There’s a new voice entering the ever-expanding world of rock storytelling. She’s With The Band: A Love Letter to Rock and Roll, the new nine-part podcast from Dover Street Productions, isn’t another recycled take on the Summer of Love or the well-worn myths of the Stones and The Beatles. This is the life story of Sue Mautner, a teenage dreamer whose curiosity opened the back doors of 1960s rock and roll, and once inside, she never left.
If you ever flicked through the pages of Beatles Monthly, Rolling Stones Monthly, NME, or even Boyfriend Magazine, chances are you’ve read Sue’s work without even knowing it. She ghostwrote columns for Jagger and Richards, was on the ground in Germany with The Beatles in ’66, partied through the night with Brian Jones, and even wound up scouting talent at EMI (long before the term “A&R” had the corporate polish it does today).
What makes She’s With The Band such a compelling listen is that it isn’t polished hagiography. Mautner isn’t out to mythologise; she’s out to tell it like it was. Episode one dives straight into The Beatles’ dynamics—brotherhood, friction, humour, and humanity, and episode two throws you headfirst into the pandemonium of life on tour with them. From there, the series unspools into Moroccan misadventures, LA excess, and the sobering realities of life behind the velvet rope. Hosted by actress Olivia Reed, and edited by musician Dean Kader, the production respects the material without sanding down its edges.
Hosted by actress Olivia Reed, and edited by musician Dean Kader, the production respects the material without sanding down its edges. ‘She’s With The Band: A Love Letter To Rock and Roll’ is available now via Audible or wherever you get your podcasts.