127. Tiff Hannay Discusses Mitski, Be The Cowboy

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Tiff Hannay, vocalist and guitarist for the Lansing-based band Rodeo Boys, introduces Al to Mitski’s fifth album, Be the Cowboy. Tiff talks about what they love about this album and how they think of it in relation to the other albums in Mitski’s discography. Tiff and Al also share their impressions of various lyrics from the album. Tiff  discusses Rodeo Boys’ latest album, Home Movies, and the band’s upcoming tour.

Tiff recommended watching Mitski’s 2015 NPR Tiny Desk performance. You can view it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lNFHD0lUAQ.

Also, as promised in this episode, here is the link to Miley Cyrus’ performance of “Heart of Glass”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbdRLyixJpc.

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1:15 Tiff joins the show

1:25 Tiff talks about the album title, Be the Cowboy

3:37 Tiff explains why they chose to discuss Be the Cowboy

7:36 Tiff puts Be the Cowboy in the larger context of Mitski’s discography

12:53 What does Tiff pay the most attention to when listening to this album?

17:01 Tiff talks about some of their favorite songs on the album

20:44 Al thinks some of Be the Cowboy goes over his head

24:37 Tiff loves the beefy Stratocaster sound

26:20 Kissing is a repeated theme on Be the Cowboy

28:56 Tiff recommends Crying in H Mart to Al

33:00 Tiff and Al discuss the songs where Mitski is telling a story from an older perspective

41:12 Al is impressed by the economy of Mitski’s songwriting

44:51 Tiff highlights a few other tracks that are among their favorites on the album

48:26 Al makes note of some of his favorite lyrics on Be the Cowboy

51:31 Al tries to explain his reaction to the album

52:56 Mitski had a huge breakout on Tiktok

55:55 Rodeo Boys once played the Masonic Temple in Detroit

57:15 Al asks Tiff about covering Blondie’s “One Way or Another”

1:02:39 Rodeo Boys are opening for Fishbone…and no one told them about it

Outro is from “Sugar” by Rodeo Boys.

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