Discover the private creative lives of others. Each show an all-star cast of improvisers welcomes one special guest to share art and insights. Their experiences inspired their work, now they inspire hilarious conversation and comedy. Join us for revealing stories, big laughs and grand adventures.

FEATURING SPECIAL MUSICAL GUEST: HARDWORKER

"This is a band that pulls absolutely no punches musically, lyrically, or emotionally." - No Depression    

     Hardworker is a rock band from Durham, North Carolina. The band took its present shape in 2015 when Sus Long and Mike Conner traded in their acoustic folk duo for something a bit louder with guitarist Danny Nowell.

     Songwriter Sus Long grew up in a Bay Area home steeped in the American songbook, but found herself converted to rock during her formative years by a well-timed trip to see the Hives. Her songs start from a folk foundation and build their way to melodic fury — Patty Griffin meets the Pixies, or Alabama Shakes if they’d started in the Haight. Her powerhouse vocals recall influences ranging from Billie Holliday to Freddie Mercury, while her lyrics retain the writer’s sensibility she sharpened in the fiction workshops where she and Danny first met.

     On their 2017 release, Go Alone, Hardworker's sound comes together somewhere between Sus and Mike's songwriting, Danny’s love of overdrive, and former-member Alex Treyz's harmonic daredevilry. Go Alone was produced by Alex Bingham and engineered by Mitch Easter at the Fidelitorium in Kernersville, NC. At its most intimate moments, the album achieves the immediacy of Sus and Mike’s back-porch partnership, but at its biggest moments the record is nothing less than friends making the biggest ruckus they know how.