The Travelers Podcast with Brother Ali · Travelers Media

Hardest Period of My Life? We're Back!

·1 hr 39 min·5 clips

Ali says officials told him his 16-year-old daughter was being deported to Amsterdam by herself.

The pause was not planned. Brother Ali starts with the nerves around coming back, because coming back means saying why the podcast went quiet. The short version is brutal: he and his family have been through some of the hardest times of their lives. Touring made it worse. He talks about constant travel, no steady rhythm, and not having the space to record while people kept asking if he was okay. Even then, he does not let the story become only about him. He keeps saying his pain exists next to the larger suffering other people carry. The housing part gets messy fast. He says he learned that rent increases were supposed to happen in steps, with limits and a later point for renegotiation. He had not known his rights. The people raising the rent had gone far past what he says was allowed, while also describing their own hardship and promising not to do it again. An agent wanted him to take them to court. Ali says he did not want to bankrupt anyone or punish a couple as if they were a big company. He wants fairness, but he does not want cruelty. Then more keeps piling on: surgery, deportation, an earthquake, eviction, strained relationships, a painful tour, and a difficult tour manager all in the same season. It sounds almost unreal. The episode does not end in pure despair, though. He talks about performance, music, and a new creative opening that seems to bring him back to himself. The return feels tender and devotional. He leaves listeners with love, faith, and the sense that more will come when he has enough room to speak.

As heard by us

Honest, unsettled, and quietly generous.

Brother Ali comes back after an unannounced hiatus with a plainspoken account of why he stayed away: he and his family went through some of the hardest times of their lives, and he was touring hard without anything like a normal routine.

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Why you'd press play

You want Brother Ali's honest return after a long hiatus, with no gloss.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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