A Celebration (and Critique) of American Freedom

Death, Sex & Money

Slate Podcasts

Business, Health & Fitness, Society & Culture, Careers, Relationships, Sexuality

4.6 • 7.6K Ratings

🗓️ 5 November 2024

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

From an early age, Alynda Segarra saw the people they loved grind it out in an American system that offered them little reward. Their father, a musician and Vietnam War veteran, suffered from PTSD, and their aunt and uncle, with whom they lived, were stretched beyond their means. Alynda decided they would take a different path: drop out of school, hop trains, and form a band. "I just thought I should take a bunch of risks in [my family's] honor," Alynda told Anna. In 2024, Hurray for the Riff Raff released their ninth album, The Past Is Still Alive, and it explores that early period of risk-taking and leaving home. In this episode, Alynda talks to Anna about how writing the album, plus the recent death of their father, made them reconsider family dynamics, joy, and what it means to be free. You can read their newsletter, Resist Psychic Death, here. There’s a playlist of the songs in our episode here. Podcast production by Zoe Azulay Death, Sex & Money is now produced by Slate! To support us and our colleagues, please sign up for our membership program, Slate Plus! Members get ad-free podcasts, bonus content on lots of Slate shows, and full access to all the articles on Slate.com. Sign up today at slate.com/dsmplus. And if you’re new to the show, welcome. We’re so glad you’re here. Find us and follow us on Instagram and you can find Anna’s newsletter at annasale.substack.com. Our new email address, where you can reach us with voice memos, pep talks, questions, critiques, is [email protected]. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hooray for the riffraff is the perfect music for this moment.
0:04.9	In it, you hear the sweep of American history and propulsive motion,
0:10.2	coming together in joy, in protest, and marking losses in family and community.
0:17.8	And Alinda Segarra's voice, clear and melodic, with a sly punk edge.
0:37.2	Liven in the city. We're just living in the city. Living in the city. Living in the city. Oh, living in the city. Well, it's hard. It's hard. It's hard. Elinda Sagarra is her rate for the riffraff.
0:40.1	They've been playing under that name since their first full-length album came out in 2008.
0:44.7	And when I first started listening to their music, I couldn't always pin down the musical era that it came from, which makes sense, given their way into songwriting.
0:56.2	Elinda had a stretch of hopping trains, a la Woody Guthrie, and closely studied folk and country
1:02.7	tunes from songwriters' past like Hank Williams and Bob Dylan.
1:06.9	Now at 37, Hooray for the Riffraff is like a 21st century version of the rambling American troubadour.
1:14.6	Two weeks just to catch the buffalo. Two weeks just to catch the buffalo.
1:20.6	Some things take time and all they do. Some things take timera was raised in the Bronx and left home as a teenager.
1:40.3	Their worldview was shaped by 9-11 and the Kini Kill and the opioid epidemic.
1:46.0	For years, Melinda was functionally homeless, moving around the U.S. in a caravan of misfits and musicians.
1:53.0	American riffraff that taught them about art and how to survive.
1:59.0	Songs have always been a way for me to digest information that feels way too hard to comprehend.
2:08.3	It's been a psychological place and a spiritual place I can go that gives me a bravery or a
2:16.6	understanding or acceptance.
2:22.0	This is death, sex, and money.
2:26.9	The show from Slate about the things we think about a lot and need to talk about more.
2:35.8	I'm Anna Sale. I'm Anna Sale.
2:41.0	Hot new drama
	...

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