SongWriter Season 3 Kicks Off with Cheryl Strayed and Maia Sharp

Tift Merritt, George Saunders, Amanda Shires and Roxane Gay are featured in the return of the podcast series SongWriter.

New York City-based musician Ben Arthur’s music and storytelling podcast SongWriter is back for a third season featuring Roxane Gay, Mary Gauthier, Joyce Carol Oates, George Saunders, Toshi Reagon and others.

Over his career, Arthur has released nine full-length albums, published two novels, and written for The New York Times, Believer, Talkhouse and American Songwriter.

Each episode of SongWriter pairs an author who tells a story and a songwriter who performs a song written in response. Season 3’s first episode includes a letter from the celebrated advice column Dear Sugar read by bestselling author Cheryl Strayed (whose memoir Wild was made into a movie starring Reese Witherspoon), and a song by Maia Sharp. Sharp, who has written songs for Cher, Trisha Yearwood and Bonnie Raitt, tells Arthur how much Strayed’s writing meant to her during a difficult break-up, and performs the song “Always Good to See You.”

The third season premiered May 4, and a preview of the series and the featured guest list is available on Arthur’s website. His forthcoming EP is called Transmission.

Listen to the S3 premiere here.