Hey, everybody! I…did not count the number of Fridays in June correctly so we’re going to have two episodes this week! Today is a roundup of all the incredible music that came out in June, and then Friday will be a playlist I’m calling “Our America” in honor of the Fourth of July. You can read a transcript for this episode by going to adobeandteardrops[dot]com!
For now, we’re going to start the first set with a song that didn’t come out this year. I went to my first indoor concert last week with Cory Branan at City Winery. During the first song (“I Only Know,” if you’re keeping score) I just started crying. Not so much because I was happy to be at a concert, or because I’d been so deprived by not seeing live music, but just…everything it took to get here. All the people who died waiting for the vaccine to be invented, for treatments to be discovered…I guess it’s survivor’s guilt?
So in honor of that, I thought “Visitng Hours” from Adios would be extra appropriate, though Cory’s creative well is so deep there are a million different songs that could’ve fit my emotions here.
- Cory Branan — “Visiting Hours” (Adios) (2:02)
- Angela Autumn — “God’s Green Earth” (Frontiers Woman) (5:42)
- Von Bieker — “An Artist’s Life” (Long For This World) (9:10)
In the middle of that set was Angela Autumn’s “God’s Green Earth” off of Frontiers Woman, which came out on June 4th. I interviewed Angela to write her PR bio and it was a great conversation. She packed up everything from Pittsburgh and moved to Nashville, hoping to find a bigger home for her country folk. She found community and then…the pandemic happened. But Frontiers Woman is a snapshot of a particular moment in time, before all that.
Then we heard from Von Bieker’s new album, Long For This World. That was the stunning “An Artist’s Life,” and I covered “Haunted” on the blog a few weeks ago (see the show notes for a link!) The album is a gem of pop songwriting.
Speaking of pop, Sleater-Kinney’s new one Path of Wellness took a few times to grow on me, but ultimately it came to sit somewhere deep in my brain. At the end of the day, they can’t recover the chemistry they had with Janet and they are certainly keeping commercial considerations in mind as they craft their sound — you’ll see what I mean, but the album rollout has also been a little…lush. While the band does get political here, I wanted to highlight “Method,” which pretty much tells all the people who are upset with Corin writing love songs where to go — point taken for myself.
Then we’ll listen to “Greenbelt” from Dana Sipos. This album was gorgeous, and it’s my favorite of the month. I reviewed it for No Depression, and linked to that review in the show notes. “Greenbelt” is the album’s cornerstone, musing on the legacies of intergenerational trauma left behind by the Holocaust.
- Sleater-Kinney — “Method” (Path of Wellness) (15:56)
- Dana Sipos –– “Greenbelt” (The Astral Plane) (20:15)
- K.C. Jones — “Queen of the In Between” (Queen of the In Between) (26:45)
We closed the set out with K.C. Jones’ “Queen of the In Between,” th title track of her album. I also wrote that one up for No Depression and linked to it in the show notes. It’s cool, right? Like Twin Peaks meets country music!
For our last full set, we’re gonna go honky-tonkin’. First up is Lara Hope and the Ark-Tones, out of Kingston, NY — the newest city to gentrify in the Hudson Valley. Here’s “Some Advice” from Here to Tell the Tale.
- Lara Hope and the Ark-Tones — “Some Advice” (Here to Tell the Tale) (31:22)
- Cory Grinder and the Playboy Scouts — “Honky Tonkin’ Beauty Supreme” (Honky Tonkin’ Beauty Supreme) (34:21)
- Jeremy James Meyer — “That’s OK” (Alive & OK) (37:35)
Coming up in the middle there was Cory Grinder and the Playboy Scouts with the title track of their album, “Honky Tonkin’ Beauty Supreme.” There are a lot of fantastic songs on here, but I was so amazed by the time shifts in the song — that’s how you know this is a band that can and has done everything together.
We closed it out with Jeremy James Meyer’s idiosyncratic “That’s OK” from Alive & OK. The whole album is kind of funny and sad, and really makes you sit up and listen to the lyrics.
Well, thanks for listening! Before we get into the last song, some notes! The podcast intro was by Alma Contra and the song by Two Cow Garage! You can send me music through SubmitHub, though right now I’m taking a break. You can get the queer country zine Rainbow Rodeo from the merch page on Adobe & Teardrops — plus all kinds of awesome t-shirts and tote bags! You can also support the podcast by sending me some cash through Ko-Fi or signing up for the Patreon, where you’ll get extended episodes and other goodies!
So we’ll close out with Sara Milonovich’s “Two Dollar Town” from her album Northeast. I love the ‘90s country meets ‘90s rock sound — like Americana but turning back the dial a bit.
Come back Friday for the Fourth of July special episode “Our America!” Thanks for listening! In music we trust, in music we believe!
- Sara Milonovich – “Two Dollar Town” (Northeast) (43:41)
Next week’s topic: Our America
Podcast intro by Alma Contra, music from Two Cow Garage’s “Stars & Gutters”Send me music via SubmitHub!
Get A&T gear and Rainbow Rodeo at the merch page!
Send me money via Ko-fi or Patreon.
Find Rachel and her comic via https://linktr.ee/rachel.cholst