Known Associates | Episode 7: Amanda Petrusich
In Episode 7 of Known Associates, a podcast brought to you by New Pony in affiliation with Southwest Review, we come to you LIVE from SwR’s annual Frontera Festival in Dallas, TX! For this very special event, Elizabeth sat down with Amanda Petrusich, staff writer for The New Yorker, who stands shoulder to shoulder with the greatest working music critics today. Her profiles are the stuff of legend, and her books are essential reads for any music fan. In short, Amanda is our platonic ideal for a Known Associate.
Over a couple of Lone Star beers on a beautiful Dallas night at The Wild Detectives bookstore, Elizabeth and Amanda discuss the idea of “good” taste, whether such a thing really exists (3:40), and how Amanda cultivated her own sense of what music she liked from a very young age (5:06). They then dive a bit into Amanda’s book Do Not Sell at Any Price and what it means to be a collector (6:54). They also talk about critics whom Amanda grew up reading and who influenced her writing, as well as the state of criticism in the current moment compared to earlier generations (10:54). From there, they consider the idea of canons in art, whether canons are important and how they can change and evolve (17:24). Then, they segue into Amanda’s profile writing for The New Yorker and how she approaches her assignments and deals with her subjects (24:00). From there, they have a conversation about the present and future states of journalism and criticism, what this might mean for the next generation of writers, and whether having authoritative critics is as meaningful in the contemporary moment as it was previously (32:50).
You can find Amanda’s writing at The New Yorker as well as many other publications on the internet and buy her books wherever you buy your books. Subscribe to Known Associates and pick up a subscription to Southwest Review while you’re at it!
Elizabeth Nelson is a DC-based journalist and singer-songwriter in the band the Paranoid Style. She also hosts the New Pony/Southwest Review podcast Known Associates, where she speaks to fellow writers, artists, and musicians. Her new album—also titled Known Associates—was released on Bar/None Records in February 2026.
Podcast mixed by Clay Jones
