I’m a day late, but I missed last week too, so I wanted to get this one out there.

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

Arlo McKinley–Die Midwestern

I think this is the second song I’ve featured from Arlo in this column. Arlo is signed to John Prine’s Oh Boy record label (the last artist John signed) and has his debut album coming out soon. Arlo first popped onto my scene by singing some live stuff with Tyler Childers. This one is about the fear of never escaping while wanting more.

Malcolm MacWatt–Hurricane You

“Women are the rake of life” Worm, Rounders. Malcolm puts it a little more elegantly here. We are never ready, are we?

Brandy Clark–Bad Car

Written by Brandy years ago, and put on an album by Terri Clark four years ago. Brandy (no relation) finally recorded it for one of her albums. This is one of the “make you remember the ol’ days” songs. A lot of us out there have that one car. For many, it was the first car (1964 Dodge Dart), or the one you had for a decade (Nissan Murano). It may have been a friend’s old Buick. You know the type. The one where you pulled into the full service station, and told them “fill her up with oil and check the gas”.

Wrabel–Since I Was Young ft. Kesha

Piano/synth/drum kit pop from Weez? Yep. This one slides in as the late summer anthem. Call it a guilty pleasure, but call it a great road song too. Wrabel is the dude who did the Minute To Win It theme song. He has gotten a career push from Kesha, who is featured in this one as well. He broke through last year with The Village. This one will be the break out song. Hey, it even has old heads like me bopping along.

Zach Bryan–Oklahoma City

Everyone is in love with the new Bronco release. Well, Zach is still rocking the old Bronco, and they put it to good use for this video. This one is fuller musically than most of his “man and a guitar” stuff. I understand the choice to disappear into a cabin and make the last album with friends, but stuff like this makes me anticipate a full band album that much more.

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