Will Sasso On The New Audio Up Podcast “The Ballad Of Uncle Drank,” Conrad Thompson, Guest-Hosting For WWE & More

Home to a world of infinite, audio-based properties, Audio Up has built an ecosystem of premium entertainment content within the music and audio space. The company is led by Audio Up CEO and Adweek’s 2020 “Podcast Innovator of the Year” and “Podcast Producer of the Year” recipient Jared Gutstadt. Current scripted properties include the season two of Make It Up As We Go with Scarlett Burke, Garrett Hedlund, Elle King, Shooter Jennings and award-winning Nashville songwriter Liz Rose, Webby honoree for “Best Limited Entertainment Series Podcast” Halloween In Hell with Machine Gun Kelly, 24kGoldn and iann dior, and Strawberry Spring, the first adaptation of the Stephen King classic.

From the mind of Jared Gutstadt comes Audio Up’s newest-scripted, country-musical podcast, The Ballad Of Uncle Drank. An 8-episode comedy event starring veteran actors Will Sasso, Billy Zane and Luke Wilson, Brian Kelley, Chelcie Lynn, Jared Gutstadt and Scarlett Burke, among others, the series premiered last month across all key SiriusXM audio entertainment platforms — including the SXM App, Pandora, and Stitcher — beyond hitting other major podcast platforms in the United States. The series also includes original music written and produced by platinum-selling artists Uncle Kracker, Snow and Gutstadt, as chronicled with an official 3-song soundtrack release titled 3 From The Cooler.

Altogether, The Ballad Of Uncle Drank delivers a new comedic take on the music industry throughout the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Artists and fans alike tell the somewhat true-life adventures of long-forgotten fictional country superstar Uncle Drank, a lovable, drunken and free-spirited beach musician who traveled the world with his best friend BLENDY — a talking blender — and then mysteriously disappeared in 1992. Before Jimmy Buffett ate a cheeseburger in paradise, and before Kenny Chesney sang about wearing no shoes, no shirt and no problems, there was Uncle Drank. One-part Kenny Chesney and one-part Kenny Powers, Uncle Drank’s music and story will take listeners on an adventure through an era that time has forgot; it is up to the listener as to whether that is a bad thing.

On October 12, 2022, I had the pleasure of speaking with actor Will Sasso again via Zoom, as embedded below. Beyond The Ballad Of Uncle Drank, we talked about his improv background, future plans, and his various ties to WWE and the wrestling business. More on Sasso,The Ballad Of Uncle Drank and other Audio Up programming can be found online by clicking here, here and here.

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Tags: Audio Up, Luke Wilson, MadTV, Podcasts, SNOW, Uncle Kracker, Will Sasso, WWE

About the Author

Darren Paltrowitz Darren Paltrowitz is a New York resident with over 20 years of entertainment industry experience. He began working around the music business as a teenager, interning for the manager of his then-favorite band Superdrag. Since then, he has worked with a wide array of artists including OK Go, They Might Be Giants, Mike Viola, Tracy Bonham, Loudness, Rachael Yamagata, and Amanda Palmer. Darren's writing has appeared in dozens of outlets including the New York Daily News, Inquisitr, The Daily Meal, The Hype Magazine, All Music Guide, Guitar World, TheStreet.com, Businessweek, Chicago Tribune, L.A. Times, and the Jewish Journal. Beyond being "Editor At Large" for The Hype Magazine, Darren is also the host of weekly "Paltrocast With Darren Paltrowitz" series, which airs on dozens on television and digital networks. He has also co-authored 2 published books, 2018's "Pocket Change: Your Happy Money" (Book Web Publishing) and 2019's "Good Advice From Professional Wrestling" (6623 Press), and co-hosts the world's only known podcast about David Lee Roth, "The DLR Cast."