dolly parton

Playlist #201

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Happy Monday, everybody. We’re in plague mode in the Casa Brancottrell; everyone has been sick all weekend, with high temperatures and body aches and all that goodness. But hey, even having a fever over 102 all weekend won’t stop me from giving you a new playlist!

  1. Bruce Springsteen, “O Mary Don’t You Weep”: I often wish Bruce would do more stuff like this. It’s so loose and he’s clearly having a blast playing these songs all off the cuff. Music can be fun, Brucey.
  2. Phil Collins, “The Roof Is Leaking”: I love that this song is made up entirely of banjo, piano, and slide guitar. It’s so strange, and yet it works.
  3. Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, “Spike (Live)”: The live version is far superior to the album version, as it includes the story of who Spike is (a dude in a leather jacket and a dog collar) and how he found himself being castigated by some dude sitting at a bar.
  4. Bob Dylan, “Born In Time”: It still surprises me that Dylan writes and records songs this good that just…don’t make it onto an album proper. It’s why I keep getting the Bootleg Series collections whenever they come out, because there are always hidden gems like this.
  5. Marc Sibilia, “More To This”: Heard this guy playing this song on Instagram months ago, downloaded the official version of it, and it remains pretty darn good.
  6. Waxahatchee, “War”: I like how simple all of Waxahatchee’s songs seem at first. But then, you start digging into the songs, and you discover a whole world of amazing bits that come together to create a perfect song.
  7. Linda Ronstadt, “Silver Threads and Golden Needles”: Beautiful song. Ronstadt knocks it out of the park.
  8. Dolly Parton, “Shine”: Dolly Parton, covering a Collective Soul song? It’s more likely (and more bluegrassy) than you think!
  9. Josh Ritter, “Golden Age Of Radio”: There’s never a bad time to listen to this song. It’s just always great.
  10. Lizzo, “Love In Real Life”: Lizzo does a pretty damn convincing version of The Strokes on this new single. I kinda dig it.

Playlist #196

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Happy Monday, folks! It’s the end of the 2nd quarter here in Northern Virginia, which means I’m officially halfway through my 20th school year. Yes, I’m surprised it’s taken me this long to get through high school, too. Here’s a playlist to get us through the week.

  1. David Gray, “Singing for the Pharaoh”: New David Gray always makes my heart happy. This time around, there’s an emphasis on electronic beats, swirling keyboards, and fingerpicked acoustic guitar, which is pretty classic David Gray circa White Ladder. Very fun.
  2. Bob Dylan, “Boots of Spanish Leather”: One of the absolute saddest songs Dylan ever penned. Just the narrator begging and pleading for his love not to leave, and the eventual resignation to it. Gorgeous and sad.
  3. Nanci Griffith, “Across the Great Divide”: A lovely cover of an old Kate Wolf tune that ditches the corny harmonica for fiddle.
  4. Tom Petty, “To Find a Friend (Live)”: Already one of my favorite songs on Wildflowers, this version (from the Wildflowers box set) is beautiful and heartfelt and bittersweet.
  5. The Rolling Stones, “Let It Bleed”: Classic-era Stones just hits different. You forget that they’re now barely-animated corpses trotting out retreads of their greatest tunes and styles.
  6. The Pretenders, “Don’t Get Me Wrong”: I love Chrissy Hinde and the Pretenders. They had such a hard edge to some of their stuff, and then there’s the vulnerable songs like this one that show they’re more than just punky rockers.
  7. Nouvelle Vague, “Ever Fallen In Love”: Who doesn’t love punk songs covered as though they were actually bossa nova songs?
  8. Dolly Parton, “Seven Bridges Road”: Dolly’s read on this old song is absolutely gorgeous and actually brought Jason Isbell to tears when he listened to her sing it live once.
  9. Cat Stevens, “Father and Son”: Okay, I have a soft spot for Cat Stevens songs. He’s a good sad sack songwriter, and I’m a sucker for that.
  10. America, “Ventura Highway”: If you’re listening to this song while driving, don’t be surprised when you look down at your speedometer and realize you’re doing at least twenty over the speed limit. It’s good cruising music.

