On steady rotation: Labi Siffre.  His music is very much worth digging into the archives for. 

A girl after my own heart -- hiking and dancing are my go to meditation outlets too.

“The music, in a lot of ways, reflects this meditative quality I get from hiking and dancing.”  

Enjoy Maggie Roger’s recent tiny desk concert here.  And her very fortunate meeting with Pharrell Williams (right here) at master class he taught at the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at NYU.

I finally got to see Sampha live .  Really really good stuff.  And his new album, Process, is worth taking for a spin.  Listen to the stand out track (at least for me) above.

Sampha, 9:30 Club, February 2017 (image courtesy of Ricky Moore)

The Long Farewell: A 2016 Wrap.

I’m still not sure how to wrap my head around 2016.  Man was it a year (and I’ll leave it right there).  There’s not too much I know for certain, but I do know that music was and continues to be a place of connection and refuge for me (even those rare moments when I’m actually the one playing). And maybe it’s the annoying glass half full part of me, but I think Curtis Mayfield got it right when he said ‘Remember your dream is your only scheme, so keep on pushing’. These very fitting words are also from the final track on this playlist along with 14 other songs that really stuck with me in 2016.  You can find the playlist right here.  Enjoy!

1. “I’ll Be Your Woman” -- St. Paul & The Broken Bones

2. “I Can’t Give Everything Away” - David Bowie

3. “A Change of Heart” - The 1975

4. “I Am Not Afraid” - Charley Crockett

5. “Nikes” - Frank Ocean

6. “We the People” - A Tribe Called Quest

7. “With You” - Drake

8. “Old Friends” - Pinegrove

Image courtesy of Bandcamp.com

9. “Oh Sarah” - Sturgill Simpson

10. “You Are My Sunshine (With Chris Stapleton)” -  Morgane Stapleton

11. “You’re the Best” - Wet

Image courtesy of billboard.com

12. “Rising Water” - James Vincent McMorrow

Image courtesy of spotify.com

13. “Living Single” - Big Sean, Chance the Rapper, Jeremih

14. “Take Me to the Alley” - Gregory Porter

Image courtesy of BBC.com

15. “Keep On Pushing” - The Impressions

Image courtesy of theconfirmationfiles.com

On steady repeat - A tenderhearted ballad from Wilough (Willow Smith).  Filled with something everyone could use right now --- fear's antidote, hope.

Found my (slow) summer jam.  Forever on repeat (at the moment).

Really good stuff right here.

(Image courtesy of Wrong Highway)

I can’t stop listening to ‘A Sailor’s Guide To Earth’. The soon to be released album is a serious departure from Metamodern Sounds In Country Music that is partly about the birth of his first son.  It’s beautiful and haunting and sad and hopeful all at once.  There are nods to Memphis soul and blues, orchestral bursts, and an appearance by the horn section The Dap-Kings, creating an album that deserves a listen from start to finish.

You can stream the whole thing via NPR at the link above and  "At the artist's request," says NPR, "songs from this album cannot be played individually."  I dig any artist that cares about their album sequencing.

On steady repeat for me -- “Oh Sarah” -- heavy, but dressed up in beautiful strings as Simpson reflects a flicker of sadness about his marital shortcomings. 

Friday gold.  And how spot on is Smokey Robinson & The Miracles remedy for heartache?   "I Gotta Dance to Keep from Crying" is Motown gold.  And maybe a new breakup anthem for all the wounded hearts out there.

This goes down as one of the more incredible music experiences I’ve had.  A few weeks ago, a friend of mine invited me to be her guest for a Tedeschi Trucks Band tiny desk concert at NPR music.  And yes, that is really Bob Boilen’s desk.

I thought it was just on my DC bucket list, but I was wrong.  Major upgrade to a lifetime bucket list. And quite possibly one of the best Friday afternoons of my life.

