From her website: 

• Meet JaaLa: JaaLa is a reputable Singer/Songwriter who began her exciting musical voyage of artistic expression in 2000. Since then, she’s used constant collaboration and experimental sound exploration to shape the signature acoustic-soul sound that echoes with her inspiration from the likes of Brandy, India Arie, and Sara Bareilles. She sings all about love and expresses every side to love: relational, spiritual, and self love in her music. 

• Connect and support: Check out JaaLa’s work on: Instagram and Facebook.

Shreya heard from Julia Barton on why this anthology was born, how it hopes to blur lines between different types of audio, what was most fun about it, and plans for the future. 

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. You’ll soon be able to hear the complete interview on our Audio Currents podcast, set to be released on May 26. 

Shreya Sharma (SS): How was The Best Audio Storytelling: 2022 born?

Julia Barton (JB):  The idea came from our CEO Jacob Weisberg. I’d been needling him to do a project about audio storytelling. We’d done Miracle and Wonder, a musical biography of Paul Simon. It was evident that some stories need to be in audio; they just don’t work on page. 

I felt the same way about our craft of narrative audio; people need to hear it and think about what’s going on as they listen. The form of narrative audio storytelling might be constructed, but it has the feeling of speech. This gives it an illusion of ease. 

Jacob suggested this idea of an audio anthology. Written anthologies, like in short stories and nonfiction magazines, exist. Those have been real groundbreakers with publications like GQ and Esquire publishing them. The curations and compilations have ensured that materials don’t just get lost to stacks. 

So why not audio? There’s so much good stuff being made, and a curation project is a way to recompile what’s being made in a different light.

SS: How do you hope this anthology will help blur the lines between different types of audio?

JB: I think the lines are already blurred because we’re listening on our smartphones. I see this anthology as a remix project that acknowledges that. There is definitely a lot of audio out there. This is also a way of taking a book that is a container that has so many different elements that people can listen to. The anthology brings it together in a more deliberate fashion, putting a bow on it, and saying – you can dip into this collection. 

I appreciate audiobooks over podcasts that way because they live on your shelf. This is a quieter, more curated way to consume this content.

SS: Will we see a revival next year?

JB: There are definitely conversations inside Pushkin about doing it again. We would love to see how this experiment works financially and creatively. We would also invite others to do it, if they like! We certainly don’t have a copyright on the genre. I would love to just see more because I think it’s a new way for audio productions to find audiences.

You’ll hear the complete interview on our Audio Currents RSS feed next week!