L’Shanah Tovah! — Jewish Country Music

Welcome to part 3 of the Jewish Country playlist! You can check out part 1 and part 2, or just listen to the playlist all the way through. (I also made part 2 into a podcast, if that’s more your thing.) I wish I could’ve had this ready in time for Rosh Hashanah, but COVID had other plans for me.

I’m so pleasantly surprised to see just how much music is on this playlist. We’ve moved from country music about Judaism to country music by Jewish artists. For the most part, these artists’ names were sent to me by others — I did what I could to verify that they identify as Jewish somewhere, but apologies if I’ve accidentally included someone who is not!

As a result of not being super familiar with all of these artists, I mostly picked songs based on their title and proximity to High Holidays themes. But I think that works nicely as a commentary on how the secular and spiritual are really not all that different. I did make sure to end on Rachel Angel’s “Freedom Fighter” as a reminder that, even as we reflect on our own accomplishments and shortcomings, we are also here to repair the world. (And if you want more topical Yom Kippur songs, I refer you to songs 21-30 on the list.)