Happy Monday, folks! We’re on the home stretch of the school year now; it’s fourth quarter, when all the points matter and the students somehow still don’t care. Here’s a playlist to get us back in the swing of things.

1. Los Lonely Boys, “Heaven”: I remember when this song came out. I remember most of this entire album. I heard it at the time, but who do I know who had the CD? I don’t think it was my dad, who hasn’t listened to new music since 1989. Maybe Uncle Gert? Probably Uncle Gert. It’s his kinda music. It gives “we have Stevie Ray Vaughn at home” vibes, which ain’t a bad thing.
2. The Byrds, “You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere”: I feel like the Byrds really lean into the country side of this Dylan number. Which, I mean, was kinda their thing for at least a couple of albums.
3. Calexico, “Guero Canelo”: Google Translate tells me this means “Fair-Skinned Redhead,” and I mean, I get that. I’m down with a redhead, generally-speaking. Just not the sort of thing I thought this song was about. What did I think it was about? A canal.
4. Ben Harper & the Blind Boys of Alabama, “Well, Well, Well”: This is a Bob Dylan/Danny O’Keefe number, and these guys absolutely kill it. Love this song.
5. AC Newman, “Like a Hitman, Like a Dancer”: Where’s our new AC Newman album? The last time he put out a solo album was 2012. There’ve been, like, five New Pornographers albums since then. Five! And while I’m not one to ever complain about new New Pornographers (still the winner for worst band name twenty years running now), I love the man’s solo work and want him to do another solo album. C’mon, Carl, get on it!
6. The Lovin’ Spoonful, “Do You Believe In Magic”: While out thrift shopping with the family in Ohio last week, I came across a Lovin’ Spoonful Greatest Hits CD for, like, two bucks. I bought it, of course. You don’t just leave a bargain like that sitting on the shelf, even if there’s only one song you recognize by the band on sight.
7. Paul Westerberg, “Dirty Diesel”: It’s a song about a train! I love train songs. Actual trains? Less so.
8. The Eels, “I Like Birds”: There’s something beautiful in the simplicity of this song. And who among us doesn’t like birds, huh?
9. Elk Eyes, “It Goes Dark”: When I imagine my brother’s work (as the Gray Charlies), this is sorta what I hear in my head. Except it’s a guy singing rather than a girl.
10. Elliott Smith, “Oh Well, Okay”: If ever there was a song title that summed up Elliott Smith’s rather somber outlook on the human condition, this would probably be it.