Caropop

Laura Benanti is a Tony Award-winning Broadway musical star who noticed some things while looking back on her life and career. She has channeled these observations—about being a perpetual people-pleaser and evolving from The Sound of Music-starring ingenue to a fortysomething singer, actor and mother—into a one-woman comedy-musical show Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares (which plays at Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theatre Aug. 6-9). Here she talks about how she created the material and co-wrote the songs, how different cities and audiences affect her performances, whether she grew up preferring singer-songwriters or musical soundtracks, how she connected with Stephen Colbert and crafted her Melania Trump impersonation on The Late Show, how she’d like to keep scratching her comedy itch, how television factors into her plans and what it might take to get her back onto a Broadway stage. (Photo by Heather Gershonowitz)

Michael Hampton earned the nickname Kidd Funkadelic as the hotshot guitarist who at age 17 joined the Funkadelic/Parliament universe after wowing P-Funk leader George Clinton with his rendition of Eddie Hazel’s epic “Maggot Brain” solo. Hampton eventually made “Maggot Brain” his own and turned in much more head-spinning guitar work, including on Funkadelic’s relentlessly funky “(Not Just) Knee Deep.” Hampton takes us along for the concurrent run of classic 1970s Parliament and Funkadelic albums, such as Funkentelechy vs. the Placebo Syndrome and One Nation Under a Groove. When he entered the studio, did he know which band's session it was? Was the scene as much of a party as it sounded like? Did that atmosphere help or get in the way or both? Hampton also discusses his new mini concept album, King Kong, and how, with and without P-Funk, he continues to make his guitar sizzle and sing. (Photo by Philip Samuel Smith)

Urge Overkill appeared to be riding high after the critical triumph of its 1993 album, Saturation, and the prominent appearance of its Neil Diamond cover, “Girl, You’ll Be a Woman Soon,” in Pulp Fiction in 1994. But by the time the alt-rock trio reunited with producers the Butcher Bros. to record the follow-up album, expectations and circumstances had changed. As singer-songwriter-guitarists Nash Kato and Eddie “King” Roeser recall here in stark detail, the two of them were in different places personally and musically, drummer Blackie Onassis was fighting his own demons, and an unhealthy environment developed around the Butcher Bros.’ new studio outside Philadelphia. Exit the Dragon, the resultant album that recently marked its 30th anniversary, is a dark, slithery, ragged work that has achieved a lasting power amid its tattered nerve endings. What happened here, and why did Exit the Dragon turn out to be the final Urge Overkill album featuring Kato, Roeser and the late Onassis? (Photo: Jerod Herzog)

Jason and the Scorchers (née Jason and the Nashville Scorchers) were cowpunk trailblazers before anyone was talking about alt-country or Americana. Frontman/songwriter Jason Ringenberg and his bandmates, including fiery guitarist Warner Hodges, infused country music with punk energy to thrilling effect. After EMI America signed the band and added its high-octane cover of Bob Dylan’s “Absolutely Sweet Marie” to its 1983 EP, Fervor, hopes were high. The first album, Lost & Found, generated rave reviews, yet when it came time to make the follow-up, the band had reached a pivot point. To mark the 40th anniversary of that second album, Still Standing, Ringenberg digs deep into the life-altering experience of making it and its aftermath. How did his songwriting change? Why did they hire Cheap Trick producer Tom Werman? Was the plan always to release a cover of the Rolling Stones’ “19th Nervous Breakdown” as the first single? How did Ringenberg get from a downstate Illinois farm to this point? Bonus: There are baby chicks. (Photo by Marty Howell)

Glenn Morrow owned and ran Bar/None Records for decades, signing acts such as They Might Be Giants, Yo La Tengo, Freedy Johnston, Alex Chilton, Ezra Furman and the Feelies. Morrow previously was a writer/editor at the influential punk/new wave magazine New York Rocker, and he fronted bands: “a” was the first to play at the late, great Maxwell’s in Hoboken; the Individuals boosted the power-pop scene; Rage To Live was Bar/None’s first signee; and Glenn Morrow’s Cry for Help, his current group, is about to release Our Final Album Vol. 1. Morrow reflects on his intertwining roles as journalist, label owner and musician. What made Maxwell’s such a special club? How did Bar/None seem like an extension of New York Rocker? How did he feel when Bar/None artists "graduated" to major labels? What’s next for this 70-year-old newly retired music executive still making music?