Now and then, On The Record with Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie wanders into territory that feels less like a podcast and more like the best conversation you've accidentally joined in the corner of a music festival bar.

Returning Australian listeners may be forgiven for assuming Neil Young devotees are a niche tribe. Not so, according to Belfast singer-songwriter Andy White, who drops in from Ireland with a story that sounds almost too good to be true.

Show Notes

Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts - Cortez the Killer (Bergen, Norway, 20.06.2025) 

Andy White The Walking Wounded 

Andy White - Empty Streets of Florence / nelle strade deserte di Firenze 

Jack Kerouac on the Steve Allen Show, in 1959, reciting a passage from "On The Road." 

David Holmes - Ruben's In OST Oceans 11 

Joni Mitchell - Blue (Full Album) [Official Video] 

Joni Mitchell- Dog Eat Dog 

Prince - A Case Of U 

The Big Lebowski - Gutterballs 

Andy's website 

Andy's books 

Andy's podcast 

Episode 28 of On The Record finds Michael broadcasting from the Greek island of Kefalonia, but the conversation itself travels much further afield—from the cosmic ambitions of Earth, Wind & Fire to Tim Rogers, the World Cup and the lyrical reflections of Bob Dylan on being 80.

This week’s On The Record with Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie begins where most music chats don’t: with a gripe about what the ARIA charts don’t show.

Wise is baffled that Emma Donovan’s Take Me to The River—an album he rates highly after seeing her preview it live at Port Fairy—can’t be found on the main chart or the Australian chart. 

The question isn’t aesthetic; it’s structural. Where do “successful” albums live now—physical sales, streaming equivalents, store reporting, some opaque blend of all three?

Emma Donovan — Take Me to The River (and the ARIA chart mystery)
The revived Rhythms Chart (Top 30)
World Cup ticketing + dynamic pricing discussion (BBC)
Wilco — Morocco/Marrakesh 3-night concept (hotel pricing reality check)
Squeeze documentary — Take Me I’m Yours (2012)

Listen here to Michael's debut album Oversharing With Strangers

Widow’s Bay Trailer (Apple TV)
Spider-Noir (Prime Video)

Episode 26 of On The Record is the first fully international edition—Brian Wise filing from Melbourne, Michael Mackenzie beaming in from the ancient fortified town of Monemvasia, deep inside the Peloponnese. The contrast isn't just geographic: Wise is braving Melbourne winter; Mackenzie is swimming in warm salt water off Byzantine fortress walls. 

The hate is, as he cheerfully acknowledges, entirely deserved.

Show Notes

RN's The Music Show: Miles Davis Centenary 

RN's The Music Show: Tribute To Sonny Rollins 

The Rolling Stones, Tracks Of My Years, with Vernon Kay 

It's Only Rock 'n' Roll - Ronnie Woods original home recording with David Bowie 

Ron Sexsmith - Don't Lose Sight (Official Video) 

Paul McCartney: 10 tracks defining his life including from Chuck Berry, Elvis, Prince & John Lennon 

Wilco Play 3 Nights in Marrakech - go into the comp to win the concert/hotel package 

The Boroughs | Official Trailer | Netflix 

"Spider-Noir" - Authentic Black & White Final Trailer | Prime Video

Episode 25 of On The Record with Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie begins where so many arguments in roots music eventually end up: Bob Dylan—specifically, the minor detail of him turning 85 (born 24 May 1941) and still looming over popular music like a sarcastic weather system.
Plus two streaming recommendations, a bit of tech talk, and Brian’s fave Beach Boys album gets exposure on a new tour.

Episode 24 of On The Record with Brian Wise and Michael Mackenzie opens not in a record shop or a green room, but in the unglamorous reality of domestic collapse: Brian’s gas hot water service fails, leaving him hunting for a plumber and waiting five days for resolution.

Musically, the emotional high point is a warm, informed appreciation of David Byrne. 

The hosts tip their hats to Byrne’s wider career, including his work with Brian Eno, particularly ** My Life in the Bush of Ghosts **, and note his recent appearance at Jazz Fest.

Show Notes

Legends | Official Trailer | Netflix 

Shetland On Iview 

Talking Heads - Road to Nowhere (Official Video)

Brian Eno -- David Byrne - My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts - A1 - America Is Waiting 

Brian Eno -- David Byrne - My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts - A4 - Help Me Somebody 

David Byrne with Choir! Choir! Choir! - Heroes 

Talking Heads – Psycho Killer (Official 4K Remastered Video, Live 1983) 

The Waterboys - Fisherman's Blues (High Quality)

Chris Franklin Doco on Spectrum's I'll Be Gone “Someday I’ll Have Money”

On The Record’s Episode 23 leans in to great songs, better stories, and the strange afterlife of pop careers.

Michael Mackenzie’s big night out is Split Enz at Rod Laver Arena, a reunion-sized crowd of “people in roughly our same demographic” packed into a venue that, he notes, holds 14,860. 

The gig itself? A triumph. Plus UK crime reviews and the long overdue recognition of The Zombies.

Show Notes

Split Enz Forever Enz Tour 

Bergerac Series 2 

Legends | Official Trailer | Netflix 

Hung Up On A Dream: The Zombies Documentary | Official Trailer | Utopia 

The Zombies - She's Not There 

The Zombies - Odessey And Oracle (2025 Mono Version) 

The Zombies Reveal the Real Story Behind “Time of the Season” | Hung Up on a Dream

On his final night in New Orleans, Brian Wise files a slightly frayed dispatch that captures Jazz Fest’s defining tension: a festival big enough to feel infinite, and a schedule brutal enough to make you choose your regrets in advance.

