BANG Produces Great American Songbook Podcast with Warner Chappell Music

Setting the Standard: Stories from the Great American Songbook is a new podcast from Warner Chappell Music, produced by BANG and partner production company, Audiation – the team behind WCM’s podcast “Final Sessions: Harry Nilsson’s Losst and Founnd.” The eight-part series explores the stories behind some of the most influential and treasured songs ever written - songs from the Great American Songbook. 

Launched October 25, the series offers a deep dive into the work and cultural history behind some of Broadway's best Golden Age songwriters, including Harry Warren, Johnny Mercer, Jule Styne, Yip Harburg, Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen and Lerner & Lowe.

Executive producer for BANG, Brian Jones, describes the project as, “...a deep dive into the most influential songs in American popular music and the writers who created them. From Moon River and Summertime to At Last and Somewhere Over The Rainbow, these are the songs that shaped our idea of what a singable melody is. Before the Beatles, there were these guys.”

Replete with key interviews from a bevy of cultural icons such as Billy Corgan, Michael Feinstein, and Alan Bergman, along with deep insights from the families and estates of the legends, this podcast grants the listener unparalleled access into the world of this formative era in music history.

Hosted by Joe Levy of Billboard, Rolling Stone, and VH1, each episode focuses on a different legendary songwriter or team, using historical sources intertwined with new interviews with scholars, critics, and family members to tell the stories of their lives, filtered through the lens of their most iconic songs.

The Harry Warren episode will kick off the series on October 25th with new episodes each week on all major streaming platforms.