“I'll Be Your Handbag”, Shane MacGowan, R.I.P.

This way: I'll Be Your Handbag

Tragic loss of a tragic figure. One of the greats of rock and roll. Shane MacGowan was an Irish singer and songwriter who was best known as the lead singer and songwriter of Celtic punk band the Pogues. Many of his songs are influenced by Irish nationalism, Irish history, the experiences of the Irish diaspora (particularly in England and the United States), and London life in general. Born on Christmas Day, 1957, in the English county of Kent,

MacGowan joined the punk band The Nipple Erectors before founding the Pogues in 1982. He drew upon his Irish heritage when founding The Pogues and changed his early punk style for a more traditional sound with tutoring from his extended family. Between 1985 and 1987, he co-wrote "Fairytale of New York", which he performed with Kirsty MacColl. In the following years MacGowan and The Pogues released several albums.

After The Pogues fired MacGowan for unprofessional behaviour mid-tour, he formed a new band, Shane MacGowan and The Popes, with whom he recorded two studio albums. In 2001, MacGowan rejoined The Pogues for reunion shows and remained with the group until 2014. MacGowan produced his own solo material and collaborated with artists such as Joe Strummer, Nick Cave, Steve Earle, Sinéad O'Connor, and Ronnie Drew. MacGowan suffered physically from years of binge drinking.

[Spotify] I'll Be Your Handbag

“John”, The Golden Dregs

This way: John

Benjamin Woods, the driving force behind The Golden Dregs, The South London-based project. Now that's a voice. . . .

[Spotify] John

“The Spit”, Swamp Wife

This way: The Spit

Swamp Wife - "The Spit" from the 2023 EP Swamp Wife EP on LACE Records Seattle quartet Swamp Wife are so new, they just played their first live show back in June. Fierce punk rock with catchy hooks. 

[Spotify] The Spit

“12 X U”, Wire-Pink Flag—NPA

This way: 12 X U

Near Perfect Album

Pink Flag is the debut studio album by English rock band Wire. It was released in November 1977 by Harvest Records. The album gained Wire a cult following within independent and punk music upon its initial release, later growing to be highly influential on many other musicians.

 

Reviewing in 1978 for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau called Pink Flag a "punk suite", praised its "simultaneous rawness and detachment" and detected a rock-and-roll irony similar to, but "much grimmer and more frightening" than, the Ramones. In a 1978 Trouser Press review, Ira Robbins said that "Wire [push] minimalism to new heights" and said the band "dredges up images of...beat poetry--short fragments of impressions set to music." Robbins said that the 21 tracks are "not songs...There's no easy structure or meter. Each explores or describes or electrifies or challenges. There's no easy listening." He concluded, "I can't say this is an enjoyable album. Maybe it's just a stupid bit of rubbish. But you won't know unless you find out."

In a retrospective review, Steve Huey of AllMusic opined that Pink Flag was "perhaps the most original debut album to come out of the first wave of British punk" and also "recognizable, yet simultaneously quite unlike anything that preceded it. Pink Flag's enduring influence pops up in hardcore, punk, alternative rock, and even Britpop, and it still remains a fresh, invigorating listen today: a fascinating, highly inventive rethinking of punk rock and its freedom to make up your own rules." Retrospectively, Trouser Press called the album "a brilliant 21-song suite" in which the band "manipulated classic rock song structure by condensing them into brief, intense explosions of attitude and energy, coming up with a collection of unforgettable tunes". Pitchfork writer Joe Tangari summarized the album as "a fractured snapshot of punk alternately collapsing in on itself and exploding into song-fragment shrapnel." 

[Spotify] 12 X U

[Spotify, album] Pink Flag-LP 

“Changing Opinion”, Philip Glass

This way: Changing Opinion

Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimalism, being built up from repetitive phrases and shifting layers. Glass describes himself as a composer of "music with repetitive structures", which he has helped to evolve stylistically.

Glass founded the Philip Glass Ensemble, which is still in existence, but Glass no longer performs with the ensemble. He has written fifteen operas, numerous chamber operas and musical theatre works, fourteen symphonies, twelve concertos, nine string quartets, various other chamber music pieces, and many film scores. Three of his film scores have been nominated for Academy Awards. 

