Musical Thesis: Johnny Cash “Forever Words”

At the center of every album is a musical thesis. This thesis can be the driving force behind the album, a theme that interweaves songs together, or a feeling you are left with after the last song plays. With some albums, the thesis is easy to find. On others, it is hidden and requires you to be more than a passive listener. These reviews are not about rating an album. Instead, it is about uncovering a musical thesis.  

I know you feel the way I change
But you can't change the way I feel
Sometimes I'm a stranger to you
One of a kind
And I think some way you'll make it through
You don't know how to take it
Sometimes you're a stranger to me
One of a kind

Johnny Cash is a rare artist. While he mostly owned one genre for the entirety of his life, his influence knew no bounds. His legend left and continues to mark artists, solo acts, and bands, no matter their relationship to country music.  

For me, as a kid growing up and developing his own taste in music in Oklahoma, the music of Johnny Cash has always been omnipresent. In our home, the home of others, on road trips, quick trips, in department stores, and in movies, his music has always been there. It was so ubiquitous that it seemed easy to ignore in some ill-formed scheme to rebel against the music of my parents. I rebelled and ignored until I couldn’t rebel or ignore anymore.  

Like lots of people, Johnny Cash’s cover of Hurt forced me to pay attention. His music was no longer background music. It was front and center demanding my full attention, begging to be fully explored. Since that day, that is exactly what I have done.  

I have explored his catalog from beginning to end, his recorded concerts, and his television show. With every new discovery, I deeply appreciate the artist. As I listen to this album, I am given a rare opportunity to live in the appreciation of others. For me, Forever Words is more than an album filled with cover songs. It is a tribute to an artist who left an indelible mark on music and popular culture.  

But there is more here than a collection of musicians paying their respects to someone they admire and respect. I hear familiar themes, themes Mr. Cash wrestled with all his life. I hear songs for the forgotten. I hear love songs. I hear songs of reflection and perseverance. I hear God and an eternal battle against evils from within and from without. I hear artists channeling the spirit of Johnny Cash, and an attempt to present themselves as co-signers in the fight. No, this isn’t just a collection of songs by artists covering Johnny Cash. It is something much more profound. This is something much more moving.  

Be good to each other,  

Nathan  

Musical Thesis (15/15): Best of Musical Thesis

Musical Thesis (15/15): Best of Musical Thesis  

On August 23, 2016, I published my first album review. The album was Why Are You Okay by Band of Horses. Since that initial review, I have published another 93 album reviews.

When reviewing movies, I am trying to uncover answers to two related questions. How does the film make me feel? Is it any good? When writing these reviews, I keep the answers to those questions at the forefront of my mind.

With reviews of albums, I wanted to do something drastically different. Instead of deciding how good a particular album is, I wanted to view the entire collection of songs as a thesis. If I could easily uncover that thesis, I would then try to judge my own emotions in relation to the artist’s intent.

This approach has radically changed how I listen to music. I have always listened to music with a detective hat on my head. This sort of curiosity keeps me busy digging through lyrics and listening closely to the message the artist is trying to get across. For me, there is a lot of joy in a song that tells a complete story, and then discovering what that story means.

With my Musical Thesis reviews, I wanted to do more than try to find what the artist was attempting to express. I wanted to uncover a thesis holding the album together. From there, I wanted to dig deep into how that thesis made me feel.

In 94 albums, I have heard heartbreak. I have heard songs about feeling lost, the passing of time, normalcy, freedom, protest, family, places that matter, America, and so much more. Together, the 94 albums I have reviewed over the last 8 years attempt to describe the human condition. When I think more introspectively, I see ways in which they describe my human condition. Ultimately, this is why I choose to think critically about art. In music, movies, books, and hundreds of other artistic expressions, I am searching for myself.

Since 2016, I have collected songs from each album reviewed in a playlist. I have often returned to this playlist. Each song mirrors a fossil like record of a time and place that can be connected back to my own life. In this playlist, representing the 15 most impactful songs of the last 15 years, I share a small portion of myself with you. I hope you can find your own story to tell in these songs.

Be good to each other,

Nathan 

(24 Hour Challenge) The Sound of a Generation

Image provided by @gabrielgurrola.

As part of the 15th Anniversary celebration for Natetheworld.com, I am hosting a 24-hour writing challenge. Starting in January 2024, readers began submitting essay prompts. My goal is to tackle as many of these prompts as possible in a 24-hour period.

Long gone are the days of the song of the summer. Long gone are the days of us collectively consuming the same songs on the radio or on MTV. Long gone are the days of us rushing to a record store to buy the same album.

With the introduction of streaming platforms such as Spotify, we have lost a sense of community.

