It’s funny how songs get threaded into the bump-bump of the mind. I was reading and my brain started playing a song. How annoying, how beautiful. I imagine being stuck on a desert island singing to myself till they found me or my song gave up my location to something bigger and stronger that would eat me. Still, I’m grateful for the anthems of my days.
Here are some that’ve been lodged lately:
“billy” by Stephen Wilson Jr.
Beth got me hooked on this big country anthem. I mean, a line like “you can call me billy / but the hills come with me” is tailor-made for my hick roots. It’s a bit of a hillbilly haunting—his voice, those drums, that guitar line, the soaring pedal steel. I need to listen to more of this double-album, but I can’t get beyond this beauty.
“P-Town” by Lilly Hiatt
We were ramping up to see Lilly Hiatt live at the Hifi last week (she was awesome!) and in the midst of the listening, my official “favorite LH song” shifted from “Brightest Star” to this track. I just love the way she writes songs so open-heartedly, and this one really hooks into me at that part where the beat changes a smidge and she goes, “I grabbed a coffee and I gave Paul a buzz / I said, "I don't think I'm who he thought I was." A really underrated singer-songwriter.
“Avant Gardener” by Courtney Barnett
I’m such a sucker for Courtney Barnett’s mid-tempo rambling rock. I’ll catch myself just fall into “I’m having trouble breathing in / I’m having trouble breathing in.” It reminds me to stay connected to my life force. There’s a real humanity to her songs that remind me to stay in close proximity to my own life.
“Serenity Prayer” by TK & the Holy Know-Nothings
I mean, is there a better opening rhyme than “mosquito/mojito?” And that chorus just leans into the flavor of the song so hard, doing its drunken parody of the real serenity prayer. As a boy who has struggled with his drinking, there’s a deep wound that this song both scratches and soothes.
“At Least There’s Beer” by Fishplate
Speaking of drinking songs, this one is softer and friendlier, but still touches home. “At least there’s beer” has become our household’s “it is what it is.” I honestly don’t know all of the words to the verses, a rarity with me, but that chorus is so smooth and real. I can’t get enough.