Seven standout tunes heard today:
KEXP (Seattle, WA)
- Lotta Love-Courtney Barnett (This appealing new cover of the Neil Young tune is closer to Young's plaintive take than Nicolette Larson's glossy version with its soaring vocals.)
- Delaware-Drop Nineteens (I was surprised to hear this track that I used to play on KCOU in the early '90s. The heavy guitar and bass undercurrent for the first minute and 45 seconds would work as a repeated loop.)
KUWY (Laramie, WY)
- Ol' 55-Tom Waits (I've always liked the sing-along quality of this tune's chorus. This is a highlight of Waits's best album, "Closing Time," and The Eagles covered it compellingly, as well. Also recommended: "Closing Time," the piano instrumental that I used to play at the end of my shows on WEW.)
WCNR (Charlottesville, VA)
- Steady On-Shawn Colvin (The perseverance with which Colvin sings the title always draws me in. I'm glad there's a station playing this, along with Sarah Jarosz's "Jealous Moon," "The Only One I Know" by The Charlatans UK, and...)
- What's This About (La La La La)-Kate Bollinger (...this short, quirky tune from last year. It's a fun lyrical acknowledgement that much of almost everyone's day-to-day life is relatively mundane.)
WWOZ (New Orleans, LA)
- Good Morning, New Orleans-Kermit Ruffins (Welcoming trumpet, a cool walking bass line, and vocals reminiscent of Louis Armstrong.)
- Creole Love Song-Ellis Marsalis (An impressive piano rendition of a Duke Ellington tune, with a bit of a "Happy Trails" feel.)
