Send us a text

Support the show and get behind-the-scenes access at oneminutetours.com.

This week I sat down with Richard Carlbom, the chair of Minnesota’s Democratic Party, in the middle of one of the most volatile weeks this state has seen in years.

A woman had just been killed in south Minneapolis during a federal operation. ICE activity was escalating across the metro. Schools were shutting down. Protesters were flooding the streets. At the same time, Minnesota’s governor announced he wouldn’t seek reelection, throwing the state into an open race for power.

Richard is one of the people quietly responsible for holding all of that together — managing the party’s response, keeping elections functioning, and figuring out how a democracy operates when pressure keeps rising.

We talk about what his job actually looks like when a crisis hits, why language and outrage suddenly matter so much in politics, and where the line is between protest, civil disobedience, and real political change. We get into misinformation, the way entire communities become scapegoated, and why Minnesota keeps finding itself at the center of national political flashpoints.

We also talk candidly about how candidates are really chosen, what an open governor’s race means behind the scenes, and what lessons he took from leading Minnesota’s marriage equality campaign — especially about listening instead of lecturing voters.

This is a grounded, honest conversation about power, fear, responsibility, and what it actually means to try to protect democratic systems when they’re under stress.

Send us a text

Grammy-winning musician Joe Mailander of The Okee Dokee Brothers joins John O’Sullivan for an uncut, one-hour conversation about music, fatherhood, faith, and finding meaning in the simple things. From their early canoe trips that inspired a Grammy, to turning down another nomination in protest, this episode dives deep into the power of family folk—and why the songs we sing with our kids often hit hardest as adults.

New Album: Little Old You — out now
Album debut show: Ordway Theater January 10 & 11. Tickets available at https://ordway.org/events/the-okee-dokee-brothers/

Learn more at https://www.okeedokee.org

📍 Chapters:

00:00 Intro — Why The Okee Dokee Brothers matter

03:00 “Nature’s Music” (live performance)

06:00 The art of family folk

08:00 When kids’ music makes adults cry

14:00 Faith, simplicity, and the folk tradition

20:00 Saint John’s Abbey, brutalist architecture, and belief

31:00 Parenting, spirituality, and emotional honesty

38:00 Turning down a Grammy nomination

46:00 Fatherhood lessons and “Little Old You”

57:00 “Through the Woods” (live performance)

Send us a text

***Support independent conversations like this by visiting oneminutetours.com and helping keep One Hour Detours going.***

I sat down with Hope Walz just hours after her father announced he would not run for re-election as governor of Minnesota. It was a strange moment to talk. The decision was still fresh, and the reasons behind it were still settling.

We talked about what it’s actually like to grow up in a political family, how the last year changed her life, and what happens when politics stops being abstract and becomes personal. Hope opens up about receiving threats, briefly living with Secret Service protection during the national campaign, and what it felt like to lose that safety overnight.

She also shares how the decision not to run came together inside her family, why her dad believed stepping aside might lower the temperature around Minnesota, and how she thinks about media, social platforms, and responsibility now that she has an audience of her own.

00:00 Recording on the day of the announcement

02:43 What family conversations around stepping away actually looked like

04:36 Threats, harassment, and stepping back from social media

06:34 Living with Secret Service during the national campaign

09:43 Choosing life without security afterward

16:37 Being part of the decision not to run again

18:38 Minnesota as a national political target

37:08 Dating and having a normal life under Secret Service

44:24 Becoming a content creator after the election