[Spotify] Changing Opinion

“Philharmony ”, Haruomi Hosono

This way: Philharmony

Haruomi Hosono (細野 晴臣, Hosono Haruomi, born July 9, 1947), sometimes credited as Harry Hosono, is a Japanese musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He is considered to be one of the most influential musicians in Japanese pop music history, credited with shaping the sound of Japanese pop for decades as well as pop music outside of Japan. He also inspired genres such as city pop and Shibuya-kei, and as leader of Yellow Magic Orchestra, contributed to the development and pioneering of numerous electronic genres.

The grandson of Titanic survivor Masabumi Hosono, Haruomi began his career with the psychedelic rock band Apryl Fool, before achieving recognition both nationally and internationally, as a founding member of the bands Happy End and Yellow Magic Orchestra. Hosono has also released many solo albums covering a variety of styles, including film soundtracks and a variety of electronic ambient albums. As well as recording his own music, Hosono has done considerable production work for other artists such as Miharu Koshi, Sheena and the Roketts, Sandii & the Sunsetz, Chisato Moritaka and Seiko Matsuda. In 2003, Hosono was ranked by HMV Japan at number 44 on their list of the top 100 Japanese pop acts of all time. 

[Spotify] Philharmony

“I‘m Over You”, Silos

This way: I‘m Over You

The Silos is an American rock band formed by Walter Salas-Humara and Bob Rupe in New York City, United States in 1985.

Prior to starting the Silos, Salas-Humara had been a member of The Vulgar Boatmen, and Bob Rupe was in Florida bands The Roll N Pinz, The Cichlids, Crank and The Bobs, as well as Screaming Sneakers. The Silos put out the independently released album About Her Steps in 1986, which received a warm critical reception. The band's 1987 follow-up album, Cuba, also independently released, received even more recognition. The Silos were named Best New Artist in the Rolling Stone magazine critics' poll. The band subsequently signed to RCA Records and released their self-titled third album, produced by Salas-Humara and Rupe along with Peter Moore. Commonly referred to as "the bird album" or "The One With The Bird On The Cover," The Silos led to the band's network TV debut appearance on Late Night with David Letterman.

Salas-Humara quit the band following the release of The Silos, and purchased the rights to The Silos name from Rupe in 1991, thus dissolving the partnership.[3] Subsequent albums included Hasta La Victoria (1992), Susan Across The Ocean (1994), Heater and its remix companion Cooler (both 1998). After Heater was recorded, Salas-Humara turned the band into a three piece with Drew Glackin on bass and lap steel guitar and Konrad Meissner on drum and backing vocals. The subsequent records were Laser Beam Next Door (2001), When The Telephone Rings (2004), and the live This Highway Is A Circle. Bloodshot Records released the Silos' 2007 offering, Come On Like The Fast Lane. In 2008, Glackin died. Salas-Humara and Meissner continue to perform with other players. In 2011, the band released Florizona with Rod Hohl playing bass, Bruce Martin on keyboards and Jason Victor on guitar.  

[Spotify] I‘m Over You

[Live on Lettermen] I‘m Over You

“Neon Lights”, Pop. 1280

This way: Neon Lights

Pop. 1280 is a self-styled cyberpunk/industrial rock band from Brooklyn, New York City. Their name is derived from Jim Thompson’s novel of the same name.

The band started in 2008 when Chris Bug moved to New York after a two-year post-high-school graduation sojourn in China, convinced by his long-time friend Ivan Lip. Settled in Greenpoint the duo, with Bug at vocals and Lip at guitar, decided to recruit members who didn’t already play an instrument. So John Skultrane and Andrew Smith eventually joined as bass player and drummer. Lip started writing music along with Bug and the resulting sound was initially pegged as downer punk but soon Pop.1280 has been compared to various bands from different musical decades. In effect they seem to mix together sonic deviations from no wave and new wave, punk and industrial, noise and tribal, electronic and post hardcore, borrowing sounds from The Velvet Underground, Suicide, Joy Division, The Birthday Party, Sonic Youth, Liars and many more.  

[Spotify] Neon Lights

“The Absent Guest”, Close Lobsters

This way: The Absent Guest

Close Lobsters are a Scottish indie pop rock band.

