Here are this week’s five songs worth listening to.

Abraham Alexander–335

This is one that came out last fall. I screen shot it in my phone to circle back around, but it got lost in the shuffle until now. Alexander has a unique heritage, born in Greece to a Nigerian family before moving to Texas. 335 is about a gritty ditty about a complicated relationship. The video is beautiful in that fleeting silhouette kind of way.

“That song came from realizing that my birth dad and I play the exact same guitar, and learning how to liberate myself and see that guitar as something that’s part of me, rather than part of him,” he said of 335.

Flight Facilities–Better Than Ever ft. Aloe Blacc

Okay, this video is weird as shit, and may have been how Covid started, but the song is just as infectious. It’s another ear worm with Aloe Blacc in it. He has a knack. Put this one in your running playlist. Upbeat and encouraging. You know, not my normal jam but roll with it. This is another one from the fall I am just now circling back around too. Honestly, this feels like one that may have made it to normal radio if that actually were a thing in my world.

Candi Carpenter–The Astronaut

This is one I was drawn to simply because Brandi Carlile produced it, but the song holds up on its own as well. This is Candi’s performance from the Opry a couple months back, back when live music was still a thing.

“What if Jesus came back years ago, and this is hell and we don’t know, and that’s where we have been. What if the dinosaurs really died of hate and holy wars, and we are no better than them.”

The Dead South–Diamond Ring

For those who play both kinds of music, Country AND Western, this one falls under Western. The Dead South are a folk/bluegrass outfit out of Canada. Sweeping bluegrass strings, a storytelling video, and catchy hooks.

James LeBlanc and The Winchesters–The Road

This one is that country-blues-rock fusion that gets lost quite often, except that James made some “Artists To Know” lists back in 2017. This one is off this 2019 album The Devil Between My Ears.

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