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The Boar's Nest

Sue Brewer and the Birth of Outlaw Country Music

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The Boar's Nest

Written by: Rachel Bonds, Holly Gleason, Dub Cornett
Narrated by: Mandy Moore, Ebon Moss-Bachrach, W. Earl Brown, Stephen Louis Grush, John Hoogenakker, TJ Osborne, full cast
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About this listen

In the mid-1960s, Sue Brewer’s humble living room floor was not just an after-hours clubhouse for artists looking to escape the Nashville establishment, but a creative sanctuary.

Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson. Before they were household names, these budding legends called Sue’s Nashville apartment—lovingly dubbed the “Boar’s Nest”—home. Sue’s place was an intimate staging ground where a new breed of singer-songwriters—wounded souls, wayward upstarts—would spur each other on to tap into something bigger, realer.

For Sue Brewer, the ask at each night’s guitar pull would never change: “Make me hurt.” The response would ignite a musical revolution. Brewer shaped the sound and soul of country music as we know it today, despite never picking up an instrument herself.

Enter The Boar’s Nest and discover the true, untold story of Sue Brewer and the dawn of Nashville’s outlaw country movement. Brought to life in vivid detail, this Audible Original stars Emmy-, Grammy-, and Golden Globe-nominated actress/singer Mandy Moore (This Is Us, Dr. Death, A Walk to Remember) as Sue Brewer. Emmy winner Ebon Moss-Bachrach (The Bear, Girls) as the freewheeling Shel Silverstein and a full ensemble cast round out the storytelling. Richly woven with music, friendship, and Sue’s indomitable spirit, The Boar’s Nest is an extraordinary portrayal of the outlaw country movement, told in all its raw, bold, and soulful beauty. Come on in, the door’s open.

©2024 Fresh Produce Media, LLC (P)2024 Audible Originals, LLC Biographical Fiction
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Rachel Bonds
Holly Gleason
Dub Cornett
Kimberly Senior

About the Writer

Rachel Bonds is a playwright, screenwriter, essayist, and writer for scripted podcasts. Her plays have been developed or produced by Roundabout Theatre Company, Ars Nova, MCC, Manhattan Theatre Club, Atlantic Theater Company, The McCarter, Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Rep, La Jolla Playhouse, Studio Theatre, Marin Theatre Company, and Williamstown Theatre Festival, among others. She is the recipient of the Weissberger Award, the Sky Cooper Prize, and the Heideman Award, as well as a Tow Foundation Fellowship. She recently finished writing The Boar’s Nest scripted series about the beginnings of the outlaw country movement with Dub Cornett and Holly Gleason for Audible, is currently developing an original scripted series, also for Audible, and preparing for the New York debut of her original musical with Zoe Sarnak, The Lonely Few, at MCC. Her new play Jonah, directed by Danya Taymor, premiered at The Roundabout in February 2024 and was named a Critic’s Pick by the New York Times. Bonds is a proud parent and a parent-artist advocate. Originally from the mountains of Tennessee, she is now based in Brooklyn. www.rachelbonds.com

About the Writer

Noted author and music critic Holly Gleason came of age covering Nashville’s explosive progressive and traditional boom of the ’80s and ’90s. An in-demand speaker and artist development consultant, she’s worked with Kenny Chesney, Brooks & Dunn, Tammy Wynette, John Prine, Patty Loveless, Waylon Jennings, Emmylou Harris, and Lee Ann Womack. Straddling commercial and credible, legends and superstars, her clients reach across roots, country, rock, folk, and bluegrass.
HITS’ Nashville editor Holly’s work appeared regularly in Rolling Stone, LA Times, New York Times, SPIN, Playboy, CREEM, Interview, and various trade magazines. She also co-wrote the multiple-week #1 hit “Better as a Memory,” which received the I Wish I Wrote That Song Award from the Nashville Songwriters Association International.
The 2023 Southern California Media Awards Entertainment Journalist of the Year and Music Criticism Award winner also received top awards at the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards for coverage of Dolly Parton, Wynonna, and Nashville Pride’s Joyful Resistance. The #3 New York Times bestseller Y’all Eat Yet? Welcome to the Pretty B-tchin’ Kitchen with Miranda Lambert was short-listed for an ANDY Award and runner-up for Best Nonfiction Book at the NAEJA Awards; Woman Walk the Line: How the Women in Country Music Changed Our Lives won the 2018 Belmont Book Award; and Prine on Prine: Interviews and Encounters with John Prine was named one of PopMatters’ Best Books of 2023, Variety’s Best Music Books, No Depression’s and Best Classic Bands’ Top 10 Music Books, and was featured on C-SPAN, CBS News Interactive, Garden & Gun, LA Times, Chicago Tribune, Cleveland Plain Dealer, and more.

