Exploring identity, cultural shifts, and authenticity, this interview with Daphne Parker Powell dives into The Death of Cool, its inspirations, collaborations, and the emotional depth shaping its sound.
1. Your new album The Death of Cool explores themes of cultural rebellion, shifting social norms, and the way counterculture eventually becomes mainstream. What inspired the concept behind the album?
We live in this wild time, the first generation to be able to communicate and engage with the rest of the world instantly, with social consciousness moving faster than it ever has. It’s all more global and simultaneously more niche. You can find just about any variation on just about anything you’re interested in and connect with other people who share that interest. The problem with a lot of that is how disconnected we end up feeling, how overwhelmed, and how difficult it is to parse what is toxic, fake, or dangerous from what is authentic and loving. And how easy it is to hide behind, to not find your own real self in the flurry of it all.
2. The record was produced by Jimbo Mathus and engineered and mixed by Mike Napolitano. What was it like collaborating with such experienced figures, and how did they shape the final sound of the album?
I was a ‘90s teen and the Swing Revival was a huge deal to me. The Squirrel Nut Zippers held a special place in my heart from their first albums. The idea that people could take these old forms and make them so fiery, fun & dancey, in such a down-home way that also felt so polished and perfect was a dream aesthetic. We went with Mike Napolitano for dozens of reasons, starting with how great he is at that exact kind of polish on deep, unusual music forms. Several of Mike’s albums are on my desert island top 10 and when we started to work together, it all clicked so naturally. Working in his and Ani’s studio, surrounded by those instruments was a kind of special as well. Some of the first songs I learned on guitar were Ani’s.
Jimbo is a riot to work with, he never rushes, but somehow we managed to get all ten songs tracked but for overdubs in just three days. Not long days either. He doesn’t use a click track, wants everything to be a live as possible. Which was exactly what I’d been hoping to do with these songs. He has so much fun in the studio, and everyone was in high five mode the whole time.
3. The album features musicians connected to the legendary Preservation Hall as well as members of Squirrel Nut Zippers. How did these collaborations influence the musical atmosphere of the record?
I probably watched The Mask in movie theaters 8 times and I adored the Royal Crown Revue, told myself that was the kind of band I wanted to work with some day. Fast forward to moving to New Orleans, where the musicians I connected with automatically understood the kind of music I was writing. Some of those were the Zippers and I work with them every chance I get. The mix of technical proficiency and fun is powerful in that group and even when tackling material as dark as some of the songs on this album, we ended up making something incredibly joyful as well. When I first moved to New Orleans, my neighbor told me to go down to Dos Jefes, a little cigar bar on Tchoupitoulas Street, to see a fella by the name of Tom Hook. Said he often has guests sit in on his nights there. So I went down and he was playing with Wendell Brunious. I’ve never been shy, so I put my hat in the ring right away and ended up singing Gershwin with Wendell and Waits with Tom. That friendship grew over time and I got to know Caroline and through my work in Arts Education, I had a chance to work with a bunch of the folks at Preservation Hall. Wendell and Tom came out to play my album release show for The Starter Wife and I knew I wanted him and Caroline on the next project, so I made the invitation and they said they’d be delighted. Caroline’s clarinet on “Scorched Earth & the Flood” might be my favorite sound on the entire record. Wendell said she stayed up into the wee hours of the morning the night before working on it because she really wanted it to be just right. And it was, though I’m sorry it meant he didn’t get much sleep.
4. Sonically, the album blends horn arrangements, upright bass, deep-south electric guitars, and what you describe as “swampy torch folk.” How did you approach creating this distinctive sound palette?
I put a lot of my trust in Maestro Jimbo on that one. My live band played on the album and we had been test driving some of the songs out in the Quarter and on Frenchmen Street and pulling in some other horn players from around town. One of Jimbo’s other projects, Creatures of the Southern Wild, came to play at Les Bon Temps Rouler not long before we started working on this album and I heard Kirk Bowie Russell play for the first time. He blew me away, and Jimbo made me promise I was only borrowing him for the session. But that fella ripped his solo on the Death of Cool in ONE TAKE. Like he was possessed. Once the right people were in the room, I knew we couldn’t fail.
5. Several track titles—such as “No Taste for Nostalgia,” “Zeal of the Converted,” and “Object Impermanence”—suggest philosophical or reflective themes. How do your lyrics connect personal experiences with broader cultural observations?
My last three albums have been deeply reflective, I think that’s been the arc for me these last years. Growing up with a lot of trauma, violent relationships, and battling cancer several times over before you hit 45 will make you think long and hard about what you believe, want, hope, and fear. I love the way Joni Mitchell writes about her lived experiences and how they shape the poetry of her music, and I think that I use melody in a very similar way, although for me the lyrics always come first. Object Impermanence is an almost cinematic journey through the “dusty ass son” syndrome of modern dating, a world I am thankfully out of these days. No Taste for Nostalgia hits on the underlying theme of the album- pretension. We ask for the moon, without realizing that it moves in us. The world gives us more than we can ever need or understand and we still somehow have to pretend not to be in awe of it.
6. With The Death of Cool arriving on May 22, 2026, what do you hope listeners take away from the album after experiencing its stories, characters, and musical landscapes?
A copy of the Vinyl, for starters. Haha. One of the biggest things I have heard people say about what my music gives them is this sense of beauty in the darkness. Like it’s a soundtrack to their life, like they understand something bigger than they can explain when they hear it. I hope that continues on this new project.
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