This week the music is about sound on the road. I’m headed to North Carolina, with stops in New Orleans and Savannah. There’s something about the driving through the south (or anywhere, really) that makes me gravitate toward anything with steel guitar and cowboy chords. Those sounds always pair well with psych funk and glittery neo-soul, call it the dream quality. There’s also something about nostalgia that plays well on the road. That liminal space is good for that — creating space for new and old.
We start with Louisianan Bobby Charles, who I featured early last year. Charles was a pioneer of swamp rock, a south Louisiana style characterized by slow rolling ballads that takes traditional sounds and turns them way down into that easy-going drawl. If you think you don’t like cajun music, reconsider.
I tend to reach for Dougie Poole on the road, perhaps because I’ve featured his album Wideass Highway a few times as it relates to driving and the open road. His latest album does not disappoint, with its prismatic sound and nod to traditional country instrumentation. But, that voice of his, deep and searching, does something new on top of the slide guitar and open strumming. If you’re starting a drive early in the morning, start here.
Arthur Russell was a fixture in disco-era New York City, but you wouldn’t know that right away from his music, which is earnest and minimal. There is a quality to it, though, that fits. That sadness, the deep search for meaning, the echo of nostalgia and want. Iowa Dream, the latest of his work to be released posthumously, sweeps genre and tests the idea that art and music are one.
We go back to Louisiana with Toussaint McCall’s album Nothing Takes the Place of You, which feels like something of a granddaddy to Bobby Charles, with it’s slow moving progressions and sing-speak vocals. It’s mysterious, in that New Orleans way, a little elusive, enigmatic, but it sucks you in with it’s pleasure. The album is worth listening to for the keys alone.
We end with a more recent swamp rock album from Swamp Dogg, an album that possess a distinct playfulness, yet lets a little bit of heartache bleed through. It’s the best of R&B and country music, full of soul and slow moving builds, like fever dream. There’s something easy about it, though, like listening to a southern grandma tell you about back in the day, the good ol’ days.
Enjoy.
The playlist is here.
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Monday
Bobby Charles - Bobby Charles (1972)
Spotify / YouTube / Other streaming services
Tuesday
The Rainbow Wheel of Death - Dougie Poole (2023)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Wednesday
Iowa Dream - Arthur Russell (2019)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Thursday
Nothing Takes The Place Of You - Toussaint McCall (1967)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Friday
Sorry You Couldn’t Make it - Swamp Dogg (2020)
Spotify / Apple Music / YouTube / Other streaming services
Pair with
Spicy shrimp with orzo. An easy, super delicious recipe with a lot of great cajun flavors. This is also pretty easy to batch, I’ve made it for 10 people before, so consider this a pre-christmas meal option.
Crazy Crazy Pet-Nat. I had this last night at Patron Saint Wine Bar in New Orleans. It’s a little thick (in a good way!), with nice skin contact that has the right amount of funk. It’s a bit like grapefruit juice, also in a good way. One of the better orange wines I’ve had in a while.
This mushroom belt. This shop, Freda, moved from Marfa to New Orleans and everything in there is so good.
This candle that looks like a baguette. I don’t know, I love it!
A trip to New Orleans. Seriously. Go!
This refreshingly year agnostic list of books to read. There’s something a little maddening about how quickly books fly across the zeitgeist. It’s nice to see a year end list that features books that aren’t necessarily new, but were great.
Thank you, thank you. Have a great week.