For the past good while, I’ve been navigating a new-to-me community on Facebook that’s geared to Gen Xers born between 1965 and ’73—call it my new X, as I axed the app formerly known as Twitter from my phone due to the never-ending deluge of extremist crap in my newsfeed. Those in the group share many of the same cultural touchstones as me, as one would expect, and in theory we should relate to one another in a way that, say, a 30-something and I can’t.
In practice, however, the theory is flawed. There’s much fun to be had in the group, don’t get me wrong, as we do share many things in common—the same TV shows, much of the same music. But generational angst has turned into generational anger for some, with an ignorance of history often fueling it. Too, so much time is spent digging into the past that the fun of the present is frequently missed. As I mention in my “about” description, “While I subscribe to the George Santayana aphorism that ‘those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,’ I also believe that those who only look in the rearview mirror are sure to drift into the median strip.” A shared age doesn’t guarantee much, while shared interests do.
And, with that out of the way, here are a few songs that have turned my ears this past week.
1) Al Menne – “Grandma’s Garden.” The folky pop of this, the second teaser track from Menne’s forthcoming Freak Accident album, is utterly addictive—I found myself hitting replay time and again before moving on to the set’s equally stellar first single, “Kill Me.” Prior to this, their debut album, they fronted a Seattle rock band called Great Grandpa.
2) Anna May – “Sacramento.” You’re forgiven if you’re not familiar with Anna May, a singer-songwriter and one-time circus performer. She’s released a handful of albums and EPs over the past decade, plus a number of one-off singles, and has a penchant for crafting stream-of-consciousness songs that wouldn’t sound out of place on side 2 of Neil Young’s On the Beach. (Seek out the 10-minute “Bad Conversations” for additional proof.)
4) Hayley Reardon – “Enough Is Everything.” I spotlighted Reardon’s EP, which is easily one of the year’s top releases, a while back; this video, released on Friday, is one of its sterling tracks. The emotive shades of her soul linger throughout.
4) Juliet Lloyd – “Letters.” Lloyd follows up her five-star High Road EP from last year with this heartfelt song, which explores the child-parent relationship when the elder begins to slip into infirmity. (“Time has a way of altering the steadiest hand.”)
5) Lydia Luce – “Saline.” The Nashville-based singer-songwriter shares another song from her forthcoming Florida Girl LP, which—based on the tracks already released from it—should be a tremendous set. (It can be ordered from her store.)
6) Mikaela Davis – “Cinderella.” Davis shared this performance clip of “Cinderella” on Friday and, like its album home, wow. Just wow. And Southern Star is thus far my favorite album of the year—it’s everything I love about music (and more). This clip makes me wish Davis and band had come to my hometown on their recent tour.
The Old Grey Cat 