About the Writer

Dub Cornett is the founder of Oso Studios.
A multi-hyphenate producer/writer/creative executive in music, TV, digital, and film, he has cultivated unique creative teams to work on award-winning projects that find the heart and soul of each story.
He has created, produced, and written projects for HBO, FOX, PBS, CBS, BET, CMT, Cinemax, Paramount, Facebook, Audible, and more.

About the Director

Kimberly Senior is a theater and scripted audio director working on advancing both forms through dynamic storytelling and conversation-worthy topics. Some of her most recent work for theater includes the Pulitzer Prize-winning and Tony-nominated Disgraced by Ayad Akhtar and The Niceties by Eleanor Burgess, as well as other new work by Christopher Oscar Peña, Ellen Fairey, Alix Sobler, Lucy Teitler, and many others. She's also developed, directed, and often recorded solo shows with Aasif Mandvi, Harvey Fierstein, Chris Gethard, and others. You can hear Kimberly's work on Marvel's The Wastelanders: Old Man Star-Lord as well as C13's Ghostwriter and Crowded Hours, available on Audible.

Mandy Moore
Ebon Moss-Bachrach
W. Earl Brown
Stephen Louis Grush
John Hoogenakker
T.J. Osborne
About the Performer- Mandy Moore

About the Performer

Emmy-, Grammy- and Golden Globe-nominated actress, producer, singer, and songwriter Mandy Moore continues to enjoy versatility in a career marked by memorable performances. Most recently, in six seasons of the critically acclaimed NBC series This Is Us, Moore portrayed Rebecca, the matriarch of the Pearson family. This role earned her multiple Emmy, Golden Globe, Critics Choice, and People's Choice Award nominations; the show received a win for Best TV Drama Ensemble at the SAG Awards in 2018 and 2019. The show received multiple Emmy, Golden Globe, TCA Award, and Critics Choice Award nominations and was recognized by The Television Academy Honors.
In addition to her work in film and television, Moore is a prolific singer-songwriter who released her seventh album In Real Life in May 2022, which offers a unique window into life’s next chapters. Prior to that, in March 2020, Moore released her first album in over a decade, Silver Landings. The album is emblematic of the journey Moore has been on in the past decade. Moore resides in Los Angeles.

About the Creator- Ebon Moss-Bachrach

About the Performer

Ebon Moss-Bachrach has acted in a wide range of film, television, and theater productions.
Ebon currently stars as Richie in the FX for HULU series The Bear (opposite Jeremy Allen White and Ayo Edebiri) from Chris Storer, earning him SAG and Independent Spirit Award nominations for his performance. The role also earned Ebon a 2023 Critics Choice Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor in a Streaming Comedy Series and a 2023 Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.
He recently filmed Fox Searchlight’s Dust with Sarah Paulson and can be seen in Gene Stupnitsky’s No Hard Feelings opposite Jennifer Lawrence for Sony.
Ebon can also be seen in Lena Dunham’s feature Sharp Stick opposite Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jon Bernthal as well as in the HULU limited series The Dropout opposite Amanda Seyfried from Liz Hannah and Michael Showalter.
Ebon starred in the critically acclaimed AMC series NOS4A2, and was also on the CBS Studios drama series Interrogation.
He can also be seen in Michael Almereyda’s Tesla opposite Ethan Hawke as well as in Bridget Savage Cole and Danielle Krudy’s Blow the Man Down.
Ebon starred as Micro/Lieberman in the Netflix/Marvel series The Punisher and was a series regular on HBO’s Girls. Other previous TV shows include The Last Ship, Believe, Damages, and the HBO miniseries John Adams, among others.
His other film credits include Dolly Wells’ indie Good Posture and starring opposite Elisabeth Moss in Richard Shepard’s short film Tokyo Project, which aired on HBO.
Prior films include We’ll Never Have Paris, Lola Versus, Higher Ground, Evening, The Royal Tenenbaums, American Splendor, Mona Lisa Smile, Road (for which Ebon received the LA Film Festival acting award), and more.
On the stage, Ebon starred in Lost Girls at MCC Theater, Verité at LCT3, Austin Pendleton’s Three Sisters at CSC, The Glass Menagerie opposite Amy Irving and directed by Harris Yulin, Chris Shinn’s On the Mountain, Fifth of July, 36 Views, Daisy Foote’s When They Speak of Rita (directed by Horton Foote), and more.
Ebon can also be seen in Tony Gilroy's Lucasfilm series Andor for Disney+.

