Turn It Up - 9/5/2023

Earworms, obsessions, recommendations

We took Labor Day off, but we’re back today to share some songs that we’ve been listening to a lot lately. Some are old, some are new, but all have gotten us talking and thinking recently. Hopefully you’ll hear something you like. David goes first this week, with Charles’s picks listed below them. And then, at the end, we’ve added a few reading recommendations of pieces that we think you should check out.

“Small Town Boy” - Roberta Lea (single, 2023)

The best country answer record since… Billy Bragg’s “Rich Men Earning North of a Million” last week? That’s how I’m choosing to hear it. Robert Lea, whose 2021 EP Just a Taste is one of the highest of country’s many recent off-the-charts high points, tells off her toxic title-character ex here while she’s busy traveling to Dublin, Lagos and Yokosuka. Just try to keep this woman of the world in a small town! “You can keep your small town…,” a two-stepping Lea sings. She pauses, before adding the perfect bro-country-dude put down: “Boy.” - DC

“Pearls” - Jessie Ware (from That! Feels Good!, 2023)

I’m a sucker for a spinning, swirling neo-disco crowd mover, especially when it’s used for sidestepping workaday responsibilities during a night out or for blasting on repeat during another commute. Brit singer-songwriter Jessie Ware rides beats from co-producers Stuart Price and James Ford that sound lifted from Supermodel of the World-era RuPaul, and the chorus keeps threatening to start in on “I’m Every Woman”—splitting the difference between Chaka rough and Whitney smooth. - DC

“Down Home Dispensary in Tennessee” - Molly Tuttle (from City of Gold, 2023)

The greatest flat picker on the planet is no stranger to marijuana joints. See her numbers inspired by Lewis Carroll and Tom Dooley, just for starters. But the explicit politics of pot is new, and this “Legalize It” for string band fans is a delight, especially the way it rolls its pro-pot agenda (“Hello legislator, the voters have spoken/ There’s too much politickin’ and not enough tokin’”) into a trad’ grass sound that would make Bill Monroe smile. I endorse the cause and applaud the long-term strategy: Tuttle is dealing pot-themed lyrics as a gateway drug to old-school bluegrass.  - DC

“More Than a Love Song” - Black Pumas (single, 2023)

My favorite Black Pumas’ cut yet sets the We-will-live-together themes of Earth, Wind & Fire atop fuzztone funk and falsetto inspired by early-seventies Isley Brothers. Like almost everything the Pumas do, it’s a retro move, but don’t mistake that description for a dismissal. Like almost everything the Pumas do, it’s also a gesture to remind we’re part of ongoing struggles, of stories bigger than ourselves and our moment, and that if we’re going to “fly together,” as Eric Burton encourages us to do at the close, familiarity boosts both fun and community. - DC

“C’mon Sixty-Five” - Merle Haggard (from Working Man’s Journey, 2007)

Before Labor Day gets too far out of mind… Here’s a rarity from Merle Haggard (off the first of his Cracker Barrel sets), singing what amounts to a sequel to “Workin’ Man Blues.” There, you’ll recall, Merle declared, half proudly and half with a shudder, that he’ll “keep on working just as long as my two hands are fit to use.” “C’mon Sixty-Five,” written by Jackson Leap and first cut by Mel McDaniel in the early 90s, understands that your body may not last as long as you’ll need it. “Lord, the object of the game is to survive past 65,” Merle sings when, as it happened, he was pushing 70 himself and still working to support his family, band and crew. You may not quite yet feel what Merle’s singing about in your very bones. But, if you’re lucky to live that long, you will. - DC

“Feels Good - O.N.E. The Duo (from Blood Harmony, 2023)

Here’s yet another example of why Black women should be ruling country radio. The mother-daughter team of Tekitha and Prana Supreme just released a wonderful debut album that’s grounded in country but inclusive of almost everything. (It’s no surprise that the group has roots in the alchemic magic of the Wu-Tang Clan.) The opener lays out the duo’s refusal to live by boundaries of genre or generation, with the vocals and backing track – including an intro where guitar, handclaps, and harmonica mix in a funky invocation that recalls Nappy Roots – making sure that you don’t miss the point. Or try to fence them in. - CH

“Alanis” – Morgan Wade (from Psychopath, 2023)

Morgan Wade isn’t the only young country artist who’s been open about her love for Alanis Morrissette. This track on her new album finds Wade – as Jewly Hight notes in a great profile – paying tribute to the rocker as a “venerated elder.” Invoking what Wade describes to Hight as Morrissette’s “raw” and “authentic” art, this simmering cut finds Morgan asking Alanis for help in figuring out how to stay true to oneself as a woman in the rock-star spotlight. The sound tells the story through the jagged-little-pill guitar lines and Alanis-style harmonica in the outro. Who would have thought? It figures. - CH 

"Soak Up The Sun" - Soccer Mommy (from Karaoke Night, 2023)

Relatedly, the new generation of Sheryl Crow veneration continues. Earlier this year, boygenius remixed one of her most enduring singles, part of a larger honoring of her work that also – finally – includes Crow’s induction to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Here, Nashville pop-rocker Soccer Mommy adds her cover of Crow’s brightest hit. Less reinvention than reinvigoration, she demonstrates just how much Crow’s sturdy songcraft and blend of fuzzy crunch and pop gloss paved the way for a new crew of artists, mostly women, who make so much of today’s best guitar rock in either mainstream or alternative modes. Speaking of which… - CH

"Outta Time" - Bethany Cosentino” (from Natural Disaster, 2023)

Cosentino, co-founder of Best Coast, has a great solo album that luxuriates in ‘90s guitar rock, specifically by the women who made so much of its best music in either mainstream or alternative modes. My favorite is “Outta Time,” which comes out swinging and builds to an open-road chorus where Cosentino uses power-chord punch and an escalating hook to fully shake your windows and rattle your walls. “There’s a song on the radio,” she sings, “it helps me when I’m down.” And then she gives us a song that serves that purpose. Turn it up, indeed. - CH

"Quintessence of Hip" - Betty Davis” (from Crashin’ From Passion, 1979/2023)

From a new, authorized issue of her unreleased 1979 album, the singular Betty Davis offers role models and life lessons that capture the titular subject. Davis and the band propel forward so relentlessly that it seems like they’re in constant danger of falling over but always manage to stay upright and strutting. With the Pointer Sisters providing back-up, and everything from Beethoven to Sly & the Family Stone in the mix, the song sets up a coming decade of icy funk-rock and sampled syntheses just as Davis’ records shaped the ‘70s. She worries that she’s “losing her timing,” but the real problem is that too many others stopped paying attention. - CH

Reading recommendations

Harmony Holiday on noname, for NPR

Nadine Smith on Terry Funk, for Texas Monthly

Elizabeth Nelson on The Righteous Gemstones, for the New York Times

Barry Mazor on Patty Loveless, for the Wall Street Journal

Jim Farber on The Spinners, for Tidal

Chris Molanphy on the whole Oliver Anthony mess, for Slate

Steve Nathans-Kelly on Dave Marsh’s Kick Out the Jams, for New York Journal of Books

Lindsey Zoladz on Tammy Wynette, for the New York Times

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