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  

This Is 40

The rumors are true. Today marks the beginning of a new decade as I slowly march toward figuring out what lies beyond this life. Whatever it is, I hope there is cheese. Based on the pain I feel in my hips, knees, lower back, and how many times I ask people to repeat themselves, I assume death will not come quickly. Instead, she will play a long game slowly robbing me of bodily functions with each passing year. Adult diapers are days away. As she does, I want to introduce a new annual tradition.

“This Is 40” serves as a retrospective. Beginning with 1983, I selected my favorite song from each year I have called this planet home. All songs are from my personal collection. It is my birthday present to you. I hope you’ll enjoy and, perhaps, find something new to love.

Be good to each other,

Nathan

Musical Thesis (The Ten): December 2022

There is a light at the end of the tunnel and it means we are nearing the final chapters of 2023. Before we do, I wanted to take a look back at 2022 and the songs I revisited most often. 2022 was another year of transition, but it also found me settling into a new reality. In fantastic ways, the collection of songs below reflect that mood. As always, I would love to hear where they land for you.

To listen to the entire playlist, click here.

Baby I’m Coming Home by The Black Keys

Look Outside by Broadcast

One Is One by Delta Spirit

Ghost of Caddo by Delta Spirit

Love We Make by The Head and The Heart

Help Me Along by Jack White

Honey by The Lone Bellow

Where We Are by The Lumineers

Let by Pinegrove

Losers by Ryan Adams

Be good to each other,

Nathan

Musical Thesis: Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats “Tearing at the Seams”

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.  

You ain’t gone far enough to say 
At least I tried 
You ain’t worked hard enough to say 
Well I’ve done mine 
You ain’t run far enough to say 
My legs have failed 
You ain’t gone far enough 
You ain’t worked hard enough 
You ain’t run far enough to say 
It ain’t gonna get any better 

I have written these words so many times that you might as well chisel them on my headstone, but it bears repeating once again. Art comes in many forms and knows countless interpretations, but the best and most memorable moments of human expression find me when I need them. The movie, Into the Wild, found me when I was ready to close the book on my time in Oklahoma. It gave me the courage to pursue my version of the wild. To Kill a Mockingbird found me when I was finally ready to wrestle with my white privilege. Countless songs have been more than just music. They have felt more like a soundtrack to my life. They have marked profoundly important moments in time. They have marked the passing of time, the passing of loved ones, special moments I want to remember forever, places I hold dear, and people I loved deeply.  

Art often says the thing I am feeling in ways I would never conceptualize. Tearing at the Seams by Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats joins a pantheon of records that found me when I needed them the most.  

Released in March 2018, I found myself seven months into a new life in Los Angeles. If you have ever called a new city home, you know doing so is no simple task. It filled my calendar with days where I felt like giving up and calling it quits. The energy needed to turn this into a city that felt like mine seemed too daunting. My skill-set felt mismatched. The work was arduous. My relationship was recovering from the challenges of relocation, and my new home felt foreign to me.  

Then this album found me like a ship finding a lighthouse in the grayest of fog. “You ain’t run far enough to say, It ain’t gonna get any better,” became an anthem for me. Slowly, the weight on my shoulders lifted, and I found a refusal to give up. My life was in transition, but the right attitude meant I could embrace the chaos.  

Holding the whole album up, from the opening song to the closing track, buried in the lyrics, were reasons to keep fighting. These served as gentle reminders that the tools to succeed were within my reach. I did precisely that.  

In the end, with a little motivation, some magic, and an impressive network, I made Los Angeles a home. This album will always hold a special place in my collection for the strength it revealed and the calm it provided. For that, I will be forever grateful that it found me when it did.  

Be good to each other,  

Nathan  

Brandon "Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You"

For Christmas, I rented studio time for my partner. Brandon is an excellent, self-taught jazz piano player. After the recording session, I thought the world deserved to hear him play. His piano skills are much better than my editing skills. Please forgive me.

Be good to each other,

Nathan

Song of the Moment (December 2022)

To listen to the entire "Song of the Moment" playlist, click HERE. 

Artist: Jack White / Help Me Along

Jack White, known for his thundering and screeching guitar work, often catches my attention fully when he slows things down and quiets the mood. His work on Help Me Along is a prime example. With its simplistic melody and beautiful violins, I am easily pulled into the story at the center of this song. Parsing through the lyrics, I hear a wedding vow. I also hear someone giving away too much in the hopes of a mutually beneficial relationship. Whether that love is returned is an open-ended question, but something to be pondered.

Be good to each other,

Nathan

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Musical Thesis: Billy Bragg “Must I Paint You a Picture”

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.  

If I fall in love with a band or an artist, I fall deeply in love. Spending time with their discography is never enough. I must listen to side projects and musicians who influenced their work. This musical wormhole can take me to fascinating places. Throughout the journey, I watch as my fascination with this art form expands in all directions.  

