Christmas for Kate

Click image for YouTube Playlist ...

Every year since at least 2006 I've made a CD playlist for Kate. Lately I've made these playlists available on iTunes and YouTube. Often times the playlist is packed with memories of places we've been, bands and artists we've seen or simply little love songs that move me and help me express how I feel about Kate. 

These days I still make a CD even though it's a struggle (my new laptop and our new car doesn't even have a CD player!) and we play music more often than not through streaming services. I never thought CD's would become "old school" but there we are. 

This year the playlist has a lot of old songs and only a few released this year by new favorites. Here's a track list with a bit of an explanation for each tune.

1. "One Good Year" by Slaid Cleaves (2000). We really like him and have been fortunate to see him play at the Saxon Pub in Austin. This song has quite a melancholic feel but, like him, having suffered through these awful pandemic times we can only hope for one good year.
2. "Another Like You" by Hayes Carll (2011). Another Texas artist who we have seen in Austin. This ribald duet reminds me of Kate, but I am "Wilder Than Her."
3. "Trudy" by Tyler Childers (2022). We watched a streaming benefit for the Hill Country Youth Orchestra (Kerrville, TX) with Robert Earl Keene and Tyler Childers. Apparently Childers has been using this rollicking rocker by Charlie Daniels as his set closer. We saw him play at the Cactus Café at UTX Austin a few years ago.
4. "I Remember Everything" by Brandi Carlile (2021). It's a John Prine song, his last, from the recent tribute album. Enough said.
5. "Listen to the Radio" by Nanci Griffith (1997). Another Texan sadly gone. This references Loretta Lynn who died this year. Nanci sings: "Where would I be in time like these without the songs Loretta wrote". Indeed, in times like these.
6. "Love's Gonna Live Here" by Buddy Miller featuring Kacey Musgraves (2016). It's classic country by Buck Owens. Musgraves (another Texan) has a sweet voice. She plays big arenas these days, we've never got to see her.
7. "Just Someone I Used to Know" by Buddy Miller featuring Nikki Lane (2016). Another classic country, this one by Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner. We saw Nikki Lane on a Country Cruise out of New Orleans a few years ago.
8. "I'll Be Here for You" by Robert Earl Keene (1998). A love song by a favorite Texan who we've been lucky enough to see a few times. He's retired from the road this year.
9. "Are You Sure" a duet of Kacey Musgraves and Willie Nelson (2015). It's a Willie tune done nicely as a duet about hanging around drinking in bars. We like Texas bars and miss visiting Austin because of the pandemic.
   
10. "You Get it All" by Hayes Carll (2021). Another love song by another Texan who we've seen. His "sweet Baboo" is Allison Moorer who used to be married to and tour with Steve Earle.
11. "Mockingbird" by Ruston Kelly (2018). I've heard this song many times this year. I don't know the artist or I why I keep hearing this song but I like it. He compares his love to a pretty little mocking bird
12. "Death to My Hometown" by Bruce Springsteen (2012). A protest song with a strong beat and an Irish swagger. I like it .... Some will rob you with a fountain pen.
13. "Help Me Remember" by Hayes Carll (2021). It's about dementia and Hayes explains the song thus: “I was fourteen-years-old and sitting in the passenger seat of my grandfather’s truck in Waco, TX, the town he had lived in for most of his life, when he turned to me at a stoplight and asked where we were. He looked scared. I know I was. I’ve thought a lot since then about what it must feel like to lose the thread of your own story.”
14. "Brother Taxman Preacher" by Margo Cilker (2021). Margo is a rising talent in the Americana world. I like the beat of this song
15. "Tehachapi" by Margo Cilker (2021). Again, I like the beat and will be watching this artist.
16. "One Love Song" by Michaela Anne with Sam Outlaw (2019). It's a love song. We've seen Michaela at the Cactus Café, UTX Austin.
17. "I Couldn't be Me Without You" by Eddie Brickell (2022). This is from the recently released Billy Joe Shaver tribute album. It's a simple love song. The title says it all.
18. "Yes I Guess They Oughta Name A Drink After You" by Tyler Childers (2021). Another John Prine song from the tribute album.
19. "Dead Horses" by The Local Honeys (2022). I bumped into this song on Youtube. It's county with a blue grass tinge.
20. "Feathered Indians" by Tyler Childers (2017). Another love song, again with that Kentucky bluegrass tinge. We were at the local market one day and a singer was playing this. I was surprised but see now that Tyler Childers has made a big impression on many others.

Clearly our influences are Country and Americana with a few artists like Tyler Childers and Hayes Carll repeated several times.