Big World

It's like...

You can't not smile when you're listening to a song like Big World or Grateful For.

And I think like you just got like this bop to it.

It's like, man, what is it about joy that you want to instill in your listeners as they're just kind of like maybe for the first time hearing your music? And you said it, like we need joy in this world, like no doubt about that.

And I like stopped what I was doing.

I was like, man, this is this is a jam.

And it was the song Big World and just got such a cool vibe to a great production.

Talk about the making of this record and maybe bring us into the studio a little bit.

Each and every one of these songs is so intentional.

I want to go back to one of kind of the big songs on the EP is Big World, released in the buildup to it.

And the sound of this is just, it's like magnificent.

It's just epic how much it all comes together.

But I want to know what made you want to try that big band kind of sound on Big World?

yeah thank you so much for having me today this is a blast already um so i've just i've loved music my whole life i started playing the piano when i was three years old and so and i just love all kinds of music you know i grew up on a lot of gospel music on like all just all sorts of genres and i've just always thought like why can't we bring these genres together and why can't we use all the instruments that we have and you know so I just thought, you know, this song should have some horns on it.

It should have trombones and trumpets and saxophones.

And like, let's just bring everybody in together.

From the School of International Service at American University in Washington, this is Big World, where we talk about something in the world that truly matters.

The one thing I try to stress to my students is how much the 9-11 attacks impacted the American psyche.

Not only was 9-11 a shock, but a lot of people believed that that was only the first foray by Al-Qaeda, that there was going to be subsequent big attacks against the United States and a great amount of fear and anxiety gripped the American people.

He worked in the government for more than 20 years as a Middle East analyst in the Department of Defense and the State Department, and as a foreign policy advisor for the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Greg joins us today to discuss the legacy of 9-11 25 years later and consider what America has learned from the war on terror.

Gregory Afton Dillian, thank you so much for joining Big World and welcome to the show.

My pleasure.

Happy to be here.