List Your FAV FIVE: Singer-songwriters

FAV FIVE Series

Songs • Albums • Singer-songwriters • Rock 'n' Roll Bands • Guitar Players 
Beatles Songs • Bob Dylan Songs • Rolling Stones Songs • Neil Young Songs

"Singer-songwriter" is used to define popular music artists who write and perform their own material, which is often self-accompanied generally on acoustic guitar or piano. Such an artist performs the roles of composer [writes the songs music], lyricist, [writes the songs words] vocalist, sometimes instrumentalist, and often self-manager. According to AllMusic, singer-songwriters' lyrics are often personal but veiled by elaborate metaphors and vague imagery, and their creative concern is to place emphasis on the song rather than their performance of it. Wikipedia

Again, I enlisted my dear friend and singer-songwriter Paul Hobbs to help me navigate the guidelines for this week's challenge, list your five favorite singer-songwriters of all-time. Paul helped me clarify a couple key points to lay down the basics for filling out the Google Form below.

1. You can only list one person on each line 1-5. By the definition above, the singer-songwriter composes the music, writes the lyrics and performs the song by singing and/or playing an instrument. My wife Mary Kit immediately threw a wrench in the works by saying she was going to write, "Elton John and Bernie Taupin" together on one line. I started to get into the weeds saying, "You know, Bernie first writes the lyrics separately and then Elton writes the music to craft a song around the lyrics, so by definition... Mary Kit cuts me off and says, "If you're going to make this too complicated, nobody is going to fill out your form." I get it. Elton John is 3/4th a singer-songwriter, and a hell of one at that so I tell her, "Just write Elton John on the bloody form."
2. This list is based on a singer-songwriter's SOLO career. Okay, getting back on the lawnmower and heading to the weeds again- somebody like Tom Petty is a good example where the mower can get hung up. Tom is mainly known for his body of work with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, and the Traveling Wilburys. If you look at Tom's discography, he has three solo albums. So, if you write Tom Petty in you list of five, you are selecting him based on his solo work NOT his band compositions. Same for Neil Young, John Lennon, Pete Townshend, etc.

As a teaser for next week, we're going to list our FAV FIVE Bands where all the fabulous writing combinations of Lennon/McCartney, Jagger/Richards, Stills/Nash/Crosby, etc. are all contained within by simply naming your favorite bands, albeit the short list.

Okay, here's my ranked list of FAV FIVE Singer-songwriters. Boy this was tough as a couple of readers have said in the previous FAV FIVEs, it's something like Sophie's Choice. For me, what it came down to was how many albums/CD's did I own of that artist as a solo singer-songwriter.

1. James Taylor
2. Joni Mitchell
3. Jackson Browne
4. Paul Simon
5. Neil Young

Note- Like last week you can see my random brainstorm list at the end of this blog.

Now it's your turn.


If for some reason, the Google Form does not appear in your web browser, click on this direct link here - https://forms.gle/JDRCVasREuAtDPadA

