A new Turnpike Troubadours album dropped today. I had it playing on a loop pretty much all day today. At one point, I caught myself getting annoyed. Work was distracting me from being capable of focusing and listen with intent.

Then a thought popped into my head. It would be nice if you could take a day off when a favorite band puts out a new album. Of course, there would have to be a system in place to avoid abuse. What would the ground rules be?

What I came up with: You keep a file on hand with whatever sort of HR your company has, be it actual HR for larger places or the boss/owner for small business without HR. You are allowed to pick three bands. They drop a new album, you get to take the day off to listen.

But there are still opportunities to abuse this. You can not update the list too often. Otherwise, you would just pick a band with an album coming out soon. I thought maybe a year, but to be fair, three years is probably most fair to an employer, who is allowing this completely made up thing to exist after all.

So, every three years, you get to pick three bands. New album, day off. I’m thinking some sort of album review should be required, to show proof you were “working on your mental health through music”, or whatever.

That leads to the question: Who are you picking? Obviously you want them to be a favorite band. You also want them to be currently putting out new music on a somewhat regular basis. That 80s hair band you love probably isn’t a good pick.

My picks

I’ve thought about this a few hours now, since this hair-brained idea popped into my head.

First Pick: American Aquarium

The first one that immediately popped into my head was American Aquarium. My go-to favorite band, especially live, and putting out new stuff on a regular bases. This one required zero thought.

Second Pick: Tyler Childers

The only debate here is the frequency of releases. Tyler is not as prolific as BJ, but the depth of his stuff necessitates undivided attention. So I’m going for a high risk, high reward selection here.

Third Pick: Shane Smith & The Saints

So many options here. I considered Sturgill Simpson. But he just put out an album last year and that was his first in five years. I considered Charlie Crockett for the opposite reason. He seems to put out a minimum of one a year. Play the numbers game? Zach Bryan would have been an easy choice if you look at his production from 2018-2022. That run was like having Credence Clearwater Revival from 1968-70, a two-year run that included six albums. The Troubadours were considered, of course, as their album prompted this little exercise.

But, ultimately I settled on The Saints. When I posed this question to my wife, this was one of her picks. I wish I had thought of it first, but I’m okay stealing it. They only have four studio albums in 12 years, but they are picking up steam and I expect future albums to come a little quicker. Plus, by picking them, I would get a day off with my wife and I can force her to listen to music with me. It’s my love language.