In 2009, an old man died in a California nursing home. His obituary included not just his given name, but a long list of the pseudonyms he’d been known to use. In this classic 2019 episode, we trace the life of Riley Shepard, a hillbilly musician, writer, small-time con man and, perhaps, a genius. Then, on Your Questions Answered, psychologist Leslie John returns to answer your questions about when to share a secret, and when to keep it to yourself.
Duration
1h 36m
Broadcast on
11 May 2026
Audio Format
other
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In 2009, an old man died in a California nursing home. His obituary included not just his given name, but a long list of the pseudonyms he’d been known to use. In this classic 2019 episode, we trace the life of Riley Shepard, a hillbilly musician, writer, small-time con man and, perhaps, a genius. Then, on Your Questions Answered, psychologist Leslie John returns to answer your questions about when to share a secret, and when to keep it to yourself.
You can find an online version of Riley Shepard's Encyclopedia of Folk Music here.
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- 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, DC. 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 Winick. He looks a lot like Hagrid from Harry Potter, which seems about right for someone with a 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 1979008. - Steve pulls from the shelf a cardboard box. - Nobody's really used this collection very much, so it's simply been there waiting for you, really. - The author of this collection is Richard Riley Shepherd, a small-time crook and con man who died in 2009. I've been tracking Riley Shepherd 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 Shepherd. 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's got hickey free. - He was getting out of town before he was being taught and covered. - I got to get this done. - They all hated my guts.
Transcription truncated.
In 2009, an old man died in a California nursing home. His obituary included not just his given name, but a long list of the pseudonyms he’d been known to use. In this classic 2019 episode, we trace the life of Riley Shepard, a hillbilly musician, writer, small-time con man and, perhaps, a genius. Then, on Your Questions Answered, psychologist Leslie John returns to answer your questions about when to share a secret, and when to keep it to yourself.
