Happy Monday, folks, or as happy as a world can be without Dolly Parton in it. It was a rough weekend in the Branco-Cottrell household, and this next weekend is looking to be even rougher. If you have a second, send a little prayer our way and be thinking of us, especially our dear old lady cat Cici.

1. Dolly Parton, “Shine”: Dolly gets a lot of praise for her work as a songwriter, and rightly so. But she was also a great interpreter, taking other people’s songs and making them feel like her own. She does that with this classic Collective Soul number, turning it into a bluegrass stomper that blows the roof off in the last couple of minutes.
2. Alabama Shakes, “Another Life”: This R&B number is a cross between a torch song and a barnburner, and I am here for it. And that one-note guitar solo? Channeling Neil Young in the best way possible.
3. Camera Obscura, “Tears For Affairs”: Yes, it’s twee and Scottish and more than a little kitschy. But I unironically love this song and its little organ riff.
4. The Rolling Stones, “Not Fade Away”: The Stones were great at picking excellent covers. This one still rocks, all these years later.
5. Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, “Room At The Top”: I know Echo isn’t everyone’s first pick for their favorite Tom Petty album; it’s not the first one I reach for when I’m in the mood to hear him, either. But damn if it doesn’t just tweak something in my brain the right way.
6. Mike Doughty, “Grey Ghost”: I’ve listened to a lot of Mike Doughty (both with and without the rest of Soul Coughing), and this remains one of my absolute favorites of his. Just the rhythm and tension in this song…just perfect.
7. George Harrison, “Wreck Of The Hesperus”: I love all the wordplay in this song. Cheeky George is my favorite George.
8. Rufus Wainwright, “Going To A Town”: Watching all the nonsense the current administration gets up to on a weekly basis, this song hits especially hard. “I’m going to a town that has already been burnt down.” Yeah, I feel that.
9. Mon Rovia, “Heavy Foot”: It’s a protest song done up in such pretty, simple instrumentation that you don’t even notice the lyrical content until much later.
10. Jason Isbell, “Cover Me Up”: Still one of the most beautiful songs Isbell has written, and that is saying something.