Put A Record On: Sad Songs and Waltzes

And a couple country-hip-hop tunes for good measure.

Welcome back to Don’t Rock the Inbox! Here’s this week’s music recommendation post and playlist, which are for paying subscribers only. Subscribe to get access to all our new (and old) music picks and pans, and so much more — including new playlists weekly, which are always at the bottom of this email (paying subscribers — make sure you don’t miss them!). If you’re interested in paid content but not able to afford it, shoot us an email.

And don’t forget about our upcoming events! First, we have newsletter fave Jaime Wyatt joining us on Zoom for Don’t Rock The Inbox Live! (!!) Mark your calendars for Wednesday, February 21st at 6 p.m. CT; the Zoom link will be sent to paying subscribers that morning, so make sure you’re subscribed before then so you don’t miss out on all the fun!

***We’ve got another incredible live Q&A coming up (!! a true embarrassment of riches): Lizzie No on February 27th at 6 pm CT. Mark your calendars now, and the flyer will be live soon!***

NEXT WEEK: We are hosting our first meet-up!! If you live in North Texas, come party with Natalie (and possibly pick up a koozie and sticker) and see friends of the newsletter Billy Law and Van Plating at Sundown at Granada in Dallas on February 23rd! Pick up your tickets here, and make sure you get there right when the doors open at 9 for all the meet-up fun before the music starts.

Now, on to the picks…

The Good

"Fault Line," Desiree Cannon: Dreamy and pretty, but with more than enough substance to keep you listening closely! So excited for Desiree’s album. — NW

Thank You For Listening, Joshua Ray Walker: I listened to this yesterday, and a few songs in I started crying. It definitely wasn't the first time I've teared up listening to Josh's music — have you heard "Voices"? — and he usually gets the waterworks going at some point during his stellar live shows, but this time was a little different. He put out the album, a collection of acoustic renditions of (mostly) previously released songs, this week as he shared that his colon cancer is at stage three and so he will be undergoing chemotherapy. I've gotten to know him a little since I've moved to Dallas, we are basically neighbors and share many mutual friends; it also feels like his horrible health news is just the latest in a series of horrible health news hitting close to home, the kind of news that makes you feel so deeply powerless. I am thinking the best thoughts for a quick recovery for him — if you are a fan, I'm sure he could use the money that would come from actually purchasing an album or merch more than ever. The album is great, some of his most evocative songs performed with his voice and guitar playing front and center; the title track (which I think we already touched on here) is another example of his skill at extrapolating moving songs from familiar phrases (even if right now it's pretty hard to listen to). I think my favorite cut off this one might be "Boat Show Girl"; just saw some people hawking boats for $5 a day or something at the Fort Worth Stock Show a couple weeks ago — I thought of it in the moment, and think this version might be even better than the original. "Your mascara's running, it wins a footrace every time" - perfection. — NW (You can read our Q&A with Josh from last year here, and listen to it here.)