It’s playlist time! Here it is on Spotify.

1. David Bowie, “Starman”: We can all agree that Ziggy Stardust is, like, one of the best albums of the last fifty years, right? Right. It’s obvious.
2. Bruce Springsteen, “My City Of Ruins”: the Boss’s paean to New York City following the September 11th attacks. I know he’s never really been known for his subtlety, and this song definitely ain’t subtle, but it’s uplifting and beautiful and I kinda love it.
3. Pure Prairie League, “Aime”: While I was in Oklahoma a couple of weeks ago, we (meaning my father, my uncle, their cousin, and me) tried singing this song and recording it for posterity. Sadly, the backing vocals were “lost” (according to my uncle) and no one will ever hear it ever. Ever.
4. Pearl Jam, “Hail, Hail”: When you just wanna crank up the volume on the car stereo, roll the windows down, and jam the hell out, it’s hard to top Pearl Jam.
5. Owen Danoff, “Never Been Kissed”: I found this dude through a tweet from Nathan Fillion. That man has never led me wrong.
6. Old 97s, “Champaign, Illinois”: If you’re going to rewrite Bob Dylan’s “Desolation Row” and turn it into a raucous rave-up, this is what it would indeed sound like. Exactly this, since that’s exactly what they did.
7. The Gaslight Anthem, “Here Comes My Man”: With the “Ooh, sha-la-la”s this is like a punky version of a girl-group song, yelped by Brian Fallon instead of the Ronnettes.
8. George Harrison, “Isn’t It A Pity”: George Harrison’s All Things Must Pass is the best post-Beatles Beatle album and I will fight you over this.
9. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, “Sad But True”: I don’t really listen to much Metallica, but if more of it sounded like this I probably would.
10. The White Stripes, “Offend In Every Way”: Sometimes you just need a good stompin’ blues-like song.