_________________

Mary Kit McIntosh's FAV FIVE  Singer-songwriters

1. Don Henley
2. Elton John
3. Glenn Frey
4. Prince 
5. Stevie Nicks

Ron Zieman's FAV FIVE  Singer-songwriters

1. Joni Mitchell
2. Neil Young
3. George Harrison
4. Eric Clapton
5. Don Henley

Ken Forman's FAV FIVE  
Singer-songwriters

1. Bob Dylan
2. James Taylor
3. Neil Young
4. Jackson Browne
5. Pete Townshend

Paul Hobbs' FAV FIVE  
Singer-songwriters

1. James Taylor
2. Joni Mitchell
3. Bob Dylan
4. Jackson Browne
5. Paul Simon

Ron Ouellette's FAV FIVE  
Singer-songwriters

1. Cat Stevens
2. Warren Zevon
3. Al Stewart
4. Vienna Teng
5. Joanne Shaw Taylor

Chuck Stark's FAV FIVE  
Singer-songwriters

1. Neil Young
2. Bob Dylan
3. James Taylor
4. Paul McCartney
5. Bruce Springsteen

Roger Demchak's FAV FIVE  
Singer-songwriters

1. Paul McCartney
2. John Lennon
3. Neil Young
4. James Taylor
5. Bob Dylan

__________________
Doug's random brainstorm list of his favorite singer-songwriters as a solo artist.

• Paul McCartney
• John Lennon
• Jackson Browne
• Bruce Springsteen
• Stevie Wonder
• Shawn Colvin
• Randy Newman
• Neil Young
• James Taylor
• John Prine
• Paul Simon
• Joni Mitchell
• Van Morrison
• Don Henley
• Bob Dylan
• Mark Knopfler
• Carol King
• Laura Nyro
• Cat Stevens
• George Harrison
• Billy Joel
• J.D. Souther
• Harry Nilsson
• Elvis Costello
  
• Tom Waits
• Eric Clapton
• Jesse Colin Young
• Sting
• David Bowie
• Bonnie Raitt
• Donovan
• Peter Gabriel
• and yes Mary Kit, Elton John

List Your FAV FIVE: Albums

FAV FIVE Series

Songs • Albums • Singer-songwriters • Rock 'n' Roll Bands • Guitar Players 
Beatles Songs • Bob Dylan Songs • Rolling Stones Songs • Neil Young Songs

Last week's blog, LIST Your FAV FIVE Songs was a lot of fun! I'm so thankful to the people who participated and made Monday Monday Music a little more interactive. For the little music blog that could, I got a larger number of hits than most weeks, as I think that some readers passed along the blog to family and friends who may have cast a silent ballot at home.

The feedback I got from several people was that it was really hard to pick only five songs, and that's why I liked it so much! So if you either electronically responded or silently made your list on a napkin, I thought I'd continue the reader participation theme this week by stepping it up a notch. This week let's all put our heads together and list our five favorite albums of all-time.

As I write this on the weekend before the Monday post, I've started a brainstorm list (on recycled printer paper) of 33 albums and initially only knew one album that would will make the final five. My suggestion- just start looking through your vinyl album/CD collections, or music streaming service favorites. That should get you going.

After studying my list of 33, it came down to:

• Which Beatle album(s) to pick;
• Which singer-songwriter album(s) to pick;
• and most importantly, what albums did I know every song and played them into my heart and soul.

Paul Hobbs texted me last week after participating in the FAV FIVE Songs blog and wrote, "It would be interesting to hear what made one choose a particular song. As music is a time machine, specific incidents and events can certainly play a role in creating a list such as this." I couldn't agree more; and so my third bullet point above and Paul's words lead me to this list of five albums that have stayed with me since "the era" of the 60's and 70's. 

1. The White Album, The Beatles
2. After the Gold Rush, Neil Young
3. Who's Next, The Who
4. Late For The Sky, Jackson Browne
5. Buffalo Springfield Again, Buffalo Springfield

This week I will forgo why I chose these five albums as your list will also come to me without an explanation to the "time machine, specific incidents and events" that influenced your short list. 

What makes your list and my list interesting, is that we may or may not have some background information of 'why' one made a specific album selection, but the mystery and our speculation may be enough to make our music week a little more intriguing. So share this blog with friends and family as it may spark an interesting conversation. 

Note- For kicks, you might be interested in 'my weekend brainstorm' of 33 albums and I've included it here at the end of the blog. I made my list within a hour and then put my pen down and did that on purpose because knowing myself, it quickly would grow to fifty, then one-hundred and hey thats' a horse of a different color.

One last thing before I turn you loose to think and create your own list; I want to simply make the distinction between 'best' and 'favorite.' Citizen Kane is often ranked by critics as the best movie of all-time and Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band is similarly ranked as the best album of all-time. My list could have easily included Sgt. Pepper, but the emotional impact of The White Album for me comes from a place in the time machine that makes it an extra special favorite.

