The Resistance

Despite Rosi Golan's 12 years in the music industry, the Israeli-born singer-songwriter says some fears loom larger than ever before. From the vulnerability of releasing personal material, to the fear of getting lost in the shuffle, to the worries of living up to expectations, Rosi swims in the Resistance in several forms. Fortunately, she's mentally wired to push back against such doubts, a songstress always keen to try new things.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How can you give away what you've lost? On this episode, singer-songwriter John Mark McMillan details the Resistance he faced during a 10-year descent into doubt and confusion while serving a fan base searching for answers and meaning.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our conversation with Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Jericho Brown is one about reward and resistance. It asks tough questions about how far the burning heart inside can carry a person. Is a sense of calling enough? What if the rewards aren't there when we believe we need them? Brown has earned his Pulitzer (and then some) but it required a long lean into lonely spaces.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Zach Williams is worried about what you will think of him. Aren't most of us? The latest episode of The Resistance is all about this tension and how it affects the creative life of Zach Williams and his bandmates (Kanene Donehey Pipkin, Brian Elmquist) in The Lone Bellow. Even after several acclaimed albums, Zach says he's learning to set aside others' expectations in order to craft the art he's called to make.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For the last two-plus decades, Alex Ebert has stayed the creative course, a prime example of an artist who does what he feels. That might sound like an enjoyable path, but as Alex shares his story, it's fraught with industry questions, critical backlash, and a general sense of loneliness. In short, a commitment to making art on one's own terms comes with a heavy cost.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the midst of a global pandemic and being quarantined with our own makeshift home studios, we thought it appropriate to process this greater reality of Resistance that we all face these days. It's hard to find the positive in such a negative situation, but if we're present, we can face the Resistance even in these darker days.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What role does Resistance play for an artist who has achieved so much so early? To hear Sierra Hull tell her story, she's experienced as much Resistance as ever as she's released her latest album—the stunning masterwork known as 25 Trips. From industry hurdles to lessons learned about believing her own voice, Sierra's proof that the Resistance hits all of us equally. There's never a way around it, only through it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Film composer Nathan Johnson (Knives Out, Looper, Kill the Messenger) says he's always ready to jump. As a lover of creative challenge, Nathan says the key to being able to make that leap is a willingness to say yes to what you don't know how to do. It's that sort of "anything goes" approach that's allowed Johnson to craft such inspired and innovative compositions that bolster his cinematic projects in such rare, beautiful ways.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After a several month break, The Resistance is back with some exciting changes to announce! Listen in to hear more about the program going forward and what's in store for this next step in the journey.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It was immediately clear that Fantastic Negrito would close our first season of The Resistance once we began our conversation. Here was a man speaking—nay, preaching—from a lifetime of hard-fought battles with resistance. Record label woes. A car accident and ensuing coma. The inability to use his hand—to literally make music. Relearning it all after his supposed prime had passed him by.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.