Here's my Thanksgiving 2023 playlist. This year I started DJing on KOOP, an Austin volunteer-run radio station, where I try to bring the best of new country, Americana and roots rock to my listeners, so many of these songs appeared on my radio shows. Here's the Spotify link.
We'll kick it off with Marcus King's cover of Can't You Hear Me Knocking, from the album of country folks covering the Stones, Stoned Cold Country. I just love the energy of the song, with Marcus saying, "Feels good!".
Keeping the energy level high is Brennan Leigh's I Ain't Through Honky Tonkin' Yet.
With all the political back and forth this summer on country radio, with what you can and can't do in someone's small town, Will Hoge and Black Opry had the best response with Can I Be Country Too? Be sure to check out the video!
In a similar vein is A Better South, from Raleigh's American Aquarium. "Still arguing the difference between heritage and hate".
Rhiannon Giddens put out a fantastic album this year, featuring songs in multiple genres. Listen to her soaring vocal on You're the One. Her album of the same name was nominated for the Grammy in Best Americana Album.
Luke Combs had a huge country hit this summer with his cover of Fast Car, making Tracy Chapman the first Black woman to write a #1 country hit. Here's her version from 1988. Luke Combs' version was nominated for a Grammy this year for Best Country Solo Performance but Tracy Chapman was not nominated for Song of the Year due to a Grammy rule that a song can't be nominated twice. In 1988 she lost to Don't Worry, Be Happy if you can believe that!
Tyler Childers, the hillbilly from Hickman Holler in eastern Kentucky, put out another great song and video this year, In Your Love, about the love between two coal miners in the 50s. This song was nominated for Best Country Solo Performance and Best Country Song and the album was nominated for Best Country Album.
My song of the year is Zach Bryan and Kacey Musgraves' co-write and duet, I Remember Everything. It was nominated for Best Country Duo/Group Performance and Best Country Song and the album Zach Bryan was nominated for Best Country Album.
I wish I didn't, but I do
Remember every moment of the nights with you
How 'bout a little Cojo? I love this Cody Johnson song from 2016, Wild As You, written by Jeremy Spillman, Trent Willmon and Michael Connors.
Next, the smooth whiskey voice of Don Williams, doing I Believe in You, followed by more Cojo, Monday Morning Merle.
Let's switch gears for a little Ripple, the Jerry Garcia/Robert Hunter Dead classic from American Beauty, 1970.
We always need a little Bruce at Thanksgiving so here's Last Man Standing, which he played solo acoustic when we saw him in Austin in February.
I've played The War and Treaty often on my radio shows including a song they do with Zach Bryan on his new album. This year they were nominated for Best New Artist despite the fact they've been around 10 years, and Blank Page, from their new album, was nominated for Best American Roots Song.
Let's pick up the tempo with Soy Chingona (I'm Cool) from The Tiarras, three Hispanic sisters from Austin, and then Sierra Ferrell's Silver Dollar.
While Jason Isbell was in Oklahoma filming his role as Bill Smith in Killers of the Flower Moon he wrote this tough song about opiod addiction, King of Oklahoma.
Robert Earl Keen has always been a favorite of mine and my son Gary's so here's Crazy Cowboy Dream from 2004.
Molly Tuttle and Billy Strings contributed Listen to the Radio to the Nanci Griffith tribute album, More Than A Whisper: Celebrating The Music Of Nanci Griffith.
Allison Russell's sophomore record, The Returner, picked up several Grammy nominations, including Best American Roots Song for the title song.
Ian Tyson left us this year but here are two of his classics: Judy Collins' cover of Someday Soon and Navajo Rug (which he co-wrote with Tom Russell) by Jerry Jeff Walker.
Some more RIPs:
Tina Turner was beaten and exploited by Ike and Phil Spector turned out to be a murderer but their 1966 collaboration on River Deep, Mountain High is one of the high points in Rock and Soul history.
Charlie Robison, Bruce's brother and onetime husband of Chick Emily Strayer, gave us My Hometown in 1998.
And if you like true stories you won't find one better than Gordon Lightfoot's The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald!
