Music Diary, Vol. 64

For the rationale behind this mad effort, the initial post is here. The full series of Music Diary posts are here. The full playlist is above, and also here.

Week of March 24-30, 2025

LYRICS: Paul Robeson (Alfred Hayes/Earl Robinson), "Joe Hill"

SONG: Reasons to love this sugary-sweet 1958 Poni-Tails B-side, found via a TV Girl sample: the shimmering sax over a catchy bass figure, tinkly marimba-like piano accents, and a lyric that pleads with Dad for more makeout time with the bf: "Papa, come on and be a trouper."

ALBUM: This Fatboy Slim disc will never supplant its joy-fueled predecessor, You've Come a Long Way, Baby, in my heart; the vibe is darker, more aggressive—we've gone from a song of praise to beats as weapons. But it's as fully realized and just as essential.

LYRICS: Robert Flack (Bacharach/Roberts/Sager), "Making Love"

SONG: This classic Bollywood tune from 1955 manages the neat trick of being both patriotic and internationalist (as well as slightly joshing both tendencies), celebrating with a smile modern India’s confident opening to the world on its own terms. It also slaps.

ALBUM: I'm seeing the great young country singer Logan Ledger tonight at Skinny Dennis in Williamsburg. Prepping by revisiting this 2023 record, in which his Orbison-worthy voice rings out clear and warm.

LYRICS: Chappell Roan, "Casual"

SONG: My fave thing about this quietly arresting Maggie/Terre Roche tune about an annoying folk music scene is the weightless whole-step drop into a new key for the chorus, as the singer remembers why (and for whom) she started singing in the first place.

ALBUM: Recently learned that Lisa D'Amour is writing a Shania Twain musical, which is as good excuse as any to revisit this first-rate country-pop record from 2016, on which both the ballads and the bangers are on point. Bonus points for occasional accordion.

LYRICS: Gnarls Barkley, "Crazy"

SONG: This Stones cover by Merry Clayton isn't just a barn burner; it's also an unspeakably moving reclamation of a record she was called in out of the blue to belt out its toughest lyrics on, after which she suffered a miscarriage. Just a shot away indeed.

ALBUM: Am I the only one who thinks Mozart stashed some of his best tunes in his oboe quartet? Alexei Ogrintchouk coaxes the most achingly beautiful, singing tones from the instrument on this lovely 2013 collection, which includes the oboe concerto.

LYRICS: Harry Partch, "The Letter"

SONG: The Greek artist Σtella has a new record coming out next week, which I’ve pre-saved. While I wait, I’m revisiting and relishing her 2002 album Up and Away, in particular this Khruangbin-adjacent jam.

ALBUM: I wore out this Boston Pops collection of Leroy Anderson bonbons as a kid. Revisiting it now, I hear why: It’s relentlessly entertaining. It’s also where I first recognized theme-and-variations—where I could hear the composer thinking. I was hooked.

LYRICS: Hazel Dickens, "Black Lung"

SONG: At his Skinny Dennis show this week, Logan Ledger made the point that George Jones is so loved as a singer, he’s underrated as a songwriter. The same is true of Ledger himself: This dust-myself-off anthem isn’t just sweetly delivered; it’s a future country standard.

ALBUM: The underrated chanteuse Lucy Woodward has made many great records, but the one I find myself returning to most is this smoking set of wide-ranging covers. She and guitarist Charlie Hunter find fresh angles and grooves in songs old and new.

LYRICS: Los Lobos, "Tears of God"

SONG: This morning’s scripture was Luke 15, the Prodigal Son, so I opened the service at Greenpoint Reformed Church with this quiet, easily overlooked U2 jam—essentially an inferior variation on “All I Want Is You,” but with its own special low-flame intensity.

ALBUM: Many country artists’ gospel records sound dutiful, chastened, stiffly pious. Not Loretta Lynn’s; she brings her whole ornery, heart-on-her-sleeve sense of drama and emotion to this material, including a feisty, plain-spoken original.