Now it's your turn.


If you do not see the Google Form in this blog from your browser, use this direct link -
https://forms.gle/6efiGQv7wrgPeXCu7

I'll be looking forward to making and posting Your FAV FIVE Albums playlists this week, so come back to see everyone's playlists! (note- I will create the playlists in the order I receive them on my end.)

Doug McIntosh's FAV FIVE Albums












Mary Kit McIntosh's FAV FIVE Albums












Paul Hobbs' FAV FIVE Albums












Ron Ouellette's FAV FIVE Albums

Desperado, Eagles (on Spotify, as the complete studio album is not available on YouTube)

Desperado (pieced together with various studio and live song versions)











Shawna McIntosh's FAV FIVE Albums












Vicki Forman's FAV FIVE Albums












Ken Forman's FAV FIVE Albums












Ron Zieman's FAV FIVE Albums








Are You Experienced • Jimi Hendrix (This link is available on Spotify as there are only a few original studio tracks from the album available on YouTube)

Note - Ron suggested I get this album as I purchased Are Your Experienced and Buffalo Springfield Again at the same time in 1968 as these two albums were the first albums I actually bought with my own money (from my paper route). It's so fitting to find it here as one of Ron's FAV FIVE along with my Buffalo Springfield Again pick above.




Roger Demchak's FAV FIVE Albums












Jane Hobbs' FAV FIVE Albums


Hotel California • Eagles

(This link is available on Spotify as there are only a few original studio tracks from the album available on YouTube)










____________________________
Doug's Brainstorm List of 33 FAVorite Albums
(Listed in the order they came into my head)

1. Late For The Sky, Jackson Browne
2. Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles
3. Who's Next, The Who
4. The White Album, The Beatles
5. Abbey Road, The Beatles
6. Innervisions, Stevie Wonder
7. Buffalo Springfield Again, Buffalo Springfield
8. Desperado, Eagles
9. Tumbleweed Connection, Elton John
10. Madman Across the Water, Elton John
11. John Prine, John Prine
12. After The Gold Rush, Neil Young
13. Deja Vu, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
14. Sail Away, Randy Newman
15. A Hard Day's Night, The Beatles
16. There Goes Rhymin' Simon, Paul Simon
17. Tea For The Tillerman, Cat Stevens
18. Court and Spark, Joni Mitchell
19. Sweet Baby James, James Taylor
20. Talking Book, Stevie Wonder
21. Moondance, Van Morrison
22. Bridge Over Troubled Water, Simon and Garfunkel
23. Tapestry, Carol King
24. Blue, Joni Mitchell
25. Highway 61 Revisited, Bob Dylan
26. Blood On The Tracks, Bob Dylan
27. Revolver, The Beatles
28. Cover Girl, Shawn Colvin
29. Prisoner in Disguise, Linda Ronstadt
30. Nilsson Schmilsson, Harry Nilsson
31. Karla Bonoff, Karla Bonoff
32. Damn The Torpedoes, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
33. If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears, The Mama's and the Papa's

List Your FAV FIVE: Songs

FAV FIVE Series

Songs • Albums • Singer-songwriters • Rock 'n' Roll Bands • Guitar Players 
Beatles Songs • Bob Dylan Songs • Rolling Stones Songs • Neil Young Songs

In the past, you may have seen my favorite 100 Songs, Second 100, Third 100, and I'm currently working on a Fourth 100 song playlist. Now doing a list of 100 of your 'fav' songs I found to be a bit of a challenge. My friend Paul Hobbs, found it to be harder than he first realized, as he has just completed his TOP 100 (on Spotify) which I've linked here for you to check out. (By the way, this Hobbs fellow has extremely good taste in my opinion.)

In fact, if you spend the time to make a 'My 100 Songs' list on Spotify, I will link it in a future blog. But for now, let's do the warm up!

