Put A Record On: Tradcountry with a sense of humor, tradcountry you can sing along to

And anti-capitalist tradcountry! The trifecta!

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

“You Can’t Renovate Me,” Wood Andrews: I laughed when I saw this song title, and I laughed even more when I saw the name of the album (The Sound of Wood). This is tradcountry with a sense of humor, thank god: “pretty good feng shui (even bought a bidet) / then I started thinkin / ‘maybe its me’.” That Basia Bulat sings on it makes it all the better. - MM

“Jesus Wasn’t A Capitalist,” James Talley: I heard it on KNON, of course! Many thanks to friend of the newsletter and lifelong community radio advocate Dave Chaos. He’s new to me, but Talley is one of those undersung elder statesman of this old country/folk/Americana world — he wrote the iconic “Are They Gonna Make Us Outlaws Again?”, and the 80-year-old’s (!) latest album, Bandits, Ballads and Blues has a similarly progressive bent (as evidenced by this track, among others). The whole thing is a classic-sounding, understated listen — pretty and deeply felt in a way that sounds simply but is oh-so-tricky to pull off convincingly. “Jesus Wasn’t A Capitalist” is a jolly tune, with New Orleans-style trumpet and shimmering fiddle. “Don’t call yourself a Christian if you’re a bigot in your heart!” This is country music for our country! — NW

“Revelator,” Phosphorescent: Not a country song!!! At all! But….any song with this much slip-slidin’ guitar deserves to be in this newsletter, because we make the rules. A brilliant track about getting old and trying to figure out who the hell you are now, and letting go of who you once were. “I got tired of being a badass all the time,” is one of the best tired-dad lyrics of all time. - MM