So much to say here. Again, I thought you were giving up the list to the ladies! Starting off with a quartet of my all-time faves with Jill Sobule, Joan as Police Woman, Jessica Lea Mayfield (I was pleasantly surprised to see her here!), and Julie London! As good as Cat Power is at reinterpreting other people's tunes, Joan as Police Woman is equally skilled, if not more playful, in her two covers albums, Cover, and Cover Two. I had never seen the video for "The Magic" before and it's hilarious!
Regarding Jessica Lea Mayfield, she releases most of her new stuff on Bandcamp, a lot of it I've bought on first Fridays. It seemed she was going to blow up and then she didn't. I saw her live with Seth Avett when they toured on their Elliott Smith tribute album Seth Avett and Jessica Lea Mayfield Sing Elliott Smith (2015). It was an amazing show.
Then you reach for the male legends after that with John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, John Fahey and Johnny Cash. Joy Division fit the legend category too. Can't say I'd include Jet Set Satellite, who I'd never heard or heard of before. But 9 out of 10 ain't bad!😜
I really appreciated your ending section on Joy. I know the feeling of working at a job that is soul sucking (and I imagine time sucking) and the project you are finishing seems daunting, but seeing the light at the end of the tunnel getting brighter and brighter must be motivating. I haven't been as regular as I had been earlier in the year, but I have a gratitude practice as well. I try and write down three things I'm grateful for when I wake up, first thing. And I am part of a meditation sangha where we talk about topics like gratitude, appreciative joy, compassion, etc. We do need supportive community and reminders of what's important, especially when life becomes overwhelming. Sounds like you've worked to create a life for yourself that prioritizes those things.
Thanks for the thoughtful comments Steve. Gotta say, I’m pretty pleased with the 9/10! The Jet Set Satellite song ended up making the final cut for inclusion in the playlist because it was one of my wife’s favorites back in the day and received quite a bit of airplay back then. I wanted to include it somewhere and really struggled during the sequencing to find a good spot for it.
To be honest I haven’t really listened to much of Joan As Police Woman’s covers albums, will have to check them out (listening to the first one now).
Thanks for the heads up on Jessica Lea Mayfield releasing on Bandcamp as I didn’t realize that. So incredible you got to see her live with Seth Avett! That Elliot Smith tribute album was phenomenal.
It’s an interesting observation you’ve made recently about the playlists starting off with all female singers. I wondered about it and have checked the next 4-5 playlists and can report that it seems to only be a weird coincidence for a couple weeks in a row. Having said that, I do think I lean more towards female singers. I’m planning to do a deep dive of my last 12 years of AOTY lists at some point and the gender breakdown is gonna be part of it.
Thanks for sharing about your gratitude practice and your meditation sangha. It’s so important to find and build community, particularly in the spiritual arena for me. I still plug in once or twice a week to my recovery meetings and just about all of the spiritual principles I practice in my life today came through learned knowledge and with the guidance of others showing me the way. It’s an amazing cycle of only being able to keep what I have by giving it away.
Yeah somehow we had The Box in Bermuda for a couple years and I discovered some fantastic music on there. Glad you enjoyed some of this week’s selections!
So much to say here. Again, I thought you were giving up the list to the ladies! Starting off with a quartet of my all-time faves with Jill Sobule, Joan as Police Woman, Jessica Lea Mayfield (I was pleasantly surprised to see her here!), and Julie London! As good as Cat Power is at reinterpreting other people's tunes, Joan as Police Woman is equally skilled, if not more playful, in her two covers albums, Cover, and Cover Two. I had never seen the video for "The Magic" before and it's hilarious!
Regarding Jessica Lea Mayfield, she releases most of her new stuff on Bandcamp, a lot of it I've bought on first Fridays. It seemed she was going to blow up and then she didn't. I saw her live with Seth Avett when they toured on their Elliott Smith tribute album Seth Avett and Jessica Lea Mayfield Sing Elliott Smith (2015). It was an amazing show.
Then you reach for the male legends after that with John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, John Fahey and Johnny Cash. Joy Division fit the legend category too. Can't say I'd include Jet Set Satellite, who I'd never heard or heard of before. But 9 out of 10 ain't bad!😜
I really appreciated your ending section on Joy. I know the feeling of working at a job that is soul sucking (and I imagine time sucking) and the project you are finishing seems daunting, but seeing the light at the end of the tunnel getting brighter and brighter must be motivating. I haven't been as regular as I had been earlier in the year, but I have a gratitude practice as well. I try and write down three things I'm grateful for when I wake up, first thing. And I am part of a meditation sangha where we talk about topics like gratitude, appreciative joy, compassion, etc. We do need supportive community and reminders of what's important, especially when life becomes overwhelming. Sounds like you've worked to create a life for yourself that prioritizes those things.
Thanks for the thoughtful comments Steve. Gotta say, I’m pretty pleased with the 9/10! The Jet Set Satellite song ended up making the final cut for inclusion in the playlist because it was one of my wife’s favorites back in the day and received quite a bit of airplay back then. I wanted to include it somewhere and really struggled during the sequencing to find a good spot for it.
To be honest I haven’t really listened to much of Joan As Police Woman’s covers albums, will have to check them out (listening to the first one now).
Thanks for the heads up on Jessica Lea Mayfield releasing on Bandcamp as I didn’t realize that. So incredible you got to see her live with Seth Avett! That Elliot Smith tribute album was phenomenal.
It’s an interesting observation you’ve made recently about the playlists starting off with all female singers. I wondered about it and have checked the next 4-5 playlists and can report that it seems to only be a weird coincidence for a couple weeks in a row. Having said that, I do think I lean more towards female singers. I’m planning to do a deep dive of my last 12 years of AOTY lists at some point and the gender breakdown is gonna be part of it.
Thanks for sharing about your gratitude practice and your meditation sangha. It’s so important to find and build community, particularly in the spiritual arena for me. I still plug in once or twice a week to my recovery meetings and just about all of the spiritual principles I practice in my life today came through learned knowledge and with the guidance of others showing me the way. It’s an amazing cycle of only being able to keep what I have by giving it away.
How did I manage to miss The Box?? I knew nothing of it.
Lots of great stuff here! Love Jill Sobule and I’m a huge Joy Division fan!
Joan as Policewoman! Had never heard of her before and loved it!!
Yeah somehow we had The Box in Bermuda for a couple years and I discovered some fantastic music on there. Glad you enjoyed some of this week’s selections!