Alchemy with Anthony Mason

The Irish singer CMAT, Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, has had a big breakout over the past eighteen months, including an electrifying performance at Glastonbury. Her latest album, Euro-Country, won Britain's Ivor Novello — the prestigious songwriting award. She talks with us about why she resisted country music for years, the blunt advice from Charli xcx that changed her life, and the meticulous method behind every album.

00:00 Intro

01:00 Making sense of a breakout year

02:08 The dream: headlining the Olympia

03:52 The best part: the gigs

04:49 Glastonbury and the Pyramid Stage

08:11 Borrowing from Pulp ‘97 and hiring a fiddle player

08:53 Winning the Ivor Novello

10:40 “I’m going to be a pop star”

12:21 Studying the Beatles one download at a time

13:51 Trinity College and dropping out

17:40 Open mics, shop jobs, and £50 a show

20:26 The Charli XCX listening session

27:06 Brat and what it meant for Euro-Country

30:42 Sponsor: The FLAG Art Foundation

31:45 “I Want to Be a Cowboy, Baby!” and resisting country

33:13 Writing Taylor Swift rip-offs at 11

36:37 Inspiration vs. perspiration

42:31 Willie Nelson and having something to say

44:09 Her process: voice notes to corkboard

48:34 Every album has to be about something

52:38 Co-writing and label pressure on album two

58:03 The surprise songs: “Take a Sexy Picture of Me” and “Jamie Oliver Petrol Station”

New episodes of Alchemy every Wednesday. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and ⁠YouTube⁠ so you never miss one.

⁠Sign up here⁠ to get Alchemy in your inbox⁠. Stay connected with Anthony Mason on ⁠Instagram⁠⁠, ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ & ⁠Facebook⁠.

For brand partnerships: partnerships@collective.media

For press inquiries: dawn@thepresshouse.com

For bookings: rebecca@alchemy.show

About our Founding Sponsor, ⁠⁠The FLAG Art Foundation⁠⁠:

The FLAG Art Foundation is a nonprofit contemporary art exhibition space in New York's Chelsea Arts District. Since 2008, FLAG has staged more than 100 exhibitions celebrating nearly 1,000 artists, with innovative partnerships including the Parrish Art Museum, the Serpentine Galleries in London, and the Harlem Children's Zone. FLAG is free and open to the public. Follow FLAG on ⁠Instagram⁠⁠.

About Anthony Mason:

Anthony Mason, the host of Alchemy, is also a Special Correspondent with CBS News. One of the most versatile and experienced television journalists, Anthony co-hosted CBS This Morning: Saturday for seven years (2012-2019), and then the weekday CBS This Morning broadcast for two more. But he may be best known for his interviews with artists like Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Annie Leibovitz, Judi Dench, David Hockney, and André 3000. He has won a dozen Emmy Awards. In 2023, the Songwriters Hall of Fame presented him their Patron of the Arts Award. And for the past three years he has hosted the GRAMMY Hall of Fame Gala.

Taj Mahal is a blues legend. He's won a handful of GRAMMYs, including a Lifetime Achievement Award, and influenced generations of artists from Keith Richards to Hozier. "He's got it all together," Keith said, "and always did have." He was born Henry St. Claire Fredericks, Jr. in Harlem. A multi-instrumentalist and music scholar, Taj was exploring world music before it was even a genre. Taj, who once seriously considered becoming a farmer, has lost count of how many albums he's made. He's been making music since the '50s — and at 84, he's still on tour.

00:00 Welcome to Alchemy

00:36 Introducing Taj Mahal

01:39 The Unreleased Bill Withers Song & GRAMMY Wins

05:29 Family Roots: A Third-Generation Garveyite

11:05 Hearing Music Without Genre Lines

13:46 Rising Sons & the Ash Grove Days

17:04 The 1960s LA Scene & Opening for Otis Redding

19:05 UMass, Farming, and a 1979 Africa Tour

22:00 Music as a Spiritual Calling

25:07 A Word From Our Sponsor, the FLAG Art Foundation

26:19 Losing His Father Young

29:03 Learning to Write & the Story Behind "Taj Mahal"

31:32 Columbia, Clive Davis & the Blues Legends

35:16 Scoring "Sounder" & Life on the Road

39:12 Playing Alone: Connecting to "the Great Creator"

42:39 Songwriting, Enya, and His Philosophy on Music

New episodes of Alchemy every Wednesday. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and ⁠YouTube⁠ so you never miss one.

⁠Sign up here⁠ to get Alchemy in your inbox⁠. Stay connected with Anthony Mason on ⁠Instagram⁠⁠, ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ & ⁠Facebook⁠.

