The Female Bob Dylan

Latest Episodes:

S2 Episode 7: The Divine Ecstasy of Judee Sill wsg Jason P. Woodbury Sep 28, 2026

Show notes

Entering the world of rebel Christian mystic Judee Sill! Joined by Jason P. Woodbury of Aquarium Drunkard's Transmissions Podcast, we ponder Judee's divine inspiration, ambitions, and spiritual/sensual/extraterrestrial desires, and parse the ways her music draws from and exceeds her moment. We also tour her monastic bedroom, explore her “occult holy western baroque gospel” originals, and admire the self-styling of our very own "student body president of the rejects."

S2 Episode 6: The Only Freedom is the One You Exercise: On Bernice Johnson Reagon Aug 31, 2026

Show notes

Our ode to the prolific and multidimensional musician, scholar, activist, Freedom Singer, and co-founder of Sweet Honey in the Rock, Bernice Johnson Reagon (1942-2024). Guided by her writings, interviews, and "song talks," we explore her congregational coalition politics, revolutionary organizing through song in the civil rights movement, transformative contributions as a culture worker at institutions like the Smithsonian, Highlander, and the Southern Folk Cultural Revival Project, and clarity of vision that was the backbone of everything she did.

S2 Episode 5 Bonus: Alice Gerrard in Her Own Words (LIVE) May 27, 2026

Show notes

Emily interviews old-time music legend and reigning “deviled egg queen” Alice Gerrard live at The Celebration of Women in Old-Time at the East Tennessee History Center in Knoxville. Alice calls her new memoir Custom Made Woman: A Life in Traditional Music “a scrapbook”—those scraps are the meat of this far-ranging conversation about the DC + Baltimore scenes, Alice’s collaboration with Hazel Dickens, the Southern Folk Cultural Revival Project’s integrated tours in the South “chas(ing) after a better world,” and the women musicians she met who didn’t “play out” but were known in their communities. She also divulges the secrets to her pandemic pet-project in which she taught her dog to bring her a beer from the fridge.
Recorded March 7, 2026 as a part of the celebration of Women in Old-Time Music weekend event in Knoxville, TN. Special thanks to Eric Dawson at the East Tennessee History Center and to Knoxville Community Media.
https://www.knoxcountylibrary.org/album/celebration-women-old-time-music

S2 Episode 5: They'll Never Keep Us Down: On Hazel Dickens wsg Jessie Wilkerson (LIVE) May 01, 2026

Show notes

We took the podcast on the road to Knoxville and invited our friend Jessie Wilkerson to join us in celebrating the late great labor songwriter and groundbreaking bluegrass musician Hazel Dickens (1925-2011)! In front of a live audience at the Celebration of Women in Old-Time Music event at the East Tennessee History Center, we discuss Hazel's life and her powerful songs that narrate the Appalachian migrant experience, advocate for working people (including sex workers & migrant workers), and outline an intersectional working class feminism.

Recorded March 7, 2026 as part of the Celebration of Women in Old-Time Music weekend event in Knoxville, TN. Special thanks to Eric Dawson at the East Tennessee History Center and to Knoxville Community Media. https://www.knoxcountylibrary.org/celebrating-women-old-time-music

S2 Episode 4: Sing Out!: On the Singer-Songwriter and Protest Music Feb 13, 2026

Show notes

We caught up with Rolling Stone Senior Research Editor Jonathan Bernstein about his recent interview with Lucinda Williams on her (and Dylan's) take on "the female Bob Dylan" label. Then we ponder the concept and construction of "the singer-songwriter" and go off the rails a little as we grapple with the role and efficacy of protest songs in our current political hellscape. In the mix: Tiktok-ification, mass movements (and the loss thereof), hopelessness and hope, the violence of the state, and the songs of the people.

Special thanks to Ian Lynch and Lankum for the use of "Rocks of Palestine." We highly recommend Ian's excellent podcast Fire Draw Near: https://campsite.bio/firedrawnear

Special thanks also to our guest Jonathan Bernstein. Read his article, “Lucinda Williams on Trump Bashing, New Album: ‘Should I Be Afraid?’” in Rolling Stone and check out his new book What Do You Do When You're Lonesome: The Authorized Biography of Justin Townes Earle: https://www.dacapopress.com/titles/jonathan-bernstein/what-do-you-do-when-youre-lonesome/9780306833274/

S2 Episode 3 Bonus: Documenting Dory Previn wsg Julia Greenberg Dec 19, 2025

Show notes

We talk with Julia Greenberg, co-director of the excellent 2024 documentary, Dory Previn: On My Way to Where. The film recounts Dory's far-flung creative life at the intersection of classic Hollywood, pop music, and Laurel Canyon bohemia. As a close friend of Dory's, a performer of her music, and one of the carriers of her legacy (and her microphone !), Julia shares stories of Dory's painting and needlepointing in her Berkshire farmhouse, Frank Sinatra's deaf cat, and plans for the Dory Previn archive.

Learn more about Dory Previn: On My Way to Where at https://www.doryprevindoc.com/

The outro music on this episode is "Quiet Day" by Julia Greenberg

S2 Epsiode 3: Screaming in the Car with Dory Previn Nov 21, 2025

Show notes

Paying our respects to lyricist, truth-teller, and style icon Dory Previn (1925-2012). Previn was an accomplished songwriter for film and TV for years before pivoting to the spotlight as a cult-famous singer-songwriter in her 40s. We deep dive into her writing and the way she translates emotion and experience into song, detouring to talk mental health advocacy, Valley of the Dolls, Catholicism, and more. As a wise man (Sarah Bachman) once said, you will love Dory Previn if you've ever really snapped. Hop on into the Gorgon Revelator 240 Coupe with us, we're blasting "Twenty-Mile Zone"....

S2 Episode 2: Inside Inside Llewyn Davis wsg Ana Gavrilovska Oct 24, 2025

Show notes

Detroit music writer and film buff Ana Gavrilovska joins us on our podcast time machine to revisit the 2013 Coen Brothers' anti-biopic Inside Llewyn Davis. We discuss the film's moody representation of the Greenwich Village folk scene and the flattened renderings of its women, the protagonist's "bleak circle of failure," and the hero's journey of the cat Ulysses—and consider where it ranks on our "golden dulcimer" scale of folk music films.

S2 Episode 1: Do It Or Die!: On Karen Dalton Sep 29, 2025

Show notes

Catch us ugly crying in the car to the late great Karen Dalton! We chat about who and how she was “in her own time”: a sublime, confident folk musician and interpreter who made everything she played—trad, pop, blues—sound like a Karen Dalton song. Also a renowned cooker of beans, apparent Michael Hurley adapter, and early feminist who liked hangin out with weird people (Cheech Marin among them).

We also welcome our new “sponsor,” the shadowy yet inventive Peppermill Goose Farm and Chemical Manufacturing Plant.

Trailer: FBD Season 2 Sep 22, 2025

Show notes

They’re Back and They’re PISSED: The Female Bob Dylan Season 2!

*New Bits & Rants*

*New Female Bob Dylans*

*New Corporate Sponsor*

Put on the kettle, grab that heirloom quilt and pull it up over your head cause it’s time for ROUND 2! Episode 1 drops 9/29