When it comes to being successful in the business of managing musicians, there is one piece of advice that trumps them all: do your best to keep them on the straight and narrow.

So it's no surprise that Brandon Reid, whose clients include The National, Big Red Machine, Broken Social Scene, Georgia Harmer and Aaron Dessner (co-author of Folklore by Taylor Swift, for all the Swifties out there) chose the name Straight x Narrow Management for his business.

Whether that's actually the impetus for the name of his company or not, I don't know. But it sounds like a good story. And this conversation is full of good stories.

Like the one off the top about Ed Sheeran, Aaron Dessner and a giant stuffed animal.

Enjoy the conversation.