Welcome to Our Newsletter

We started Track Star a year ago with a simple mission: to talk to people about music. We’ve been blown away by the response to the show, and we wanted another way to connect with all of you. We aren’t exactly sure what this newsletter will entail, but we’re excited to take you along for the ride. We’ll share what we’re listening to, interviews with artists, music trivia, and lots more. We’ll also take you behind the scenes of new projects. This week, we’re launching a new show, and we wanted to tell you all about it.

A Note from Jack

Over the past year we’ve had countless musicians meet us outside our office to play Track Star. It sort of felt like a waste to not have them come up and play a few songs…

I discovered Madi Diaz’s music when she came on Track Star back in October. After we shot, she invited me to her show opening for My Morning Jacket at The Beacon. My wife and I were blown away. The entire venue was blown away. She has a really calm command of the stage. Her voice and guitar add up to something greater than the sum of their parts. I knew she would be perfect for a stripped-down, intimate performance in our office. 

The first episode with Madi Diaz is out now and linked below. We have two more coming soon. I don’t know where this is going to take us next, but we all feel good about it. It’s just a cozy little spot for people to play us something and talk about it a little bit. We’re calling the show Track Star Presents. We wanted a simple name, and we wanted to make a simple show. I hope you like it as much as we do. 

Oh, one more thing… we invited our friend and music journalist Quinn Moreland to come by for Madi’s performance and write a little something about it, so keep reading…

– Jack

Track Star Presents: Madi Diaz

Another Angle

By Quinn Moreland

“Please be gentle with me, it’s before noon,” Madi Diaz cautions while tuning her guitar. Though it is indeed early at the Public Opinion studios—9 A.M. to be exact—Diaz quickly shows that there is no cause for concern. Her voice is staggeringly resonant as she launches into “Same Risk,” the powerful lead single off this month’s Weird Faith. The Nashville-based songwriter is an exceptionally charming presence, cracking jokes as cameras are adjusted between songs. She introduces her next song, “Girlfriend,” by cheerfully recounting the tracks’ inspiration, a run-in with an ex-boyfriend’s ex-girlfriend at the Newport Folk Festival. 

Diaz is the first artist to perform live from Public Opinion’s studio in the heart of Noho. She admits that playing her barebones ballads to a small crowd in such an intimate room is much more intimidating than opening for several dates of Harry Styles’ sold-out Love on Tour stadium shows. (Styles is such a fan that he later asked Diaz to join his backing band for the European leg of the tour). The mood gets even more raw when Diaz switches to an acoustic guitar for the Weird Faith closer “Obsessive Thoughts.” “Is it hard to love me?/Cause I exist intensely?,” she sings, summarizing the anxieties at the heart of Weird Faith.

After baring her heart for an hour, Diaz concludes her performance with a cover of a song that’s been stuck in her head, Troye Sivan’s “Got Me Started.” It’s a little surprising how wonderfully Diaz’s rich voice pairs with Sivan’s ode to horny longing—can someone get a collaboration in the works? No word on if Diaz knows the viral dance, but I wouldn’t put it past her. As she packs up her gear and heads off to rehearsal, the better question seems to be what can’t Madi Diaz do?

Listen to More Like This 

Here are a few song recommendations if you liked the live session with Madi.

1. Madi Diaz - Nervous

2. Lori McKenna - Humble and Kind

3. Brandi Carlile - The Story

4. Kings of Leon - Trani

5. Holly Humberstone - Friendly Fire

6. Linda Ronstadt - When Will I Be Loved

7. Sharon Van Etten - Seventeen

8. Angel Olsen - Right Now

9. The Rolling Stones - Angie

10. Wet - Don’t Wanna Be Your Girl

11. Bruce Springsteen - I’m on Fire

12. Troye Sivan - Got Me Started

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