158. Amy Rigby Discusses Fountains of Wayne, self-titled

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Singer-songwriter Amy Rigby (solo, The Shams, The Last Roundup) has had a longstanding admiration for the power-pop band Fountains of Wayne, and she joins Al to chat about the band’s self-titled debut album from 1996. Amy talks about how she got into Fountains of Wayne and what it is about their first album that makes it especially notable. She highlights some of her favorite songs from the album and discusses how well Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesinger integrated humor into their songwriting. Amy also delves into the making of her new album Hang In There With Me.

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out the Diary of Amy Rigby blog and podcast!

Blog: https://amyrigby.substack.com/ 

Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/diary-of-amy-rigby/id15610945052

Amy also mentioned the Looking for the Magic podcast she did with Elizabeth Nelson. You can find that here: https://www.listennotes.com/podcasts/looking-for-the-magic-elizabeth-nelson-amy-7RaT_Iy-DiS/

Amy and Al are both planning to check out the Fountains of ‘Splain podcast…if you want to join them, here it is! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/fountains-of-splain/id1547151768

You can keep up with Amy on Instagram at @amymrigby.

Al is on Bluesky at @almelchior.bsky.social. This show has accounts on Instagram and Threads at @youmealbum. Subscribe for free to You, Me and An Album: The Newsletter! https://youmealbum.substack.com/

1:28 Amy joins the show

1:58 Did Amy and Fountains of Wayne run in the same circles in New York in the ‘90s?

7:16 Amy talks about the sports themes in Fountains of Wayne’s songs

9:07 Amy and Al discuss “Sick Day” and its thematic similarity to a song that Amy wrote

15:51 Amy hears “Radiation Vibe” as a great example of a “happy sad song”

17:52 Amy likes Fountains of Wayne’s selfless approach

20:54 Amy wants there to be a Fountains of Wayne documentary

22:35 Amy talks about her two podcasts and her blog

27:34 Amy explains why Fountains of Wayne was an affirming album for her

32:27 There aren’t many rock songwriters who successfully integrate humor into their songs

41:00 Amy highlights a few of her favorite songs from Fountains of Wayne

44:06 Amy thinks Fountains of Wayne set themselves apart from other ‘90s bands

47:24 Amy notes how Fountains of Wayne’s songwriting progressed after the debut album

49:58 Al explains exactly how little he knew about Fountains of Wayne

52:31 Amy talks about the process of making Hang In There With Me

1:05:11 Amy thinks good sequencing is still worth the trouble

1:07:43 Al noticed a similarity between Amy’s songs and those of a previous guest

1:09:04 Amy talks about her upcoming live dates

Outro music is from “Dylan in Dubuque” by Amy Rigby.

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