The Mike Reid and Joe Henry Interview: Their Collaborative Album "Life & Time"

Today on AmericanaMusic.com Podcast with fall rolling in and football on many American television screens and devices, it’s only fitting that we start today’s podcast introducing a  first draft pick for the Cincinnati Bengals. He was also part of NFL’s elite All Pro in 72 and 73. He later retired from football in 1980 to pursue songwriting. That songwriter is Mike Reid, half of the duo we are interviewing today which also includes Joe Henry. Besides his own number one hit of “Walk on Faith”, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Famer, Mike Reid, has written countless monster hits for country music artists including Ronnie Milsap, Conway Twitty, Don Williams, The Judds, Alabama, Kenny Rogers, Tim McGraw, the gigantic hit for Bonnie Raitt “I Can’t Make You Love Me”, and that’s only scratching the surface. 

The other half of the duo Joe Henry has penned 16 critically acclaimed solo albums and is a GRAMMY-winning producer and has produced for artists Solomon Burke, Elvis Costello, Allen Toussaint, Julian Lage, and Bonnie Raitt. 

Together through the label Thirty Tigers they have just released a collaborative album called “Life and Time” and we are so excited to have them on our show. 

Chapters

• 0:15 Mike Reid Introduction
• 0:55 Joe Henry Introduction
• 1:23 Story Behind the Collaboration
• 5:38 Agency to the Mystery
• 7:11 Symbolism in Songwriting
• 10:12 Summon to Participate
• 13:03 "Sleeper Car"
• 17:58 "The Bridge"
• 19:32 Bonnie Raitt on the Song
• 20:47 Turning Poetry into Song
• 24:48 Title Track "Life and Time"
• 29:50 "I Can't Make You Love Me" Secret Chord
• 31:17 The Gift of Mistakes
• 32:06 The Recipe for Greatness
• 34:50 Outro