Close Lobsters first came to wider prominence with the track "Firestation Towers" on the NME's C86 compilation. They signed to Fire Records and released their debut single "Going To Heaven To See If It Rains" in October 1986. They released a second single "Never Seen Before" in April 1987 which strengthened their reputation as one of the leading emerging indie bands. They went on to release two albums: Foxheads Stalk This Land was released in 1987 and Headache Rhetoric in 1989. Rolling Stone's review of "Foxheads Stalk This Land" called it "first-rate guitar pop from a top-shelf band. Close Lobsters could have been just another jangle group, but they have a lot more going for them than just chiming Rickenbackers."

Their popularity on United States college radio stations led to an invitation to the New York Music Seminar in 1989, which in turn led to an extensive American tour. They toured extensively in the UK, Germany, United States and Canada. The band eventually took an extended break.

[Spotify] The Absent Guest

“It‘s a Shame About Ray”, Lemonheads—NPA

This way: It‘s a Shame About Ray

Near Perfect Album

It's a Shame About Ray is the fifth album by American alternative rock band the Lemonheads, released in 1992. The album was produced by the Robb Brothers. At the time of principal recording, the band consisted of Evan Dando (lead vocals, guitar), Juliana Hatfield (bass, backing vocals) and David Ryan (drums). Though not originally on the album, the band's cover of Simon & Garfunkel's "Mrs. Robinson" was added to the album in later pressings after it had become a major worldwide radio hit, and it features a later lineup of the band with Nic Dalton on bass.

The title track was inspired by a quote that band leader Evan Dando had seen in a Sydney newspaper in reference to a kid called Ray who kept getting kicked out of every school he went to. 

Actress Polly Noonan and her car appear on the cover of the album. 

[Spotify] It‘s a Shame About Ray

[Spotify, album] It‘s a Shame About Ray-LP 

“Dark Eyes”, Crystal Stilts

This way: Dark Eyes

Crystal Stilts is an American band from Brooklyn, New York City, though their founding members, Brad Hargett and JB Townsend, were originally from Florida.

Crystal Stilts was formed in 2003 by Brad Hargett and JB Townsend. After releasing one single and an EP, the pair expanded to five members before signing to Slumberland Records in the US and Angular Recording Corporation in Europe and releasing their debut, Alight of Night, in 2008. The band played the Pitchfork stage at the 2009 Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona. After a few bouts of touring and some down-time, the band returned in 2011 with the LP In Love With Oblivion, in April 2011 and the Radiant Door EP in November 2011. In 2013 they released their third album, Nature Noir, "expanding their sound to incorporate elements of soul, country, and folk." The group currently resides in Brooklyn, New York. This track fro 2011.

[Spotify] Dark Eyes

“Big a Little A”, Crass

This way: Big a Little A

Crass were an English art collective and punk rock band formed in Epping, Essex in 1977, who promoted anarchism as a political ideology, a way of life, and a resistance movement. Crass popularised the anarcho-punk movement of the punk subculture, advocating direct action, animal rights, feminism, anti-fascism, and environmentalism. The band used and advocated a DIY ethic approach to its albums, sound collages, leaflets, and films.

Crass spray-painted stencilled graffiti messages in the London Underground system and on advertising billboards, coordinated squats and organised political action. The band expressed its ideals by dressing in black, military-surplus-style clothing and using a stage backdrop amalgamating icons of perceived authority such as the Christian cross, the swastika, the Union Jack, and the ouroboros.  

The band was critical of the punk subculture and youth culture in general; nevertheless, the anarchist ideas that they promoted have maintained a presence in punk. Due to their free experimentation and use of tape collages, graphics, spoken word releases, poetry, and improvisation, they have been associated with avant-punk and art punk. 

[Spotify] Big a Little A

“Driver 8”, R.E.M.

This way: Driver 8

This track from 1985. R.E.M. was an American rock band from Athens, Georgia, formed in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the first alternative rock bands, R.E.M. was noted for Buck's ringing, arpeggiated guitar style; Stipe's distinctive vocal quality, unique stage presence, and obscure lyrics; Mills's melodic bass lines and backing vocals; and Berry's tight, economical drumming style. In the early 1990s, other alternative rock acts such as Nirvana and Pavement viewed R.E.M. as a pioneer of the genre. After Berry left the band in 1997, the band continued its career in the 2000s with mixed critical and commercial success. The band broke up amicably in 2011 with members devoting time to solo projects after having sold more than 90 million albums worldwide and becoming one of the world's best-selling music acts.  

