Here are this week’s five songs you should listen to.

Kendell Marvel–Hard Time With The Truth

Kendell is originally from Thompsonville, IL, so we here in southern Illinois claim him as a local. Known in the writing circles for a while now, Marvel busted out by co-authoring several songs with Chris Stapleton. That allowed him to put out Lowdown and Lonesome in 2017. That one made my top six albums for the year, as Marvel combined the writing chops with that reminds of Jamey Johnson. The follow up album, Solid Gold Sounds, comes out Oct. 11. Hard Time With The Truth shows that he is picking up right where he left off. If you like what you hear, he is playing the Downtown Summer Bash in Harrisburg Aug. 17.

The Revivalists–Oh No (Made In Muscle Shoals)

This one is not a new song, but a new version of one released last year. The band combines the southwest with their new home New Orleans. Oh No appeared on 2018’s Take Good Care. But for this version, they ventured on to Muscle Shoals, Ala. and the famous Fame Studios to record a live version. Dirty, fuzzy, fun with a nice little ride at the end. Oh no!

WIVES–The 20 Teens

Is summer punk a thing? It is now. WIVES is an odd fit, but an enjoyable all the same. Melodic, speak-singing at times, and somehow poppy for a NY quartet. They have another new one called Waving Past Nirvana and reference Porter Waggoner in this one, if that gives you a hint of where they are going with this. The debut album, So Removed, comes out Oct. 4.

.phyres–$ummer Ca$h

Nevermind that the artist and the song name both could work as your password. File this under chill hop or whatever you want to call it. .phyres is the keyboardist/lyricist from MAMAHAWK, making transitiong from an All Caps trio to an all lower case solo project, and taking the engergy down. This is his debut solo single. In it, Adam Littman has a simple thought, I wish I had some cash to get through the summer doldrums. We feel you Adam. We all feel you. He switches up the flow a couple times in the song, channelling some Gambino/Kendrick feels at times. No album announced yet.

The Randy Savages–DDP

Guys, there is a song by The Randy Savages called DDP. It references Great American Bash, the NWO, baseball bats, spray paint cans. It has a target audience. And that target audience is my 1 South dorm floor in 1997 and all the dorm floors like it. Somehow, this video only had 11 views when I stumbled across it.
“Elbow drops/from the top”. Yes, indeed. From the top! Snap into it.