The Volume Knob

Nov 20 2024 114 ep. 21 mins 10
The Volume Knob Podcast artwork

The Volume Knob is the songs that saved your life. Every Monday, host Keith Serry asks his guests to tell the story of how music changed, inspired, soothed and moved them. The result is a music show that's less about chorus and verse and more about the ways that music makes us feel. The results are sometimes heartbreaking, sometimes side-splitting and always relatable.

  Society & Culture  Music
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Juanita: There is a Light that Never Goes Out

Nov 20 2024 18 mins  
It wasn't supposed to end this way, but Juanita is crying under the piss-stained high school bleachers rather than on stage with her twin sister, receiving her diploma. Left wondering what could have been, she spends a moment listening to the Smiths in her earphones, thinking hard about what it could become.

Jesse: Waiting For You

Jul 23 2024 14 mins  
How do you define yourself? For a long time, Jesse was the guy who made himself happy by being helpful to others. He even had an award for it: The Most Helpful Boy, he won it in 8th grade. After an accident, Jesse has to ask himself who he is if he isn't the guy making others happy.

Jonathan: Viva La Vida

Jun 25 2024 19 mins  
"Fuck you, Coldplay! You left ME!" Susan has left Jonathan and that's just the start of it. He's lost himself and his creativity and he has to find wisdom in, of all places, the bathroom of a Whole Foods in Venice. Jonathan's story is brilliantly weighted, deeply vulnerable and one of the best-performed pieces I've ever had on the show.

Meg: Just Friends

May 05 2024 14 mins  
Meg's dad recorded with The Bird, but not according to the liner notes. They called him "oboe unknown." Her story is a lovely series of snapshots, a reminder that people stay with us, in many ways, long after they're gone.

Greg: Suddenly

Apr 21 2024 13 mins  
Greg's 15. The new kid at a new school. He's "got a girlfriend in Canada". Then he meets Joe and an 80s John Hughes story begins all to the sounds of Billy Ocean's Suddenly.

John: Let it Be

Apr 08 2024 17 mins  
Some moms think that their kids are destined for great things. John's mom was convinced he was the King of Kings. This week's episode is about mental illness. It's also about faith and belonging and the layers of meaning that can come through a song, and a parent's love.

Aida: Last Day of our Acquaintance

Dec 17 2023 19 mins  
Sweaty palms. Forgetting the words. It's the nightmare of anyone who's ever been on stage, or anyone who's ever dreamed of it. Aida had a solution to her own stage fright. David. He was beside her when they performed. He showed her how easy it could be. But what would it be like on stage when David was gone?

Frank: Mama, I'm Coming Home

Nov 05 2023 25 mins  
It's Christmas time, but Frank doesn't celebrate. There is still something to celebrate, though. Frank's wife is about to give birth to their first born child. A daughter named Mathilde. That said, it's not going to be an easy holiday season for Frank, his wife, and their daughter at the fancy celebrity hospital in Beverley Hills.

Gastor: Billionaire

Oct 15 2023 25 mins  
Parenting is hard. Obviously, right? But the challenges of being a good dad are often different than those of being a mom. Gastor's story is about living in that challenge. Trying to get close to his newborn son any way he can, Gastor ends up finding connection in the strangest of places (and via the foulest of language).

Dan: Colors and the Kids

Sep 24 2023 24 mins  
Dan is living in a world of yellow and always feeling blue. One night, he heads into the city to try and see a concert, but its sold out so he shares a story with a friend and learns how hard it is when you want to say "Hi! I love you," to everybody.