Onyx Bugett | TalkLife News
November 7, 2026 · Midday report
Lalah Hathaway’s latest interview explores the Chicago memories behind her music.
The Chicago Transit Authority released the podcast episode November 6. Titled “Music is a Transporter,” it features Hathaway speaking with acting CTA President Nora Leerhsen about her career, her album and a book she has written about her father, Donny Hathaway, according to the agency.
A new conversation around an already released album
Apple Music lists Made In Chicago as an October 1, 2026, release with nine songs and approximately 39 minutes of music. Its rights credit names Hathaway Entertainment under exclusive license to The SRG/ILS Group.
That date separates the two developments: the album arrived in October; the podcast interview is newly available in November. Listeners discovering the project through this conversation are hearing about an existing release.
CTA says the album date was chosen to honor Donny Hathaway’s birthday. The partnership also placed Lalah Hathaway’s voice in recorded announcements across the agency’s rail stations. On October 1, the 47th Green Line station received a one-day honorary name recognizing her.
The lead single, “47th Street,” connects to the street where her grandfather lived, according to CTA’s account. It is a specific example of how a place name can carry family history into a recording.
Public transit as a setting for cultural memory
The episode belongs to “Moving Experiences: Stories of the CTA,” the transit authority’s official podcast. Its stated format brings together employees, transit-industry figures and other guests to discuss the people and connections behind the system.
That context gives the interview a different starting point from an awards appearance or a chart announcement. The conversation is organized around an artist’s relationship with her hometown and the public spaces woven into that history.
For R&B listeners, the appeal is the opportunity to hear Hathaway explain those connections in her own voice. Her family legacy and her present-day work meet in the same discussion, without requiring a new sales milestone or award nomination to make the story worth hearing.
Find the episode through CTA’s official podcast page.