According to NME, “more music is released in a single day in 2024 than all of 1989.” The article goes on to explain that “on a daily basis 120,000 tracks are uploaded to streaming services or 43 million songs every year.” They also expect, given current trends, “that the number of music creators will more than double, from 75 million to 188 million by the end of the decade.”

On the one hand, streaming services have democratized music. With boundless options, you can explore and discover music that appeals to you. You are no longer bound to the whims of a DJ, VJ, or programmer. You can create your own tastes and match artists to those tastes.

On the other hand, we are losing something that served as a rallying point for our community. When I really began listening to music in the 90s, I created a community with friends who were listening to the same music. All my friends listened to Pearl Jam, Nirvana, and the Dave Matthews Band. We often compared notes and reactions. We would rush to the record store together. We would go to concerts together. We created a community. It didn’t mean the community was homogeneous. We varied and differed, but we shared a core group of artists that held us together.

There is something lost when the joy of sharing music can only be experienced with people who share similar online spaces.

Looking at Spotify, I can see David Ramirez has 77,000 active monthly listeners. Now, David Ramirez is a singer/songwriter who I dearly love. I wholeheartedly believe more people should listen to his music. If anyone deserves a wider audience, it is artists like him.

But none of my friends in Seattle actively listen to David Ramirez. I am not listening to his music with a friend who loves him as much as I do. I am not comparing notes with people I admire. I am not attending his shows with an avid friend I know. I experience David Ramirez, for the most part, alone in my car listening to Spotify.

This isn’t all on Spotify. We don’t watch the same shows. We don’t watch the same movies. We don’t read the same books. We aren’t experiencing the world in a community that draws us into real life interaction with others.

So, how do we solve this? We can become paralyzed by choice, or we can throw in the towel with the belief that this is a war that cannot be won. I believe there is another way.

The abundance of choice means we must be intentional in our desire to create community. We can host listening parties, cinema clubs, book clubs, and a thousand other options that force people together around a shared collective experience. I believe this intentional community is necessary and vital for a healthy and thriving society. In a community, we learn to care for and look after each other. If America needs anything right now, it is more people to look after each other.

Be good to each other,

Nathan

Musical Thesis: Iron & Wine “The Shepherd’s Dog”

At the center of every album is a musical thesis. This thesis can be the driving force behind the album, a theme that interweaves songs together, or a feeling you are left with after the last song plays. With some albums, the thesis is easy to find. On others, it is hidden and requires you to be more than a passive listener. These reviews are not about rating an album. Instead, it is about uncovering a musical thesis.  

Have I found you?
Flightless bird, jealous, weeping
Or lost you?
American mouth
Big bill looming

The Shepherd’s Dog served as my introduction to Iron & Wine. When I gave this record a spin for the first time in the early part of the last decade, I was unsure what to expect. I also didn’t fully comprehend the world I was about to enter.  

For a few years, I had been flirting with the sounds of Mumford & Sons and Fleet Foxes. Beyond that, I hadn’t dug any deeper into the roots revival or the storied sounds of Americana. Iron & Wine would serve as my gateway drug. This record would take me by the hand and lead me down a path that would reach all the way back to Robert Johnson. Traveling forward to the present day, I would dance with Woody Guthrie, spend hours lost in the sounds of Pete Seeger, and I would get lost in the poetry of Bob Dylan. I would also discover new, emerging, and underground artists who are carrying the torch and keeping the rich tradition of American folk music alive.  

But why? Why was this album the catalyst for such a journey? Quite simply, it was Sam Beam’s songwriting. Each song on this album painted beautiful tapestries filled with interesting characters and stories all their own. Nothing on this album is given easily or freely. It begs for repeated listening and intense focus. All these years later, I am still uncovering hidden meanings, messages, and stories buried in the lyrics. Almost without exception, what I discover can be applied to my own life. That feels special to me, and to find it in an American art form stripped of overly produced instrumentation, vocal trickery, and electronic distractions hooked me.  

This album does more than tell stories with song, poetry, and prose. It also possesses moments when the pace is accelerated, and the result becomes a jam. I assume many think of folk music as dour and self-reflective. It can be, and that is often what attracts me to the genre, but it can also let its hair down, party, and let loose. Your troubles can be moved to the back burner, and you are encouraged to let the spirit move you.  

For me, this album is a celebration of the singer/songwriter. There are an army of people out there who would have you believe this sort of creator is a rare or extinct bird in the world of music. I don’t think they are digging deeply enough. Mired in a world of popular music, you are bound to be disappointed. But if you allow an album such as this to unlock a world of music discovery, I am positive you will begin to see music differently.  

Be good to each other,  

Nathan  

Musical Thesis: The War on Drugs “Wagonwheel Blues”

At the center of every album is a musical thesis. This thesis can be the driving force behind the album, a theme that interweaves songs together, or a feeling you are left with after the last song plays. With some albums, the thesis is easy to find. On others, it is hidden and requires you to be more than a passive listener. These reviews are not about rating an album. Instead, it is about uncovering a musical thesis.  