So I ran an idea by my wife Mary Kit the other day, and said, "What if I give my readers a ten song challenge to rank their favorite ten songs of all-time?" She didn't hesitate and said, "Make it five and you'll get more responses back." Well, I listened to that advice and when I made my own list, I found that doing a list of five songs is actually harder than a ten song list, which one's to leave out, oh not that one! Anyway, I liked the five song challenge and think you will too.

So here's how you can easily participate in LIST Your FAV FIVE Songs.

1. Rank 1-5 your favorite songs of all-time.
2. Name the song, and also identify the band or musician performing the song.
   (I would suggest- you write all the songs that come to mind down on paper. Then whittle it down and rank the top five.)
3. Fill out the Google Form below, and submit. Please Submit only ONE TIME. The deadline for submittal will be Sunday, August 9th, 1pm.
4. I will create a YouTube Playlist of your FAV FIVE Songs released from record labels that would typically have the song published on YouTube. By sending me your list, you will also agree that I will Title the playlist with your first and last name.
   (example-  Bill DeVoe's FAV FIVE Songs)

This week, I'll work on all the responses and embed all the playlists in this blog this week! In creating a playlist, I try to do two things: 1) Find a high quality audio YouTube video of a track or performance; 2) Find a video of the band performing. If I can't find a video of the band performing, I usually opt for the artist's original audio track on video from their album.

For this post, I tried to find one live or concept video for each playlist, but understand I couldn't always match my #1 requirement. I also usually hate concept videos, but you'll see several here. Speaking of concept videos, my wife's #1 song is The Boys of Summer by Don Henley. For some reason, Don keeps pulling down the original 1984 MTV video, too soon Don? Well I hope the video I found makes it to the Monday post before being pulled down. C'mon Don!

a disclaimer (of sorts) - By filling out the form, it goes directly to my Google Forms account. I will only share on this blog what you have agreed to share- Your first and last name, and the 5 songs you have listed on the Google Form. A friend jokingly asked me if this was going to William Barr's desk? I said no. I can also safely say that your submittal will not be part of Hillary's 30,000 emails. 

So, here's my- All-Time Favorite Five Songs

1. Penny Lane, The Beatles
2. Like a Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan
3. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction, The Rolling Stones
4. Sweet Baby James, James Taylor
5. Carry On, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

Now it's your turn.

If for some reason, the Google Form is not showing in this blog, click on the LINK Here for the form.

I'll be looking forward to making and posting Your FAV FIVE Songs YouTube playlist soon! (I will create the playlists in the order I receive them on my end.)

You can see below that I already got a little help from my friends to get this party started so if they can do it, you can too. Thank you for reading my blogs!

Stay well and come back to this blog post to view your playlist, and as the number of fav five playlists will grow daily this week, I know you will be wanting to see everyone's list!

Doug McIntosh's FAV FIVE Songs

Mary Kit McIntosh's FAV FIVE Songs

Jeremy Ouellette's FAV FIVE Songs



Jeff McCarthy's FAV FIVE Songs



Chuck Stark's FAV FIVE Songs



Paul Hobbs' FAV FIVE Songs



Ron Zieman's FAV FIVE Songs

Shawna McIntosh's FAV FIVE Songs

Roger Demchak's FAV FIVE Songs

Bill DeVoe's FAV FIVE Songs



Ken Forman's FAV FIVE Songs



Ron Ouellette's FAV FIVE Songs




Jane Hobbs' FAV FIVE Songs

50 Years of Music • July, 1970

See resent crash lower right corner
Source - Noozhawk.com

July 1970, at 15 I'm still too young to drive, but I've got friend Gary Hill a few years older who could borrow the family station wagon and we are off to the beach or getting our kicks on Route 166. I remember going out to the towering bridge on 166 east of Santa Maria, CA where we used to walk directly underneath the bridge girders on a narrow wood  plank and single steel cable rail walkway (most likely used for maintenance work). One time, Paul Hobbs and I started on one end of the bridge and Jeff McCarthy and Gary started on the other. We raced towards the middle, gracefully passing each other on the single plank using the cable rail and then sped to the other end. The first group back up on the road were the winners. Jeff and Gary beat us handily. Just a few years later, I drove out to that same bridge to do the walk under the bridge, and I was terrified. Yes, good ol' terror can actually keep you alive!

