Let’s get a little inside baseball to start off this week. My musical inputs come in a variety of manners–Spotify playlists, song of the day podcasts, occasional XM, etc. So, when I stumble across a song I think my be worth writing up in this column, I tend to screenshot or snap a pic, then when I sit down to write this up, I scroll through my photos on my phone.

All that is to say, I take a lot of photos on my phone, and this week is catching up on some older ones that got lost in the shuffle weeks or months back.

So…here are this week’s five songs worth listening to.

The Cowboy Diplomacy–The Get Down

This one comes out of Austin with some grizzle rock, a stomping bass beat and rhythm horns, with plenty of energy. Or you can dig deeper and explore the idea of advancing from the selfish to the service to others. Or not. It’s up to you.

Corb Lund, Ian Tyson–Ride On

Canadian country covering AC/DC? Why not. Corb is from Alberta, which has more ranching than most in the States would probably think. Honestly, I’ll take this one over AC/DC’s version. Yeah, I said it. Fight me, people stuck in the 80s.

Darrin Bradbury–The Trouble With Time ft. Margo Price

The trouble with time is you can take a wrong step, 
end up somewhere you tried to forget.

Yeah, this one may not be light fare, which means it is right up my alley. It may be a good thing for your mental health this one is just over two minutes long.

“Oh, you think darkness is your ally. But you merely adopted the dark; I was born in it, molded by it. I didn’t see the light until I was already a man, by then it was nothing to me but BLINDING! The shadows betray you, because they belong to me!” Bane

Gang Starr, J. Cole–Family and Loyalty

Switching it up a a bit, this is the kind of song you get fade to, or a fade to down at the shop, or both. This one is the off the last album from the iconic duo, featuring posthumous vocals from Guru. Guru died in 2010, so this has been in the hopper for a while.

Trigger Hippy–Don’t Wanna Bring You Down

The band that started out as “the band with the Black Crowes drummer” is still kicking it around, with a new lineup. Amber Woodhouse has joined the band and taken over vocals on the new EP out this year. She has some moments where they let her shine, but on this track it is mostly about the harmony in a catchy throwback rock bop.

We’ll be back with five more next week. Until then, remember the immortal words…
“Songs are really just interesting things to be doing with the air.” Tom Waits