Every week, we sit down with an acclaimed and venerable songwriter to intimately discuss what happens behind closed doors in the music industry. There are millions of singers, thousands of artists, and only 40 top songs per genre at a time... this podcast is about the people who make them. Produced by Joe London & Ross Golan in association with Big Deal Music & Mega House Music. And The Writer Is... ™
Discover shows related to And The Writer Is...with Ross Golan, based on actual content similarities. Explore podcasts with similar topics, themes, and formats, backed by real data.
Ep. 270: Miranda Lambert | How She Keeps Writing Country Hits 20 Years In
Tuesday, October 27, 2026 • Duration 01:17:50
Today’s guest is a three-time GRAMMY-winning singer, songwriter and producer behind some of country music’s biggest songs.
Across more than two decades, she’s built a career on honest stories, unmistakable songs and doing things her own way.
And The Writer Is… Miranda Lambert!
Recorded live at Casa Rosa in Nashville, Miranda joins Ross to tell the stories behind “Kerosene,” “Gunpowder & Lead,” “The House That Built Me,” “Mama’s Broken Heart,” “Vice” and “Tin Man.”
She shares how she co-wrote “Choosin’ Texas” with Ella Langley, why she gave Steve Earle half the credit for “Kerosene,” and why some of the most important songs in her set weren’t written by her.
And The Writer Is… is presented by Amazon Music and SONA.
Listen on Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/bfeec5ec-e02d-43eb-917c-5d4e182eadb4/and-the-writer-is-with-ross-golan
CHAPTERS
00:00 Introducing Miranda Lambert
00:56 Writing Choosin’ Texas with Ella Langley
05:21 Finding New Song Ideas After So Many Albums
06:36 Chris Stapleton and a New Retro Sound
08:47 Songwriting Retreats and Creative Chemistry
16:35 Learning the Craft in Texas Honky-Tonks
21:37 Nashville Star and Her Mom’s Wake-Up Call
25:06 Casa Rosa: A Place for the Girls
27:30 Kerosene, Steve Earle, and Doing It Her Way
33:42 The Stories Behind Gunpowder & Lead
36:52 Revolution and The House That Built Me
42:24 Writing Over You with Blake Shelton
45:03 Mama’s Broken Heart and Outside Songs
49:49 Building Platinum
53:55 Somethin’ Bad with Carrie Underwood
57:54 The Weight of These Wings and Vice
1:02:55 Writing Tin Man
1:06:01 Wildcard, the Love Junkies, and Bluebird
1:08:47 Life Off the Road and Writing on Zoom
1:13:08 Palomino and a Changing Music Business
1:14:52 Letting Go of Expectations and Staying Yourself
Join the ATWI Patreon for monthly Zoom hangs, demo feedback, special guests and access to 200+ archived audio episodes: https://www.patreon.com/andthewriteris Subscribe for more conversations with the songwriters behind the songs.
Ep. 269: RAYE | How She Escaped Her Record Deal and Became a Superstar
Episode 269
Tuesday, October 20, 2026 • Duration 01:31:24
Today's guest is the British singer-songwriter behind “Escapism.” and “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!”
After seven years in a record deal without releasing her debut album, she went independent, landed a UK No. 1 and won six BRIT Awards in one night.
This is the story of how she found her own way to succeed—and brought her people with her.
And The Writer Is... RAYE!
In this episode, we get into:
• Signing a record deal at 17, having hits, and still being unable to release her debut album.
• The album called “too risky,” the partner who backed it, and “Escapism.” changing everything.
• Bringing her family and band into the success, and demanding fairer treatment for songwriters.
• Her full writing process, early “Click Clack Symphony.” demos, and nine hours on the “WHERE IS MY HUSBAND!” bridge. and much more.
Hit subscribe and turn on notifications. Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.
Join us on Patreon: patreon.com/andthewriteris
Follow us on socials: @andthewriteris
A special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible.
Our lead sponsor, NMPA — the National Music Publishers' Association. Your support means the world to us.
PRS for Music — supporting songwriters, composers and publishers. Find out more: https://www.prsformusic.com/join
And @splice — the best sample library on the market. Period. Have you tried variations yet?
CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
1:10 Making music and touring with her family
Ep. 268: Ilya Salmanzadeh | How The Swedes Cracked Hit Songwriting and Why Most People Won't
Tuesday, October 13, 2026 • Duration 02:04:58
Today's guest is the Swedish producer and songwriter behind "Problem," "Into You," "Love Me Like You Do," "No Tears Left To Cry," "Santa Tell Me," and "Unholy,".
He finally sits down with Ross for an And The Writer Is interview ten years in the making.
He taught himself to make music from a demo CD that came in a cereal box.
A radio singing contest got him discovered, and he signed a publishing deal at 17.