About the Performer- W. Earl Brown

About the Performer

W. Earl Brown was born in Golden Pond, Kentucky. The seeds of his career as an actor and writer were sewn there as he spent his childhood years entertaining all who gathered on his grandparents’ front porch. Earl received his MFA from DePaul University’s Theatre School in 1989. After graduation, he performed in numerous plays around Chicago, but it was his performance in A View from the Bridge at the Steppenwolf Theatre that catapulted his career into television and film. Having hit the proverbial glass ceiling by 1993, Earl moved to Los Angeles. Wes Craven was an early supporter, casting him in the box office smash Scream. Two years later, Earl played the breakout role of Warren, Cameron Diaz's mentally challenged brother, in There’s Something About Mary. W. Earl Brown can be seen in the independent film The Dead Don’t Hurt starring Viggo Mortensen and in recurring roles on HBO Max’s Hacks and Disney+/Lucasfilm’s The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett. His other releases are the Apple+ drama Five Days at Memorial, the Apple+ comedy Hello Tomorrow!, season 2 of Paramount+’s Mayor of Kingstown, and he plays George Wallace in John Ridley/Regina King’s Shirley. In addition to his television and film work, Earl also writes music and records with Sacred Cowboys, an LA-based Americana band.

About the Performer- Stephen Louis Grush

About the Performer

Stephen Louis Grush is an actor, writer, and director. Much of his career has been spent in the Chicago theater scene, performing and working with the larger equity stages while still remaining very active in the smaller storefront theaters. Mr. Grush graduated with his BFA from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University in 2006 and very quickly thereafter became the founding artistic director of XIII Pocket, a Chicago-based nonprofit that uses a multimedia approach in the development of new works. During his time with XIII Pocket, he oversaw the productions of everything from stage plays and pop-up dinners to gallery openings and album drops. Some recent Chicago credits include extensive work with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company: Airline Highway; The March; Sex With Strangers (2009/2011); The Tempest; Dublin Carol; Good Boys and True; and Last of the Boys. Other recent theater credits include Long Day’s Journey into Night and Sex With Strangers (Geffen Playhouse); The Seagull; A True History of the Johnstown Flood; Pericles; and Oedipus Complex (Goodman Theatre). Cymbeline; Romeo and Juliet (Chicago Shakespeare Theater). True West and Topdog/Underdog (American Theater Company). Some recent television credits include The Righteous Gemstones; Night Sky; Your Honor; The Alienist; Chicago P.D.; Rectify; Longmire; Gracepoint; The Get; Lucky 7; Power; and Detroit 1-8-7. Film credits include Renfield; Fast Charlie; Palmer; Catch Hell; The Free World; Return to Sender; The Express; and At Any Price.

About the Performer- John Hoogenakker

About the Performer

Born and raised in Charlotte, North Carolina, John Hoogenakker's credits include Waco: The Aftermath for Showtime, Hulu’s critically acclaimed, Peabody Award-winning limited series Dopesick, and the hit Amazon series Tom Clancy’s Jack Ryan opposite John Krasinski. As a longtime veteran of Chicago theater, John has appeared in many of the city’s illustrious houses, including The Goodman, Writers' Theatre, Court Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and the renowned Steppenwolf Garage. His varied stage work ranges from Chris Smith in Tracy Letts' Killer Joe to the role of Hamlet at The Illinois Shakespeare Festival. And at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York, he received excellent reviews as the tragic, alcohol-addled Willie Oban in the acclaimed remounting of The Iceman Cometh, alongside Nathan Lane and Brian Dennehy. When Hoogenakker is not working, he enjoys spending time with his family and being outside as much as possible.

About the Performer- T.J. Osborne

About the Performer

T.J. Osborne is a singer/songwriter, producer, and one half of the award-winning country duo Brothers Osborne. A native of Deale, Maryland, he (alongside his brother John) has earned five CMA and six ACM awards, nine Grammy nominations, plus multiple RIAA gold and platinum certifications. Known for his distinct lead vocals set to the pair’s ferocious country-rock sound, his "gorgeous baritone" ( Billboard) has been praised by NPR as that of "a classic country crooner, with a little Eddie Vedder thrown in." With a voice that impacts beyond hit songs, T.J. was at the forefront of a historic moment for the country genre when he publicly came out to TIME in February 2021. The only openly gay artist signed to a major country label, he recently served as Grand Marshal of the Nashville Pride Parade and received the Visibility Award from the Human Rights Campaign. His story inspired the duo’s Grammy-winning song "Younger Me," featured on their third studio release, Skeletons Deluxe.

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Profile Image for Robert Bressette

An awesome story was a great listen bout some of the greatest country stars ever

I like the music and the story it could have used some cowboy jack stories in it otherwise top shelf production

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wonderful!

awesome performance and story telling. I wish the story was longer and expanded certain parts though. overall amazing.

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Profile Image for Tracy

Really enjoyed this

Performances were great. Great story and story telling … I really appreciate Sue’s story being told.

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