Ty's FIRST 5 - Songs to Start With 11/20/20
Every Thursday night, I grab my phone and wait for Notifications of the new music I’ve been waiting on! Sometimes I’m lucky enough to get songs ahead of release, and sometimes the artists have no idea that I’m keeping tabs on everything they put out. To save YOU time, here’re my recommendations of the FIRST 5 new songs you should listen to, this week!
Devin Dawson - “He Loved Her”
My Grandpa Thede was President of a bank in my birthtown in Iowa. He would whoop every time the Hawkeyes scored - on his feet, immediately and executing the loudest claps you’ve ever heard! When I would sleep over at my grandparents’ house, he would let me stay up past my bedtime (watching Nick at Night or TV Land) and we’d end the night with vanilla ice cream in fancy glass bowls. He always had jazz CDs in his car. And, although he was President of a bank, the car he loved was a Chevy Corsica. He was tall. He had white hair by the time he was in his mid-20s (I’m told). He was kind to everyone. He taught me to open doors for strangers, and that eye contact was important. He was a gentleman (Dick VanDyke always reminds me of my grandpa). He took me to a proper barbershop and let me put the coins into the parking meter before walking in to let Floyd clean us up a bit. He thought the best of people and showed them respect. I always did and always will hold him as my North Star for the way I treat others, and the decisions I make in my life.
My point is that this great man will always be remembered for the simplest, most-important pieces of who he was. He wore a warm smile. He gave a strong hug. He loved us.
You’d think from me nudging you to pick out some memories of your loved ones that this song might be somber. But its zDevin. And its not the Dark Horse chapter…its the Pink Slip. You’ll be surprised!
LISTEN ON APPLE MUSIC: “He Loved Her”
James McNair - “Find the Matches”
James McNair is a massive songwriter in Nashville (he wrote three songs on Luke Combs’ CMA Award-winning “Album of the Year”), and its a brave move to go from Top of the Foodchain, to a rookie artist (albeit with HARDY as a guide). Then you hear “Find the Matches.” James played this song on my show, last year, as a guitar/vocal. The story is 100% his story (written with one of his best friends from his small hometown); the production decisions by Jaron Johnson make the connection so tangible for those of us who are hearing this story. The story of dreams that are waiting out there past an invisible line.. The words tell that truth, the music controls the odometer. Similar to classics like “Jolene,” each verse bonds me more tightly to the story & the instrumental tension makes it feel like my own dreams hinge on this man’s ability to break through the barrier between what is and what could be.
LISTEN ON APPLE MUSIC: “Find the Matches”
Alana Springsteen - “Different When You’re 17”
Remember being a teenager? Literally everything NEW felt like magic.
The world was vibrant. We wouldn’t let “logic” or “obligations” battle through that one-track focus of whatever we were feeling in the moment. Sneaking out that basement window to meet J.A. in the shadow of a pine tree. My best friend and I using that V6 engine to “peel out”…in his dad’s mini van. The Brooks and Dunn concert that enveloped me in music to the point I was certain the whole world must hear it.
Alana is one of the coolest new voices in country. This song has an almost Taylor-like essence. Lyrics are stated so directly and simply that John Prine would be proud, and the production (that sneaky banjo!) is like a phoenix’s song transcribing emotion into instrumentation. This is an entirely different kind of brilliant and a hard left from the first two songs on my list this week…and its just cool!
LISTEN ON APPLE MUSIC: “Different When You’re 17”
Dillon Carmichael - “Hot Beer”
I don’t drink - not unless the club hired me to host a party & the owner seems like he’d be affronted if I didn’t accept the shot. That lack of experience doesn't make the idea of a hot beer seem any less disgusting to me… And that's Dillon Carmichael’s point exactly!
Just as fun (ironically?) as Lee Brice’s “More Beer” and with a contradictory punchline. Feeling like a Trace Adkins song written by Jamey Johnson, this song cannot be listened to at any volume below MAX! Before you know it, you’ll have your own list to match Dillon’s and the one I’m posting below:
Binge watch The Kardashians
Trip on a treadmill
Eat a jar of Veggiemite
Throw my snowboards in a woodchipper
Volunteer as an ophiologist
LISTEN ON APPLE MUSIC: “Hot Beer”
Morgan Wallen - “Livin’ The Dream”
To be upfront about my potential bias, I will leave a Morgan Wallen album/song on repeat for weeks. But this isn’t blind support. If country music is about the truth, and you have been doing any speculating about the things that have put Morgan in the news (and then kept him out of it, and social media, and any updates until this week), then one of my favorite artists has just unleashed the epitome of a country song. “Livin the Dream” sounds so country on one layer, it feels like an 80s pop song on another, and somehow feels like Eminem unraveling a revelatory reality.
LISTEN ON APPLE MUSIC: “Livin’ The Dream”