Sound Off with Katy Henriksen features in-depth conversations about music that challenges the status quo, going deep with those sounds to explore creativity at the intersection of art, music, and literature, to dig into what that work and the people making it tell us about art and life in the 21st century.

-Episode One-

Lonnie Holley + Matthew E. White

on Broken Mirror: A Selfie Reflection

Season two kicked off June 22 with luminary Lonnie Holley, who released Broken Mirror: A Selfie Reflection with Matthew E. White. The amalgam of afro-futurism and cosmic southern funk make for a rollicking time for a juxtaposition for two artists that make for surprising collaborators. Holley, born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1950, has dedicated his life to improvisational creativity in the form of both sound and visual art. White, a Virginia-based producer and musician who’s worked with the likes of Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, Sharon Van Etten & the Mountain Goats.

-Episode Two-

Arooj Aftab on Vulture Prince

In this episode Arooj Aftab discusses her Grammy-winning recording Vulture Prince. Born in Saudi Arabia, Aftab moved back to her parents’ native Pakistan when she was 11 and eventually made her way to Berklee College of Music in Boston, before moving to New York City to find her way as a genre-blurring composer, bandleader and musician. The track “Mohabbat” won Best Global Music Performance in 2022 and also landed on a playlist of Barack Obama’s.

-Episode Three-

Guitarist Kaki King

In this episode I talk to the singular guitarist Kaki King, who frequently lands on those 100 top guitarist lists dominated by men. Rolling Stone once described her as “a genre unto herself.” I spoke to her around the release of Modern Yesterdays, her 9th studio album, out now on the most awesome Cantaloupe Music, a label founded by Bang on a Can composers Michael Gordon, David Lang and Julia Wolfe.

-Episode Four-

Pipa Virtuoso Wu Man

Today’s guest is pipa virtuoso Wu Man. She’s carved out such an impressive career collaborating with orchestras worldwide and through performing as a founding member of Yo-Yo Ma’s Silk Road Ensemble. Her list of wide ranging collaborations includes working with the Kronos Quartet. She’s an inspiration in what cross-cultural musical collaborations can be. Listen to find out why she ended up playing pipa, how she learned improvisation and more on her album Flow, a collaboration with shakuhatchi player Kojiro Umezaki.