I learned of Billy Bragg via the Mermaid Avenue sessions with Wilco. Having spent considerable time with those records, I was hungry to hear more of Mr. Bragg’s work. Unsure of where to start, I picked up Must I Paint You a Picture. This compilation/greatest hits album served as the perfect introduction to a musician who has been at it since the late 1970s.  

Listening to this collection of songs, some themes kept presenting themselves: Self-referential artists, protest, and revolution.  

In the same vein as Woody Guthrie, Pete Seeger, and Bob Dylan, Billy Bragg possesses a unique ability to create protest music that is also engaging. In this collection alone, Between the Wars, There Is Power in a Union, Help Save the Youth of America, and Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards all serve as protest anthems. But they are more than that, because they also feel self-referential. I think this line from Waiting for the Great Leap Forwards is a perfect example.  

Mixing Pop and Politics he asks me what the use is 
I offer him embarrassment and my usual excuses 
While looking down the corridor 
Out to where the van is waiting 
I’m looking for the Great Leap Forwards 

By using this method when singing of revolution, it does not feel as if we are being preached down to behind the safety of some recording booth. Instead, it feels as if the singer is an active participant in the struggle. Lots of musicians use their art to speak about injustice, but it does not always feel as if they are in trenches with us. That does not feel like the case here, and that may be the thesis of this album. When does art meet action?  

Be good to each other,  

Nathan  

Musical Thesis: U2 “Songs of Experience”

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.  

In Love Is All We Have Left, Bono sings “Love and love is all we have left. The only thing that can be kept. Love is all we have left.” When listening to Songs of Experience, I hear a band who has been around the block once or twice. Since 1976, this band has been producing both songs of love and protest. This album, in particular, leans heavily on the first as a guide through the latter. The rise of authoritarianism, nationalism, religion as a weapon, poverty, and nations succumbing to tribalism. This album is a request to once again hit the streets, and to do so with love in hearts.  

Within that theme of love and protest, this album also attempts to pinpoint a sense of optimism in these trying times. On Lights of Home, we hear the lines, “Free yourself to be yourself. If only you could see yourself. If only you could.” I think this is a clarion call not just for the individual, but for the collective. When we create space for tolerance and acceptance, we love. When we love ourselves, we love each other. In trying times, our ability to love and support each other may be our best weapon.

Exploring further, this album wrestles with the news on our television screens. It asks us to take a stand against injustices. In the darkness of this uphill struggle where battles are hard fought, it asks us to let love be our guide. At its deepest level, this is an album about reframing a relationship with our individual selves first and then others secondly. I think we can find evidence of this deeper theme in the song, American Soul. “There’s a moment in our life where a soul can die. And the person in a country when you believe the lie. There’s a promise in the heart of every good dream. It’s a call to action, not to fantasy.” In these lyrics, I hear an opportunity for self-reflection and an invitation to stand on the right side of history. We will get there with a little love and protest.  

Be good to each other,  

Nathan 

Musical Thesis: Car Seat Headrest “Making a Door Less Open”

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 it left you with after the very last song plays. With some albums, the thesis is easy to find. On others, it reveals itself slowly 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.  

When the Seattle-based band Car Seat Headrest released their 2016 album Teens of Denial, I found myself enamored. This band seemed to come out of nowhere. Their sound felt original, new, sonically tight, and lyrically tight. Like lots of listeners, I found myself hungry for more. Since discovering I was late to the party, I have added three more albums to my collection and watched as they opened for Death Cab for Cutie at the Hollywood Bowl. I am doing my best to catch up.   

One of those albums demanding my attention was 2020s Making a Door Less Open. In this expansive collection of songs, a couple of themes stick out to me. The first theme centers on an openness or willingness to change. The second theme focuses on a life in transition. In my mind, these are fascinating topics to marry together. They provide ample space to ponder and wonder.  

Changes and transitions define our lives much more than the mundane and the routine. Looking back as we age, the major milestones or “fork in the road moments” will be the spaces in time we remember. We will not recall the hours chained at a desk or the time spent commuting to work. We will remember moving away from our hometown, graduating college, starting our first job, falling in love, getting married, buying a house, having kids, and a thousand other brief moments. There will also be heartbreak, unexpected news, and things that did not go our way.  

When I listen to this album, I hear a reminder to be open to these moments, both the good and the bad. Our lives are constantly transitioning between the crests of extreme highs and the valleys of lows you might feel are beyond your capabilities. Standing in these moments, it might be hard to vocalize appreciation, but I think this album serves as a reminder to do just that.  

Best,  

Nathan  

This website exists because of readers and supporters. If what you just read made you smile, please consider supporting the website with a monthly gift. Your support means everything and proves to the world that original content still matters.

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