R.E.M. released its first single, "Radio Free Europe", in 1981 on the independent record label Hib-Tone. It was followed by the Chronic Town EP in 1982, the band's first release on I.R.S. Records. In 1983, the group released its critically acclaimed debut album, Murmur, and built its reputation over the next few years with similarly acclaimed releases every year from 1984 to 1988: Reckoning, Fables of the Reconstruction, Lifes Rich Pageant, Document and Green, including an intermittent b-side compilation Dead Letter Office. Don Dixon and Mitch Easter produced their first two albums, Joe Boyd handled production on Fables of the Reconstruction and Don Gehman produced Lifes Rich Pageant. Thereafter, R.E.M. settled on Scott Litt as producer for the next 10 years during the band's most successful period of their career. They also started co-producing their material and playing other instruments in the studio. With constant touring, and the support of college radio following years of underground success, R.E.M. achieved a mainstream hit with the 1987 single "The One I Love". The group signed to Warner Bros. Records in 1988, and began to espouse political and environmental concerns while playing large arenas worldwide.

[Spotify] Driver 8

“Star Telegram”, The Reivers

This way: Star Telegram

The Reivers were an American pop band from Austin, Texas. Formed in 1984 as Zeitgeist, they were forced to change their name before releasing their second album in 1987, due to another group claiming prior rights to the name. They chose the name The Reivers from the title of the William Faulkner novel. 

The band included John Croslin, songwriter, vocalist, guitars; Kim Longacre, vocals, guitars; Cindy Toth, bass, violin; and Garrett Williams, drums. They were the best-known of a cluster of Austin-based bands loosely grouped under the name New Sincerity. Writing for No Depression in 2008, critic Peter Blackstock described The Reivers as "a classic pop band...They balanced memorable melodies and unstoppable energy with seemingly effortless ease, contrasting the rough and sweet vocals of frontfolks John Croslin and Kim Longacre (respectively) amid an infectious swirl of chiming guitars and the unbelievably lively rhythms of drummer Garrett Williams and bassist Cindy Toth."

The band released four albums, all of which received critical praise but not much commercial success, then disbanded in 1991. Croslin worked as producer and engineer on records for a number of bands, notably Spoon and Guided by Voices. In 1998, Stereophile critic Robert Baird called The Reivers "one of America's great lost bands." 

[Spotify] Star Telegram

“Grey Day”, Zoot Woman

This way: Grey Day

Zoot Woman is a British electronic music group consisting of Adam Blake, Johnny Blake and Stuart Price. Their debut studio album Living in a Magazine was released by Wall of Sound backed by singles "It's Automatic" and "Living in a Magazine". Their second eponymous album features the singles "Grey Day" and "Taken It All". 

Zoot Woman songs have been remixed by Todd Edwards, Le Knight Club featuring Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo of Daft Punk, Adam Port, Michael Mayer, Ben Böhmer, Boris Dlugosch, Ninetoes, Chopstick & Johnjon. Price and Adam Blake also remix under the alias Paper Faces, as well as individually and have reworked tracks for Zoot Woman and established recording artists such as Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Scissor Sisters, Armand Van Helden, and Chromeo. 

[Spotify] Grey Day

“A Salty Salute”, Alien Lanes-Guided By Voices—NPA

This way: A Salty Salute

Near Perfect Album

Alien Lanes is the eighth full-length album by American lo-fi band Guided by Voices, released on April 4, 1995.

The album was GBV's first release with Matador Records. According to James Greer's book Guided by Voices: A Brief History: Twenty-One Years of Hunting Accidents in the Forests of Rock and Roll the advance for the record was close to a hundred thousand dollars, one of the more expensive deals in Matador's history. In contrast to the lucrative deal, Greer mentions that "The cost for recording Alien Lanes, if you leave out the beer, was about ten dollars."  

In a contemporary review of Alien Lanes, Matt Diehl of Rolling Stone described the album's music as "hooky rock that infuses songwriting smarts and a love of melody with a sometimes spiky, sometimes whimsical sense of experimentation". Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian gave the album a positive review, stating that "Pollard's songs are gems that stay just this side of self-conscious eccentricity". Sullivan noted the songs' lengths, stating that they were "just enough time for Pollard to wheeze a few oblique lines and guitarist Tobin Sprout to trace out a raucous melody." Robert Christgau of The Village Voice was less complimentary, giving the album a "dud" rating.

