The ongoing experiment in Spotify playlists continues! I’m keeping the songs from last week up just to give the list some depth, and I’ll remove them next week. I think that’s how it works, right? I guess there’s no rules! Anyway, here are my top 10 favorite songs for the week of August 16! Follow the playlist to stay on top of what’s good in the Adobe & Teardrops world!
- I interviewed Kerryn Fields a couple of days ago and found myself enamored of her music — especially her gorgeous voice. This is featured to great effect on “Queenie,” a road song as high and lonesome as they come.
- Between the pandemic and some of Mariel Buckley’s own medical concerns, it’s been a good long while since we’ve gotten new music from her. Buckley has two new singles out on Spotify today, both excellent, but I picked “The Other Man.” It’s more of Buckley’s driving, broody Canadicana — now with luscious pop production.
- When I spoke with Izzy Heltai on Country Queer Spotlight last summer, he alluded to the transformation his music was taking. From the folk music of his early career to the chamber pop confections on Day Plan (5 Songs 4 the End of the World), Heltai is continuing to plumb the depths of what he can do. For the playlist, I focused on Heltai’s confessional “Met on the Internet,” in which he reminisces about exploring his trans identity as a teenager.
- On “Slingshot,” The Booklights gives us a rollicking Celtic/bluegrass romp to celebrate the summer.
- Let’s switch it up to some country pop. Sydni Cole‘s “Fall Anyway” has the meat of a ’90s country song: story, groove, opulent production. Hell yeah.
- I interviewed Mia Day for Pride Month and I’m thrilled to see she’s making more beautiful folk-pop with “Drown.” The song has a catchy pop groove and introspective guitar licks that bring depth to Day’s headlong dive into her emotions.
- Trinidadian country singer Gary Hector delivers a gentle classic rock sound on “Today I Ride Alone.” The entire album has a sun-baked warmth to it that gives Hector’s country music a gentle touch.
- Ashley Virginia‘s quirky approach to folk borrows as much from Laurel Canyon as it does Alphabet City’s freak folk scene. “Apathy Blues” is the first single off her promising upcoming album, proving that Virginia is one to keep an eye on.
- In their interview last week, The Sundogs talked getting down and dirty at NASCAR shows. On “Love Will Lead Us Through,” we see the band’s gentler side — all while preserving their blood harmonies and irresistible hooks.
- Rounding us out this week is Suzie Ungerleider. On “Ships,” Ungerleider demonstrates why she’s the long-time darling of the Candicana scene: with Liz Phair-style melodies and cutting lyrics, Ungerleider knows how to tell a story that makes you stop and think.