And so now, now that you realized
That planets are spheres with oil on the inside
And your God is only a catapult
Waiting for the right time to let you go
Into the unknown, just to watch you hold your breath
Yeah and surrender your fortress

It was the summer of 2014. I was listening to my Discovery Weekly playlist on Spotify. “Under the Pressure” from Lost in the Dream by The War on Drugs came exploding out my speakers with a rush of sound that made me pay attention. When the song ended, I was hooked like a drug addict. I needed to hear more. I had to uncover everything I could about this rock band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. And, just like every other band I deeply love, I had to dig through their discography.  

This odyssey eventually delivered me to their early work, and the album, Wagonwheel Blues. This first time I dropped the needle on this record, I was unsure what to expect. Would I discover a sound resembling Lost in the Dream and A Deeper Understanding (both albums I consider nearly perfect) or would I point to a moment in time where their sound began to evolve?  

If The War on Drugs is defined by sweeping guitar solos and lyrics in the same vein as Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan, then it is this album where you see the seeds planted of that defining sound. This album isn’t as radio or theater friendly as their later work, but it does possess an unpolished playfulness evoking a more sonically inclined Dylan. The only difference is that what made crowds boo Dylan for changes to his sound works beautifully here.  

Overall, the guitar work is cleaner here compared to Slave Ambient. It feels like a band tinkering and trying to uncover a unique sound they can call their own. This sense of experimentation may be the thesis behind the album. So many bands get stuck in endless comparisons to other groups they can never escape. They either double down and ride the wave, or they evolve, return to the lab, and experiment. When The War on Drugs emerged from these sessions, a more ambient approach would define their next album. But when you combine Wagonwheel Blues and Slave Ambient, Under the Pressure makes a lot more sense.  

While I am a bigger fan of their later work, I find a deep appreciation for what I hear here. It may not instantly hook me, but it does make me turn up the volume. Most days, that is enough.  

Be good to each other,  

Nathan  

Musical Thesis: The Ten (November 2024)

With a month left to go in 2024, we are drawing closer to cementing my ten most listened to songs of the year in stone. As I listen to the latest version of The Ten, I still feel baffled by the sonic complexities of the year. In fact, if I were to create a word of phrase association for each of the ten songs listed above, it might look like this: Questioning Yourself, Out of Place, Acoustic Reinterpretations, Time, Movie Soundtrack, Questioning Everything Around You, Memories, Simplification, Love, and A Respect for the Past. Each song is unique in its own way, and each draws a different emotion from me. As you make your way through the playlist, I hope the same can be said for you.

Be good to each other,

Nathan

Musical Thesis: Jim James “Tribute To 2”

At the center of every album is a musical thesis. This thesis can be the driving force behind the album, a theme that interweaves songs together, or a feeling you are left with after the last song plays. With some albums, the thesis is easy to find. On others, it is hidden and requires you to be more than a passive listener. These reviews are not about rating an album. Instead, it is about uncovering a musical thesis.  

I keep lookin' for a place to fit in
Where I can speak my mind
And I've been tryin' hard to find the people
That I won't leave behind

It was never a secret. I love a great quality cover song. I am also a devoted fan of My Morning Jacket and their frontman, Jim James. For years, I have followed Jim’s solo work with the same devotion and excitement I get with the announcement of a new project involving the entire band. This has been especially true of his Tribute albums.  

In this collection of eleven songs, you find beautiful interpretations and reimagining of songs you know well. There are also a few cover songs you may discover for the first time. Taken as a whole album, I sense an undercurrent of country flair, or at least a more grounded sound than you might find on a My Morning Jacket album.  

Every song here is stripped bare. Jim’s voice is the overriding instrument in most songs. Any instrumentation that exists serves as a foundation or launching point for the lyrics. I believe this is a choice made to force you to slow down and pay close attention to the words. The choice means little is standing in the way of an interpretation that can be all your own. As someone unfamiliar with most of the songs on this album, I deeply appreciate and respect this choice.  

This stylistic choice made me curious to learn more. This is more than a simple cover album, paying homage to artists and songs I assume Jim holds in high regard. Instead, I think this album exists as an invitation to discover and explore. Dive deeply into the lyrics, spend quality time with the original songs, and explore catalogs with all your might. Since my first few trips through this album, I have taken on this journey. Along the way, I have discovered new songs, albums, and bands to love. As someone constantly searching for new music, I deeply appreciate the opportunity and invitation.