[Spotify] A Salty Salute

[Spotify, album] Alien Lanes 

“Ramblin Mind”, Jeffery Lee Pierce Sessions

This way: Ramblin Mind

The Jeffrey Lee Pierce Sessions Project is a tribute initiative launched after Cypress Grove, one of Pierce's musical collaborators, cleaned out his loft following Pierce's death. Grove uncovered a recording of three songs on a cassette marked "JLP Songs", and realized they were from sessions he had worked on with Pierce for an album they were planning. The album was originally slated as a country-influenced album but eventually transformed into a blues recording. The sessions were recorded with acoustic guitars in Grove's bedroom using a "boombox" device. The three songs were "Ramblin' Mind", "Constant Waiting", and "Free To Walk", with further material uncovered over time to support the tribute project.  

Grove contacted other artists via Myspace to contribute to the project, including Lanegan, and as the project grew, artists such as Isobel Campbell and Jim Sclavunos also agreed to contribute The found recordings were too rough to release, and Glitterhouse Records, the label responsible for the project, used digital technology to allow artists to record their contributions from around the world. Other family and friends of Pierce provided additional material; Phast Phreddie Patterson submitted a copy of a homemade cassette recording of Pierce performing "My Cadillac" and "St. Mark's Place", which were pre-Gun Club recordings, and Cypress Grove obtained the two-inch master tapes of some song ideas they had recorded at the end of the Ramblin' Jeffrey Lee sessions.  

[Spotify] Ramblin Mind

“The Village”, New Order

This way: The Village

New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by vocalist and guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. The members regrouped after the disbandment of their previous band Joy Division due to the suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis. They were joined by Gillian Gilbert on keyboards later that year. New Order's integration of post-punk with electronic and dance music made them one of the most acclaimed and influential bands of the 1980s. They were the flagship band for Manchester-based independent record label Factory Records and its nightclub The Haçienda, and they worked in long-term collaboration with graphic designer Peter Saville.

While the band's early years were overshadowed by the legacy of Joy Division, their experience of the early 1980s New York club scene saw them increasingly incorporate dance rhythms and electronic instrumentation into their work. Their 1983 hit "Blue Monday" became the best-selling 12-inch single of all time and a popular club track.In the 1980s, they released successful albums such as Power, Corruption & Lies (1983), Technique (1989), and the singles compilation Substance (1987). They disbanded in 1993 to work on individual projects before reuniting in 1998. In the years since then, New Order has gone through various hiatuses and personnel changes, most prominently the departure of Hook in 2007 due to personal disputes with the other members. In 2015, they released their tenth studio album, Music Complete.  

[Spotify] The Village

“Dancer”, IDLES

This way: Dancer

Idles (stylized as IDLES) are a British rock band formed in Bristol in 2009. The band consists of Joe Talbot (vocals), Mark Bowen (guitar), Lee Kiernan (guitar), Adam Devonshire (bass) and Jon Beavis (drums). Their debut album, Brutalism, was released in 2017 to critical acclaim, as was their second album Joy as an Act of Resistance in 2018. Their third album, Ultra Mono, was released in 2020, followed by Crawler in 2021. 

[Spotify] Dancer

“X Offender”, BLONDIE

This way: X Offender

Blondie is an American rock band founded in 1974 in New York City by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the American new wave scene of the mid-1970s in New York City. Its first two albums contained strong elements of punk and new wave, and although highly successful in the UK and Australia, Blondie was regarded as an underground band in the U.S. until the release of Parallel Lines in 1978. Over the next four years, the band released several hit singles including "Dreaming", "One Way or Another", "Heart of Glass", "Call Me", "Atomic", "The Tide Is High", and "Rapture". The band became noted for its eclectic mix of musical styles, also incorporating elements of disco, pop, reggae, funk and early rap music. 

"X Offender" is the debut single by American band Blondie. Written by Gary Valentine and Debbie Harry for the band's self-titled debut album, Blondie, the song was released as the album's lead single on Private Stock in June 1976.

