Podcast Review: Meghan Hughes ‘Souls At Sundown’

Editor’s note: As part of CMN’s ongoing music journalism program, we asked our team of music writers to choose a single episode of a podcast about music to review . The choices were electric and interesting. Check out all the podcast reviews by browsing our music section. 

Meghan Hughes is best known for her YouTube channel, where she posts weekly advice videos, sharing her thoughts about things she loves or showing off her fashion sense and farm lifestyle. And music is prominent on all of her social media platforms.

Hughes started her podcast Souls At Sundown with her sister Lindsey in 2016 and has posted and new epsiode bi-weekly ever since. She went solo on the podcast in 2017 and has an occasional guest join her.

Music is a very large part of Meghan’s life, she mentions new music she’s into in every one of her I Love This Stuff videos.

I checked out  episode 49 of Souls At Sundown, in which she remembered Mac Miller. I listened to the podcast through the Podcast app but it is also available on Soundcloud.

I have loved Hughes and her content for years but I never listened to her music podcast. Let me tell you, I have been MISSING OUT.

When I started the epsiode it was 3:00 am and I had the intention of only listening to a little bit and picking up again the next morning. Only a minute into the podcast I was hooked in and stayed up until almost 5am trying to finish it.

Started with an interlude from Miller’s The High Life mixtape Hughes gives an intro, in which the pain in her voice as she talked about the artist she loved is clear.

She did a really good job with laying out the podcast, at the beginning she discusses what songs she’s going to play later on and sets up what she’s going to talk about. She also made it really unique by playing songs that I had never heard of from mixtapes I didn’t know were released.

You could tell Hughes has a passion for Miller and his music. She says Miller is “everything I could have wanted and more in an artist” and “what he really was, was a true artist. He was IMPECCABLE.”

Hughes included snippets of songs or full tracks and discussed them, giving full details on when the song was released, where it appeared, and what she loved about the tracks.

Hughes was so knowledgeable about Miller,  I learned more about him and his music during the 90-minute podcast than any any article or Wiki page could have provided.

She talked about all of Mac’s alter egos and how they contributed to his music. Larry Fisherman is Mac’s producer alter ego, Larry Lovestein is his love song alter ego, and Delusional Thomas is the dark side of Mac Miller. The Thomas alter ego got the most attention. Hughes says this is the side of Mac that was heavily apparent during the addiction stages of his life, and you can tell when he uses the alter ego because his voice is always higher pitched.

While discussing the music, Hughes describes all of her personal experiences with them. One of my favorite aspects of music is the memories you have attached to the songs and it was fantastic to hear someone else sharing her memories.

Whether you’re listening to the podcast as a Miller fan or a Hughes fan, it’s worth checking it out. It provides a good education on Miller — as an artist and as a person, and offers an avenue for greater appreciation the late artist’s music.