It then took him ten years to land his first real hit. He tells Ross how a year of playing FIFA with Shellback led to Wolf Cousins, and what Max Martin's famous "math" actually is.
If you've ever wondered how the biggest pop songs of the last decade actually get finished, this one's for you
And The Writer Is... Ilya Salmanzadeh!
JOIN THE ATWI PATREON
Monthly Zoom hangs, demo feedback, special guests and 200+ archived audio episodes (Charli XCX, Sabrina Carpenter, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Shania Twain, Babyface and more):
Patreon.com/andthewriteris
THANKS TO OUR SPONSOR SPLICE
Try Variations in the Splice Sounds plugin. It makes new versions of any Splice sample with a different structure, key and BPM, and the original creators get paid every time.
Splice.com
CHAPTERS
0:00 Cold open: what Max Martin's "math" really means
1:32 Welcome Ilya Salmanzadeh
3:12 What MXM is: "like Real Madrid signed me"
4:46 Jantelagen: why Swedes won't brag
9:57 Born in Iran, raised in Denmark
16:22 A cereal-box CD and teaching himself music
Ep. 267: YG Opens Up. Bad Deals, Hit Records, and a Midlife Crisis
Tuesday, October 6, 2026 • Duration 01:36:46
Today’s guest is a multi-platinum rapper and songwriter who took Compton to the charts and gave the world “My Hitta,” “Who Do You Love?” and “Big Bank.”
From his debut album My Krazy Life to collaborations with Drake, Nipsey Hussle, and Nicki Minaj, he’s built a catalog that’s done serious damage to club speakers. Now, with The Gentlemen’s Club, he’s getting personal and reminding everyone there’s a storyteller behind the hits.
And The Writer Is…
YG!
In this episode we go deep on:
- The inspiration behind his new album
- The Def Jam singles deal with five album options: "I could have sued everybody"
- What he'd tell an 18-year-old holding a label offer
- Why having a catalog doesn't mean you own it
- What a YG session looks like: tequila, "next beat," and a BPM in his head
- How "FDT" got made with Nipsey, and why Def Jam wouldn't release it
- The night Nicki said "don't put this out without me"
- "Who Do You Love?": three months, hook writers, and Drake telling him to do it himself
And much more...
Hit subscribe and turn on notifications.
Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.
Follow us on socials: @andthewriteris
A special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible.
Our lead sponsor, our Patreon!
Patreon.com/andthewriteris
And @splice — the best sample library on the market. Period.
Ep. 266: Tinashe’s Guide to Making It on Your Own Terms
Tuesday, September 29, 2026 • Duration 01:18:09
Today’s guest is a singer, songwriter, producer and dancer who has spent her career trusting her own instincts—and building a world around them.
From “2 On” to “Nasty” and “No Broke Boys,” Tinashe has kept releasing music through major-label deals, independent projects and viral breakthroughs.
She’s collaborated with artists including Calvin Harris, Charli xcx and Kaytranada, and joins us to talk about the journey behind it all.
And The Writer Is... Tinashe!
Hit subscribe and turn on notifications.
Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.
Follow us on socials: @andthewriteris
A special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible.Splice, the best sample library on the market, period.
and our lead sponsor, our Patreon page!
We're still giving away free Universal Audio Recording Gear in our next zoom hang.
Join us on Patreon: patreon.com/andthewriteris
CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
0:46 Tinashe and Ross reconnect—back to The Stunners
3:48 “Deep in the Night”—the song she wrote at five
5:08 Tinashe’s French fry rankings
6:12 Child acting, Whoopi Goldberg, and moving to LA
9:11 Life in a girl group without creative control
11:22 Buying a microphone and building a bedroom studio
14:10 Getting signed—and expecting it to be easy
18:40 Join the ATWI Patreon
19:32 Splice: Sounds and Variations
Ep. 265: How Remi Wolf Built Her Career: Study the Greats, Take the Gig, Say Yes
Tuesday, September 22, 2026 • Duration 01:36:26
Today’s guest is one of the most unmistakable voices in modern pop — an artist, songwriter and producer who has built a career by making music that sounds like nobody else. Her catalog has passed two billion global streams. She’s played top billing at festivals including Coachella, Lollapalooza and Outside Lands, opened for Olivia Rodrigo, Lorde and Paramore, and collaborated with artists including Nile Rodgers, Beck, Dominic Fike and Sylvan Esso.
And The Writer Is... Remi Wolf!
In this episode, we get into
- The USC training that rebuilt her voice
- Waiting tables and taking Craigslist gigs while building a career
- The 30-minute session behind “Photo ID,”
- Industry lessons for every artist to take notes on...
and much more.
Hit subscribe and turn on notifications. Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.
Join us on Patreon: patreon.com/andthewriteris
Follow us on socials: @andthewriteris
A special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible.
