We’ve been making an ongoing Spotify playlist since July 2020, and every eleven months since then, we’ve curated a special “Greatest Hits” playlist, featuring our favorite songs over that period. Since we just started making a podcast recently, this is the first time we’ve recorded those selections. We hope you enjoy listening to us talking about some of our favorite songs from our May ’22 through March ’23 playlists…
Show notes from our Greatest Hits Volume Three Spotify Podcast:
We started with Al’s ten submissions and Phoebe’s ten submissions, but our finished, 11-song playlist is put in an order that we think makes sense musically. Which is not same same order that we pick the songs during the picking ceremony heard during our podcast.
Notes (Quotes are from song lyrics):
- “We were alone and I was singing this song to you”
The 1970’s were weird, man… Leon Russell (who had beautiful hands, no?) knew when to turn it up, and when to turn it down, but what we want to know is… who is the woman stirring the cake batter? - “The clouds are gathered for the final storm, and the trees are silent, they have seen it all”
Julia Jacklin covers Bill Fay. They are both close to our musical hearts. - “I look at her and I see the beauty of the light of music”
We sort of feel that way about Redbird, who took a mediocre R.E.M. song and somehow made it magical. - “One thing I’ve learned, love can change with the seasons”
If there’s one artist who speaks to the universality of what we want our playlist to embrace, it might be Kendrick Lamar. There are few artists out there who embrace pushing their own boundaries more than him. - “‘Rescue me’ is written on your bed, home is where the bullet lands, as it travels through your head, and I believe that all I need to set me free”
Man Man is all about the ambition that we want music to embrace. “Poor Jackie” is epic. - “Then there’s something still left, something that could be gained inside, of the first thing that could be beating inside”
Terry Reid is one artist we’d love to hang out with for an enveing. That man has probably got some great stories. - “No time to see where you’ll drift, Abegail, wait for, wait for me…”
Jeremy Enigk is that artist that you didn’t quite get… until you did. - “And you said, “Hey, do you wanna see the west with me? ’cause love’s out there and I can’t leave it be””
More musical ambition. Of the artists we’ve found in making this playlist, Ethel Cain just feels like one of the most important. We’re looking forward to hearing a whole lot more from her. - “In the marble of your animal eyes, take my comfort anywhere”
Califone is the experimental project of Chicago’s Tim Rutili. - “Gradually, I will outrun you, I will outgrow you, I will ignore you, I will see clearer, I’ll overcome you, I will acknowledge how far I have come”
If there was ever a song we both knew needed to be in our Greatest Hits Playlist, Rosie Thomas’ “Gradually” is probably it. - “When we are inhuman, we’re one with the birds”
What could be a better way of closing out a greatest hits playlist than with one of the patron saints of outsider music, Bonnie Prince Billy.
Both our Spotify playlist and our podcast are updated and released around the first of each month. We’re recorded monthly in the warm and cozy hug of the OML Studios in lovely downtown Manchester, Richmond, Virginia.
Please enjoy and subscribe to out finished playlist on Spotify. If you enjoy our podcast, please both subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes or wherever you find your podcasts. Reviews are a super helpful way for people who make podcasts to find new listeners. And please tell your friends! Nothing beats good people talking to good people.
Thanks to Cooper’s Craft Barrel Reserve 100 Proof bourbon for help in recording this month. Theme music is from “Red Eye” by E’s Jammy Jams, accordion music by Andrew Huang.
Featured image: The Trophy of Tom’s Terrific Tuneage, awarded to the winner of the current Greatest Hits Playlist.
If you have questions or suggestions, feel free to let us know!
See you in April with our regular monthly episode!
