Bluesville
- Stormy Monday-T-Bone Walker (One of the strongest versions of the tune. Walker's vocals carry home the tune's tale of misery, with just the right amount of punctuation from the guitar and horns.)
- Future Self-Boehm featuring Melody Noel (One of the more interesting, sticks-with-you tunes of 2016; lyrically, it posits that even if you could send a letter of warning to your future self, it might not help, and you still might make the same choice. The video, in which the lyrics are written with a fountain pen on envelopes, is effective, as well.)
- Kentucky Rain-Elvis Presley (I've never cared for much of Presley's music, but I make exceptions for "Kentucky Rain" and "Suspicious Minds." Both are atypical of his general sound; in both songs, he emotes effectively without overdoing it. Years ago, our oldies station here, KLOU, went through a phase while broadening its playlist. During that time, "Kentucky Rain" came up far more often than any other Elvis tune when I listened. That's as it should be, I think.)
- Sing Me To Sleep-Allison Moorer (Low-pitched, heartfelt vocals.)
- Good Morning Heartache-Gloria Estefan (Laura Fygi's breathy version is still my favorite, but Estefan's rendition shows her emoting in a different manner than on most of her hits.)
- Uncle John's Band-Lucius (One of the stronger Grateful Dead tunes, reinvented with female vocalists, and seemingly sung from somewhere in space.)
- Aspens In January-Michael Gettel (An appropriately titled piano instrumental; it's easy to picture the stillness of a Winter landscape while listening.)
- Concrete Love-Julia Fordham (Soft, plaintive vocals make this one of Fordham's best tunes. It was just as appropriate for "The World Cafe" as it was for our former smooth jazz station here, WSSM. Also recommended: "Killing Me Slowly.")
- Good News-Fattburger (An upbeat instrumental that works as background accompaniment at a hockey game as easily as it fits in on a smooth jazz station.)
- Heart To Heart-Kenny Loggins (One of the stronger Loggins solo hits, but it's not played on the radio these days. In retrospect, the song's arrangement is very of its time, i.e. late 1982/early '83.)