Be good to each other,  

Nathan  

Musical Thesis: Manchester Orchestra “A Black Mile to the Surface”

At the center of every album is a musical thesis. This thesis can be the driving force behind the album, a theme that interweaves songs together, or a feeling you are left with after the last song plays. With some albums, the thesis is easy to find. On others, it is hidden and requires you to be more than a passive listener. These reviews are not about rating an album. Instead, it is about uncovering a musical thesis.  

 I imply to mitigate the guilt, we could align
A perfectly constructed alibi
To hush the violent guilt that eats and never dies
In actual blame, they call me once the dark divides

I do not mean to disrespect or belittle the music that dominates the charts. I am often too quick to dismiss many of these songs as overly simplistic and afraid of breaking new boundaries. I say this, but I know there is a form of escapism in them. For me, comfort over conflict will always be the aim, but I don’t consider myself the average listener.  

Digging through my collection, you might find me hypocritical. You would see that I too am guilty of loving songs that require much of me. But then you would land on a band such as Manchester Orchestra.  

Manchester Orchestra requires some work on behalf of their listeners, and their album, A Black Mile to the Surface, is a perfect example. This album is a solid collection of songs containing multitudes. Looking at a sample of lyrics from the song, “The Math,” above, you see a song that is wonderfully composed, beautifully written, reflective, and heartbreaking. This is an album filled with stories masquerading as songs where heroes and villains slowly reveal themselves. In each verse, you can find through lines to your own life. As you do, you will discover new challenges to wrestle in the deepest recesses of your mind.  

For me, this is the purpose of art. Good art entertains. Great art challenges. As I grow older, I find myself drawn to music, invoking a strong emotional reaction. I want to be surprised. I want to be shocked. I want to be challenged. I want to look at my own life through songs and realize I am not alone. At this point in the adventure, I need to know that my experiences are not unique, and there is someone out there who can relate. I need these things so much more than I need to escape.  

As they do with almost every album, Manchester Orchestra challenges me. They give me art that takes some time. The mysteries here do not reveal themselves quickly. I adore the invitation to stick around for a while.  

Be good to each other,  

Nathan  

Musical Thesis: The Ten (August 2024)

The Ten is an ever-evolving list of music I am digging. Be sure to check back often, because the list is always changing. To listen to the playlist, please click below.  

2024 is turning into a strange year for music. In the last eight months, I’ve added nearly 3,000 songs to my library, but much of my year has been dominated by a live acoustic album and a movie soundtrack. As I continue to dig through these new additions, I am uncovering songs reaching across the spectrum of human emotion. In these ten songs, you will hear somber songs, pulsing songs, songs that are energetic, focused, heart breaking, and character focused.   

As you dig through the list, I am interested in hearing what emotions these songs evoke for you.  

Be good to each other,  

Nathan  

Musical Thesis: Drive-by Truckers “American Band”

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO THE MUSICAL THESIS PLAYLIST 

At the center of every album is a musical thesis. This thesis can be the driving force behind the album, a theme that interweaves songs together, or a feeling you are left with after the very last song plays. With some albums, the thesis is easy to find. On others, it is hidden and requires you to be more than a passive listener. These reviews are not about rating an album. Instead, it is about uncovering a musical thesis.  

I’m gonna love you ‘til the big one comes 
And shakes my bones and washes us out to sea 
Have a blast ‘til the markets crash 
And smoke and ash what’s left of these beautiful trees 

It was 2018 or 2019. My television overflowed with images from another senseless killing of an unarmed black man. Helpless and hopeless, I went searching for comfort in music. Driving around Los Angeles, I hoped and prayed my favorite streaming service would deliver exactly what I needed in my hour of desperation.  

Parked in an empty lot of a generic shopping center, What It Means filled the car. When the song was over, I hit repeat. After a second listen, I repeated the song one more time. After it ended and moved onto the next song in the playlist, I lowered the volume and sat in stunned silence. Someone put to music feelings I had not even named yet.  

This served as my introduction to the music of the Drive-by Truckers. I soon discovered I was a little late to the party. Better to arrive late than never arrive at all, right? As I spent time with their catalog, and the album, American Band, in particular, I find myself moved in the same way Rage Against the Machine used to move me. Their brand of protest music does something wildly different for me, though. See, I grew up in Oklahoma. At an early age, I felt the call of progressive politics. In Oklahoma, this always meant I was the odd man out. With friends or total strangers, I often found myself defending my beliefs. At some point, a compounding effect occurred. The weight became too much, and I headed for the west coast. I needed to know that I was not alone in what I hold dear.  

In this band’s music, I hear artists who have held onto their southern roots. They even find pride in them, but they have also carved out a space where protest can break through. As I think back on my upbringing and the myriad reasons I left Oklahoma, this gives me something new to consider. I no longer see my home state as a lost cause, and I should do my part to support those still fighting for it.  

Be good to each other,  

Nathan