For brand partnerships: partnerships@collective.media

For press inquiries: dawn@thepresshouse.com

For bookings: rebecca@alchemy.show

About our Founding Sponsor, ⁠⁠The FLAG Art Foundation⁠⁠:

The FLAG Art Foundation is a nonprofit contemporary art exhibition space in New York's Chelsea Arts District. Since 2008, FLAG has staged more than 100 exhibitions celebrating nearly 1,000 artists, with innovative partnerships including the Parrish Art Museum, the Serpentine Galleries in London, and the Harlem Children's Zone. FLAG is free and open to the public. Follow FLAG on ⁠Instagram⁠⁠.

About Anthony Mason:

Anthony Mason, the host of Alchemy, is also a Special Correspondent with CBS News. One of the most versatile and experienced television journalists, Anthony co-hosted CBS This Morning: Saturday for seven years (2012-2019), and then the weekday CBS This Morning broadcast for two more. But he may be best known for his interviews with artists like Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Annie Leibovitz, Judi Dench, David Hockney, and André 3000. He has won a dozen Emmy Awards. In 2023, the Songwriters Hall of Fame presented him their Patron of the Arts Award. And for the past three years he has hosted the GRAMMY Hall of Fame Gala.

Over the past decade, Carly Pearce has been one of country music’s most successful female artists with half a dozen platinum singles. She's won four ACM awards and another three CMAs. Her new album, “Honest Woman,” takes a bold look at the price of that success.

00:00 "I lost the ability to see myself"

01:02 Dollywood at 16, Nashville at 19

04:46 "Dream Come True" and the house at the end of the cul-de-sac

07:27 The award, and the text messages the next morning

10:36 The heartbreak ballad that felt like career suicide

11:33 Cleaning Airbnbs in a ten-year town

13:32 The caveman and the diamond

15:32 "It was whiplash"

19:29 Was it all worth it?

20:53 Circus animals: the truth about touring

22:56 Going back to her bluegrass roots

25:30 "There's no timeline"

28:30 The weirdo music kid who started writing at 11

31:11 The songs that scared her

32:31 "Church Girl," faith, and the backlash

36:03 Finding her sound with Dan Tyminski and Molly Tuttle

38:20 Losing busbee and what he told her at the end

41:20 Kelsea Ballerini, her safe place

44:53 Her mom's note: "You are enough"

49:00 Finding the joy again

New episodes of Alchemy every Wednesday. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and ⁠YouTube⁠ so you never miss one.

⁠Sign up here⁠ to get Alchemy in your inbox⁠. Stay connected with Anthony Mason on ⁠Instagram⁠⁠, ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ & ⁠Facebook⁠.

For brand partnerships: partnerships@collective.media

For press inquiries: dawn@thepresshouse.com

For bookings: rebecca@alchemy.show

About our Founding Sponsor, ⁠⁠The FLAG Art Foundation⁠⁠:

The FLAG Art Foundation is a nonprofit contemporary art exhibition space in New York's Chelsea Arts District. Since 2008, FLAG has staged more than 100 exhibitions celebrating nearly 1,000 artists, with innovative partnerships including the Parrish Art Museum, the Serpentine Galleries in London, and the Harlem Children's Zone. FLAG is free and open to the public. Follow FLAG on ⁠Instagram⁠⁠.

About Anthony Mason:

Anthony Mason, the host of Alchemy, is also a Special Correspondent with CBS News. One of the most versatile and experienced television journalists, Anthony co-hosted CBS This Morning: Saturday for seven years (2012-2019), and then the weekday CBS This Morning broadcast for two more. But he may be best known for his interviews with artists like Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Annie Leibovitz, Judi Dench, David Hockney, and André 3000. He has won a dozen Emmy Awards. In 2023, the Songwriters Hall of Fame presented him their Patron of the Arts Award. And for the past three years he has hosted the GRAMMY Hall of Fame Gala.

Since 1993, every book by Barbara Kingsolver has made The New York Times bestseller list. Her last novel, “Demon Copperhead,” won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Her latest, “Partita,” the story of a Tennessee piano teacher, is the book Kingsolver says she’s been waiting her whole life to write.

00:00 Intro

01:26 Book No. 19: Does It Ever Get Easier?

02:25 Digging for Gold: Throwing Out 100 Pages

04:36 Meet Partita's Piano Teacher

06:27 The Substack Post That Sparked the Novel

09:27 How Do You Follow Demon Copperhead?

