Thao & The Get Down Stay Down's Thao Nguyen Debuts as the New Guest Host of Song Exploder

Thao Nguyen of the band Thao & The Get Down Stay Down debuts as the new guest host of Song Exploder today. Her first episode as host features Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter Hozier and legendary gospel singer Mavis Staples. In the episode, Hozier breaks down his hit song "Take Me to Church," and Staples tells the story of how she got involved with Hozier's 2018 song "Nina Cried Power"-listen here.

Recently Hrishikesh Hirway, creator of Song Exploder, stepped away from his duties as host of the podcast and revealed Nguyen as the guest host for the 2019 year. Hirway now serves as Executive Producer and Christian Koons as Producer. Song Exploder, which remains one of the most popular podcasts in the world, also recently debuted its 150th episode featuring Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac-listen here. The podcast ended its fifth year with a special episode with Yo-Yo Ma-listen here.

Song Exploder invites the audience to change the way they listen to music by hearing a recording deconstructed to uncover hidden details in the sounds and the creative process. The podcast has been streamed and downloaded over 50 million times. Previous podcast guests include Arcade Fire, Solange, Björk, U2, Janelle Monáe, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Lorde, Gorillaz, Metallica, Carly Rae Jepsen, The Roots and more. Song Exploder is part of PRX's Radiotopia podcast network, a collective of independently owned and produced podcasts that also includes top podcasts like 99% Invisible, Criminal, and Ear Hustle.

Hirway is also known for his own music work as a film composer and with his band The One AM Radio, and with MOORS, a collaboration with rapper/actor Lakeith Stanfield. Hirway recently scored the soundtrack of the Netflix original series Everything Sucks. Hirway lives in Los Angeles.

Nguyen is a San Francisco-based guitarist, singer-songwriter and leader of the band Thao & The Get Down Stay Down. Her 2016 album A Man Alive received critical praise from NPR, Pitchfork, USA Today, Salon, Noisey, Stereogum, Paste, Bust, Nerdist and more. Outside of her band, Nguyen has collaborated on projects with artists including Joanna Newsom, Mirahand Merrill Garbus. Nguyen has toured the world extensively, including a U.S. tour with WNYC's "Radiolab."