There has not been a whole lot going on in here as you may have noticed. I still have no idea when (and if) I will be able to put this properly back on track, because I’m still exhausted most of the time. I would still love to, because frankly my dear I’m even a little bit of scared of letting this go. This is tiny and insignificant, but for me it’s still sort of a big deal. My day job might not add any value to the world, but I like to believe that these songs and my love for them that I’ve tried to spread hold some value and purpose in some minor way. Therefore I think I’m stuck with onechord.net and can’t completely quit even though it probably would be the wiser thing to do. Whether it’s one post a month or one every day is a whole different story. Anyway, time to stop this ridicilous personal self-pity filled mumbo jumbo that nobody cares about. Sorry about that. My goal was just to make a small post and share some songs that I’ve fallen in love with lately. So here it goes and more to come within a week or month or year.

Let’s start with the new Anna Tivel album Small Believer. She is a wonderful folk songwriter from Portland, Oregon. Anna Tivel is such an incredible lyricist and storyteller and this album is a treasure. Small Believer will be released by Fluff and Gravy on the 29th of September. This is Dark Chandelier from the forthcoming album.

Anna Tivel Website

Jon Latham’s long-waited new album Lifers came out on 1st of September on Cafe Rooster Records. My backer copy has not yet arrived, so I haven’t listened to it a lot yet, but I’m 100% sure it’s magnificent. This beautiful man can write great songs and has a gorgeous voice as well. Here’s Yearbook Signatures from the new album. A damn good song and a bonus point for The Replacements reference.

Jon Latham Website

Tyler Childers is a marvellous songwriter from Kentucky. Hickman Holler Records released his album Purgatory on 4th of August. It was co-produced by Sturgill Simpson, which probably gave it a little boost. It still wouldn’t carry him far, if the songs weren’t any good. There’s no worries on that department though. This is wonderful Lady May from Purgatory.

Tyler Childers Website

I mentioned Clay Parker’s new one Queen City Blues a while back, but a revisit in order because I love it wholeheartedly. I got the CD I ordered from him this week and have been listening to it all week long. Actually I even slept with this record every day last week. I had to wake up 4 am every day to go to work and when I eventually got back home late in the afternoon I was dreadfully tired. So every day when I got home I put the headphones on and I let Clay sing me to sleep. That nap with Clay was the moment that carried me through a rather shitty work week. There has not been enough talk about the greatness of this album in the blogs and websites that I read and I would like to change that. Such a brilliant record. This is the gorgeous title track Queen City Blues.

Clay Parker Website

I’ll end this little post with something that I’m madly in love with. Charlie Whitten’s new EP Playwright came out a week ago and it’s one of my favourite releases of the whole year. The songs are magnificent and it sounds warm, kind and beautiful. I wish this blog could be something like these songs. I wish I could be something like these songs. All four songs are pure gold and it’s impossible to pick a favourite, but I’ll go with the last song Virginia on this little blog entry.

Charlie Whitten Website

I’ve been on vacation mode for the past week, but here’s a good reason to put this all back together. Matt Paxton from Hamilton, Ontario just released a magnificent new EP Hunter Street Station Blues. I’ve loved Matt’s voice and songwriting for some years now. He is a singer-songwriter who is always able to create intimate and beautiful folk songs that get instantly and permanently stuck on my heart. Hunter Street Station Blues is out and available on Other Songs Music Co.. This is the opening song Baby Don’t Go. You can hear/buy the whole charming release from Other Songs Bandcamp.

Michael Nau’s solo album Mowing was a big favourite for me last year. After falling for that record I soon learned that a band I adored during the Myspace-era of the internet, The Broadway Hush, actually consisted of Michael Nau and Whitney McGraw. So I had been enjoying his songwriting a lot longer than I assumed. Between The Broadway Hush and these new solo full-lengths, there are Page France and Cotton Jones as well. So Michael sure has created a huge amount excellent indie pop and folk songs over the years.

The reason for this little blog entry is that he has new solo album Some Twist out on Full Time Hobby (UK/Europe) and Suicide Squeeze (US). It’s again such a delightful and charming album. The man has the ability to create adorable and easy-going pop music. Sometimes it feels like these are just lovely sketches for a wonderful pop album and therefore one could make false assumption that the new album doesn’t offer more than pleasant background music for a lazy sunday afternoon. It does work perfectly as that, but after a few spins all the little bits and pieces got somehow stuck in my heart and I found myself totally hooked into the songs. Nowadays using it just as a comfortable background music is actually rather difficult, because I immediately begin humming the vocal melodies and start walking around the apartment making silly little dance steps on the side. Such a lovely record. Here are a couple of personal favourites, I Root and Oh, You Wanna Bet from the new Michael Nau album Some Twist.

Michael Nau at Facebook

One more for tonight as I desperately try to catch up on everything I haven’t featured on the blog. I’ll leave you with something out-of-this world good. Nashville-based folk singer-songwriter Erin Rae has released a couple of singles during the past month. Both Like The First Time and and this one Wild Blue Wind are wonderful. Hardly a surprise though, because the previous album Soon Enough was already rather gorgeous. Maybe not my biggest favourite as a whole, but especially the best songs like Clean Slate and Monticello were perfect on all accounts. If she can keep the level of her songwriting on the level of those four songs mentioned above on the next full-length I need to start expanding by English vocabulary, because my normal excessive praising mode won’t be nowhere near enough. Erin Rae also has one of the finest voices in the folk/americana/country circles and besides doing her own beautiful thing, you can hear her singing beautiful harmonies and backing vocals on several amazing albums. Lately I’ve enjoyed her singing on the songs and videos of my big recent music crush Charlie Whitten. This is the magnificent new Erin Rae song Wild Blue Wind. A really moving song about mental health.

Erin Rae Website