Flowers for Linda is an artist-led listening practice shaped by grief and creative life. It unfolds through long-form conversations with artists, writers, and cultural workers that hold loss, lineage, and the ways meaning gathers around absence, moving with the rhythm of thought.
Season 3, Episode 3: The Music We Carry with Alec Betterley—musician, singer-songwriter, hospice music therapist, and best friend since birth.
What is a season? What is a life? Today is the seventh anniversary of my mother’s death, the namesake of this series (hi Linda), and it feels just right to release this conversation with my cousin Alec today.
This past June, we returned to Delmar, New York, to sit in his childhood bedroom—stripped of old band posters and drawers of cassettes—among our many memories, and the quiet company of those we've lost.
We talk about my mom, and our experiences of her loss in the immediate aftermath of her passing. We explore how grief shapes a musical life. In My Life by The Beatles makes a few appearances. Our conversation ranges from memorial-making to young loss to writing about veterans and trauma, and Alec’s music therapy in a Brooklyn hospital.
Alec shares the profound and humbling world of hospice music therapy, reflecting on what it means to witness end-of-life care, play someone out to their next realm with a Simon & Garfunkel tune, and find unexpected grace in the final, quiet moments.The opening and closing song is We’re Gone For The Day, off of his latest lulling and gorgeous release, On The Same Day At Dusk.
This project is about the practice of living creatively alongside grief. All episodes are available on Spotify, Apple, and wherever you get your podcasts.
22 Apr 2026
How to Collaborate With a Ghost with Chelsea Granger
How to Collaborate With a Ghost with Chelsea Granger —multidisciplinary artist, illustrator, and curator of visual medicine.
We open episode 2 of season 3 with a hand-picked bouquet for the beloved dead, inspired by Chelsea’s painting in her gorgeous and comforting book on grief, death and joy, So Many Ways to Draw A Ghost.
In this conversation, Chelsea shares, with sweetness, levity and frank engagement, the many ways she collaborates with her mother through the veil. We dive into the “boring magic” of a suburban psychic medium, the inheritance of a generational bipolar diagnosis, and the complicated, beautiful friction of the mother-daughter bond.
We also reflect on the deep wealth found in the chosen family that taught Chelsea how to become a companion to the bereaved, and the shifts in her vision, and her art, after her own great losses.
A note on the pace: These episodes are intended for slow listening. Carry them with you on a long walk, through a restless night, or on the road. This project is about the practice of living creatively alongside grief.
All episodes are available on Spotify, Apple, and wherever you get your podcasts.
13 Jan 2026
Choosing How to Live with Chopp Stewart
This first episode of Season 3 unfolds in bed, in the company of ancestors. We begin with a strange presence in the room who leads us into a conversation about grief, ritual, and legacy.
Chopp shares about caregiving, assisted death, memorial-making, and the ways we choose to honor the people who raised us. We talk about parents and ancestors, risk and art, and the quiet (and sometimes loud) practices that make loss survivable.
A reminder: these conversations are meant for slow listening. Take it on a walk, tune in to accompany a sleepless night, or a long drive. These episodes are created with the intention of living with grief, not moving past it. They are released as they are made.
Chopp is an interior designer, spatial artist, and transformer of space. This conversation was recorded on September 5, 2025.
12 May 2025
Singing With Roberta with Honey Larochelle
Honey Larochelle shares stories with Caits Meissner about singing with Roberta Flack, revealing how the iconic singer uplifted her community and influenced her as an artist; this is an interview.
9 Apr 2025
A Novel For Junior with Alejandro Heredia
Author Alejandro Heredia discusses how writing his debut novel, LOCA, became a way to cope with grief and honor his cousin, exploring themes of ambition, loss, and creative purpose in this interview.
10 Mar 2025
The Ecstasy of Grief with Katrina Goldsaito
Host of Flowers For Linda interviews Katrina Goldsaito, author and artist, about offering agency to those who have passed, exploring grief as an ecstatic experience and spiritual awakening.
19 Jan 2025
Chasing The Uncanny with Cavalier
Host FLOWERS FOR LINDA interviews Cavalier, a poetic MC, about interpreting uncanny moments as messages from the spirit world and honoring the memory of deceased friends Amy and Mugadu.
28 Dec 2024
Fred's Miraculous Second Act with Boyuan Gao
Boyuan Gao discusses her father Fred Gao's unexpected late-in-life artistic expression and the posthumous art show celebrating his work, revealing how friendship can help navigate loss in this interview.
26 Nov 2024
What Happened At The Cedar Lodge? with Maya Meissner
Photographer Maya Meissner discusses her photography book, *The Cedar Lodge*, and the visual choices she made to communicate a story of tragedy and horror without sensationalizing it in this interview with the host.
22 Oct 2024
Fake Flowers Last Forever with Sam Sellers
Sam Sellers discusses his new album and personal journey, revealing the inner work and philosophies behind his music in an interview with Flowers For Linda.
20 Mar 2023
Still Mama Phife with Cheryl Boyce Taylor
Poet Cheryl Boyce Taylor intimately discusses raising and losing her son Malik, also known as Phife Dawg from A Tribe Called Quest, in this interview episode.
30 Nov 2022
A Ritual is a Container with Caroline Rothstein
Caroline Rothstein, multidisciplinary writer, discusses how Jewish ritual helped her cope with the unexpected loss of her brother, Josh, and how it inspires her art; this is an interview.
5 Oct 2022
The Dead Parents Club with Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
Author Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah discusses the intersection of grief and creative success following the death of his father in this interview episode.
22 Apr 2022
Drop the Performance of Artist To Live Life As Art
Linda Graham shares personal anecdotes and the philosophy of beauty, discussing flow, presence, and embodied creativity as access points, offering listeners strong medicine.
2 Apr 2022
I Am Enough with Maya Azucena
Maya Azucena, Grammy-awarded singer, discusses her new music project, I AM ENOUGH, with the host, exploring the spiritual work required to perform on large stages in this interview.
Who has been a guest on Flowers For Linda
Names identified in recent episode analyses. Showing up to five guests.
Honey Larochelle
Alejandro Heredia
Katrina Goldsaito
Cavalier
Boyuan Gao
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
3 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 33 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
52
Social presence
0
YouTube
0
Engagement
32
Contact Flowers For Linda
Guest appearances
Books guests
Based on episode analysis; this does not confirm that the show is currently accepting guests.
Questions about Flowers For Linda
Who hosts Flowers For Linda?
Flowers For Linda host the show. Published by Caits Meissner.
How often do new episodes come out?
The show publishes monthly, based on its RSS feed.
Does Flowers For Linda take guests?
Yes. Guests have been identified in episode analyses.
Host of Flowers For Linda?
Claim your podcast to manage its listing and keep your show details accurate.
Pod Engine is an independent podcast discovery and analytics service and is not affiliated with or endorsed by this podcast. Artwork and show content belong to their owners. Full legal notice.
Explore this show Podcast research with Pod Engine
