Said you're gonna shoot me down, put my body in the river
Shoot me down, put my body in the river
While the whole world sings, sing it like a song
The whole world sings like there's nothing going wrong
2
Theme: Best of 2014
A strong rejoinder to murder ballads and every country song that marginalizes women. It's almost perfect. Not sure what else to say.
Time for my 10 Days of Christmas countdown, I guess. I'll change this every day, to one of the ten songs that I think I liked the most this year, with the condition that they're all by different artists, and I tried to include tracks that were especially good on albums I maybe didn't pay as much attention to (and overall probably won't be a perfect "top 10" or anything). Got this one from NPR's end-of-year wrap-up, and while I'm not normally a fan of this style, this track definitely burrowed its way into my skull and heart.
On Thursday I saw New Orleans roots outfit Hurray for the Riff Raff, led by the immensely talented Alynda Lee Segarra. Since learning of the group a couple of winters ago I've tracked down three of their albums; this is from their latest, 2014's Small Town Heroes. It's one of the record's slower numbers, but after hearing the group do it live it's the one that's stuck with me the most. I'd put Segarra up there with Laura Marling as one of the most impressive young talents; both are in their mid-to-late twenties and produce work far beyond their years.
4