THURSDAY MORNING MIX

March 24, 2011

Scott Foley

Steve Earle calls this his most country record in years. Coming off his tribute to Townes Van Zandt, it's great to hear another collection of originals. The high point, however, is "God is God," a tune we've heard before on a Joan Baez album a couple years back. While I appreciated Baez's take, here it comes off as one of Earle's classic recent cuts. "Every day on earth's another chance to get it right / Let this little light of mine shine + rage against the night." Earle is one of the few who can do justice to a lyric like that, and deliver so it doesn't sound like a simplistic Sunday school lesson.

* Alejandro Escovedo, "Five Hearts Breaking" Gravity (Watermelon, 92)
* Halden Wofford & the Hi Beams, "Hang Man" Sinners & Saints (Self, 10)
* Tejas Brothers, "Diamond in the Rough" Rich Man (Smith, 11)
* Daniel Martin Moore, "Dark Road" In the Cool of the Day (Sub Pop, 11)
* Exene Cervenka, "Someday I'll Forget" Excitement of Maybe (Bloodshot, 11)
* Amy Speace, "Change for Me" Land Like a Bird (Thirty Tigers, 11)
* Todd Snider, "East Nashville Skyline (live)" Storyteller Live (Thirty Tigers, 11)
* Trout Steak Revival, "Those Days" Trout Steak Revival (Self, 11)
* Jim Lauderdale, "Jack Dempsey's Crown" Reason and Rhyme (Self, 11)
* Tift Merritt, "Write My Ticket" Tambourine (Lost Hwy, 04)
* The O's, "Tennessee Coalminer" Between the Two (Idol, 11)
* Drive-by Truckers, "Weakest Man" Go-Go Boots (ATO, 11)
^ Steve Earle, "Every Part of Me" I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive (New West, 11)
* Broken Spoke, "Here All Alone" Before There Were Easy Riders (Self, 11)
* Band of Heathens, "Should Have Known" Top Hat Crown ... (BoH, 11)
* Grant Peeples, "Empty Cup" Okra and Ecclesiastes (Gatorbone, 11)
* Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, "Heart on a String" Here We Rest (Lightning Rod, 11)
* Shannon McNally, "Western Ballad" Western Ballad (Sacred Sumac, 11)
* Hacienda Brothers, "What's Wrong With Right" What's Wrong With Right (Proper, 06)
* Lucinda Williams, "Buttercup" Blessed (Lost Hwy, 11)
* Low Anthem, "Apothecary Love" Smart Flesh (Nonesuch, 11)
* Head and the Heart, "Down in the Valley" Head and the Heart (Sub Pop, 11)
* Legendary River Drifters, "Waiting on a Line" Into the Darkness (Self, 11)
* Will Kimbrough, "Believer in the Blues" Dirtdobber Blues (Vetter, 11)
* Diana Jones, "Poverty" High Atmosphere (Proper, 11)
* Middle Brother, "Million Dollar Bill" Middle Brother (Partisan, 11)
* Emma Hill and Her Gentlemen Callers, "Capture Your Heart" Meet Me at the Moon (Kuskokwim, 11)
* Devotchka, "100 Other Lovers" 100 Lovers (Anti, 11)