Summary

Slide into the booth for a relaxed hang chatting about great music with Rachel Cholst, Charles Hale, and Sloane Spencer about what’s been on repeat lately, swapping thoughts on everything from the infectious indie rock of Weakened Friends to the timeless soul of Mavis Staples. Along the way, they shine a light on artists like SG Goodman, Florry, and Fust, talking about how these musicians tell powerful stories through their songs. They chat about live shows versus records, contrasting Billy Allen + The Pollies with Bass Battery. You’ll also hear some fun tales from the record store world, including a Taylor Swift listening party that turned into joyful chaos with kids, friendship bracelets, and plenty of laughs. Pour yourself a drink, get comfortable, and enjoy the kind of music chat that feels like catching up with friends, and hopefully inspires your next favorite listen. Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

Playlist

1. Apple Music
2. Tidal

Bands Featured in Episode 1

1. Bass Battery
2. Billy Allen + The Pollies
3. Florry
4. Fust
5. SG Goodman
6. Mavis Staples
7. Weakened Friends
8. (We never got around to chatting about Lene Lovich and Marah, also on our lists.)

Venues Mentioned

1. 40 Watt, Athens, GA
2. 9:30 Club, Washington, DC
3. Bowery Ballroom, NYC
4. Eddie's Attic, Decatur, GA
5. The Fillmore East, NYC
6. The Foundry, Athens, GA
7. Newport Folk Fest, Newport, RI
8. The RamKat, Winston-Salem, NC
9. Sony Hall, NYC
10. Standard Deluxe, Waverly, AL
11. Sultan Room, Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY
12. Turk's Inn, NYC

The Regulars in this Episode

1. Rachel Cholst (Adobe & Teardrops, Rainbow Rodeo)
2. Charles Hale (Driver 8 Records, Ajax Diner Book Club on KRFC)
3. Sloane Spencer (Sleep with Rock Stars, Country Fried Rock, Momma Runs an Ultra)

Other Mentions

1. Norwood Cheek
2. Katie Crutchfield (Waxahatchee)
3. Drive-By Truckers
4. Mitch Easter
5. Patty Griffin
6. Buddy Guy
7. Eddie Hinton
8. Patterson Hood
9. Janis Joplin
10. Rob Ladd
11. MJ Lenderman
12. Let's Active
13. Mandolin Orange
14. Francie Medosch (Florry)
15. Mipso
16. Bonnie Raitt
17. Nathaniel Rateliff
18. Libby Rodenbough
19. Dex Romweber Duo
20. Dexter Romweber
21. Sara Romweber
22. The Staples Singers
23. Taylor Swift
24. Derek Trucks
25. Jeff Tweedy
26. Spencer Tweedy
27. Townes Van Zandt
28. Tom Waits
29. Watchhouse (formerly Mandolin Orange)
30. Wednesday
31. Gillian Welch

indie music podcast, music nerd podcast, underground music podcast, music roundtable podcast, best new indie bands, independent music podcast, music discovery podcast, alternative music podcast, podcast for music lovers, dive bar music podcast, low key music podcast, deep cut music discussion, music tastemakers podcast, music festival discoveries, music zine culture, DIY music scene, touring musician stories, hidden gem bands, vinyl collector podcast, music conversations podcast,

, Dive Bar Music Club, 90s alt rock, indie rock podcasts, emerging songwriters, music discovery, live music experiences, music recommendations, music playlists, underground music scene, cult bands, record store culture, music trends 2026, Southern rock, singer-songwriter community, acoustic performances, album reviews, music venues in New York, music collaborations, Mavis Staples, Florry band, venues

Automated Transcript

Speaker A

00:00:02.000 - 00:01:00.650

Welcome to the Dive Bar Music Club podcast, where the guest hosts drop in and out, but the opinions are always passionate in the playlists. Loud. It's like cheers if everyone at the bar had a strong take on 90s alt rock or a suspicious number of burned CDs.

Around our table, you'll find an emerging touring songwriter, a former cult band favorite whose work since then is even more interesting, a portrait photographer with a not so secret metal penchant, a record store owner who learned about Swifties the hard way, a retired folk singer who regrets nothing, and a zine maker with more cool music projects than we can count.

We're all just here to share what we're currently obsessed with and maybe convince someone that, yes, that weird Icelandic synth folk band is worth a listen. Okay, that last one's probably me, Sloane Spencer. It's Dive Bar Music Club. Low key, high taste happy hour for music nerds. Well, hey, y'.

Speaker B

00:01:00.650 - 00:01:00.770

All.

Speaker A

00:01:00.770 - 00:01:32.910

Thanks for sliding on in here with us at Dive Bar Music Club. I'm Sloane Spencer, and I am so excited to have gathered a couple of my friends to hang out with me as we roll right into January 2026.

I have Rachel Colst and Charles Hale joining me today.

If you've had a chance so far, hope you've listened to those bio episodes to find out what they are up to in the past and how they bring a lot of different to the world of music. They're joining us here in Dive Bar Music Club and I can't believe we're finally doing this. How are y' all doing? Rachel, what's up?

Speaker C

00:01:33.390 - 00:01:42.910

I'm great. I have a brand new refrigerator. Yeah, this is our third refrigerator in six years.

So we were very excited to stay in for New Year's Eve and cook a nice meal.

Speaker A

00:01:43.390 - 00:01:48.830

Listen, that is absolutely something that all of us have reached the point of life where that is point of celebration.

