Best Of: Record producer Peter Asher / Romance writer Kennedy Ryan
7/11/202649 min
Record producer and manager Peter Asher discovered James Taylor and launched Carole King’s career. Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote “I Want to Hold Your Hand” in his family’s basement. He spoke with Terry Gross about having a front-row seat to some of the biggest moments in recording history.
Also, romance novelist Kennedy Ryan talks about how she fell for the genre in middle school, even though her mother, a preacher, didn't approve. Ryan’s best-selling books center on people who are usually at the margins – Black women, queer women, and women with chronic illnesses and disabilities.
TV critic David Bianculli has a review of the ‘Little House on the Prairie’ remake.
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First 90 secondsSpeaker 10:00
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Tonya Mosley· Host0:15
[soft music] From WHYY in Philadelphia, this is Fresh Air Weekend. I'm Tonya Mosley in Los Angeles. Today, we hear from the man who's been described as the Forrest Gump of rock and roll, Peter Asher. He discovered James Taylor and launched Carole King's career. Paul McCartney and John Lennon wrote "I Want To Hold Your Hand" in his family's basement. The new documentary about Asher is Everywhere Man. Also, romance novelist Kennedy Ryan talks about how she fell in love with the genre in middle school, even though her mother, a preacher, didn't approve. Ryan read them anyway and hid the evidence.
Kennedy Ryan· Guest0:55
Hundreds of romance novels, like, hidden at the back of my closet behind clothes, and it wa- and it was, like, in m- literally in my 30s when I was like, "You know when you told me to stop reading romance novels? I didn't" [laughs].
Tonya Mosley· Host1:07
And TV critic David Bianculli has a review of the Little House on the Prairie remake. That's coming up on Fresh Air Weekend.
Speaker 41:15
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