Samm Henshaw on his latest album, ‘It Could Be Worse’ : World Cafe : World Cafe Words and Music Podcast : NPR

Going through a breakup is horrible. When it’s happening, you might want to just hide and curl up on the couch. Maybe you have your best friend come over, make you dinner and give you a hug. But Samm Henshaw didn’t have that option. He had to go to work.

Henshaw’s new album, It Could Be Worse, was written during and after a painful breakup. Today, he talks about what that was like; how heartbreak shaped the album; and how making the album while experiencing heartbreak shaped him.

This is Henshaw’s second full-length record, but over the years, he’s also released several singles and EPs and toured in support of artists like Chance the Rapper and James Bay.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Kimberly Junod.  Our digital producer is Miguel Perez. World Cafe‘s engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.