Pod-Alization: Killer Interviewed; Damon Young Talks Amazon's Swarm ; John Wick 4 Star On Best Advice

Teen Killer Of Her Father Tells Her Story in New Podcast

A 2014 headline said it all at the time the Crystal Howell murder case exploded into public view; “Teen kills dad, stuffs his body in a storage bin, buys stripper pole, and hosts parties.” Although these were, and still are, startling facts of the now infamous case of Crystal Howell, there’s so much more to the story. For the past nine years, since she was just 17, Howell has been incarcerated in prison. Now 26-years old, she is telling her story for the first time exclusively to journalists Melissa McCarty and Kelly McLear in a new ten-part podcast series, Killing Dad: A First-Degree Mistake, produced by Audio Up and distributed by Audio Boom.

Set for a world-wide release on April 5th via all podcast platforms, Killing Dad: A First-Degree Mistake includes exclusive prison interviews with Crystal that ‘tell-all’; including first-hand accounts from her best friends who discovered the body and lived at the house after her father was killed. 

Plus, the shocking revelation of an accomplice who helped dispose of Michael Howell’s body. Listeners will hear horrific family secrets and eye-opening interviews with friends and family who put this twisted-tale into a new perspective, along with new evidence and information that throws the callous killer title into question. 

Howell is currently serving 30-years to Life on a plea deal, a draconian sentence for a juvenile, and the series dives into the legal aspect of her case with former California prosecutor Matt Murphy, a well-known child psychologist and the Haywood County District Attorney, who is speaking publicly for the first time.

SEE THE TRAILER HERE
STREAM THE PODCAST HERE
LISTEN TO SOUNDBITE SELECTIONS HERE

Killing Dad: A First-Degree Mistake is part of a larger overall partnership between Audio Up and Audio Boom, the latter of which currently distributes Michael Cohen’s hit podcast Mea Culpa, now at over 40 million downloads and over 250 episodes.

The co-hosts are:

 Melissa McCarty, who is a veteran journalist who’s reported for ABC 20/20, Crime Watch Daily with Chris Hansen, HLN’s Sex & Murder, Real Life Nightmare, writer/producer of Audible’s BITTER BLOOD: Kasem vs. Kasem, and author of “The Making of a Crime Reporter.”

Kelly McLear is a long-time television producer and investigative journalist working on such series as Crime Watch Daily with Chris Hansen, Oxygen’s Accident, Suicide or Murder and Spike’s, Don’t Be a Victim. McLear is currently a producer with CrimeCon and is Executive Producer of Takedown with Chris Hansen and True Crime Nation for TruBlu.

Amazon Prime's Swarm Writer interviewed by Damon Young

Off the heels of audiences’ and critics’ praise of Amazon Prime Video’s dark comedy-thriller series Swarm, Damon Young brings series writer Kara Brown onto his hit podcast Stuck with Damon Young to discuss writing for the show led by breakout star Dominique Fishback, and developing the character and journey of Dre, a superfan-turned-serial killer.

You can listen to today’s episode, out now, HERE.

Throughout the conversation (there are spoilers in this episode!) Kara Brown and Damon Young talk about the making of the series that caused incredible buzz, all led by Fishback as Dre. 

Some notable excerpts of the conversation include:

ON FISHBACK’S CASTING: “Dominique has told this story where [casting] reached out to her about playing Marissa, and she was like, no, I want to play Dre, I think I can do it. And she got that part and is incredible.”

ON OPPORTUNITIES FOR BLACK ACTRESSES: “I think I imagined as an actor, for a Black female actor you’re getting kind of the same shit, you know, like okay you’re going to play a therapist, you’re going to play the friend or whatever and something that’s just so out of it – all the Black women judges that apparently are like, in charge of this whole country you know.” “I imagined, and I think for her [it] was really exciting as an actor, and she just squeezed everything out of that role that she could.”

ON CREATING DRE: “One of the things we talked about when we were talking about a Black female serial killer is that there really haven’t been any. So people don’t even assume that that’s who they’re looking for.”

ON THE TRUE CRIME OBSESSION: “We talked about these true-crime shows and that kind of obsession with it and it feeling I think similar to the same kind of intense obsession with celebrity.”
 
Spotify pitches the show as: "Each episode, award-winning author Damon Young is joined by some of the best, brightest, and Blackest people he knows, including special guests Roy Wood Jr., Elaine Welteroth, Nikole Hannah-Jones and others. Come explore the uncomfortable, hideous, and hilarious absurdity of our human behavior."

Listen to new episodes of Stuck with Damon Young every Thursday only on Spotify.

John Wick 4 star on Spotify's Best Advice Podcast

 A new episode of Spotify’s Best Advice podcast scored an interview coup by sitting down with Rina Sawayama, singer/songwriter and star of John Wick 4. The rising starlet sat down with host Kim Taylor Bennett to talk about how her music career has exploded in the past two years and what it was like starring opposite Keanu Reaves in her very first movie.

In the episode, Rina discusses why having music as her side hustle allowed her to protect her art from financial influence and how essential it is for artists to not let the voice of critics overshadow their vision. Rina also shares learnings from her old pal, superstar Elton John, who encouraged her to understand the role that each person on her team plays, so that she can stay on top of her business.

Says Rina:

“I have to almost protect the inner child that makes the next record. I can't think, well, that track wasn't liked by this journalist, so I need to change that. Like I can't. And any artist out there, you shouldn't think like that. You should protect yourself and develop your skill, develop your songwriting, but just don't let that critical voice affect you.”

The Best Advice Podcast is a spin-off of the popular Spotify for Artists flagship video series Best Advice with nearly five million views on YouTube - offers intimate conversations with some of the most fascinating names in the business sharing personal learnings and in-depth insights into navigating the world of music, commerce, and creativity. 

 New episodes will be released every Thursday at 10am EST through April 13.