The Cowboy Philosopher
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
This is Hidden Brain. I'm Shankar Vedanta. Today's episode begins in a subterranean labyrinth. It's 2018 and we're below the streets of Washington, D.C.
Who was Riley Shepard and what made him a fascinating figure?
I've come here in search of clues. So here we are in Deck 50 in the stacks of the Library of Congress. I'm opening a door that's marked Door 20. My guide through the Library of Congress's massive collection is a tall, shaggy man. His name is Steve Winnick. He looks a lot like Hagrid from Harry Potter, which seems about right for someone with the title of folklorist. Steve has already led me through a maze of low ceiling stacks, across a small bridge, and into a tiny elevator where the floor numbers go up as we move down. Finally, we arrive at our destination. And in here, we find row upon row of collection boxes on the shelves. And I'm looking for this collection, which is numbered AFC 1979-008. Steve pulls from the shelf a cardboard box.
Nobody's really used this collection very much, so it's simply, you know, been there waiting for you, really. The author of this collection is Richard Riley Shepard, a small-time crook and con man who died in 2009. I've been tracking Riley Shepard for a few months. My assumption is that there's nothing of significance in the box. But I'm about to discover that the story I thought I was reporting is not in fact the full story. The story that's about to unfold before me is a story of obsession, its power, its beauty, and its costs. This week on Hidden Brain, we bring you a classic episode about the peculiar life of a man named Riley Shepard. He was a musician and writer who spent decades on a single grand project.
Whether that project was a great quest or a great folly, that is for you to decide. He was a genius, I think.
He just was a compulsive liar. He was quite a master.
He was getting out of town before he was being tart and tethered.
I got to get this done.
They all hated my guts. So I said, well, I am.
I stumbled onto the story as I was contemplating an episode not about obsession, but about fallen heroes. I'd asked Hidden Brain listeners to share examples from their own lives.
One of the messages... I hope I did this right.
...was from Stasia Shepard Silverman. She said her fallen hero was her dad, Riley Shepard, whom she still loved.
I want to say that I had a great relationship with my father. He was... Totally cool in many ways and a great cook.
When we talk, Stasia tells me that as a young girl, she idolized her dad. She has memories of those days that feel like tiny, sparkling gems.
My earliest memory of my dad is sitting on his lap and him smoking his cigar, and he would make cigar smoke rings for me.
Stasia would watch them, transfixed, as they rose in the air before her.
I thought the smoke rings were magical.
There was a lot that was magical for Stasia back then. She still remembers their little apartment in Hollywood with the Siamese cat and the cat hair and the hardwood floors. She remembers how much she loved that her dad was around all the time.
He didn't have a regular job. And he would... sit in the middle of the living room usually, wherever we lived, and he would type. So he was working on things. He was working on, I didn't know what, but I would sit under his desk sometimes while he typed away and we would talk in between the pages and he would tell me things about show business.
They were in their own little bubble. Riley in his late 50s and his little daughter. Typing, talking, just being together. Sometimes, if Riley had a little money, he'd take Stasha out to eat at their favorite Hollywood hotspot, a restaurant called the Brown Derby. It was a place where Riley could rub shoulders with famous people, charm them with his warm southern accent, and impress his daughter on their way home.
You know, the Hollywood stars were all around us. We could walk up the street, and my father would tell me about movie stars when we walked. He seemed to know everything.
Stasia was certain that her dad was something of a star himself. Sometimes he'd tell her about his musical career as a successful promoter, singer, and songwriter.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–0:11
2
Who was Riley Shepard and what made him a fascinating figure?
0:11–6:27
3
What was the significance of Riley Shepard's musical career?
6:27–8:28
4
How did Riley Shepard's obsession shape his life and work?
8:28–26:29
5
What insights does psychologist Leslie John provide on keeping secrets?
26:29–32:00
6
What challenges did Riley face in his pursuit of the Encyclopedia of Folk Music?
32:00–40:18
7
How did Riley's actions affect his family relationships?
40:18–40:28
8
How can revealing secrets impact our relationships?
40:28–1:28:51