David Byrne is the guest on the latest episode of the SmartLess podcast hosted by Jason Bateman, Sean Hayes, and Will Arnett. "I am truly starstruck," Arnett says in the introduction of his surprise guest. "This person's music has played a huge role certainly in my life and lots of people's lives ... This person is, quite honestly, it's rare that you get to say, living legend." You can hear their conversation here.

Ben LaMar Gay is on the latest episode of BBC World Service's Music Life, joining Angel Bat Dawid in conversation with Qur'an Shaheed and Dr. Adam Zanolini about the importance of not conforming and recognizing one's own gifts. You can hear it here.

The Magnetic Fields are guests on the latest episode of the Sonos podcast Music Is Everything! hosted by Elia Einhorn. Stephin Merritt, Claudia Gonson, and Sam Davol perform several songs and chat with Einhorn, who says: "I'll admit, dear listener, I was glad to be wearing a mask in the studio, not just for my safety, not just for their safety, but because my face absolutely crumbled a couple of times at the power of Stephin Merritt's lyrics and emotional delivery." You can hear the session here. The band will tour the US and Canada in April.

Mandy Patinkin was on The Economist's The Economist Asks podcast. He talks with host Anne McElvoy about his performing career, being an activist, and his becoming a social media sensation at home with his family during lockdown. "The difference between working with a gifted person and working with a genius. A genius opens the doors to everyone else's thoughts and opinions, asks questions," Patinkin says of working with Stephen Sondheim. "What he did, similar to Shakespeare in my opinion, is he turned darkness into light," You can hear their conversation here.

Vagabon (aka Laetitia Tamko) is the guest on the latest episode of the podcast Seek Treatment with Cat & Pat. She talks with hosts Catherine Cohen and Pat Regan, who ask three simple questions—"Who were you? Who are you? Who do you want to be?"—the answers to which lead the hosts to reply: "She contains multitudes." You can hear their conversation in the episode below.

Wilco's Jeff Tweedy and the members of Mountain Man—Amelia Meath, Alexandra Sauser-Monnig, and Molly Sarlé—talk with each other on the latest episode of the Talkhouse Podcast. "Somehow as if by magic," Talkhouse Executive Editor Josh Modell says of Mountain Man in his introduction, "their voices perfectly intertwined." You can hear the conversation here.

Jonny Greenwood is on the podcast Penderecki in Memoriam to talk with host Max Horowitz about his compositional work and his connection to that of the late Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki, with whom Greenwood released an album on Nonesuch in 2012. "What I responded to is the rule-breaking, partly," Greenwood says of Penderecki's music. "It was seeing that just because music is written on paper, it doesn't necessarily have to fit within the confines of written limitations. And suddenly you realize, anything is possible." You can hear the conversation here.

"One of my first dream guests was Rhiannon Giddens, who is one of my favorite musicians, a fantastic singer," Mark Bittman says of his guest, with Francesco Turrisi, on the podcast Food with Mark Bittman. "Her mission is to lift up people whose contributions to American musical history have previously been erased or ignored and to work toward a more accurate understanding of America’s musical origins. I’m giddy about Giddens’ music (sorry)." You can hear their conversation here.

Caroline Shaw is the guest on the latest episode of the podcast Conversations on Dance. She spoke with hosts Rebecca King Ferraro and Michael Sean Breeden, former Miami City Ballet dancers, at the 2021 Vail Dance Festival, about her music and composing for dance. You can hear their conversation here.

Devendra Banhart was the special surprise guest on the Halloween Spooktacular episode of Office Hours Live with Tim Heidecker. Once the Halloween costume comes off, they discuss some recent and favorite concert-going experiences, and Banhart—whom Heidecker calls "a genuine legend of the new millennium"—closes out the hour with a performance of "Weatherman," a song by Heidecker's group Heidecker & Wood. You can watch it here.

"Laurie Anderson Has a Message for Us Humans," Sam Anderson's New York Times Magazine feature on Laurie Anderson in last week's issue of the magazine, is today's episode of The Sunday Read from the Times podcast The Daily. Before reading his article, the writer conveys five questions Laurie Anderson had shared with him, "a sort of test that uses to figure out whether a piece that she's working on is good or not ... 'Is it complicated enough? Is it simple enough? Is it crazy enough? Is it beautiful enough? And finally, Is it stupid enough?' And I thought that was kind of a great criteria for proceeding with life, with whatever you are doing."

Lake Street Dive's Rachael Price and Mike Calabrese are on the Environmental Defense Fund's Degrees podcast, which has as its theme song the band's 2018 tune "Shame, Shame, Shame." They discuss the challenges of being a green band and the intersection of art and activism, including the climate-change focused song "Making Do," from their latest album, Obviously. "Full disclosure," says host Yesh Pavlik Slenk: "I have producers making sure I stay objective here, because Lake Street Dive is my very favorite band." You can hear their conversation here.