We finally get around to discussing AI-generated music in this episode. And please be warned, we are PISSED. Which is worse: white artists making racist content, or large language models generating imitations of country music? We have plenty of smoke for both culprits. We encourage our listeners to get way more fired up against AI, and to make connections between the violence of imperialism and the cultural theft accelerated by AI. What is authentic country music? What happened to bro country? Who is a real country artist? Who gets to define culture during moments of historic inflection? What, if anything, did we learn from Lil Nas' X's meteoric rise to stardom? And what's radio got to do with it?

Hey, we're just as excited about the rebooted Reading Rainbow as the next podcast. And we put our love of learning on display by sharing some of the cute slash radical insights from our "Why Should Musicians Organize?" zine. Counting down the hot takes contained in the zine, hosts Nathan and Lizzie encourage our musician community to radicalize lest the nepo babies triumph. We don't have to suffer. We make the culture. We bear no responsibility for Toby Keith's death! Lizzie has hope for a socialist matriarchal future and yelling "ick!" is a part of how we get there. Nathan wants you to dig into the roots of roots music, because what feels inevitable now is actually the result of intentional decisions. Organize or be organized, baby.

Lizzie and Nathan open with musician Carsie Blanton’s arrest and release after joining the Freedom Flotilla, tracing what real-deal solidarity looks like when tours, tickets, and livelihoods collide with movement work. From there, we explore the inconvenient practice of collective action, why small refusals matter, and how “convenience” tech trains us to be thoughtless. Also: a Columbus movie-night fail (Freaky Friday was not the plan), a van that won’t start, and Nathan's crash-out (well, sorta).