Happy Monday, and happy last week of the first quarter! We’re already 1/4 of the way through the school year, which is hard to believe. I’ll take the short week that gives us, though, and next week is Election Day, which means another short week. Two of those back to back? Is it my birthday already? Anyway, have some songs.

1. Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, “Love Don’t”: This white boy’s got a blues holler. I dig it.
2. Jesse Malin, “Argentina”: I oftentimes feel like fucking off forever to Argentina and just starting a new life as a cafe regular, maybe strum my guitar in the village plaza by the fountain. I dunno.
3. Chuck Prophet, “Betty’s Song (feat. Qiensave)”: I’m a sucker for anything about a character named Betty. I blame my grandmother of the same name.
4. Josh Ritter, “Only a River (feat. Bill Frisell)”: A song written for Bob Weir’s album several years back and featured on Ritter’s latest, rather stripped down and quiet collection.
5. Richard and Linda Thompson, “Did She Jump Or Was She Pushed?”: It’s fascinating watching two people who share a life and a career dissolve in slow motion in front of you. This song helps document that dissolution.
6. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, “Deliver Me”: The deluxe version of Long After Dark is good. Essential? I wouldn’t go that far. But it’s got better songs on it than I remembered.
7. David Gray, “After the Harvest”: New David Gray always makes my heart happy. What makes me sad is that the full album doesn’t come out until January.
8. Cracker, “Low”: I like a burst of ’90s nostalgia as much as the next gen-xer/millennial.
9. Gillian Welch, “Pocahontas (Live)”: A damn good cover of the old Neil Young song, and it somehow sounds less cringe coming out of her mouth than it does his.
10. Willie Nelson, “Lost Cause”: Beck cover. Beautiful. Listening to Willie Nelson grapple with mortality like he’s been doing for the past couple of albums (and especially on his forthcoming Last Leaf on the Tree (his 76th album, holy crap) has me feeling things I’m not ready to feel.