Aaron Lee Tasjan on Joy, Songwriting, and Learning to Let Go

Aaron Lee Tasjan on Joy, Songwriting, and Learning to Let Go

Aaron Lee Tasjan joins Rhett for a conversation about joy as armor, the craft of songwriting, and the long game of staying creatively alive. Tasjan talks about why he does his best work from a higher, more positive frequency — and what that actually means for writing songs. He unpacks why creativity gets harder with age, the books that shaped his process, and why the most powerful thing a young artist can do is realize they have more time than they think. Pre-order Get Over It Underdog [https://blueelan.com/collections/aaron-lee-tasjan].  Follow Aaron Lee Tasjan @aaronleetassjan [https://www.instagram.com/aaronleetasjan/?hl=en] Follow Rhett @rhettmiller Aaron will be joining Rhett at his Songwriting Is Magic retreat in September. Learn more here. [https://www.songwritingismagic.com/] Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive producer is Kirsten Cluthe, Studio Kairos. Music by Old 97’s. Episode artwork by Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven. Watch the podcast on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@wheels-off] and Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/0A2bPKYgHEbeWUeFxuej94?si=NNc1lrZ9R56XAnWNbDGjdg], and listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can also ask Alexa to play it. Revisit previous episodes of Wheels Off with guests Rosanne Cash, Rob Thomas, Jeff Tweedy, Lucinda Williams, Stewart Copeland, Jennifer Egan, Nick Hornby, and more. If you like what you hear, please leave us a rating or review. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Emily Franklin: Love and Other Monsters, Writing 25 Books, and the Creative Life

Author Emily Franklin joins Rhett to talk about her 25th novel, Love and Other Monsters — the untold origin story of Frankenstein and the monsters we create on the page. They get into what it takes to sustain a prolific creative life. Emily also opens up about shedding critical inner voices, why poetry is the structural foundation of everything, and what it means to take bigger creative risks later in a career. Emily Franklin is the bestselling author of twenty-five books including The Lioness of Boston, now in its eleventh printing and recently a Jeopardy! clue. Her fiction, poetry, and essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Kenyon Review, and JAMA, and been featured on NPR. Follow Emily @emilyfranklinauthor [https://www.instagram.com/emilyfranklinauthor/] Follow Rhett @rhettmiller Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive producer is Kirsten Cluthe, Studio Kairos. Music by Old 97’s. Episode artwork by Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven.  Watch the podcast on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@wheels-off] and Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/0A2bPKYgHEbeWUeFxuej94?si=NNc1lrZ9R56XAnWNbDGjdg], and listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can also ask Alexa to play it. Revisit previous episodes of Wheels Off with guests Rosanne Cash, Rob Thomas, Jeff Tweedy, Lucinda Williams, Stewart Copeland, Jennifer Egan, Nick Hornby, and more. If you like what you hear, please leave us a rating or review. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Anthony Horowitz: Why the World Needs a Good Whodunit

Anthony Horowitz, one of the world's most prolific and versatile storytellers, joins Rhett for a conversation about creativity, craft, and the enduring power of the mystery novel. Horowitz reflects on a career built from the most unlikely of beginnings: a miserable boarding school, a library that became a refuge, and a boy who learned to make friends by telling stories. The two discuss his new book A Deadly Episode, and what it was like to write a book about filming a TV episode while simultaneously writing the TV episode itself. Drawing on decades of experience across every storytelling medium, Horowitz makes a compelling case for why murder mysteries aren't mere entertainment — they're a meaningful antidote to a world increasingly short on truth.  Horowitz has written two highly acclaimed Sherlock Holmes novels, The House of Silk and Moriarty; three James Bond novels, Trigger Mortis, Forever and a Day, and With a Mind to Kill; the mystery novels featuring book editor Susan Ryeland: Magpie Murders, Moonflower Murders, and Marble Hall Murders, and the Detective Hawthorne novels: The Word is Murder, The Sentence is Death, A Line To Kill, The Twist of a Knife, Close to Death, and now A DEADLY EPISODE. He is also the author of the teen spy Alex Rider series, which has sold more than nineteen million copies worldwide and has become a hugely successful show on Amazon Prime TV. His breakthrough murder mystery, Magpie Murders, and the follow up Moonflower Murders, were both adapted for TV and aired on PBS – the Marble Hall Murders series will air in September 2026. He lives in London with his wife and dog.  A Deadly Episode is out now. More on Anthony at anthonyhorowitz.com [https://anthonyhorowitz.com/]. Follow Rhett @rhettmiller Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive producer is Kirsten Cluthe, Studio Kairos. Music by Old 97’s. Episode artwork by Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven.  Watch the podcast on YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/@wheels-off] and Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/0A2bPKYgHEbeWUeFxuej94?si=NNc1lrZ9R56XAnWNbDGjdg], and listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can also ask Alexa to play it. Revisit previous episodes of Wheels Off with guests Rosanne Cash, Rob Thomas, Jeff Tweedy, Lucinda Williams, Stewart Copeland, Jennifer Egan, Nick Hornby, and more. If you like what you hear, please leave us a rating or review. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Alexis Krauss (Sleigh Bells): Creativity, Instinct, and the Long Game

Alexis Krauss of Sleigh Bells joins Rhett to talk about making music for 17+ years, trusting instinct over trends, and navigating anxiety, identity, and the pressures of the modern music industry. Follow Alexis @alexiskrauss [https://www.instagram.com/alexiskrauss/] Follow Sleigh Bells @sleighbells [https://www.instagram.com/sleighbells/] Follow Rhett @rhettmiller [https://www.instagram.com/rhettmiller] Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive producer is Kirsten Cluthe, Studio Kairos. Music by Old 97’s. Episode artwork by Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven. Watch the podcast on Spotify, and listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can also ask Alexa to play it.   Revisit previous episodes of Wheels Off with guests Rosanne Cash, Rob Thomas, Jeff Tweedy, Lucinda Williams, Stewart Copeland, Jennifer Egan, Nick Hornby, and more. If you like what you hear, please leave us a rating or review. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Kevn Kinney: Songwriting, Sobriety, and 40 Years of Doing It His Way

Rhett catches up with Kevn Kinney, frontman of Atlanta roots-rock institution Drivin N' Cryin, one day after his 65th birthday and on the eve of a new album. Recorded while Rhett's the Old 97's are deep in sessions at Sonic Ranch in El Paso, the conversation is a warm, wide-ranging exchange between two lifers. Kevn talks about the new record (produced by former bandmate Sadler Vaden, with Peter Buck on guitars), why he's likely done making full albums after this one, five years of sobriety, and the philosophy that has kept him performing with genuine joy for four decades. Pre-order the new Drivin n Cryin album here [https://www.drivinncryin.com/] Follow Kevn @kevnkinney312 [https://www.instagram.com/kevnkinney312/] Follow Rhett @rhettmiller [https://www.instagram.com/rhettmiller/?hl=en] Wheels Off is hosted and produced by Rhett Miller. Executive producer is Kirsten Cluthe, Studio Kairos. Music by Old 97’s. Episode artwork by Mark Dowd. Show logo by Tim Skirven. Watch the podcast on Spotify [https://open.spotify.com/show/0A2bPKYgHEbeWUeFxuej94?si=NNc1lrZ9R56XAnWNbDGjdg], and listen wherever you get your podcasts. You can also ask Alexa to play it.   Revisit previous episodes of Wheels Off with guests Rosanne Cash, Rob Thomas, Jeff Tweedy, Lucinda Williams, Stewart Copeland, Jennifer Egan, Nick Hornby, and more. If you like what you hear, please leave us a rating or review. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]