12:11 A Novel Told in Seven Days

14:32 Young Love vs. Mature Love

18:34 Lying on the Floor With Her Father's Records

20:06 "Music Is Made of Tension"

22:41 Why She Left Music School

26:46 What "Partita" Means and the Toni Morrison Quote

28:34 Writing About Her Mother

31:24 Carrying Grief on the Page

33:13 Outlines, Excel Spreadsheets and Dickens

36:57 Characters Who Serve the Plot

39:44 The "Thrift Shop File"

41:47 Living With Dupuytren's Contracture

45:08 Why She Won't Use Speech-to-Text

48:12 Wendell Berry and What's Next

New episodes of Alchemy every Wednesday. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and ⁠YouTube⁠ so you never miss one.

⁠Sign up here⁠ to get Alchemy in your inbox⁠. Stay connected with Anthony Mason on ⁠Instagram⁠⁠, ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ & ⁠Facebook⁠.

For brand partnerships: partnerships@collective.media

For press inquiries: dawn@thepresshouse.com

For bookings: rebecca@alchemy.show

About our Founding Sponsor, ⁠⁠The FLAG Art Foundation⁠⁠:

The FLAG Art Foundation is a nonprofit contemporary art exhibition space in New York's Chelsea Arts District. Since 2008, FLAG has staged more than 100 exhibitions celebrating nearly 1,000 artists, with innovative partnerships including the Parrish Art Museum, the Serpentine Galleries in London, and the Harlem Children's Zone. FLAG is free and open to the public. Follow FLAG on ⁠Instagram⁠⁠.

About Anthony Mason:

Anthony Mason, the host of Alchemy, is also a Special Correspondent with CBS News. One of the most versatile and experienced television journalists, Anthony co-hosted CBS This Morning: Saturday for seven years (2012-2019), and then the weekday CBS This Morning broadcast for two more. But he may be best known for his interviews with artists like Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Annie Leibovitz, Judi Dench, David Hockney, and André 3000. He has won a dozen Emmy Awards. In 2023, the Songwriters Hall of Fame presented him their Patron of the Arts Award. And for the past three years he has hosted the GRAMMY Hall of Fame Gala.

Brandon Flowers is best known as the frontman of The Killers. All seven of their albums have gone top 10 in the U.S. and to number one in the U.K. Flowers has also had a successful solo career and he’s back with his third solo album THRASHER, out August 21.

00:00 Cold Open

00:26 Welcome to Alchemy

01:05 Recording THRASHER Live in Nashville

02:38 Returning to His Nephi, Utah Roots

05:18 From Golf Course to First Songs

07:12 The Mentor Who Opened Up Music

08:48 Answering Dave Keuning's Ad and Becoming a Singer

12:36 Discovering His Frontman Persona

14:18 Family, Golf, and Finding His Own Lane

18:13 The Real People Behind THRASHER's Characters

22:06 Ambiguity and His Encounter with Elvis

26:46 Sponsor Break / The FLAG Art Foundation

29:01 Balancing Stage Persona and Family Life

30:15 22 Years Since Hot Fuss: Writing "Mr. Brightside" and "Human"

35:42 How Fan-Favorite Deep Cuts Emerge

38:06 Songwriting as a Daily Discipline

40:02 Two New Albums and Where The Killers Stand Now

42:38 Trusting His Own Judgment Over Critics

44:10 Vampire Weekend and Creative Competition

48:12 Closing Thanks

New episodes of Alchemy every Wednesday. Follow us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and ⁠YouTube⁠ so you never miss one.

⁠Sign up here⁠ to get Alchemy in your inbox⁠. Stay connected with Anthony Mason on ⁠Instagram⁠⁠, ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ & ⁠Facebook⁠.

For brand partnerships: partnerships@collective.media

For press inquiries: dawn@thepresshouse.com

For bookings: rebecca@alchemy.show

About our Founding Sponsor, ⁠⁠The FLAG Art Foundation⁠⁠:

The FLAG Art Foundation is a nonprofit contemporary art exhibition space in New York's Chelsea Arts District. Since 2008, FLAG has staged more than 100 exhibitions celebrating nearly 1,000 artists, with innovative partnerships including the Parrish Art Museum, the Serpentine Galleries in London, and the Harlem Children's Zone. FLAG is free and open to the public. Follow FLAG on ⁠Instagram⁠⁠.

About Anthony Mason:

Anthony Mason, the host of Alchemy, is also a Special Correspondent with CBS News. One of the most versatile and experienced television journalists, Anthony co-hosted CBS This Morning: Saturday for seven years (2012-2019), and then the weekday CBS This Morning broadcast for two more. But he may be best known for his interviews with artists like Bruce Springsteen, Aretha Franklin, Dolly Parton, Annie Leibovitz, Judi Dench, David Hockney, and André 3000. He has won a dozen Emmy Awards. In 2023, the Songwriters Hall of Fame presented him their Patron of the Arts Award. And for the past three years he has hosted the GRAMMY Hall of Fame Gala.