🎧 Thoughtfully curated tunes served up fresh every Sunday! Week Two: Stripped Songwriters 🎧
Ten fresh tracks on an interesting theme, handpicked for Steemit every Sunday!
This week's theme is Stripped Songwriters. The ten songs included in this playlist all represent excellent chillness and supreme examples of superb songwriting qualities and tracks with true depth--many on both lyric and sonic levels.
Click Here to jam this week's Stripped Songwriters playlist by yours truly on Spotify! Follow to keep up with new themed and specially curated playlists every Sunday!
This week's playlist contains a few of my favorite songs of all time. While I only chose one Standout Track to the playlist, I honestly wouldn't have put it on the list if it didn't truly stand out. Songwriting and stripped performances are music and writing at its most naked and raw.
Thematically, in addition to depth of songwriting, all of these tracks have a driving acoustic quality behind them, and I've been enjoying listening to them as a compliment to the rainy weather we have been having. Last week was cold and ice and snow, this week is rain. Put those headphones on, kick back with a cup of tea, and enjoy.
Track Listing:
1 We Can Never Go Back (Acoustic) - Joy Williams
2 Michigan - The Milk Carton Kids
3 John Wayne Gacy, Jr. - Sufjan Stevens
4 Makers - Rocky Votolato
5 I Won't Be Found - The Tallest Man On Earth
6 Whiskey and You - Chris Stapleton
7 Poison & Wine - The Civil Wars
8 Jolene - Ray LaMontagne
9 Doubting Thomas - Nickel Creek
10 Ocean - John Butler
Standout Track:
Ocean - John Butler
Ocean is 11ish minutes (depending on the recording or performance you hear) of pure bliss. The story goes, John Butler has literally been writing this song for most of his life. As a street musician in Brisbane, he would spend a great deal of time improvising in open tunings, which afford a lot of freedom for jamming/noodling for tips. Somewhere in that process he started writing Ocean as the instrumental version of his life story, and I think that is very evident in the sonic dynamics of the ebb and flow of this particular track.
I had the amazing pleasure of seeing John Butler perform this song live along the Mississippi River in Tom Lee Park, Memphis, Tennessee, during the Beale Street Music Festival. I went to that festival for eleven years in a row and never before nor after did I see a crowd there so attentive on what a man was doing on stage. Even among the wastedly drunk individuals there to party, you could've almost heard a pin drop (had it not been so muddy that year) as he got about 3 minutes in and everyone realized an amazing thing was happening in front of us. Watching that performance, without a doubt, changed my life.
I highly recommend checking out this video of John Playing it in front of a camera. Musicians, you'll love it because his tuning and the instrument itself are really interesting, and he makes interesting use of a couple of pedals which really adds without taking away from the beautiful acoustic nature of the song. Listeners, you'll love it because he's a truly gifted performer and this song is exciting to watch. Let me know what you think.
Stay tuned for ten fresh tunes next Sunday!
Do you want me to curate a list on a specific theme? Let me know in the comments!
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Thank you for this creative addition to the blockchain @jessamynorchard. I am not a music seeker or someone who has vast knowledge of artists as I prefer to live my life mostly in the sounds of the chirping birds, falling rain and other sounds of nature. So, that being said, I am grateful to receive this gift today, as recommendations for awesome tunes are a welcome addition to my silence. Great idea!
Please listen to Ocean. I am particularly interested in your thoughts concerning that particular sonic journey.
I'm a big fan of acoustic sound and really love all the techniques incorporated into this one piece. John Butler is quite the artist!! I imagined myself at the ocean listening to this piece, and I took a walk on the beach, flipping the sand forward with my toes as I dug them into the grains with each step. I splashed in the waves that lapped my legs, then jumped up and down in the tide, started spinning around with my arms open wide and doing cartwheel after cartwheel after cartwheel down the beach. I fell down from complete and utter dizziness as the world spun around me, the ocean carrying me away. Thanks for the ride!!
Awesome, awesome, awesome. Thank you so much for listening and for giving me that feedback. I value your creative opinion so very much and to bounce one of my favorite songs off of your creative mind makes my heart incredibly happy! Thank you again. Blessings.
My pleasure indeed!! I so appreciate your appreciation!! That's a really feel good song. Think I'll listen to it again right now! Thank you for sharing!! Infinite blessings back to you.
Also--Thank you!! ❤️❤️