This Stevie Wonder Podcast Features the Obamas, Questlove, and Berklee Professor

02/10/2024

This Stevie Wonder Podcast Features the Obamas, Questlove, and Berklee Professor Berklees Rick McLaughlin talks to host Wesley Morris on The Wonder of Stevie, a seven-episode podcast on Stevie Wonders iconic music.

By

Tara Bellucci

October 1, 2024

Thomas Hawk/Flickr

Ready for a deep-dive into Stevie Wonder? Released in September, The Wonder of Stevie is a seven-episode podcast that explores the iconic songs of the music legend. Focusing on the five albums released from 1972 to 1976, the podcast is hosted by Pulitzer-winning culture critic Wesley Morris and produced by Barack and Michelle Obama's Higher Ground Productions with Audible, Questlove's Two One Five Entertainment, and Stevie Wonder himself.

Rick McLaughlin, who teaches The Music of Stevie Wonder class at Berklee, is a guest on episode 2, Talking Book, about the album of the same name. McLaughlin tells Morris about the experience of waiting in line to buy the album on release day, and then dropping the needle and hearing the opening notes of You Are the Sunshine of My Life, the records first track.

On a Tuesday morning, you go to the record store, youre first in line and theres 50 other people behind you. You buy that record and you take it home. And the first thing you hear is that kind of chiming sound, McLaughlin says. Its an electric piano. What he plays is actually this whole tone scale thing. Its weightless.

In the same episode, Questlove describes the song as a downright gorgeous sonic equivalent to the Mona Lisa, saying that it's not even in his top-50 Stevie Wonder songs because of Stevie's Steph Curry level of marksmanship, and that he takes for granted Stevie Wonder's gift of songwriting. Morris replies: That's why we're doing this show.

Rick McLaughlin

Other guests on the podcast include the Obamas, Smokey Robinson, Dionne Warwick, King Britt, Babyface, Ray Parker Jr., and Janelle Mon e. Episode 7 features Wonder in conversation with President Obama and Morris as they talk about his legacy and impact.

Many years ago, I proposed a course on Stevie Wonder to Berklee, and I have been teaching that course since 2015, McLaughlin wrote on Instagram. It's a blessing to be able to work with students, listening deeply to Stevie's music and working to understand not only how his music works, but why we feel the way we do when he tells the stories he does.

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