The Bad Penny (beta)

Yesterday saw the release of Sake of Stillness, the forever-in-the-works debut record by Built to Spill bassist Melanie Radford. Its poetic title reflects the care, time and patience the Boise musician put into an exquisite collection made available through Portland, Oregon’s Jealous Butcher Records.

The Bad Penny had never communicated with Radford, who now lives in Seattle and has a second band called Blood Lemon that started in 2018. That is, except for the time we obtained a quote from her in which she commented on Built to Spill’s performance at a Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez rally held in neighboring Nampa earlier this year.

So, after seeing Radford perform with various projects at various venues on various occasions over the years, we were revved up to pick her brain and finally get to know her what makes her tick. We had the opportunity to do so on Wednesday, and what follows is the bulk of our conversation.