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Johnathan Rice's 'The Long Game' Is Not Quite A Breakup Record

Johnathan Rice
Silvia Grav
/
Courtesy of the artist
Johnathan Rice

Johnathan Rice rolled in the door and right away I knew I was going to enjoy chatting with him. He arrived as a party of one, with merch in a carry-on bag in one hand, and a guitar case in the other. Normally there's a manager, a sound person, or label folk shepherding. But this time, it was just Rice and a rental car touring the Northeast.

The Scottish-American Rice has been performing for over 15 years, and for many of those years, he was in a relationship with Jenny Lewis, even co-releasing an album as Jenny and Johnny. They're no longer a couple, and his latest album, The Long Game, is a partial reflection on that relationship, but it's not quite a breakup record.

Rice'll talk about that reflection, advice from Bill Murray and tricking your audience into listening to poetry. Hear the complete session in the player.

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Since 2017, John Myers has been the producer of NPR's World Cafe, which is produced by WXPN at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Previously he spent about eight years working on the other side of Philly at WHYY as a producer on the staff of Fresh Air with Terry Gross. John was also a member of the team of public radio veterans recruited to develop original programming for Audible and has worked extensively as a freelance producer. His portfolio includes work for the Eastern State Penitentiary Historic Site, The Association for Public Art and the radio documentary, Going Black: The Legacy of Philly Soul Radio. He's taught radio production to preschoolers and college students and, in the late 90's, spent a couple of years traveling around the country as a roadie for the rock band Huffamoose.