Speaker C

00:01:50.520 - 00:01:58.760

Yeah, there was a time when a week of takeout and Trader Joe's frozen food would have seemed awesome, but that time has passed for sure.

Speaker A

00:01:59.240 - 00:02:01.080

Charles, how about you? What have you been up to?

Speaker B

00:02:01.480 - 00:02:15.240

I've been dreaming of owning a refrigerator that makes ice on its own. It's one of my goals is to have one of those before I turn 50. So I've got about 18 months to get one of those.

Speaker A

00:02:15.950 - 00:02:23.310

I love this. So that's perfect for the little sounder that I use on all the little intros to this, which is the ice hitting the glass.

That might be our recurring theme.

Speaker B

00:02:24.910 - 00:02:25.390

Wheat.

Speaker A

00:02:25.710 - 00:02:44.140

The main question of Dive Bar Music Club is asking Folks, what are the three things they've been listening to lately? I kind of like the question because it's a little different than what are your top three picks?

Especially as we get into these conversations, you'll see it's a little different. What's on your mind these days? So, Rachel Coltst, what have you been listening to lately?

Speaker C

00:02:44.620 - 00:03:52.670

Yeah. So I picked out my three songs for today based on my cool venues I went to this year or back in 2025.

So first we'll start out with Weekend Friends Weightless. It's kind of more indie rock, little grunge, a little pop punk.

I went to go see them at a place in Bushwick, Brooklyn, called the Sultan Room, which I think I mentioned in my bio episode. It was my first time there, but the venue is a couple of years old.

These guys basically imported, like, a Midwestern supper club called the Turkish Inn out to Brooklyn, and then they attached a music venue to it that has just this really cool setup. Like, you walk in and the stage is sort of sunk in. So the stage is below you.

There's like an area right around the front of the stage if you're into, like, moshing or whatever. Sort of upper level with the bar. And it's just like, there's all good sight lines and the way they decorated it was really cool.

These, like, LED panels and kind of, like Moorish style. I don't know, lattice work. It's worth looking up a picture.

The venue itself, I think, has a lot of different types of music, but this was a rock show and it was super fun.

Speaker A

00:03:52.990 - 00:04:00.910

Oh, I think I found that band when I subscribed to your email list. And so that's how I found them. And they kind of give me a little bit, like, younger riot girl vibe.

Speaker C

00:04:01.790 - 00:04:15.770

Totally. I mean, they're millennials, so they. I think they definitely have incorporated that turn as a lot with 90s rock pop.

And on my podcast, we talked a little bit about country as well into their sound.

Speaker A

00:04:16.170 - 00:04:23.850

By the way, if y' all haven't had a chance, there is a whole conversation on Rachel's podcast with the Weekenders. What? Give us that link again.

Speaker C

00:04:24.650 - 00:04:40.700

Weekend Friends. It's the most recent episode of the Rainbow Rodeo podcast. Oh, no, you're fine.

And then one thing I am figuring out this new year is what I want to be doing with the podcast this coming year. So subscribe. It might take a little while for a new episode to show up, but I have some fun ideas.

Speaker A

00:04:41.100 - 00:04:43.980

Cool. I love that. So, Charles, what have you been listening to?

Speaker B

00:04:45.020 - 00:04:52.460

The Record that has sort of been most on my mind recently is the newest Mavis Staples Record.

Speaker A

00:04:53.020 - 00:04:53.580

Mm.

Speaker B

00:04:54.060 - 00:06:04.560

Sad and beautiful world. And she is, I think, 86 years old and made a beautiful record.

It really is good, and I don't want to be fatalistic, but it might be the last record she makes, and if it is, I feel like she made an A plus record. There's two songs that I'll point out briefly, and Mavis doesn't write songs, so two songs.

One is called Hard Times, which Gillian Welch wrote, which is a beautiful song. And then the album closes with a song called Everybody Needs Love, which was written by Eddie Hinton, who is a. An old Muscle Shoals session musician.

But the song Everybody Needs Love I know, and I think probably most people know it's because the Drive By Truckers recorded it a number of years ago. And Mavis does a beautiful version. The other thing that I love about this record is who all she has playing with her, because she could.

She could get anybody she wanted, really.

Speaker A

00:06:04.560 - 00:06:04.960

Right.

Speaker B

00:06:05.440 - 00:06:14.160

And Jeff Tweedy is around a little bit. Spencer Tweedy is around a little bit. But Katie Crutchfield is on the record from Wax.

Speaker C

00:06:14.320 - 00:06:15.120

I didn't know that.

Speaker B

00:06:15.200 - 00:06:45.590

Buddy Guy is on the record. Derek Trucks is on the record, MJ Linderman is on the record.

So Nathaniel Raitliff is on the record, Patterson Hood is on the record, and Bonnie Raitt is on the record. So there's all these young people that are making interesting, creative music right now, and she's having them in.

Part of that is because Brad Cook is the producer of the record. So it's such a beautiful record. I listened to it this morning.

Speaker A

00:06:46.070 - 00:06:49.910

I love it. And there's a fantastic Tom Waits cover with Chicago as well.

Speaker B

00:06:50.230 - 00:07:10.320

Yes. Chicago is the first song on the record, and it does feel like the outlier a little bit, because it's not sort of morose or reflective. It's.

It's more celebratory. But, yeah, she's doing Tom Waits, so how can we not like that?

Speaker A

00:07:11.360 - 00:07:29.100

For sure. Forgive me if I have told either of y' all this story before, and I don't know that I've ever...