(All photos and video by Major Dudes)

Paris in February

(Montmartre.  Photo by Major Dudes)

Editors Note:  I was lucky enough to take a lightening fast trip to Paris in early February (and yes, I will never complain that I had to go there for “work”) to celebrate the work of one of my favorite architects. Even though it was gray and raining every day, it was magical. More magical than I could have imagined.  To celebrate that trip I made a little (well very long actually) playlist of tunes, old and new, that I played on repeat during my trip.  You can enjoy them all right here.  

PARIS IN FEBRUARY:

1) “Okay Alright I’m Alive” -- Bahamas

2) “A Song For You” - Donny Hathaway

3) “iT” - Christine and the Queens.

4) “Shame” - Young Fathers

5) “I Know There’s Gonna Be” - Jamie xx

6) “Harlem Shuffle” - Bob & Earl

7) “Le Lion est mort ce soir” - Henri Salvador

8) “Somebody’s Baby” - Jackson Browne

9) “Somethin’ Stupid” - Frank Sinatra

10) “All the Ways” - Wet

11) “Break Away” - Bobby Caldwell

12) “Little Ballerina” - Emilie Haynie

13) “Antidote” - Travis Scott

14) “Tell Your Friends” - The Weeknd

15) “Cold” - Nick Hakin

16) “C’est Si Bon” Conway Twitty

17) “When Will I Be Loved?” - Linda Ronstadt

18) “The Book of Love” The Magnetic Fields

19) “Hide Away” Daya

20) “Sing To The Moon” - Snarky Puppy with Laura Mvula

21) “Fire and Rain” - James Taylor

22) “Bam Bam” - Sister Nancy

23) “Do What You Gotta Do” - Nina Simone

24) “90210″ - Travis Scott

25) “The Lonely Bull” - Herb Albert & The Tijuana Brass Band

26) “Your Lips” - Olu Dara

27) “Goin’ Down” - Harry Nilsson

28) “Ask the Lonely” - Four Tops

29) “Listen to the Angels Sing” - The Soul Stirrers

30) “Tezeta” - Mulatu Astatke

It Just Keeps Getting Better --2015

Editor’s Note:  I’ve called upon my friend & inspiring, bad-ass colleague, Jess Zimbabwe, to share hers.  Jess and I not only share a love for Loretta Lynn and building better communities around the world, but also for music that knows know bounds in terms of genre or popularity.  Jess’s annual holiday card comes via mixtape format and this year’s “It Just Keeps Getting Better 2015″ was pretty much perfect.  I’m happy to share that two of my contributions (#14 and #20) made the cut.

You can listen to “It Just Keeps Getting Better 2015” right here. 

IT JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER 2015:

1) “WTF” (Where They From) -- Missy Elliott (w/ Pharrell Williams)

It’s like Missy heard people wondering about her and said, “no, where_have_you_been?”

2) “Under Control” - The Internet

(Image courtesy of http://hiphopmediaworld.com/)

Breezy neo-soul with tight, danceable beats.

3) “Nobody Knows My Trouble” -- Ryan Bingham

(Video courtesy of Pandora)

Uncanny introspection from a cowboy troubadour (Also: longest tenure on this list).

4) “Sprinter” - Torres 

(Image courtesy of consequenceofsound.net)

This is the kind of music that the imaginary band in my imaginary garage plays.

5) “All Night Long” - The Mavericks

(Image courtesy of KCPT.org)

(I don’t have any thoughts about this song that are suitable for such wide distribution.)

6) “101″ - Walla

(Image courtesy of thewallaband.com)

Driving on the freeway hasn’t sounded this fun since Aretha’s pink Cadillac.

7) “Family Is Family” - Kacey Musgraves

She perfectly marries Nashville twang with quirky ideas and makes it sound like an anthem.

8) “Trap Queen” - Fetty Wap

Gritty, melodic vocals over a really catchy sub-bass line.  Also: great lyrical double entendre.

9) “Should Have Known Better” - Sufjan Stevens

You thought you experienced loss and sadness in your life? NOT AS BEAUTIFULLY AS SUFJAN HAS.

10) “An Illustration of Loneliness” - Courtney Barnett

(Image courtesy of the Guardian)

The folksy vocals and driving guitar are a comfortable fit, but the lyrics are totally luminous.