In my research this week for albums released in July, 1970 three strong albums perked up my memory listening to these albums fifty years ago.

Creedence Clearwater Revival (CCR) made five albums from 1968-1970 and were one of my wife's favorite bands during that period. When Cosmo's Factory was released in July of 1970, it could have been called, John Fogerty's Hit Factory for the sheer number of hits from that album alone. CCR is often called, swamp rock even though the band was from the San Francisco Bay Area and not the south. CCR never got the 'cool' brand like other Bay area bands like Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead, or Quicksilver Messenger Service, and some rock 'n' roll critics dismissed them. But for me, CCR was pure 'three cords and the truth' that differed from the live jam groups of that era. My personal taste today reverts back to the CCR sound and think they actually hold up better fifty years later than many bands from the 60's and 70's. I often think of CCR and Booker T. and the MG's in the same breathe, simple tunes that just hook you for life. I will also say, that John Fogerty didn't write pop drivel lyrics, he covered social injustice topics and the Vietnam War like few other hit making bands of that era. A couple years ago, I got tickets to see John Fogerty in Las Vegas a day after seeing (and being a bit disappointed with) a very famous act the night before. John Fogerty made my trip and I will say, "he blew that room away."

The James Gang rides again is the second album by the band James Gang as everybody gets introduced to Joe Walsh and his mastery of electric guitar through the hit Funk #49. Listening to this album after so many years, I was thinking maybe there are a couple more good songs here besides Funk #49. Well this album also holds up very well after fifty years, and I found several more to make the playlist this week.

1970 found the band Traffic together again after Steve Winwood had left the band in 1969 to form Blind Faith with Eric Clapton. When Clapton left Blind Faith after their first album and tour, Winwood then planned to make a solo album in 1970. After bringing in Jim Capaldi and Chris Wood to work on the solo project, he decided to scrub that and get Traffic back together again with the boys and thus, John Barleycorn Must Die was born and released in July. Listening to the entire album again was a treat, and as I have said many times in this blog, just another quality album purchased by my friend Ron Zieman and consumed by our young ears from his portable record player in his bedroom.

This week's playlist is formed by the three albums with a song from each album and then interjected with a July 1970 song by The Doors, Yes, Humble Pie, The Stooges, and Fairport Convention. Then, I finish it off with the rest of Cosmo's Factory, because I'm just diggin' CCR today!

Enjoy, and stay well my friends.

The Santa Maria Riverbed, just before you reach Route 166 heading north on the 101.

The Jayhawks new album: XOXO

The Jayhawks, an 'almost famous' band that you may or may not have heard of was formed in 1985 by the original singer-songwriter duo of Gary Louris and Mark Olson. Olson has quit the band a couple of different times, the last being in 2012.

The Jayhawks have been called alt rock, alt country, Americana, etc. I think they are simply a great rock 'n' band band and probably my current favorite band since their release of Paging Mr. Proust in 2016. Over the years, The Jayhawks have grown a nice fan base without a radio format hit to propel them to 'famous' status. That being said, they have the respect of many musicians and bands like Wilco who came later and have themselves received greater acclaim by the music establishment. Rolling Stone put it best in this recent article by Jonathan Bernstein: 35 Years Into a Career, the Jayhawks Remain Americana’s Most Underappreciated Band.

