A few times over the years I put together a series of special playlists featuring my favorite kiss off songs. Despite what some may think, I’m really not that cynical. Rather, I just appreciate how some songwriters can tackle the topic with humor and bite. It’s kind of like a genre unto itself. There have […]
Bonus Monday Video – Many Rivers to Cross
Apparently I’m not the only one who considers Jimmy Cliff’s “Many Rivers to Cross” one of contemporary music’s great compositions. Here are some exceptional performances of the song by Joe Cocker, Linda Ronstadt, Annie Lennox, Lissie, Allen Stone & EJ Worland, and Bruce Springsteen.
Monday Morning Video – Jimmy Cliff
We lost another legend lost last week with the passing of Jimmy Cliff. The Jamaican singer-songwriter earned his place in music history as one of reggae’s founding voices, but his artistry always reached beyond any single genre. Songs like “Many Rivers to Cross” stand as timeless standards—simultaneously gospel, folk, and pop, defying easy categorization while […]
Monday Morning Video – Hard Working Americans
The music community continues to mourn the passing of Todd Snider, with countless stories emerging about how supportive he was of fellow musicians and songwriters. He put that generosity on full display in the early 2010s with the formation of Hard Working Americans, teaming up with Widespread Panic’s Dave Schools, the late guitarist Neal Casal, […]
Bonus Monday Video – The Cranberries
There’s something special about hearing artists strip down and reimagine their songs in an acoustic setting—it offers fresh perspective on both the material and the songwriters behind it. MTV’s Unplugged series provided the perfect platform for these transformative performances, capturing artists at their most vulnerable and inventive. When The Cranberries took the Unplugged stage in […]
Monday Morning Video – Todd Snider
Saturday morning brought some heartbreaking news: Todd Snider, the East Nashville icon and beloved storyteller, had passed away. The initial reaction seemed hesitant, as if all were in collective disbelief. But very quickly, an overwhelming outpouring of grief and remembrance flooded social media, filled with moving and often humorous stories about how Snider had touched […]
“I Don’t Like You” – a Premiere From Low Roller
Longtime readers know I love a good kiss-off song. “I Don’t Like You,” the title of Low Roller’s new single, seems prime for the list. It’s not — it’s actually the opposite. “Sometimes I don’t like you, but I love you anyway,” singer-songwriter Veronica Davila declares. The song recognizes that conflict can be healthy in a relationship […]
Monday Morning Video – Otis Redding
Music fans have spent decades arguing over which British Invasion band reigns supreme—The Beatles or The Rolling Stones. But leave it to Otis Redding to reframe the question entirely: he simply took songs from both bands and made them his own. Redding had a particular genius for hearing the soul buried inside rock and roll […]
Monday Morning Video – Jim Croce
How about we start the week with a pair of songs from one of music’s great storytellers. Jim Croce was taken from us in a tragic plane crash when he was just 30 years old but left behind a tremendous musical legacy. This 1974 television performance showcases his two artistic sides – reflective poet and […]
Monday Morning Video – Toad the Wet Sprocket
The Ryman Auditorium has heard more than its share of songs about the passage of time. Earlier this year, Toad the Wet Sprocket added one of their own to that legacy with an acoustic rendering of “Rings.” Stripped of studio polish, the song’s imagery — rings of rain and summers, dry spells and brushfire — […]