Jefferson Airplane – Ballad of you and me and Pooneil

When I was 10 years old, I rode my bike, barefoot, on a hot and dusty Alabama summer day, 3 miles to town, to the little town library,  in a small building which, in the 1920’s, had been my great grandfather’s law office. The library had a small record section. Eddy Arnold, Burl Ives, Kingston Trio were probably the hippest records they had had.  But, far in the back was Jefferson Airplane’s After Bathing at Baxters, with a cool drawing on the cover. When I got home, and put dull phonograph needle to scratchy vinyl, this filled the room. It was revelatory.  This, as best as I can tell, would be the seminal psychedelic beginnings of Rabbit Reckoning.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d1RgUO5E9fw

Once upon a Time in the West – Man with Harmonica

Although he wasn’t specifically referencing this recording, on Marching Clouds, Doc Possum, I think, captured something of the grand melancholy, for something we can’t quite put our finger on, that only the harmonica can convey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6BQKFs3-VM

Jason Isbell – Alabama Pines

“No one gives a damn about the things that we can’t live without.  Our liberties seem to disappear, like ghosts in the air. Simply vanishing away.”  I wonder if anyone not from Alabama really can understand the sense of longing and regret that Isbell was experiencing when he wrote this  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCMsUQmS0Bo

Iggy Pop – The Passenger

I ride the city at night, under glass, I see the city’s ripped backside.  I see the stars so bright. Everything was made for you and me. And I ride and I ride.  Enough said.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLhN__oEHaw

Jamey Johnson – In Color

In my almost-old age, I have become a sentimental mush.  I can’t listen to this song, and think of my parents (still alive) and grandparents (all gone), without crying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYGwxf1gCC4

American Aquarium – Tough Folks

Life ain’t fair.  Saddle up boy, and see it through.  The America I know.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SbP7GKTyr0