Yeah I'm a real 'johnny come lately' to follow this great band but that's part of my rock 'n' roll back story: saving my soul in the 60's and 70's, losing my way in the 80's through early 2000's, and then becoming reborn again to music upon my retirement from my day job in 2014. I started my Monday Monday Music blog in January, 2015 to explore music more deeply, and give myself a weekly writing assignment to improve my writing.

The Jayhawks are a perfect example of discovering a band that took me back to my 1960's rock 'n' roll roots, and as an enduring band, continue to evolve their music from a multitude of rock influences to create new music now into 2020. New music that in fact embodies my specific personal taste and blend of rock 'n' roll Americana, like no other band.

The latest iteration of The Jayhawks have in my opinion a perfect band makeup: a harmony of voices, a woman singer in the band, keyboards, and a four member group with a democracy in song writing spread across an album.

The Jayhawks:

Gary Louris – Vocals/Guitar

Marc Perlman - Bass 

Karen Grotberg – Vocals/Keyboards 

Tim O’Reagan – Vocals/Drums/Guitar

The new album XOXO, is literally 'hugs and kisses' to their loyal fan base. The front jacket cover art alone is made to order for Monday Monday Music. One sees a teenage girl in the early to mid-sixties listening to her favorite albums spread out on the carpet. It made me imagine as the oldest child in my family- 'what if' I had had an older sister, one who would expose me to her record collection at a very early age and show me the way...

In prepping for this blog, I got interested in Gary Louris by watching his live streaming pandemic show called, The Sh*t Show with Gary Louris (a feature of last week's blog). I started thinking, I bet Gary's sixty-five. That's ten years younger than all those great rock 'n' roll musicians born in the mid-1940's and just old enough to fully absorb Beatlemania and the British Invasion. Sure enough Gary Louris was born March 10, 1955, sixteen days older than me (and fun fact, both of us being a few months older than Bill Gates and a few days younger than Steve Jobs, boy I'm pretty small potatoes compared to these birth year classmates).

Here's a nice quote from the Joel Bernstein article about Louris- “Gary is just a consummate creator of melody,” says Jayhawks fan M.C. Taylor, who records as Hiss Golden Messenger. “His music sounds like he has spent a lifetime listening to the way melody and harmony work on our emotions, but he never sounds like he’s copying anyone.”

I'll finish here with a little more resource info on the band that you might enjoy as I leave you with both the new audio album and accompanying videos for XOXO. I recommend you listen to the audio album first, just like the old days sitting on the carpet, and before the internet video tubes and stuff. Stay well my friends!

Quick History of the Band:
The Jayhawks' "New Day": How The Americana Pioneers Overcame Decades Of Turbulence And Became Full Collaborators by Morgan Enos | Grammys

Album Review:
The Jayhawks - XOXO by Kate Papadopoulos | mxdwn

Jayhawks Official Website:
The Jayhawks Story
XOXO available for purchase

XOXO (Album audio) on Youtube -
Oh boy this is a good one. Best album of 2020, so far.
Also three bonus tracks included in my playlist!

XOXO And Recent Videos on Youtube

Live Streaming Music Shows In The Time Of Coronavirus

Before I jump into this week's theme, I want to quickly revisit a blog I did in my- In The Time Of Coronavirus series called, Outdoor Exercise In The Time of Coronavirus: Who was that Masked Man? Here's an update on the subject of mask wearing now that Trump is officially the last man on earth to wear a mask during coronavirus, and as if it's like the second coming of the baby Jesus. Geez, it's only been four+ months as my almost three year grandson even knows the phrase, "mask up". So Trump finally manned up and masked up, so how 'bout trying on the Darth Vader mask next week Donald, great photo op eh?

Meanwhile, California coronavirus numbers are spiking, but I finally do see a change happening in the beautiful exercise land of San Diego as more people are finally wearing masks, but obviously only because of this spike.