Our lead sponsor, NMPA — the National Music Publishers' Association. Your support means the world to us.
CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
0:40 “You can’t teach tone” — how Remi found hers
2:13 USC: “We’re going to beat you down until you feel like you’re nothing”
6:15 Fourteen, busking the Bay Area, and writing songs in Chloe’s kitchen
13:40 “Carousel” — the first song she ever wrote
15:41 A substitute teacher, an apartment, and her first recording
And The Update Is...Ella Langley Makes Billboard History, UMG Sues DistroKid & Songwriters Fight for Healthcare
Ep. 264: How Aaron Dessner Became an Industry Favorite and the 3AM Text That Became 'folklore'
Episode 264
Tuesday, September 15, 2026 • Duration 01:22:03
Today's guest is a musician's musician who co-founded The National, the Grammy-winning band behind Boxer, High Violet and Sleep Well Beast.
He co-wrote and produced Taylor Swift's folklore and evermore, including cardigan and willow. folklore won Album of the Year at the Grammys.
He worked on The Tortured Poets Department and produced Ed Sheeran's Subtract.
He's behind Gracie Abrams' I Love You, I'm Sorry and Noah Kahan's Porch Light.
In the last year alone, he's made records with Mumford & Sons, Florence + the Machine, Brandi Carlile, Sam Barber, Kevin Morby and Suki Waterhouse.
He's one half of Big Red Machine with Bon Iver's Justin Vernon.
And he built Long Pond, the Hudson Valley studio where many of these songs were made.
And The Writer Is... Aaron Dessner!
Hit subscribe and turn on notifications. Every week, we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.
Follow us on socials: @andthewriteris
A special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible.
Amazon Music for Songwriters. Your support means the world to us.
And SONA — Songwriters of North America. If you write songs, join them. They fight for us.
0:00 Intro
1:00 Cardigan, willow, Porch Light — and eight albums in a year
5:26 Why "I Love You, I'm Sorry" was never the single
7:27 Secretly rooting for the weird song
8:17 When a pop star needs a single right now
10:25 Don't fill the space: how he walks into a session
Ep. 263: Ziggy Marley on Family Rules for Life, Music, and Success
Episode 263
Tuesday, September 8, 2026 • Duration 01:03:48
Today's guest is a Grammy-winning songwriter, bandleader and activist who has spent four decades inside the most famous name in reggae — but whose real story isn't the inheritance. It's the set of rules underneath it, the ones the family actually lives by, which turn out to have almost nothing to do with music.
And The Writer Is... Ziggy Marley!
Subscribe to our channel and follow us on socials @andthewriteris Every week we go deep with the most interesting creatives in music.
A special thank you to our sponsors for making these conversations possible.
Our lead sponsor, NMPA — the National Music Publishers' Association. Your support means the world to us.
And @splice — the best sample library on the market. Period.
Chapters:
0:00 He inherited a legacy and built a voice of his own
0:45 Why reggae heals
4:53 What makes the Marley family so consistent
6:43 Seven kids, and the family business that isn't music
8:36 Why the whole album is tuned to 432
12:32 The one song he left at 440
16:06 What makes this album different from the other fifteen
18:11 Finishing the songs before going into the studio
20:37 Why he wrote "Many Mourn For Bob" 45 years later
24:54 Umbrella or shadow: being a Marley
26:39 The funeral, and the drive to Nine Miles
30:54 NMPA + Splice
33:15 Breaking the four-bar on "Racism"
36:03 "It sounds light, but it's heavy underneath"
7:38 What happened to her grandfather's songs
9:49 Ad: PRS for Music
11:09 Ad: Splice 12:16
Ross's stolen-song story and the line between influence and theft
17:33 Who deserves a songwriting credit?
19:52 Why songwriters deserve fees and master points
25:29 The power to say no and protect your splits
28:50 Advice for young writers: choosing your battles and avoiding comparison
33:18 Writing her first song at seven
36:48 The BRIT School and finding her voice
42:21 Subscribe to And The Writer Is
42:50 Jazz freedom and her first music-industry reality check
47:13 The dance hits that came with conditions
48:17 Signing her record deal at 17
54:26 Seven years, hit records and still no debut album
56:33 Going independent and the Escapism. breakthrough
1:02:56 Ice Cream Man. and finding strength through music
1:08:15 The BRIT Awards night she still has not watched back
1:10:38 Making THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE. on her own terms
1:12:38 Playing the early Click Clack Symphony. demos
1:14:53 Why she writes with Auto-Tune
1:17:15 Title first: heels, lyrics and theatrical melodies
1:18:48 Nine hours on the WHERE IS MY HUSBAND! bridge
1:21:19 Getting bigger without trying to please everyone
1:23:30 Who is Suzanne? Picking a song for every mood