11) “I Don’t Want To Let You Down” - Sharon Van Etten

(Image courtesy of NPR)

Emotive vocals, backed by a layer cake of acoustics, electronics, and -- I think -- an organ.

12) “Sound & Color” - Alabama Shakes

The band creates vast and fabulous spaces for her ethereal vocals.

13) “Broken Necks’ - Eskimeaux

(Image courtesy of http://thishasgottostop.net/)

Both fragile and swelling, sad and exuberant, somehow all at the same time.

14) “Cornerstone” - Benjamin Clementine

(Video courtesy of WFUV radio)

Evocative of Nina Simone, but more angry or masculine or raw. (Or maybe Nina was all that too.)

15) “S.O.B.” - Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats

(Video courtesy of NRateliffVEVO )

Airing young grievances over this soundtrack is healthier than drinking and cheaper than therapy.

16) “Never Ending Circles” - CHVRCHES

A hurricane of synthy pop from three badass but humble Scots. 

17) “Shame” - Young Fathers

(Video courtesy of KEXP)

This song is #1 on the Jess-dancing-by-herself charts.

18) “Hey Darling” - Sleater-Kinney

The ladies are back at it, chasing each other’s guitars and vocals in jagged lines across the song.

19) “Mar (Lo Que Siento)” - Bomba Estero

(image courtesy of socialiteheights.com)

Breezy, Colombian trance wisdom about finding happiness in simplicity.

20) “Tennessee Whiskey” - Chris Stapleton

I’m raising a glass to you and hoping you have someone to hold close during this song.

21) “Tilted” - Christine and the Queens

Fly your weird flag high.

Currently on repeat: Christine and the Queens’s Tilted.

Prepare to fall hard.

I was visiting Port Elizabeth, South Africa earlier this month and I got to see some really beautiful music. 

 Umle, a musical duo made up of Siyabongo Radu and Siphamandla Fete, is  “a unique combination of soul,  African folk, mbaqanga, hip hop and what they’ve coined as ‘sis today’, meaning today’s music in the Xhosa vernacular”.

Lucky for me I just happened to be at party where they were playing.  And happen to love folk, hip hop and soul.

Check them out here and here. 

(@fathomwaytogo​ published this little something I wrote. Enjoy!)

by Beth Silverman

Music for the great outdoors. Photo by Ali Inay/Unsplash.

Contributor Beth Silverman made a mixtape to accompany a crisp fall hike, a great soundtrack for changing leaves and roasting s'mores. She wrote it inspired by her time in the Shenandoah Valley, which you can read about here, but we think it's ideal for any mountain high.

MIXTAPE FOR THE ROAD

Load up Beth's fall playlist on Spotify before you lace up those hiking boots.

Track List

1. "Doctor My Eyes," by Jackson Browne 2. "Baby Blue (feat. Chance the Rapper)," by Action Bronson 3. "Oogum Boogum Song," by Brenton Wood 4. "Deadwater," by Wet 5. "Sweet Black Angel," by The Rolling Stones 6. "Heartsigh," by Purity Ring 7. "Gibraltar," by Beirut 8. "Hold Me Tight," by Johnny Nash 9. "Never Going Back Again," by Fleetwood Mac 10. "Dancing In The Moonlight," by King Harvest 11. "1999," by Active Child 12. "Sweet and Low," by Tedeschi Trucks Band 13. "Back In My Baby's Arms," by Patsy Cline 14. "A Fool In Love," by Ike and Tina Turner 15. "Foreign Fields," by Kacy Hill 16. "Sunny," by Bobby Heeb 17. "More of You," by Chris Stapleton

Strange and stunning.  Just listening to  At Least For Now gives me goosebumps.

Fortunately I’ll get to  see Benjamin Clementine‘s magical tenor in person in just a few weeks.

Leon Bridges Makes Me Swoon.

Video courtesy of NPR

If you haven’t discovered the magic of 26 year old Leon Bridges, the brilliant folks at NPR Music just recorded a swoon worthy tiny desk concert.  And it is nothing short of spellbinding.