While I made some solid progress on clearing out the backlog of music I’d saved to listen to later, the resulting monthly playlist is longer than usual, and I feel like I haven’t done as much listening through it as I’d like. Tough, when the thing is nearly 8 hours long, whoops.
Listen to the full thing here, or get individual tracks and occasional comments below:
Oklahoma Smokeshow – Zach Bryan on Summertime Blues – EP
Hotel Bible – Max McNown on Night Diving
Medusa – Cameron Whitcomb on Medusa – Single
Options – Cameron Whitcomb on Clean Country 2025
Azalea Place – Max McNown on Night Diving
St. Helens Alpenglow – Max McNown on St. Helens Alpenglow – Single
Flicker – Yoste on Flicker – Single
Take Me Away (Stripped) – Noah Brigden on Take Me Away (Stripped) – Single
Livin’ Missing You – Hayden Blount on Livin’ Missing You – Single
American Trail – Dylan Gossett on Westward
Normal Day – Brendan Walter on Normal Day – Single
Bloodline – Alex Warren & Jelly Roll on Bloodline – Single
Sea Shanty Medley – Home Free on Sea Shanty Medley – Single
The Barn – Landon Smith on The Barn – Single
Loud and Heavy – Cody Jinks on Adobe Sessions
Did What You Did – Noah Brigden on Bad Habits – EP
Life’s Worth Living – Nick Folwarczny on Life’s Worth Living – Single
Dale Dickens (RIP) – Cooper Alan on Dale Dickens (RIP) – Single
Shadowverse – The Midnight on Syndicate
Cold Shoulder – Zach John King on Slow Down – EP
Life Behind Bars – Zach John King & Bayker Blankenship on Life Behind Bars – Single
Man of the Year – Sam Barber on Man of the Year – Single
Bowery (feat. Kings of Leon) – Zach Bryan on Bowery (feat. Kings of Leon) – Single
HIGHWAY KIND – Fabrizio on HIGHWAY KIND – Single
Space – Zach John King on Space – Single
The Vulture and the Little Boy – Bukahara on Canaries in a Coal Mine
Dust and Smoke – Sam Barber on Music for the Soul
808 HYMN – Erin LeCount on 808 HYMN – Single
Hangin’ On – Dylan Gossett on Westward
Gun To My Head – HARDY on COUNTRY! COUNTRY!
Hard to Break – Blake Whiten on Hard to Break – Single
Music for the Soul – Sam Barber on Music for the Soul
BerwynGesaffNeighbours – Fred again.. & BERWYN on USB
Luckiest Man Alive – HARDY on COUNTRY! COUNTRY!
Seventeen Going Under – Sam Fender on Seventeen Going Under (Deluxe)
American Vintage – Aidan Canfield on American Vintage – Single
Cheap Shots – Ian Harrison on Cheap Shots – Single
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald – Home Free on Challenge the Sea
Bedrooms In The Sky – HARDY & Stephen Wilson Jr. on COUNTRY! COUNTRY!
Comfort in Misery – Buffalo Traffic Jam on Comfort in Misery – Single
Lose A Friend – Evan Honer on Everything I Wanted
When You Were Young (Track Star Presents) – Jack Van Cleaf on JVC (Deluxe Edition)
The Gold – Manchester Orchestra on A Black Mile To The Surface
Later Tonight – Josh Ross on Later Tonight
Long Island – The Midnight on Syndicate
Old White Lincoln – The Gaslight Anthem on The ’59 Sound
Storytime – Majik on Blood, Sweat & Tears
Road to Gold – Luke Beling on The Good Side of Somewhere – EP
Oh! The Anxiety – Joe Jordan on Oh! The Anxiety – EP
Baptized By Rain – Dylan Gossett on Westward
Drift Away – Orville Peck on Appaloosa
Leave Her Johnny – Home Free on Challenge the Sea
Spinning – Chance Peña on When I Change My Mind I Don’t Mean It
Digital Dreams – The Midnight on Syndicate
nah – Khalid on after the sun goes down
Lungs – Fabrizio on Lungs – Single
Teardrop – Elderbrook & Jan Blomqvist on Teardrop – Single
Windy City – Dylan Gossett on Westward (Deluxe)1
Aftercare – Imogen Heap & ai.mogen on Aftercare – Single
Undone (The Bonfire Sessions) – Sons of Habit on The Sticks (The Bonfire Sessions) – EP
Bad Morphine – Arcade Beach on Music for Night Drives
erase me (feat. Jacob Collier) – Lizzy McAlpine on five seconds flat
Wish You Well – Vincent Mason on There I Go
No One Has to Know – Bob Moses on BLINK
Facilita – Fred again.., Caribou & Menor Teteu on Facilita – Single2
Mother – Tyler, The Creator on CHROMAKOPIA +
The End of Eurydice – Vincent Lima on To Love A Thing That Fades
Hardwired – Fabrizio on Hardwired – Single
hate to be lame (feat. FINNEAS) – Lizzy McAlpine on five seconds flat
Better Broken – Bob Moses on BLINK
Lonely Man (One Take Acoustic) – Cody Jinks on Lonely Man (One Take Acoustic) – Single
Skull and Bones (2025 Version) – Home Free on Challenge the Sea3
Berghain – ROSALÍA, Björk & Yves Tumor on LUX4
Wild One – Madeline Megery on Wild One – Single
The Good Side of Somewhere – Luke Beling & T.F. Jennings on The Good Side of Somewhere – EP
Livin’ The Dream – Dylan Gossett on Westward
Slip Away – Nils Hoffmann & SILÖ on Everlight
Maybe For Once – Evan Honer on Everything I Wanted
Something Wicked This Way Comes – Cody Jinks on In My Blood5
The Parting Glass – Home Free on Challenge the Sea6
Foolish Pride – Slater Nalley on Foolish Pride – Single
It’s Not Your Fault – Max McNown on Night Diving (The Cost of Growing Up)
My Side Of Town – Josh Ross on Later Tonight7
Bonnie Ship the Diamond – Home Free on Challenge the Sea
Howl At The Moon – Noah James & Anna Rae on The Tracks – EP
Don’t Give Up On Me – Noah Rinker on The Pines – EP
HARDSTYLE 2 – Fred again.., KETTAMA & Shady Nasty on USB
Who Don’t – HARDY on COUNTRY! COUNTRY! COUNTRY!
