Podcast Recommendation: Children of Song

Respected music journalist and country music authority, Robert K. Oermann hosts a wonderful podcast that I’ve been binging ever since I discovered it yesterday! Children of Song is a podcast where Oermann interviews music artists who grew up around music. They are often times, but not limited to, children of famous musicians. The interviews consist of interesting anecdotes, music shop talk and, best of all, impromptu singing by the artists being interviewed.

While there are a wide variety of artists featured on the podcast, I naturally gravitate toward the country and country adjacent musicians. There are interviews with Georgette Jones (daughter of George Jones), Holly Williams (daughter of Hank Williams Jr. and granddaughter of Hank Williams Sr.), Pam Tillis (daughter of Mel Tillis) and Dean Miller (son of Roger Miller). There are also interviews with artists who grew up around music, but didn’t necessarily have famous parents,most notably, Sara Evans, Angaleena Presley, Tanya Tucker, Pat Green, Gary Allan, etc. The most compelling episodes, however, are the interviews where musician child is interviewed along with musician parent, especially when the parent-child pair sing various songs together!

Out of the episodes that I have heard thus far, my favorites have been the interviews with Lorrie Morgan and her son, Jesse Keith Whitley, John Michael Montgomery and his son, Walker (whereupon I discovered that teenage Walker Montgomery has good taste in country music and is a stronger singer than both his father and his Uncle Eddie Montgomery of Montgomery Gentry), and a great interview with Angaleena Presley.

However, it should come as no surprise that my very favorite episode is the interview with Vince Gill and his daughter Jenny Gill. In this episode, we are reminded once again that Vince Gill is an emotional guy, especially when it comes to his daughter. They discuss Vince’s music, Jenny’s thoughts on what it was like to be the daughter of Vince Gill and Janis Oliver of Sweethearts of The Rodeo, Jenny’s music background and evolution and, most wonderfully, that Vince Gill cries each time that he sings with Jenny. As we heard first hand in the episode, each time that they sang part of a song together, Vince would become quite obviously emotional, which happens to be the sweetest thing ever!

As they concluded the episode by singing “You Are My Sunshine” together, which is the song that Vince and Jenny sang for Jenny’s Kindergarten talent show and the reason that Vince had to turn down his first official invitation to sing at the Grand Old Opry, both father and daughter cried. End Scene!