My guest this week is Ike Reilly, a man whose voice, lyrics and songs are entirely unique, original and unforgettable.

We talked at length about his musically interesting and wide-spanning new album, “Because the Angels.”

We also talk about Ike’s music career, specifically from the release of “Salesmen and Racists” forward.

Also covered:

• Family: Working with them and writing songs about them.
• Ike’s milkshakes bring all the podcasters to the yard.
• I’ll straddle anything.
• Would Ike ever write a book? How about a screenplay?
• The latest developments in the Ike Reilly documentary.
• The song on Because the Angels that had a highly memorable live reaction, and also stands as Ike’s favorite recording.

For this recording, we met at Buona in Mount Prospect (861 E Rand Rd, Mt Prospect, IL 60056). We made it a hot dog night… he had the Chicago dog and I had the double dog. Ike wisely added a vanilla shake to his order.

Speaking of Buona, Christmas is SATURDAY. If you’ve procrastinated gifts and stocking stuffers, load up on Buona gift cards. When you buy 25 dollars in gift cards, you get a five dollar bonus card for free (do it in-store or online)!