Old Town Road (feat. Billy Ray Cyrus) [Remix] – Lil Nas X on 7 – EP
Heavenly – Chance Peña on When I Change My Mind I Don’t Mean It
Mingulay Boat Song – Home Free on Challenge the Sea8
Santiana – Home Free on Challenge the Sea
Bottled Up Inside – Harrison Storm on Empty Garden9
La Rumba Del Perdón – ROSALÍA, Estrella Morente & Sílvia Pérez Cruz on LUX
Sauvignon Blanc – ROSALÍA on LUX
Holiday Road – Kesha on Holiday Road – Single10
Mine to Hold – Bob Moses on BLINK
Deeper Talks – Joe Jordan on Deeper Talks – Single11
We Never Left The Sunset – Tyrian84 on Exhale
Roses and Wolves (feat. Hailey Whitters) – Max McNown on Night Diving (The Cost of Growing Up)
I’ll Be There – Nick Folwarczny on I’ll Be There – Single
Shovel – Tyler Nance on Shovel – Single
Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti – ROSALÍA on LUX
I Want You – In Color on Snow Day – EP
Sunflower – Amber Run on Sunflower – Single12
Roots – Cooper Alan on Winston – Salem
Challenge the Sea (feat. The Longest Johns) – Home Free on Challenge the Sea
Fool’s Gold – Buffalo Traffic Jam on Take Me Home – EP
WTF (the f**k) – Gracie and Rachel & Elliot Moss on WTF (the f**k) – Single
Human – Brandi Carlile on Returning To Myself13
Memória – ROSALÍA & Carminho on LUX
Hotel Dorado – Maxx Parker on Infinite Blue: Golden Hour14
Got It All Wrong – Peech. on Small Town America (Vol. 1) – EP
Atchafalaya (feat. Noah Cyrus) – Orville Peck on Appaloosa
Maybe This Time – Orville Peck on Appaloosa15
My Side of the Mountain – Orville Peck on Appaloosa
- One of those “I love this but I can’t keep it” songs, because it’s just… heart-wrenching, in tone ↩
- Pretty different vibe from almost everything else in this list, but an absolute banger ↩
- Absolutely gorgeous bass line ↩
- well of course it’s Björk on the most delightfully weird entry in this album ↩
- I’m vaguely aware that the second part of the Wicked film is out now, and I choose to believe that this is a hilariously subtle marketing tie-in. ↩
- I still kinda want Parting Glass to be faster than Home Free’s take, but it’s a great version nonetheless. ↩
- A good one to sing along to. ↩
- The pinnacle of “Home Free makes me sing along and miss being in choir.” ↩
- oof ouch my bones ↩
- I think this might be entirely winter-holiday-agnostic, and yet it does a great job of capturing that Christmas Song vibe. I love it. ↩
- A lot of my taste in country music has been “soft boys singing about being in love,” but I think this one best captures that actual feeling, for me. ↩
- Excited to see something new from Amber Run, they’ve done a string of re-releases prior to this, which is… something, but not as good as actual new music. ↩
- Watched her performance on SNL with family, which is maybe the first time I’ve watched an entire episode of SNL? I felt like I’d suddenly been given a much better understanding of an entire generation of liberals. ↩
- I should see if Maxx Parker is actually creating the music videos to go with these, because if he is, this man is really out here slow-rolling the release of a new 80s movie. ↩
- I really want to like this one, because it’s the sort of hope-punk lyrics I ought to be shoving into my brain, but I think I’ve only managed to listen to it all the way through without skipping, like, twice. ↩
- Brought in because something about Facilita reminds me of Rihanna.
Anyhow, I dealt myself several points of psychic damage the day I added this by looking at some of Rihanna’s release dates and realizing that there are kids getting their learner’s permits now who were conceived to the hot new Rihanna single, S&M. This is, like, probably the line at which “music I grew up listening to” starts counting as “oldies,” isn’t it? ↩