Here's my estimated observations since I wrote the blog May 11th with people exercising in my neighborhood of Tierrasanta while wearing a mask:

• Walkers in May - 50% • July - 80% (lifetime walkers figure stuff out while walking, that's why they live the longest)
• Runners in May - 10% • July - 20% (my peeps have let me so down)
• Bicyclists in May - 0% • July - 1% (has the spandex just made them totally indifferent or totally stupid?)

Also, more men are wearing masks since May, including actually wearing the bandana mask instead of it just being a new cowboy fashion statement around the neck. However, the woman walker on the trail is still without a mask, still pulling her shirt up over her face and turning her back to me on the trail, and now I would completely miss it if she ever did anything different upon my arrival.

-----------------------

Now onto Live streaming music shows.

As you've probably noticed live music shows are booming on social media these days as artists and bands perform for charity, album promotion, or just connecting with fans @home during coronavirus. Most live streaming shows are over an hour, so what I tried to do this week was provide a number of different music shows to choose from (but please knock yourself out if you want to hear them all).

I love NPR Music Tiny Desk Concerts and kind of landed there this week finding new 'Home' shows from 2020. Tiny Desk Concerts typically range from 14 - 20 minutes or so, and that unscripted time format is just one reason why this show is so popular on the Internet.

I have also picked some select song clips from live shows and have sprinkled them throughout including, Live From Here with Chris Thile another of my favorite shows, but sadly just cancelled due to coronavirus. During the pandemic Chris created #livefromhome, I feature several songs here.

Stay well and enjoy my friends. And hey, 'parallel worlds collide' with Ringo and my mom sharing the same birth date, July 7th. Happy Birthday mom and Ringo!

Live Stream Deli Menu 

Top 10 Albums • January - June • 2020

Okay, I say I'm an album guy but most of my blogs focus on individual songs. This week I'll be backing up my talk with my list of the most impressive new album releases in this first half of 2020. I'm even going to rate them 1-10 which is something I normally don't do. It is also no surprise to me that I have picked five albums by females and five by males not by design, but for the fact that women in music today make up half if not more of the great music being created today.

Making an album of typically 9-12 strong songs has always been a tall order for any artist or band. On any good album there are maybe three outstanding tracks that jump off the needle. The trick is getting the listener to come back and listen to the rest of the tracks that always seem to get better the more you do come back. After several listens, these 'deeper cuts' suck you in and the whole thing just comes together into a cohesive unit. You then tell your friends about the album. In your long-term memory, you'll even remember (sometimes fifty years later) the time and place where you shared that album with a friend.

I hope you can make the time this week to listen to one or more albums here, start to finish. Maybe there's even a new favorite to add to your collection.

Stay well and enjoy my friends.

1. Sarah Jarosz • Review: World On The Ground • Purchase




2. Bob Dylan • Review: Rough And Rowdy Ways • Purchase




3. Nora Jones • Review: Pick Me Up Off The Floor • Purchase




4. Hiam • Review: Women In Music Pt. III • Purchase




5. Ayla Brook & The Soundmen • Review: Desolation Sounds • Purchase




6. James Elkington • Review: Ever Roving Eye • Purchase




7. Shelby Lynne • Review: Shelby Lynne • Purchase




8. Tomar & The FCs • Review: Rise Above • Purchase




9. Christian Lee Hutson • Review: Beginners • Purchase




10. Sarah Siskind • Review: Modern Appalachia • Purchase

#NewMusicMonday • June • 2020

Hampton & Papa social distancing
with strangers in the kiddie pool.

A YEAR of #NewMusicMondays  

January-March • April-May • June • July-August • September • October • November • My Favorites of 2020

Summer's here
I'm for that

Got my rubber sandals

Got my straw hat

Got my cold beer

I'm just glad that I'm here
–James Taylor

Adaptations

So we've had a rough four months. Everybody's glad summer is finally here. My HOA pool has just reopened with 'new rules' - residents must register online to reserve a 2 hour block with limited capacity in designated social distanced squares. Most people never have anything good to say about any HOA (Hobby Opportunity for Authority), but I have to say they have done a good job trying to keep everyone safe.