[Spotify] X Offender

“Isnt Interesting how Nuetron Bombs Work”, Diagram Brothers

This way: Isnt Interesting how Nuetron Bombs Work

The Diagram Brothers were an English post-punk band from Manchester active between 1979 and 1982. The band comprised Andy Diagram (bass guitar), Fraser Diagram (vocals, guitar), Lawrence Diagram (guitar), Jason Diagram (bass), and Simon Diagram (drums) (not actually brothers).[1] Andy Diagram was also a member of Dislocation Dance from 1978 to 1982, and in 1985, and was a member of The Pale Fountains and James.

Andy Diagram explained the band's approach: "We called the music 'Discordo'. The music was made to a strict formula or set of rules. All the guitar chords were based on discordant notes, all the beats were very simple rock or disco, and all the words were very very straightforward and down to earth." Music journalist, Stuart Maconie, described them as "funny, slightly scary and like no one else in the world".  

The band's first release was a 7-inch EP on the Construct label in 1980. They were then signed by Buzzcocks' New Hormones label, who issued a single, "Bricks", an album, Some Marvels of Modern Science, and a 10-inch EP, Discordo, before the band split up. They have been compared to The Residents and XTC.

They recorded three sessions for John Peel's BBC Radio 1 show. Their collected studio recordings (including the Peel sessions) have since been released on CD by the LTM label.

[Spotify] Isnt Interesting how Nuetron Bombs Work

“Teenage Caveman”, Beat Happening-You Turn Me On—NPA

This way: Teenage Caveman

Near Perfect Album

Solid perfection here. Beat Happening was an American indie pop band formed in Olympia, Washington in 1982. Calvin Johnson, Heather Lewis, and Bret Lunsford have been the band's continual members. Beat Happening were early leaders in the American indie pop and lo-fi movements, noted for their use of primitive recording techniques, disregard for the technical aspects of musicianship, and songs with subject matters of a carefree or coy nature. 

Beat Happening met while attending The Evergreen State College and began recording in 1983. The band took its name from a student art film, Beatnik Happening, made by Bret's girlfriend. The band's basic line-up was drums, guitar and vocals, though when they formed their only instruments were a pair of maracas and a Sears Silvertone guitar purchased at a thrift shop. Heather once joked in an interview that the history of the band could be told through a list of the various people whose drums they'd borrowed. Heather and Calvin had been members of a previous band and approached Bret, who had no musical experience at the time, saying they ought to start a band and go to Japan.

[Spotify] Teenage Caveman

[Spotify, album] You Turn Me On 

“Balance is Gone”, Billy Nomates

This way: Balance is Gone

Billy Nomates (born 2 May 1990) is an English musician and songwriter.

She grew up in Leicester and was a member of a number of bands that failed to be noticed. Following a period of depression, a Sleaford Mods gig inspired Maries to return to making music and she moved to Bournemouth to write and compose. Her stage name, Billy Nomates, was taken from an insult directed at her when she turned up at the gig on her own. The first album was recorded in Bristol with Portishead's Geoff Barrow. She released this in 2020 and quickly gained attention from BBC Radio 6 Music. She describes her music as no wave.

[Spotify] Balance is Gone

“Chicago Promenade”, Jason Isbell

This way: Chicago Promenade

Jason Isbell  is an American singer-songwriter and actor. He is known for his solo career, his work with the band The 400 Unit, and as a member of Drive-By Truckers for six years, from 2001 to 2007. Isbell has won four Grammy Awards.

Isbell was born in Green Hill, Alabama, two miles (3 km) from the Alabama/Tennessee state line,[6] the son of interior designer Angela Hill Barnett and house painter Mike Isbell.[7][8] Isbell's mother was only 17 years old (and his father 19 years old) when he was born and is the subject of a song, "Children of Children". Isbell's parents divorced, and he has two much younger half-siblings.

Isbell grew up in North Alabama. His grandparents lived on a farm down the road next to the school that Isbell attended; they looked after him while his parents were at work. His grandfather and uncle taught him to play various instruments, including the mandolin when he was six years old, as it was easier for him to grip as a small child. They enjoyed gospel music, bluegrass music, and the Grand Ole Opry. In high school, he played trumpet and French horn.

Isbell started playing in a garage band and a country cover band when he was 14 or 15 years old with his friend, songwriter Chris Tompkins. They played at the Grand Ole Opry when Isbell was 16.

