won’t Take Less Than Your Love,” which he recorded with Tanya Tucker and Paul Davis, and had hits with the group S-K-O, a trio he formed with Thom Schuyler and Fred Knobloch. From 1988 through 1991 Paul scored eight consecutive top 10 singles as a solo artist, including “Seein’ My Father in Me” and “Daddy’s Come Around.” Paul was named BMI’s Country Songwriter of the year five years in a row from 1987 through 1991, a feat that hasn’t been duplicated since. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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  Songcraft: Spotlight on Songwriters

  Ep. 283 - SWAMP DOGG ("She's All I Got")

  Jul 8, 20261h 43m

  The legendary Swamp Dogg returns to Songcraft after more than a decade to talk about, well, whatever he wants. And we're here for it! PART ONE Paul and Scott contemplate their second visit with Swamp Dogg PART TWO Our in-depth interview with the original D-O-double G! ABOUT SWAMP DOGG R&B cult favorite Jerry “Swamp Dogg” Williams is best known as the co-writer, with Gary U.S. Bonds, of the cross-genre classic, “She’s All I Got,” which became a Top 10 R&B single for Freddie North and a #2 country hit for Johnny Paycheck in 1971. Williams’ career began in 1954 when, at the age of 12, he made his first record, “HTD Blues.” He found success in the 1960s, recording the Top 40 R&B hit “Baby You’re My Everything” under the name Little Jerry Williams, and writing songs for other artists, including Gene Pitney’s Top 20 Pop single, “She’s a Heartbreaker.” He became Atlantic Records’ first African American staff producer in 1968 but left the following year to pursue independent projects in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and Macon, Georgia. By the 1970s Swamp was an in-demand producer and songwriter, penning Top 40 R&B hits for Doris Duke, Arthur Conley, and Dee Dee Warwick. Around the same time, he reinvented himself as Swamp Dogg, releasing a series of eccentric soul albums with lyrics marked by frank sexuality, biting satire, radical politics, and provocative social observations. His debut LP, Total Destruction to Your Mind , was eventually certified Gold, while subsequent releases, including Gag a Maggott , I’m Not Selling Out – I’m Buying In , An Awful Christmas and a Lousy New Year , and The White Man Made Me Do It garnered considerable accolades among underground music lovers and earned Swamp what one journalist described as “a cultural niche somewhere between Rudy Ray Moore and Frank Zappa.” In recent years, his vast catalog has been sampled by Kid Rock, Talib Kweli, DMX, and others. Having just turned 84, Swamp shows no signs of slowing down. Since we last spoke with him in 2015, he has released five albums, including a bluegrass-inspired project called Blackgrass and his most recent release, Swamp Dogg Contemplates the Afterlife . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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  Songcraft: Spotlight on Songwriters

  Ep. 282 - BRIAN DUNNE ("New Tattoo")

  Jun 24, 20261 hour

  Indie troubadour and Rolling Stone darling Brian Dunne gets real about his work as a songwriter who take the craft seriously. PART ONE: Paul and Scott talk about the Earth, Wind & Fire documentary, musical gibberish, Michael Jackson's lyrical theft, Scott's Cameroonian music phase, and perhaps the most irritating song mashup of all time. PART TWO: Our in-depth conversation with Brian Dunne ABOUT BRYAN DUNNE Brian Dunne is a New York–based singer-songwriter whose sharp storytelling, dark humor, and blue-collar perspective have earned him a devoted following in the Americana and indie-rock worlds. A longtime fixture on the East Coast club circuit, Dunne built his career the old-fashioned way—by writing songs, touring relentlessly, and cultivating a fiercely independent DIY approach. Over the course of multiple solo albums, including Selling Things in 2020, Loser on the Ropes in 2023, and Clams Casino in 2025, he has developed a reputation for pairing deeply human observations with memorable, hook-filled songs that draw from the traditions of artists such as Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty, and Billy Joel while maintaining a distinctly modern voice. Dunne's profile expanded internationally when his 2021 single “New Tattoo” became an unexpected hit in the Netherlands, and in 2022 he co-founded the acclaimed folk-rock collective Fantastic Cat alongside fellow songwriters Anthony D'Amato, Don DiLego, and Mike Montali. Dunne continues to balance his solo career with Fantastic Cat, earning praise for songs that explore failure, resilience, class, ambition, and the everyday struggles of modern life with equal parts wit, empathy, and heart. His work has attracted praise from Rolling Stone , where writer Joseph Hudak championed his 2025 album Clams Casino and later singled it out as his favorite album of the year. It has been described as if novelist Sam Lipsyte wrote the lyrics for Billy Joel’s Glass Houses , or if the Jason Isbell of Southeastern cut his teeth in scuzzy NYC rock clubs. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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  Songcraft: Spotlight on Songwriters

  Ep. 281 - STEVE POLTZ ("You Were Meant For Me")

  Jun 12, 20261h 11m

  Known for co-writing Jewel's "You Were Meant For Me," Steve Poltz has spent more than three decades as a singer-songwriter-performer of the first order, earning international applause and fans worldwide with his inspired brand of rock-influenced countrified folk Americana. This incredibly witty and insightful conversation is a true inspiration. PART ONE Paul and Scott chat about supergroups. What qualifies as a supergroup? What so-called "supergroups" don't live up to the hype? We're not afraid to do a hard-hitting investigation! PART TWO Our in-depth interview with Steve Poltz ABOUT STEVE POLTZ Steve Poltz is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter and guitarist. He is a founding member of the indie-rock band the Rugburns and is known for co-writing “You Were Meant for Me” with Jewel, which became a major hit for her in 1996. He signed with Mercury Records in the late 1990s and has since built a loyal following as an independent troubadour. Steve has released fourteen studio albums, the latest of which is called JoyRide . Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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