The Cowboy Philosopher
5/11/20261 hr 29 min
In 2009, an old man died in a California nursing home. His obituary included not just his given name, but a long list of the pseudonyms he’d been known to use. In this classic 2019 episode, we trace the life of Riley Shepard, a hillbilly musician, writer, small-time con man and, perhaps, a genius. Then, on Your Questions Answered, psychologist Leslie John returns to answer your questions about when to share a secret, and when to keep it to yourself.
You can find an online version of Riley Shepard's Encyclopedia of Folk Music here.
There's a powerful tool almost all of us overlook when we're trying to improve a work project or help our kids with their homework. Learn more in this video on our new YouTube channel!
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsShankar Vedantam· Host0:00
[music playing] This is Hidden Brain. I'm Shankar Vedantam. Today's episode begins in a subterranean labyrinth. It's 2018, and we're below the streets of Washington, D.C. I've come here in search of clues.
Steve Winick· Guest0:13
So here we are in deck 50 in the stacks of the Library of Congress. I'm opening a door that's marked door 20.
Shankar Vedantam· Host0:20
My guide through the Library of Congress's massive collection is a tall, shaggy man. His name is Steve Winick. He looks a lot like Hagrid from Harry Potter, which seems about right for someone with the title of folklorist. Steve has already led me through a maze of low-ceiling stacks, across a small bridge, and into a tiny elevator where the floor numbers go up as we move down. Finally, we arrive at our destination.
Steve Winick· Guest0:48
And in here we find row upon row of collection boxes on the shelves, and I'm looking for this collection, which is numbered AFC 1979 008.
Shankar Vedantam· Host1:02
Steve pulls from the shelf a cardboard box.
Steve Winick· Guest1:06
Nobody's really used this collection very much, so it's simply, you know, been there waiting for, for you, really.
Shankar Vedantam· Host1:13
[music playing] The author of this collection is Richard Riley Shepard, a small-time crook and con man who died in 2009. I've been tracking Riley Shepard for a few months. My assumption is that there's nothing of significance in the box,