Ty's FIRST 5 - Songs to Start With 12-4-20
Friday mornings are like Christmas morning for me: I wake up with a massive playlist of the new releases that magically loaded into my phone, overnight! I was afraid that the industry and new music would be winding down as we enter the holiday season…but this is another unpredictable detail in a very unpredictable year.
I was worried that this month would offer a limited supply of music; leaving me struggling for five songs that justified a share. That is not the case, today. It was almost impossible to narrow this down to only the FIRST 5!
I somehow accomplished the insane task of deciding which songs are the best 5 to start with this weekend (you take it from there - I’m adding honorable mentions).
Pro-tip: if you want to cut to the musical chase, just jump to the italicized parts below each title.
“Show Me Around” - Carly Pearce
This is Carly’s song for busbee.
My favorite festival of the year is a massive week of Writer’s Rounds in Nashville called Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival. The legendary small venues around the Music City play host to a row of stools, acoustic guitars (in some cases, keyboards) and the butts on those stools are attached to the songwriters that have written the biggest hits in music.
Last year, I hosted a show at 3rd and Lindsley, where the most recognizable names on the bill were Carly Pearce, and the incomparable writer and producer who had been a driving force in many of the sounds that have formed country music in the last several years. busbee is responsible for that crazy horn on Lady A’s “You Look Good” and the reason that Carrie Underwood was able to put her vocals onto Keith Urban’s “The Fighter” (on the one day that Carrie had off during her tour, busbee rented a studio in St Louis and flew to meet up with her to cut the track). He also teamed with Maren for breakthrough moments like “My Church.” And even more poignant to the night, he was the one who finally stood side by side with Carly Pearce as she made her definitive entrance (finally) into the spotlight with her first album, Every Little Thing.
Thanking him for being part of the show and for the music, I got to meet busbee for the first time, that night before bringing him on-stage. I still find it hard to believe how normal he was. He’s a genius in the art that I most appreciate. He gave us these musical gifts and could go next-level like it was peeling an orange. He was one of those “more talent in his little finger than…” living legends. But it felt like another dad I just happened to meet while taking Radley to a kids’ birthday party. He was such a nice guy, and cool, but zero pretense.
Shortly after that, busbee found out he was battling a brain cancer called glioblastoma. The first I heard about it was a few weeks later, and the news was not that busbee was sick, it was that he was gone.
Carly Pearce has told me from the very first conversation we ever had (years ago, before she even had released her album) that busbee was the one who was making certain that her years of sacrifice, blood, sweat and tears was finally paying off. He was so monumentally special to this person who had began chasing music at a young age, dealt with the highs and lows of a record deal that came and went before she could release her first album. busbee had thrown his focus, support, and energy into Carly and her music. This song is her song about meeting him again, some day. And in 2020, its a song that will, unfortunately, conjure up many new faces as we listen. And for those of us who are lucky enough to have had friends and family remain healthy, it might remind you of another very special person that you’d love to share another conversation with some day.
LISTEN ON APPLE MUSIC: “Show Me Around”
“Mothers and Sons” - Luke Dick & Natalie Hemby
This would be a great place to brag on my mom. When describing her to people, as a kid (I’m talking through college), I literally would describe my mom as “basically June Cleaver.” She’s awesome! Very often, I’d pick up my phone from the table, thinking I should give her call, only to have it start ringing in my hand. She taught me the values of “Family First” “Communication is Key” and she’s the reason I quietly sing to my sons before bed (I’m not the singer in the house, but it was special to me and I’m sure my kids could care less but they put up with it).
I won’t play the mama’s boy card right now, though. I think Luke Dick’s story about his life and his relationship with his mother and her coworkers at the wildest strip club in OKC! Luke just released the music from his documentary about growing up the kid of a (dancer?) at the Red Dog. One of the most-notable influences in the Music City, took his cameras and went to find out what had happened to the unconventional “family” that he grew up with in that atmosphere. You see that ‘normal’ is as you know it, and there is so much humanity in every corner. We all have the quirky friends, the crazy friends, and if we’re lucky (I am) we have someone who gives us unconditional love.
The lyrics of this song really walk you through the things that make up a truly GOOD life. Love that is there from the very beginning, from a mother. Love that is often tested, in time, by the son.
Luke and Natalie have been a dynamo combination in and outside of country music. Their unconventional approach to music is often boundary-less. I love how Luke (a drummer, from the outset) utilizes unpredictability in the percussive elements of songs. But this song isn’t any of that. It is a dependable, unconditionally advancing story - passing time indicated with just the simple guitar riff, constant, advancing. Each verse earns the simplicity of just a couple instruments. The mother is simple. The son is simple. But as each chorus brings the relationship of these two stories together, the music fills and the further back into her embrace the son falls, the more all-encompassing the music embraces us.
LISTEN ON APPLE MUSIC: “Mothers and Sons”
“Handful of Hell” - George Shingleton
If you can grab me in the first second of a song, there’s a good chance I’ll keep coming back to that track (which makes it a genius move to put this song as track one on his new album: loop mode).
