Saturday Songs - Oct. 29

Oh well…so I’m a day late with the songs again…you know how life is. But no worries! Here they are! You can also expect two posts during this week as opposed to the lackluster single one that I’ve resolutely churning out. Enjoy the songs!

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1. “Wildwood” – Chatham County Line

A fantastic traditional bluegrass group, Chatham County Line has flown under the radar for a while now. Maintaining more of a purist bend to their music unlike other “bluegrass” acts such as the Avett Brothers, But despite their seemingly straight bluegrass sound, Chatham County Line takes inspiration from a variety of artists, including Gram Parsons and even the Rolling Stones. I’d even go so far as to claim that the harmonies on this song recall Crosby, Stills and Nash. Get it for free below!

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2. “Cabrón” – Mancha de Rolando

I’ve already featured this Argentine band on the blog before—as part of my “Canciones de Sábado”—but I think they deserve a little more mention than that. “Cabrón,” is a rollicking, Spanglish tune punctuated by a ragged horn section that provides the band’s rock sound with exactly the right edge.

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3. “Gillian Was A Horse” – Damien Jurado

Jurado is another artist I’ve previously featured on the blog, with his skeletal song “Ohio.” That song, however, was drawn from quite a few albums back in Jurado’s extensive discography. In recent years, Jurado has taken to a busier folk-rock sound, including (*gasp!*) some pretty brash drum playing and rhythmic guitar strumming that might lead to some head-nodding.

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4. “Strawberry Flats” – Little Feat

The quality of Lowell George’s songwriting is matched only by those songs’ endearing weirdness. Drawing heavily on life out on the road, George’s early songs tend to focus on misfits and sad cases, such as the narrator at the center of “Strawberry Flats”—who was “ripped off and run out of town / had [his] guitar burned when I was clownin’.” The song details this man’s travels across Texas as he searches for a “hole to recline in.”

But the curiosity of the song is not necessarily its narrator, but rather exactly what the narrator did to get run out of town. The mystery of his expulsion is never solved, but rather left to curiosity.

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5. “Los Angeles” – Denison Witner

A sad, somber song with lyrics that seem to fold back in on themselves, Witmer (especially early on) was seen as the natural successor to Elliott Smith. Listening to this track, that comparison shifts into perfect focus—even more so in light of Smith’s equally somber song “Angeles”—with only an accompanying acoustic guitar and then Witmer’s frail voice singing lyrics you could imagine as lines in a tattered notebook.