Episode 22 becomes a story about how festivals actually unfold—less like neat recaps and more like a sequence of weather calls, crowd-panics, and last-minute pivots.

With the festival reckoning done, the conversation swings to another kind of canon-building: Joni Mitchell. Sparked by a Mojo “top 50 songs” feature, the hosts trade favourites (Wise namechecks “Don Juan’s Reckless Daughter” and multiple Court and Spark staples, plus “Magdalene Laundries,” “Amelia,” and “River”), and Wise recalls seeing Mitchell at Jazz Fest in 1995, performing with her VG-8 guitar setup.

They also discuss an attention-grabbing industry development: a Joni Mitchell biopic being directed by Cameron Crowe, with Meryl Streep cast as the older Mitchell and Anya Taylor-Joy as the younger. The enthusiasm is tempered by a journalist’s instinctive question: can a close friend make an objective film?

Show Notes

Fred Wesley & The New J.B.'s | Live at Moods 

Isaiah Collier & The Chosen Few - Full Performance (Live on KEXP)  

Wilco - Impossible Germany with full solo recorded live at the Saenger Theatre May 2026

Mavis Staples Chicago May 3 2026 New Orleans Jazz Fest 

Herbie Hancock - Chameleon (Official Audio) 

Joni Mitchell's 50 Greatest Songs In The New MOJO! 

Little Feat - Spanish Moon (Official Music Video) 

By Episode 21, On The Record has moved beyond anticipation and into immersion. Brian Wise is no longer circling Jazz Fest—he’s in it, navigating its scale, its heat, and its constant, often punishing, decisions.

Broadcasting from the French Quarter, Wise paints New Orleans as it always is: chaotic, convivial and faintly surreal. One moment it’s a communal gumbo dinner with locals and visiting friends; the next, pre-dawn screams echo through the street—mercifully revealed to be part of a film shoot rather than something more sinister.

But Jazz Fest remains the centre of gravity. The conditions alone are a test: 30-degree heat, heavy humidity, and crowds pushing well beyond 80,000 across the main days. It’s a physical endurance exercise as much as a musical one, and Wise is candid about the toll—even for a seasoned attendee.

Show Notes

Brother Tyrone and The Mindbenders - 6/1/2025 - Maple Leaf Bar Live 

Nicholas Payton + Butcher Brown - “All Blues” (Official Live Performance) 

GA-20 - Naggin' On My Mind (with Charlie Musselwhite & Luther Dickinson)

Ani DiFranco: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert 

Joy Clark - Lesson (Official Music Video) 

Glen David Andrews - Medley: Iko, Iko & Right Place, Wrong Time 

Marcia Ball - They Don't Make Em Like That 

Things They Like To Do by Jon Batiste Swamp show New Orleans Jazz Heritage Festival April 26 2026 

Ron Carter: Tiny Desk (Home) Concert 

Lucinda Williams Bus To Baton Rouge (Album Version (New Mastering) 

Bob Dylan I've Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You : Beacon Theatre Mar 2022 

The Lowdown | Official Trailer | Ethan Hawke, Kyle MacLachlan, Keith David | FX 

Elvis Costello Meets Jeff Tweedy in Mojo

New Elvis Costello Boxset To Feature A Wealth Of Never Before Heard Punk Era Recordings 

Bruce Springsteen My City of Ruins (Live at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, 2006) 

Episode 20 of On The Record finds Brian Wise reporting in from the field—first Austin, then New Orleans—with the kind of on-the-ground detail that reminds you why festivals still matter, even as many struggle to survive.

There’s even time for a detour through Austin’s bookstores in search of Dylan literature—because some habits travel well.

Show Notes

Railroad Earth - Been Down This Road 

The Last Revel - Iron and Ore 

Billy Bright + Geoff Union Trio : "Fischer Flood Take 1" 

Shelby Means - "Million Reasons" 

Shinyribs - Bitch Better Have My Money (Rihanna) / Long Train Runnin' (The Doobie Brothers) 

RAYE: Tiny Desk Concert 

Goose - Elmeg The Wise - 4/10/26 Asheville, NC 

After the Flood: Inside Bob Dylan's Memory Palace Hardcover – by Robert Polito (Author) 

Old Settler’s Festival: An Austin Treat 

Episode 19 of On The Record kicks off with one foot in the present and the other firmly planted on the long tail of rock history—touching on new Rolling Stones material before sliding into an excerpt from Brian Wise’s recent interview with Mike Mattison of Tedeschi Trucks Band.

It’s a neat juxtaposition. 

From there, the episode turns toward what’s ahead, with Wise preparing to head to Austin and New Orleans. What really comes through is a sense of curiosity about what the trip will feel like this time around.

Show Notes

Tedeschi Trucks Band website 

Check out The Rolling Stones’ vinyl-only new single ‘Rough & Twisted’ as The Cockroaches

Listen to Michael's debut (and possibly last) album Oversharing With Strangers 

BRUNSWICK BALLROOM Presents MIKE RUDD DOCO + Q&A + LIVE BAND SHOW WITH GUEST ROSS WILSON - HOST BRIAN NANKERVIS 6:30 pm, Wed 20 May, 2026