Michaela Anne, Aaron Shafer-Haiss
171 episodes listed below
Creative lives, after the applause.
The Other 22 Hours talks with musicians, authors, artists, and performers about the daily work behind a public creative life. The mood is warm and candid, with room for career stories, doubt, routines, exhaustion, gratitude, and hard-won perspective.
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The Other 22 Hours is a warm, reflective interview show about the creative life when nobody is clapping. Its center is not the album, the tour, the award, or the resume. It is the hours around those things. The conversations usually move from casual rapport into deeper questions about how an artist keeps working, keeps changing, and keeps some private self intact. Derek Trucks talks about mentorship, influence, and the strange shift from being the youngest player in the room to hearing younger musicians absorb his sound. Suzy Bogguss revisits industry competition, community, and a frantic awards-show moment that was misunderstood from the outside. Amythyst Kiah speaks with unusual clarity about the self-improvement loop, success envy, slowing down, and the relief of removing social media from her phone. S.G. Goodman brings the physical demands of touring and the business of a music career into the frame. Hunter Hayes turns routine and vulnerability into a conversation about identity beyond music. Butch Walker looks at ambition, ego, career reinvention, and staying open to the next version of the work. Kathleen Edwards reflects on quitting, returning, gratitude, and refusing to let music become a debt owed to anyone. The show has banter, but it is not built around bits. It has career detail, but it is not a promotional checklist. The stronger moments come when a guest names the cost of a life in art, then finds language for what still makes it worth choosing. There is an easy looseness to the room. There is also a clear interest in emotional survival, creative integrity, and ordinary routines. The result is a musician-friendly conversation series that feels useful for anyone building a life around making things. It is not sanitized. It is thoughtful, candid, and grounded in the practical mess of staying creative over time.
Made for: For musicians, artists, authors, performers, and serious fans who care about how creative careers are actually lived. It especially fits listeners drawn to candid conversations about endurance, doubt, routine, reinvention, and staying sane around art.
What sets it apart: The show spends less time on career milestones and more time on the interior and practical machinery behind them. Its artist-to-artist warmth lets guests move from backstage stories into larger truths about work, identity, and creative survival.
An exploration of the creative life, lived in the in-between. A sanctuary for the creative spirit in a results-obsessed world. Moving beyond the highlight reel, hosts and working musicians Aaron Shafer-Haiss and Michaela Anne facilitate intimate, artist-to-artist conversations with renowned musicians, authors, visual artists and actors about the grit required to sustain a life in the arts. From navigating doubt to finding stillness, this is the reality of the work. Unfiltered.
Based on 5 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Artist interviews turn career pressure, creative doubt and reinvention into candid lessons about sustaining a life in music.
The Other 22 Hours follows working artists past the public performance and into the decisions that sustain a career. Aaron Schaefer-Bates and Michaela Ann conduct artist interviews with an unusually practical line of questioning, linking creative identity to touring, ownership,…
A soundcheck poodle wanders in; you stay for the honest talk about sustaining an artist's life.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A guitar conversation about touring, influence, and how a career changes shape over time.
The episode follows Derek Trucks as he talks through the rougher edges of touring life, from Winnebago travel and shared Holiday Inn beds to the cleaner, more polished circuit that came later.
A chaotic CMA Awards moment opens into a clear look at misunderstanding and shared history.
It lands strongest when it stays inside a single chaotic CMA Awards dressing-room scramble and shows how easily a half-heard moment can be turned into something else.
A steady look at what matters once the chase stops feeling useful.
It moves from the hunger for success to a harder recognition: buzz, flattery, and attention do not last. The strongest passage treats self-improvement as something that can quietly harden into another kind of performance, where nutrition, fitness, and even meditation start…
Reinvention, framed as a practical act of survival.
Chely Wright and the hosts treat reinvention as a survival skill, not a branding exercise. The conversation moves from public identity into the harder work of letting go of the self you thought you had to keep, with family background, audience expectations, and sexuality all…
A clear-eyed look at artist leverage, ownership, and creative survival.
Yancey Strickler and the hosts circle a plain but stubborn point: creative work is part of the economy, culture, and power structure, not something separate from it.
Lauren Laverne asks one guest to pick eight songs and tell their life story.
South Dakota lives, service, and legacy.