In radio, DJ’s like when a song has a long musical intro, cuz it gives us a chance to talk about stuff before the singing starts. Before I started hosting morning shows (where we talk more by trade), I had to cut my teeth in the business and I loved the longest-musical intros. It allowed me time to say more stuff, with the safety net that the listener already knew which song that they loved was playing.
Now, I don’t have those rules. And George Shingleton gives ZERO musical intro time. Its his voice out of the gate, and its attention-worthy!
This song fires in with no doubt that you’re about to learn about this guy. Then you hear about the partner that chose him. The music is clear that we are meeting a lonely-soul in the midst of self-reflection and gratitude. This is country - slide, steel, fiddle…listen for it all. If you’re a fan of Randy Houser and Jamey Johnson and Chris Stapleton and Conway Twitty (then you’ve got a pulse and), you’ll love this!
LISTEN ON APPLE MUSIC: “Handful of Hell”
“Tears of Gold” - David Bisbal & Carrie Underwood
Holy _____! I don’t know what to say when I’m speechless
*I assume Purd Hapley said this at some point
Hearing Carrie Underwood’s voice is unreal, every time. Especially when i’ve been able to spend enough time with Carrie over the years that I know how real she is. She used to be excruciatingly shy. I think she still has that desire to assess a room or environment before letting her guard down. She’s head over heels in love with her kids and her family. Last year, she hosted the radio show with me the morning before hosting the CMA Awards and had a very vulnerable and honest moment in hearing Miranda Lambert’s words of encouragement, praise and solidarity for Carrie as a formidable nominee for the Entertainer of the Year Award. In that moment, Carrie got choked up, and tried to explain how much weight she seemed to carry as a fan of the women in country music who (DO) possess so much talent and give so much effort. She was, in that moment, showing what an empathetic, and genuine human she is. That’s my whole point here. She still showcases the type of small-town authenticity that we were both surrounded by as a kid. But she NOT just someone else in a crowd…she’s a STAR.
I’m a fan of the latin-infused country music that is starting to crop up. This is much more pop than anything else on my list today, but with Carrie and its beautiful, emotional, tapestry, I had to share it on my FIRST 5. Hearing Carrie and Operación Triunfo-winner David phase from English to Spanish - their vocals sounding like literal heart-songs just trying to align - creeping closer and closer into unison, I loved this entire experience! I did have to yank my PowerBeats Pro off my ears at the end, and sit down to re-orient myself before proceeding! Check this out!
LISTEN ON APPLE MUSIC: “Tears of Gold”
“Thoughts & Prayers” - Brittney Spencer
This year was a year filled with adversity. That was true of everyone’s life. Isn’t that crazy - everyone. COVID-19 doesn’t differentiate. We ALL - worldwide - faced this particular obstacle. Then there was a reckoning that was more of a necessary choice than a worldwide surprise. I hated the increasingly clear message of division and racism that still survives in our world. I’d hoped that more people were filled with love for each other, independent of the color of skin. I had hoped that continuing to paint racism as the abomination that it is would help to guide people toward wanting to understand each other and creating a culture that broke down the institutional barricades. Nope. Its not enough. We need to stand up to it, again.
My wife grew up in Atlanta and moved to Hollywood as her acting career grew. When she and I began dating in LA, we soon moved to the melting pot of New York City. Those experiences offer a lot of insights into what people - friends, neighbors, and strangers who looked different from one another - were really about as individuals. That’s an important piece of perspective as we look at equality. What I think was even more valuable was the experiences that taught me that I don’t see all of the things that each of those people are going through. Over the years, I heard disheartening stories of things my good friends had gone through. Things I had not known in the many years since our friendships had begun, would surface at points throughout my life as a revelation. Knowing that I have so many great people around me, and that those same people are experiencing things I’ve never seen and never expected to hear from them, was the biggest lesson - knowing that I don’t know what I don’t know. This year became about not just being disgusted by racism, but about educating myself more than I ever had - Corri did the same, and we taught our kids as much as we could in a pandemic, as well. We became more than ‘not racist’ but more actively anti-racist than ever before.
Nashville saw teenagers creating a march of thousands. The world saw a message shouted from rooftops. That nothing but actual equality is important to more people than just those who don’t have it. The ones with privilege want the equal playing field, as well. The people who have always tried to be inclusive and compassionate began learning even more about how they may not be the best version of that yet. The world stepped up to face the ugly part of this same world and it has become impossible to accept the idea that “things are getting better.” Its a battle that continues.
Brittney’s new EP ‘Compassion’ is out and this song is much like the decades of diluted awareness for the pain that was being experienced. Even in the gentle lull of the song, you know there’s a darkness. But you can’t tangibly identify it. Its not blatant…not at first. That doesn’t come until the end. In the meantime, the words will break your heart as you realize this message is told as an unfortunate (almost acceptable) truth. Its telling us that this is happening, and we’ll just accept it? Not condone it. We don’t want it. But its there, and we’ll just accept it?
What a gentle way to make me want to scream “No. ****ing. Way.”
LISTEN ON APPLE MUSIC: “Thoughts and Prayers”