If you get Sam Paddor chatting about Bob Dylan, the conversation may never cease.
Just like any meaningful or poignant song that lifts the soul and makes an impact, you don’t want the record to reach its denouement. And that’s a good thing, because the Mercer Island High School (MIHS) senior is constantly enveloped in music and is taking that affinity for tunes to towering levels.
Paddor — who curates a podcast, the Dylan-song-named “My Back Pages,” on the school’s KMIH 889 The Bridge — notched a victory in the 7th Annual New York Times Student Podcast Contest for the second year in a row in the competition that is aimed at students from middle school through college.
For this year’s first-place award, Paddor delved into the history of protest songs in “Singing Songs and Carrying Signs: How Protest Songs Changed America.” The first part of the title is culled from the Buffalo Springfield song, “For What It’s Worth.” Along with that critical song, the five-minute podcast featured “We Shall Overcome” by various artists over the years, “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-To-Die-Rag” by Country Joe and the Fish, “Fight the Power” by The Isley Brothers and Public Enemy and more.
An ardent fan of music from the 1960s and ’70s, Paddor noted about the winning episode: “It certainly feels good. I’m glad to know, I guess I kind of know what I’m talking about when it comes to protests.”
He hinged the episode on the powerful “We Shall Overcome” and then branched out to bring the other equally crucial songs into the podcast fold.
On the anthem that helped charge the Civil Rights movement of the ’50s and ’60s and has been used in vital speeches like one from Martin Luther King Jr., Paddor spoke of the importance of “We Shall Overcome”: “There was something about how that song, not only is it a great protest song, it’s honestly, probably one of the best ones ever written. But it was also incredibly impactful. And it made a big difference in American history. And that was really interesting to me.”
Last year, Paddor’s oral history of Woodstock 1969 podcast — “On Stage at Woodstock: Memories of the Festival’s Performers” — featured interviews with Arlo Guthrie, Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and Canned Heat drummer Adolfo “Fito” de la Parra and took top honors in the New York Times contest.
“What I find so impressive about Sam is his depth of knowledge about music and his proactive approach to promoting it on his podcast and on 889 The Bridge,” said KMIH General Manager Joe Bryant. “He has a passion for music and a deep respect for legends that very few people his age are even aware of.”
Paddor, who plays guitar himself, has conducted long-form interviews with a host of sterling musicians on his regular podcast, including Lynyrd Skynyrd drummer Artimus Pyle, Bad Company vocalist Paul Rodgers, Grateful Dead keyboardist Tom Constanten and more.
Dream interviews would be with a Beatle and, of course, his main man Dylan, who he witnessed live in concert for the first time in August.
Paddor has been a Dylan fan since the eighth grade when he heard “Like a Rolling Stone” and then analyzed the lyrics to “Blowin’ in the Wind” for an English class assignment. Dylan’s early folk style and deep lyrics drew Paddor into the musician’s world and he’s never stopped trying to learn more about the singer-songwriter.
“There’s a lot that interests me about his character. His interactions with people are kind of odd, and that’s honestly a lot of what inspired me to start my podcast is I wanted to understand who he was as a person as well as his music,” said Paddor, who interviewed a plethora of Dylan’s session musicians.
The MIHS senior eventually began focusing on other artists, but Dylan paved the way for his podcast and insight into a musician’s mindset: “I’d say his person is interesting. His music is interesting. He always has a reason for doing everything. And I find that cool.”
* Three MIHS students received runner-up recognition in the New York Times podcast contest: Class of 2024 graduates Grace Go and Luke Gollin for “A Roof For Everyone,” which explored solutions to homelessness in Seattle, and Alanna Larson for “Music A Bridge From Loneliness to Connection.”
To listen to all of the New York Times winning entries, visit: https://tinyurl.com/5br8hd4j