Ord’s civic life, explained by its builders.
The episode centers on Derek Trucks and how a career keeps changing under your feet.
Folk Files moves from a chaotic CMA Awards dressing-room scramble to a longer memory about how labels and books can shape a public misunderstanding between artists.
The conversation turns on the strange cost of wanting more.
This episode features an interview with artist James Victore discussing radical integrity, questioning authority, and the creative process in the context of his career and personal journey.
This episode features an interview with singer-songwriter S.G.
Hosts Aaron Shafer-Haiss and Michaela Anne interview multi-platinum artist Hunter Hayes about the creative life, fear of stillness, and building a career from the inside out.
Hosts Aaron Shafer-Haiss and Michaela Anne interview musician Butch Walker about the realities of sustaining a creative career beyond the highlight reel.
Hosts Aaron Shafer-Haiss and Michaela Anne interview singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards about gratitude, taking breaks, and sustaining a creative career.
This episode features an interview with a representative from the United Musicians and Allied Workers organization, discussing advocacy for fair pay and rights for independent musicians.
Shelley Wright sits down with Aaron Schaefer-Hayes and Michaela Ann to talk about giving yourself permission to let go of who you thought you were.
Aaron and Michaela welcome Yancey Strickler for episode 126.
Hosts Aaron Shafer-Haiss and Michaela Anne interview musician Tammy Nielsen about her career, creative process, and experiences as a plus-sized mother in the music industry.
Hosts Aaron and Michaela interview musician Dan Reeder about his accidental career, disdain for daily songwriting, and upcoming Newport Folk Festival debut.
This episode explores the intersection of AI and creativity through a conversation with industry veteran Drew Thurlow, examining historical parallels like the polyphonic synth and discussing how artists can sustain careers in a changing technological landscape.
Hosts Aaron Shafer-Haiss and Michaela Anne interview Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Leslie Mendelson about her career journey, creative pacing, and building community.
This episode features an interview with Tammy Rogers, a founding member of The SteelDrivers, discussing her experiences in Nashville's music industry, collective bargaining, and the differences between studio work and touring.
Hosts Aaron Shafer-Haiss and Michaela Anne interview illustrator Carissa Potter about showing up in person to sell her work and the practical realities of building a creative career.
This episode features an interview with Amanda and Abner of Johnnyswim, exploring how artists can expand their definition of success, prioritize recharging, and find joy beyond narrow career focuses.
Hosts Aaron Shafer-Haiss and Michaela Anne interview singer-songwriter Drew Holcomb about his career journey, including a $20,000 mistake and the value of having a team that loves your music.
This episode features an interview with Bandcamp Editorial Director J Edward Keyes discussing how independent artists can sustain careers, the role of platforms in the music industry, and the importance of human connection over algorithms.
Hosts interview singer-songwriter Greta Morgan about her career, long COVID, and losing her singing voice.
Hosts Aaron Shafer-Haiss and Michaela Anne interview musician Seth Walker about his upbringing, creative journey, and sustaining a life in the arts.
Hosts Aaron Shafer-Haiss and Michaela Anne interview singer-songwriter Caitlin Smith about her career, songwriting, and transition from major label to independent artist.
Hosts Aaron Shafer-Haiss and Michaela Anne interview musician Bear Reinhart (Wilderwoods) about his creative process, prolific songwriting, and balancing multiple projects.
Hosts Aaron Shafer-Haiss and Michaela Anne interview illustrator and muralist Darren Thomas McGee about balancing creativity with the business side of art, including the role of social media.
Hosts Aaron Shafer-Haiss and Michaela Anne interview musician Laurie Berkner about sustaining a creative career, balancing business and artistry.
Hosts Aaron and Michaela interview singer-songwriter Denison Whitmer about balancing creativity with life responsibilities.
Hosts Aaron Shafer-Haiss and Michaela Anne interview children's book author and illustrator Marla Frazee about her creative journey and the 25-year process behind one of her books.
Hosts Aaron Shafer-Haiss and Michaela Anne celebrate their 100th episode with an interview with renowned musician and author Roseanne Cash, discussing creativity and the artistic life.
Hosts Aaron Shafer-Haiss and Michaela Anne interview musician Fancy Haygood about his journey from being signed and dropped by a major label to finding success as an independent artist.