Hey, everyone! Hope your week has been as good as mine! Within 6 days of getting engaged to the best girlfriend ever, I found out I got into social work school! So I guess we’ll just have to see how it’ll change the amount of time I can give to Adobe & Teardrops, but the site will continue one way or another. Speaking of endings and beginnings, this is the last episode of the podcast in THIS format, where I spin a bunch of random tunes. Starting next week, I’m going to put out episodes around specific themes, and make them into a sort of a musical blog post. Next week’s topic will be anti-racist country music. As a note, don’t forget that you can now get a transcript of each podcast on Adobe and Teardrops dot com.
But this week, we’ll get into some of the best of the best: we’ll start out with a set of Americana that really pushes the boundaries of the drama, starting with Sarah Jarosz’s Grammy-winning album World on the Ground. I completely missed this one when it came out, but…yeah. It deserved the win. We’ll start with “Johnny,” and then Patreon subscribers will listen to “Pay it No Mind.” After that, we’ll get a little weird with Doc Feldman, but I’ll talk about him after this.
- Sarah Jarosz — “Johnny” (World On the Ground) (1:57)
- Doc Feldman — “Let Me Love You” (A Healthy Dose of Anxiety) (5:57)
- Two Cow Garage — “Death of the Self-Preservation Society” (Death of the Self-Preservation Society) (12:15)
- Brittany Howard — “13th Century Metal” (Jaime) (15:44)
(20:31) Doc Feldman’s A Healthy Dose of Anxiety is my album of the week. The first half of the album is a healthy dose of some anti-anxiety; this album is a bit of a left turn for Doc, veering away from heartland rock and ploughing full-speed ahead into 70s-style Southern rock, like we heard on “Let Me Love You.” But Doc doesn’t make things simple. Even with that easy ridin’ music, these lyrics are gorgeous and thoughtful. Meanwhile, “Heavy Edges,” where the album gets its title from, is an almost chamber pop jeremiad about living in late-stage capitalism: one that would do Two Cow Garage proud. This is on my album of the year list to revisit in December.
Since “Heavy Edges” made me think of ‘em, I spun “Death of the Self-Preservation Society,” the title track from Two Cow Garage’s 2013 album. I think it doesn’t get as much love as their other stuff, but for me it does an amazing job of crystallizing what we now have seen to be true, if we hadn’t already, about late-stage capitalism’s death grip on us all. Based on what I’ve seen in the Facebook group, people tend to prefer Brand New Flag, but I think Self-Preservation Society was tighter in term sof theme and focus.
So THEN I thought about Brittany Howard’s brilliant album Jaime, and the most underrated song on there: “Thirteenth Century Metal.” You’re welcome!
For the rest of the show, we’re going to take a break from heavier topics. In the middle here, we’ll get into some old-fashioned cowpunk, first with a new artist named Tim Montana. I’m starting to get more music in my inbox like Montana’s: it takes on a gritty Americana and punk aesthetic, but lyrically it’s an updated version of bro country? I can’t put my finger on it, maybe you can, but I think it’s fascinating. See what you think with “River Kids” off of his new album Long Shots. Patreon subscribers, you’ll listen to “Get Em Up,” and then we’ll jump into some Cowboy Mouth.
- Tim Montana — “River Kids” (Long Shots) (22:51)
- Cowboy Mouth — “Walk Among the Angels” (Word of Mouth) (26:21)
- Adam Hooks and the Huckleberries — “Brown County Blues” (So Far Gone) (29:26)
- Lauren Jenkins — “Like You Found Me” (Single) (33:44)
(37:14) Second in that set was the band that started it all for me, Cowboy Mouth. I wanted to play some of the songs that have fallen by the wayside in the past, well, 30 years, since they’ve been a band. We started with “Walk Among the Angels,” which I think is such a beautiful song. That was John Thomas Griffith on vocals, who I interviewed about a year ago, and will link to that interview in the shownotes. Then we listened to one of lead singer Fred LeBlanc’s most beautiful songs, “Where Will You Go?” I also interviewed Fred, which you can listen to by clicking on the song title in the shownotes, for Patreon subscribers. It was interesting to interview them both back-to-back, especially since they were so candid about how they feel about the band’s history and direction. Even if you don’t care about Cowboy Mouth, you should listen to both of them if you want to know more about how to keep a rock band going for a long, long time.
After that, Adam hooks and the Huckleberries blew the roof off with “Brown County Blues” from their debut album So Far Gone. The band is from Albuquerque and came together after their individual touring plans fell through. They’d all had experience with country and punk, so making an Americana band was a no-brainer.
And we closed it out with Lauren Jenkins’ single “Like You Found Me.” Those lyrics are…perfect? You think it’s going to be a cliched song and then BOOM, she pulls out the rug. I found out about the song from my country music pal, Ellen Angellico, who’s an amazing guitarist in their own right. Oh yeah — I interviewed them in episode 113 of Adobe & Teardrops, which I know realize is immediately after I interviewed JTG and Fred. I linked to the episode in the transcript.
For our last full set, let’s get a little traditional — and a little Texas. West of Texas is a dynamic honky tonk band. We listened to “Darlin’ How You’ve Changed” off of Heartache, Hangovers, and Honky Tonks. Patreon subscribes got a little zydeco with “Bayou Boy.”
- West of Texas — “Darlin’ How You’ve Changed” (Heartache, Hangovers, and Honky Tonks) (39:37)
- Brit Taylor — “Waking Up Ain’t Easy” (Waking Up Ain’t Easy) (43:14)
- Veronique Medrano — “Wasted Days” (Single) (46:35)
(50:27) After that, you got a little heartbroken and hungover with Brit Taylor’s “Waking Up Ain’t Easy” — seemingly. The song is actually about depression. Taylor’s story is pretty tragic, and her upcoming album is all about how she came back from getting divorced and having her house repossessed all in the space of a few weeks. I don’t know how she wound up on my list; I think I wrote her up for The Boot, maybe? Anyway, I love her pop honky tonk thing she’s got going on. After that, we played last week’s Patreon favorite, Veronique Medrano’s “Wasted Days.”
Well, see ya next week when we discuss anti-racist country music, and what anti-racism even means. If you want to send me music, it’ll now go on the blog, and you can do that through SubmitHub. Subscribe to Patreon, where you’ll get extended cuts of each episode, eventually vote on the topics of the month, and get first dibs on suggesting songs for upcoming podcasts. If you wanna get in touch, do that through my Linktree in the shownotes!
We’ll close out with Nashville veteran Darrin Bradbury’s new single “Deanna, Deanna,” a song for his sister. In music we trust, in music we believe. Take care of each other out there.
- Darrin Bradbury — “Deanna, Deanna” (Single) (51:50)
Next week’s topic: Anti-Racist Country Music
Podcast intro by Alma Contra, music from Two Cow Garage’s “Stars & Gutters”
Send me music via SubmitHub! Send me money via Ko-fi or Patreon. Find Rachel and her comic via https://linktr.ee/rachel.cholst