A typical Pickleball setup using a tennis court

The HOA tennis courts have also just reopened right across from my house. Pickleball is back in full-swing, the game made for my generation who have either forgotten how to run or can't. I'm not poking pickleballers here, it's more about me dealing with my own body and what it used to do compared to now. I'm also lamenting about the wonderful game of tennis, with less young people playing real tennis, I just hope the original white court lines don't fade away.

Pickleball is a great social activity. Everybody is chatting it up with lots of laughter just like old times, but from my box seat view, I see no masks or social distancing. C'mon boomers, you still can be flexible, just like your pickleball wrist!

I have family driving down all the way from Seattle on several different trips this summer, finally merging our packs together. Quite a long distance travel adaptation, all the while airlines like American Airlines announced they will scrap social distancing and start booking full planes July 1.

For our visiting grandkids their parents have come up with a simple term to explain our times, No San Diego Zoo (opened last week), Legoland, or Disneyland because of the "Big Germs." :-(

It's a different summer in a turbulent year, but we are learning to do things differently and still have fun together.

Recently I wrote a blog, Outdoor Exercise In The Time Of Coronavirus: Who was that masked man? where I basically talked about the current culture war of wearing a mask. My working titles were, #ManUpMaskUp, or #MaskUpMother####ers, but opted for a little more informative heading in the end. For people walking, running or biking it's really not political, wearing a mask just has become more of a hassle and can't be bothered with, I call it, "an inconvenient truth- coronavirus edition." I see my regulars, the people that exercise around me in my neighborhood every week. Most everyone, young and old have just given up the mask outdoors. There is such irony here, people making the effort to exercise, but too damn lazy to adapt to a new simple behavior by wearing a mask that SAVES LIVES.

Breaking News- VP Pence gets pensive and decides to wear a mask to a Texas mega-church on Sunday. Better late than never... at least I hope it's not too late?  Anyway, baby steps for Trump's little bucko.

So unless you're living under a rock, you know that there is more than a little uptick in coronavirus cases across the country in the month of June. I haven't heard, "flatten the curve" since the end of May. 

However, I still hear that we are still in the 1st wave, and there is going to be a second wave sometime in the fall. I think after the past several weeks, we probably should adjust our 'waves' talk too. For Western States who has lived through enough wildfires in the last twenty years, the analogy of the coronavirus being an 'uncontained wildfire' is a much more accurate way to describe how the virus is currently surging and spreading across the country. The term, "hot spots" seems quite appropriate.

Source - New York Times

The solid burnt orange of new coronavirus cases in Southern California is disconcerting to say the least, where as Disneyland staying closed is not really our biggest problem. When the brush fires do start in the coming days ahead, maybe the masks people aren't wearing now will suddenly have a function to them. Instead of Fire and Rain, we'll call it Fire and Fire and the masks will serve a dual purpose- keeping coronavirus from going red in your town while breathing in falling ash from your local brush fire.

Hey, but on the positive side, new music keeps rolling in everyday. I can't keep up with all the broadcast and Internet services with artists and bands just putting out more live and recorded music across all the streaming services everyday. I'm glad I've made #NewMusicMonday a series because I keep finding new songs and albums being pumped out in this first half of 2020.

If you are spending the time to read this blog, you probably love music, and I will suggest, you need to be listening to music more than ever! Make the adaptation necessary in your behavior to spend 15 more minutes a day listening to music. I'm just a guy here finding and organizing what I think are good songs to listen to and if you like my playlists, cool. If not, find sources where you can hear music that moves you emotionally. I need that movement more than ever, and I'm guessing so do you.

Stay well and enjoy this playlist my friends.

References

• Americana Music Show
• Pitchfork
• Rolling Stone Magazine
• Uncut Magazine
• Wikipedia List of 2020 Albums