When Isbell was a teenager, many musicians took him under their wing. He got to know session bassist David Hood, father of Drive-By Truckers co-founder Patterson Hood, because David Hood was in the Florence, Alabama area and played around town on Friday and Saturday nights in local restaurants and bars. By this time, Patterson Hood and his future Drive-By Truckers co-founder, Mike Cooley, were older and had moved out of town. Isbell would go watch David Hood and others perform. It took a while, but once he finally got up the nerve to tell them he played, they would have him sit in with them, which resulted in friendship and mentorship.

[Spotify] Chicago Promenade

“It’s Love”, Chris Knox

This way: It’s Love

This from 2000. Chris Knox (born 2 September 1952) is a New Zealand rock and roll musician, cartoonist and movie reviewer who emerged during the punk rock era with his bands The Enemy and Toy Love. After Toy Love disbanded in the early 1980s, he formed the group Tall Dwarfs with guitarist Alec Bathgate. The Tall Dwarfs were noted for their unpolished sound and intense live shows. His 4-track machine was used to record most of the early Flying Nun singles. 

He has also released a number of solo, self-produced albums which feature his Casiotone. Knox has also released an album under the pseudonym 'Friend'. At the 2001 New Zealand Music Awards Knox's ballad "Not Given Lightly" (1990) was announced as New Zealand's thirteenth best song of all time, as voted by APRA members. A love song written for "John and Liesha's mother"—his then-partner Barbara—this track never scaled commercial heights though it has belatedly generated some income for the songwriter through its use in TV advertising (notably for Vogel's bread).

Knox has played live in front of audiences all around New Zealand, winning a reputation for his sometimes confrontational style, and performed annually at Wellington's Bar Bodega. He has also extensively toured internationally. His swing through the US in 1995 included, among others, stops in Seattle to play the Crocodile Cafe. His minimalist, DIY sound played well to ears then-focused on grunge, with its retro-punk stylings.

A long-time resident of Auckland, Knox spent time as a newspaper columnist and film reviewer for Real Groove. In 1986-1987, he edited and published three issues of a New Zealand comics anthology Jesus on a Stick. Starting in 1987, his satirical comic strip Max Media appeared in The New Zealand Herald every week until 2009. He has also been an occasional television film reviewer, hosted a Television New Zealand season of classic movies 'The Vault', and presented two seasons of arts series New Artland.

[Spotify] It’s Love

“D.O.A.”, Bloodrock

This way: D.O.A.

The legend that is this song. Wow, I was like 10 when this hit the airways, perfect age for it. The rumors that surrounded the song were epic, Thats the actual ambulance siren! And this is 8 minutes you will never get back.

Bloodrock was an American hard rock band based in Fort Worth, Texas, that had success in the 1970s. The band emerged from the Fort Worth club and music scene during the early to mid-1970s. Bloodrock initially formed in Fort Worth in 1963, under the name the Naturals. This first lineup featured Jim Rutledge on drums and vocals, Nick Taylor on guitar and vocals, Ed Grundy on bass and vocals, and Dean Parks on guitar. They toured the region playing at battle of the bands, opened locally for national acts like The Beach Boys, Paul Revere & The Raiders, and The Five Americans. They continued as Crowd + 1 until 1969 when they changed their name to Bloodrock, a name conceived by Grand Funk Railroad manager/producer Terry Knight, who signed the band to Capitol almost within two weeks of hearing them. Bloodrock opened for Grand Funk on the 1970 tour.

Bloodrock 2 was their most successful album peaking at number 21 on the Billboard Pop Album Chart in 1971, mostly on the strength of their single "D.O.A.", which reached number 36 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on March 6, 1971. "D.O.A." also gave the band considerable regional exposure throughout the Southwest and West, particularly in Texas and Southern California. "D.O.A." was probably the band's most well-known and well-remembered single. However, some radio stations would not play the song because of its explicit, gruesome description of fatal injury and the use of sirens, the latter out of concerns that the siren sound would confuse motorists. The motivation for writing this song was explained in 2005 by guitarist Lee Pickens. “When I was 17, I wanted to be an airline pilot,” Pickens said. “I had just gotten out of this airplane with a friend of mine, at this little airport, and I watched him take off. He went about 200 feet in the air, rolled and crashed.” The band decided to write a song around the incident and include it on their second album. 

[Spotify] D.O.A.

And am I in Portlandia? Or are they?