Playlist #151: Women’s History Month

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Happy Monday, folks! A slightly chilly Monday as winter tries its damnedest to cling to life in its final week. Here are ten songs, all by some of my favorite female artists, in celebration of Women’s History Month.

  1. Waxahatchee, “War”: This song was stuck in my head for a good part of the weekend. Which would’ve been fine if I could’ve remembered the name of the song and who it was by, but I couldn’t. Then I remembered. ADHD is a bitch sometimes.
  2. Hurray for the Riff Raff, “Snake Planet (The Past Is Still Alive)”: So I’m, like, 90% sure Alynda Segarra is non-binary, but I’m still gonna count them for this list? They’ve got a good voice and are doing interesting things with Americana, so I dig ’em.
  3. Aimee Mann, “Stranger Into Starman”: Every time I try to come up with an Aimee Mann song to put on a playlist, this is always the first song that pops into my head. Is it her best song? No. Is it the most memorable? Probably not. Is it one that I absolutely love and will listen to over and over because I love it and I love her voice? Oh my, yes.
  4. Alabama Shakes, “Gimme All Your Love”: Damn, this woman’s voice. She could sing the phonebook and I’d be enthralled.
  5. Alison Krauss & Union Station, “Doesn’t Have To Be This Way”: I didn’t sleep well last night, and there’s the chance that listening to this song will put me back to sleep. But that’s okay, because it’s such a beautiful song to drift off to.
  6. Amanda Palmer & Friends, “Beds Are Burning”: Who doesn’t love an Australian cover? New Zealanders, that’s who.
  7. Aretha Franklin, “Respect”: When you mention the Queen’s name, you’d best put some respect on it.
  8. Dolly Parton, “Seven Bridges Road”: A perfect match of a voice and a song.
  9. Elastica, “Stutter”: Who doesn’t love surreptitious songs about erectile dysfunction?
  10. Nina Simone, “Feeling Good”: But damn, this woman had a voice that could make a dead man walk.

Playlist #134

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Happy Thanksgiving Week, everyone! Well, to everyone except those of you who don’t have to go to work this week. You guys suck.

  1. Iron & Wine, “About A Bruise”: Started listening to the live album Who Can See Forever this morning, and it’s pretty damn solid. The version of “About A Bruise” from that one is excellent, but so is the the original studio recording from Beast Epic, which I’ve included here.
  2. Elvis Costello, “Blame It On Cain”: We seem to forget, because he just seems like an amiable old fart nowadays, but Costello was a firebrand and a troublemaker back in the day, and this song is a good reminder of that.
  3. Dolly Parton, “Long As I Can See The Light (Featuring John Fogerty)”: Dolly finally released her long-threatened rock’n’roll album, Rockstar. It’s alright. There are some great tracks on there (like this one and her rendition of “Purple Rain”), though most of it feels too slick and over-produced for my tastes.
  4. Them, “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”: Who doesn’t love a Bob Dylan cover first thing in the morning? Nazis, that’s who.
  5. Thom Yorke, “And It Rained All Night”: Thom Yorke’s first solo album, The Eraser, is weird. It’s all electronic squiggles and squelches and super-processed drum loops and for some reason I can’t stop listening to this particular track from it.
  6. Townes Van Zandt, “Racing In The Streets”: I always like hearing Townes interpret someone else’s song. This Bruce Springsteen cover is a good example of why.
  7. XTC, “Senses Working Overtime”: I just love the transitions between verse and chorus on this song.
  8. Leo Sayer, “More Than I Can Say”: 70s soft rock called, and it said, “Whoa, whoa, yay, yay.”
  9. Kenny Wayne Shepherd, “Everything Is Broken”: Two Dylan covers on one playlist? Is he mad? Doesn’t he know what horrors that might unleash?
  10. Kendrick Lamar, “DNA.”: This one is just on here to throw you off at the end of the playlist and get you ready for your racist uncle at Thanksgiving Dinner telling you everything was better before they came to the US.

