The Load Out Music Podcast

What happens when Karen Carpenter's angelic harmonies get possessed by Slayer? You get The Dream Eaters, the Brooklyn based comedy synth pop duo of Elizabeth LeBaron and Jake Zavracky, who joined Aaron Perlut on the latest episode of The Load Out Music Podcast. Formed in 2015 after the pair met bartending together, LeBaron and Zavracky spent years playing to half empty rooms before the pandemic changed everything. With time on his hands, Zavracky taught himself video production and launched The Dream Eating Freak Show, a surrealist YouTube sketch series that became the connective tissue linking the band's songs, videos and deadpan universe. The result is gorgeous pop hooks wrapped around song titles like "I Am Bleeding Internally," "Everything I Touch Turns to Shit," and "Satan is Lord." And beneath the absurdist humor, Zavracky insists there is real intent. "We're all screaming liberals," he says of the social commentary embedded in even the silliest tracks. Rounded out by drummer Steve, the band recently played its biggest show yet at Denver's Federal Theater and continues touring through Chicago, Buffalo, Toronto and Brooklyn while prepping a new album, "Year End Report." Find more about them at thedreameaters.com. But for now, enjoy our latest interview with The Dream Eaters.

Singer-songwriter Sam Morrow made his third appearance on The Load Out Music Podcast this week, joining host Aaron Perlut to talk about his new album, Southern Boogie — a record that trades the polish of contemporary Americana for something rawer, funkier, and unapologetically loud. Morrow, who relocated from California to Nashville, recorded the album in Austin with Jonathan Tyler, tracking live with two guitars, bass, keys, and drums through all-tube amps. Tyler mixed it "out of the box," on a physical board rather than in a computer — forcing the band to commit to takes instead of endlessly tweaking them. "The most important thing about this record is the attitude of it," Morrow said. "Rock and roll brings an attitude where not a lot of music does that." The conversation covered standout tracks — including "Saturday Night" and "Lucretia," named for the L.A. street where he wrote it — Morrow's admiration for genre-defying artists like Sturgill Simpson and Elvis Costello, and the realities of touring in 2025, from rising costs to what he called "blue dot fever," a wave of cancellations hitting artists industry-wide. Despite the headwinds, Morrow says the record marks a sound he's chased for years: "I've been looking for my sound for a long time. Rock and roll just feels like me, the most me possible." Southern Boogie is out now, and Morrow is on the road the rest of the year. Hear the full episode at loadoutmusic.com.

Ray Wylie Hubbard — one of the greatest American songwriters in history — returned to the Load Out Music Podcast for a wide-ranging conversation with host Aaron Perlut ahead of the release of Hubbard's new album, Reel to Reel, For Real, out later this summer. Now well into his seventies, Hubbard talked candidly about life on the road, the physical toll of touring, and why the joy of walking on stage — especially alongside his son and guitarist, Lucas — still outweighs the grind of getting there and back. The two dug into Hubbard's songwriting philosophy: His belief in never second-guessing inspiration, his habit of mentoring younger songwriters like Hayes Carll, and his signature concept of "the rattle," the raw, dangerous quality that tells him a song is real. He reminisced about the accidental origin of "Up Against the Wall, Redneck Mother," reflected on sobriety and gratitude, and previewed several tracks from the new record, including collaborations with Mike Campbell, Ringo Starr, and Chris Robinson. Through it all, Hubbard's trademark blend of deadpan humor, blues reverence, and homespun theology was on full display — proof that, at this stage of his career, he's writing purely for the joy of it.

For nearly two decades, Americana band YARN has built its reputation the old-fashioned way: one show, one song, and one audience connection at a time. On this episode of The Loadout Music Podcast, we welcome YARN frontman and songwriter Blake Christiana for a conversation about the band's unlikely beginnings in New York City's Greenwich Village, the grind of life as a touring musician, and the evolution of an artist who continues to find new meaning in songwriting. Formed in Brooklyn in 2006, YARN grew out of a weekly residency at Kenny's Castaways, where songs were written, musicians rotated in and out, and a band slowly emerged on stage in real time. Since then, the group has become one of Americana's most respected road warriors, earning four appearances on the Grammy ballot while building a loyal following through relentless touring. Christiana reflects on the band's journey from playing nearly 170 shows a year to finding a more sustainable rhythm, as well as the personal growth that has shaped his songwriting. He discusses how his early work centered around "whiskey and women," while his current music is focused on connection, gratitude, and bringing people together. The conversation also explores YARN's latest album, Saturday Night Sermon, a record that expands the band's sonic palette with gospel choirs, horns, and richer arrangements while maintaining the storytelling foundation that has defined the band for years.

Neil Salsich didn't set out to become a St. Louis music icon — he just never stopped loving music long enough to do anything else. The founding member of The Mighty Pines, a soul-inspired roots rock band shaped by the wide rivers and red-brick streets of their hometown, Salsich turned a lifelong obsession into a full-time career in 2014 and hasn't looked back. His Season 23 appearance on The Voice — where he earned a rare four-chair turn opening with Hank Williams' "Honky Tonk Blues" — elevated the band to a new level of visibility. But Salsich is quick to put it in perspective: "The wave brought us up, dropped us at another level, and then it went away." What remained was a sharper, more confident band with a growing national footprint and, now, a new album — Good Luck Nice to Meet You — produced by Los Lobos' Steve Berlin and dropping July 31st. Equal parts humble and fiercely opinionated about where music is headed, Salsich is exactly the kind of artist St. Louis deserves to claim.