Monthly Archives: May 2011

Vol. 24: “Nothing Man” Bruce Springsteen

“I can’t think of another album in which such an abundance of great songs might be said to seem the least of its achievements.” –from Kurt Loder’s review of The Rising: Rolling Stone. July 30, 2002 Amazon.com Widgets Very special thanks to The Parent Experiment host and Springsteen Super Fan Lynette Carolla for inspiration on […]

Vol. 23: “Sea of Heartbreak” Don Gibson

“I think he was a bit tortured, and he had somewhat of a difficult life, and all of his experience, and his longing and his own heartbreak is really apparent in his vocals.” –Rosanne Cash Amazon.com Widgets Most who consider this song a classic are either steeped in country roots tradition or have been around […]

Vol. 22: “Crackerman” Stone Temple Pilots

“I saw Stone Temple Pilots this weekend. I liked them better the first time around…when they were called Pearl Jam.” –David Spade on SNL, 1992 Amazon.com Widgets Stone Temple Pilots have fought off critics and controversey almost as long as they’ve been making music . Although Core, their debut album has sold over 8 million copies to date, Weiland, the Deleo brothers, and Kretz had the […]

Vol. 21 “Alone (Shakin’ Sugar)” Wilco

“Its vaporous, insinuating, rusty-carousel melodies start to carve out a permanent orbit in your skull.” -from Entertainment Weekly’s review of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, 2002 These days, it’s hard to call anything Wilco’s done overlooked. Given my unabashed fandom for the band though, I figure it’s inevitable that I would find a way to work them […]

Vol. 20: “Don’t Worry Baby” Derrick Harris

“It was all, ‘You’ve got to look this way,’ ‘write this kind of song this way,’ I got really disillusioned with the Christian Music industry,” –Derrick Harris Created as a gift for Brian Wilson on his 60th birthday, Making God Smile is not just a collection of covers. In fact, it may be completely unique […]