Playlist #114

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Happy Monday, and happy birthday to my lovely mother, who is [redacted] years old today!

  1. No Clue, “The Old Die Young”: A former student of mine’s band. They do straight-ahead, old school, hardcore punk. If that’s your jam, you’ll probably dig this song.
  2. M. Ward, “i can’t give everything away (feat. Jim James & Kelly Pratt)”: I dig the smokey, 3 AM at the dinner feel of this song, especially with that saxophone part.
  3. Shocking Blue, “Venus”: I prefer this original version to the Bananarama version from the 1980s. Big surprise, right?
  4. Shawn Colvin, “Sunny Came Home”: A surprisingly sprightly, countryish song that I find I enjoy more with each passing year.
  5. Wilco, “Unlikely Japan”: Companion to the Wilco song “Impossible Germany,” in that the lyrics to both songs reference both countries (“Impossible Germany, unlikely Japan”). Why is Japan unlikely? I dunno. Have you ever seen the sort of things they’ll sell you out of a vending machine? Place is nuts.
  6. The Beatles, “Things We Said Today”: I’m a sucker for mid-period Beatles songs. Anything from ’64 to about ’66 is just the sweet spot for me.
  7. Brian Fallon, “Among Other Foolish Things”: The guy writes some damn catchy songs, I have to give him that.
  8. Eklipse, “Cry Me A River”: This song sounds like some other song that I know, but I’ll be damned if I can remember what it reminds me of.
  9. Echo In The Canyon, “Never My Love (feat. Jakob Dylan & Norah Jones)”: Echo in the Canyon is still a loving mash note of a documentary to an entire style of pop-rock, and songs like this so faithfully maintain the style while deviating just enough to keep things interesting.
  10. Dolly Parton, “Seven Bridges Road”: Just load this right into my veins, I am in need of those harmonies.

Playlist #52

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This marks the one-year anniversary of me starting this playlist project. It’s kept me writing here for the whole year, which I like. I’ve even gotten back into working on Novel #7 (I’m well-past the halfway point, I think).

For this playlist, I thought about doing a retrospective, selecting my favorite songs from other playlists. But I decided against that. I’ll do another post later this week where I examine the playlists as a whole, looking at who got played the most and how many songs I repeated (I think just one? I’m not sure, but I’ll find out!).

Anyway, remember there’s the Patreon. I’m about to post April’s song. I’m pretty proud of it. Anyway, without further ado, here’s this week’s playlist:

  1. Dr. Dog, “Lonesome”: I love the guitar in this one. Pretty sure it’s a dobro or resonator.
  2. Andrew Bird, “Atomized”: Andrew Bird has a new album coming out this summer. I’m stoked. If this song is any indication, it’ll be a great one.
  3. Jorge Orozco, “Gran Vals”: Orignally composed by Francisco Tarrega, this is the song that Nokia got its ringtone from. It’s a very pretty song.
  4. Langhorne Slim & the Law, “Put It Together”: I’m a sucker for a shout-along chorus.
  5. The Doubleclicks, “This Is My Jam”: I like jam. Who doesn’t like jam? Commies, that’s who.
  6. Dolly Parton, “Jolene”: This is the slowed down version, the one from the 45 played at 33 1/3 RPM. It’s haunting.
  7. Aimee Mann, “Phoenix”: What is it about the way Aimme Mann writes and plays songs that just captivates me? I just love everything about her sound.
  8. Sam Cooke, “A Change Is Gonna Come”: Some days, you just need to let Sam take you home.
  9. Santana, “Evil Ways”: The way they add the, “baby,” to the end of certain lines in this song amuses me to no end.
  10. Bob Dylan, “Paths Of Victory”: My love for Dylan is no secret at this point. Someday, I’ll figure out an arrangement of this song for the guitar (rather than the piano he plays in this version). Until then, I’ll just have to sit and marvel at how well that man puts words together.