115: New Release of A Podcast About Riley

Today is Monday, May 11th, 2026. I don't use AI to write my blogs. Do I need an editor? Yes... yes I do. But AI is not something I'll be using here. If I work with an editor, it will be some brilliant person, some human who understands what I'm trying to do here. Special thanks to all the people I've worked with here in Seattle: Jennie Shortridge, Joe Guppy, and Peter Mountford (Peter has a new book out called "Detonator" and it's brilliant.)

In Riley news: Last week, I was contacted by Tara Boyle, the producer of the "Hidden Brain" podcast, and she said they wanted to release the "Cowboy Philosopher" episode again.

"Hi Stacya,

Greetings from the Hidden Brain team -- I hope you've been doing well in the years since we spoke. I'm reaching out because we're thinking of rebroadcasting our story about your dad, and I wanted to see if there are any updates we should include re: the encyclopedia or anything else you'd like us to know. 

This episode remains one of my absolute favorites, and I'm excited that we'll be able to bring it to new and different listeners. Thanks for your time, and all the best to you and yours..."

I asked if they could make some changes, as in the original 2019 broadcast, a claim was made that Riley Shepard's "Encyclopedia of Folk Music" was sent to the Country Western Hall of Fame in Nashville, and the rest sent to The Buck Owens Museum in Bakersfield, California. I suspected that wasn't the case, and after the show aired I picked up the phone and called the museums, and they knew nothing about that part, but both curators said they loved "The Cowboy Philosopher" episode.

Guess what? They took that part out! Fact checking is super cool! The episode they re-released today has a great sound to it, almost as if they were able to enhance the sound somehow. They've also added updates.

"We're releasing the podcast episode on Monday, and it will air on our public radio show across the country the following week. (We're now on more than 425 stations, including WNYC, so a much bigger radio audience than when we first released it). Given how long it's been since we first released it, I think we can expect that most people hearing it on both podcast and radio will be new listeners. It'll be interesting to see if you hear from anyone else who might be able to fill in more of your dad's story."---- Tara

The new and improved "Cowboy Philosopher" episode aired only a few hours ago, and I hope you can listen and share the episode wherever you do social media. The more the story moves to new listeners, the more information I seem to get! Plus the team at Hidden Brain included updates, stuff that's happened since the show first aired.

Since the show will be reaching new audiences, I hope to find more people who knew him or have stories to share. If you'd be so kind as to share the new and improved episode wherever you are on social media, I'd really appreciate it. Here's the link to Hidden Brain's "The Cowboy Philosopher".

Because of my project–– gathering information and spreading what I've learned/figured out, I keep meeting new people who are generous enough to share what they've found. Recently, Matt Marble, who focuses on the spiritual/paranormal perspectives on music, (wild, right? Who knew that was a thing?) sent me the music on the album, pictured below:

It was a blast to listen to it. "Words From Heaven" is a religious album I'd never heard before. These albums crack me up a little, because my father was pretty hostile towards religion... in private, anyways. He was an atheist.

Matt says this album is a hard to find one, so thank you, Matt.

Also, the quote I was told they were going to use in the follow up for the Hidden Brain podcast was this:

"Growing up, all my father's friends said he was a genius. Now, I find that tiresome, but it makes for a good story."

The Hidden Brain folks changed that to this: "More recently, we reached back out to Stacya, and she said she remains skeptical of the idea that her father was a genius." Which isn't what I said, or what I meant. What I mean is, the story of the misunderstood genius is one that people love, but I don't love that story as much. However, there's a longer version coming out on Saturday, May 16th, 2026, so we'll see more updates in that second release.

Ok! That's it for now. Please share the show with everyone. We all here, all my half-siblings and friends still hope the story will be made into a film one day, and the more reach the story has, the better!