Dinner Party Download with guest Terry Allen

Terry Allen
Country musician, painter and conceptual artist Terry Allen.
Photo by James Bland

The guest of honor on this week's Dinner Party Download is Terry Allen, who hails from one of the most famous zip codes in country music: 79401. That's Lubbock, Texas, which is home to Waylon Jennings, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Joe Ely -- not to mention Buddy Holly and Roy Orbison.

It's only natural, then, that Allen -- who writes songs, paints pictures and produces plays -- is thought of as a country music singer first and an artist second. But that's not how he sees it.

This week, Allen's art/performance exhibit, "Ghost Ship Rodez: The Momo Chronicles," opens in San Francisco. Allen talks to Brendan Newnam about polymathematics, chimpanzees and how long people can misunderstand each other.

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