christmas mix: joy to you baby

I’ve been making what I call a Christmas mix — that is, not holiday songs but a mix made at the holidays — since 1997; first they were tapes, then for a few years cds, and finally, in the digital age, the last seven nine years have been downloadable zip files, and this year is…

best of: favorite songs of 2013

How I made this list: these 25 songs are the five-star songs in my iTunes library that I listened to most in 2013. You’ll see a few repeated on my Christmas mix — spoiler alert! — but not most of them. Stream them below via Spotify (tracks not available on Spotify are linked individually), and…

justin townes earle @ southland ballroom

I didn’t see nearly as many show this year as I have the past three. There are reasons for that, but they’re not particularly relevant. As I was finishing my work day yesterday, though, I reflected that even in a small sample size, I got to see so many bands I adore, it was worth…

song share: the breedings – big blue christmas

Sometimes people you love have flaws. Take my friends Erin, Willie, and Jesse, for example: they’re Kentucky basketball fans, but I look past that flaw, because I love them, and they’re my friends. And Erin and Willie, as the Breedings, have written a great Christmas song, the sentiment of which is one that every college…

the first album i ever bought: monty python – monty python sings!

The First Album I Ever Bought is an occasional guest post series where friends, family, and strangers talk about, well, the first album they ever bought. A new piece runs every Wednesday, and sometimes more often. If you’d like to submit, please see the guidelines here. Long before I was a music geek, I was…

album review: mason jennings — always been

Mason Jennings’ newest album, Always Been, takes its title from track 2, “Patti & Robert”, where the phrase is a repeating chorus; the song itself was inspired after Mason met Patti Smith at a benefit concert in New York City and read Just Kids while flying back to Minnesota. So basically that’s a sentence that…

worth getting up for in november

Worth getting up for in November: Gross Ghost’s CD release show; having my offer on the townhouse accepted; cold weather; the start of Grimm season 3; four day weekends; the satisfaction of cleaning out your closet; The Newport Effect; the new Mason Jennings album; the song about Patti Smith on the new Mason Jennings album;…