Arlo McKinley’s new song “Die Midwestern” evokes the tragedy and impact of drugs on the Midwest.
It has been a few years since we had a Song-of-the-Day from Arlo McKinley. So we are long overdue for checking in with the Ohio singer-songwriter on John Prine’s Oh Boy Records. The title track from his upcoming album Die Midwestern evokes how one may feel trapped by geography into a certain path.
McKinley explains that “Die Midwestern” is about a love-hate relationship with his home state of Ohio. “The Midwest is full of drugs that end up controlling people. . . . I love [Ohio] because it’s everything that I am but I hate it because I’ve seen it take my loved ones lives, I’ve seen it make hopeful people hopeless.” He adds, “Temptations run all along the Ohio river, but it’s so hard to watch the Ohio fade in the rearview mirror.”
The video for “Die Midwestern” features McKinley around Cincinnati. Check it out.
Arlo McKinley‘s album Die Midwestern hits the Internet on August 14, 2020. It features ten original songs by McKinley.
John Prine recorded “I Remember Everything” not long before he died, and the posthumous release gave him his first number one song.
John Prine recently scored his first number one song on the Billboard charts with “I Remember Everything.” Prine wrote the song with Pat McLaughlin. And he recorded it in his living room, his final song before he died of complications from Covid-19 on April 7, 2020.
Prine fans will not be surprised that he is still capable of bringing a smile and a tear to our eyes even after he passed away.
The song is about missing someone (“How I miss you in the morning light / Like roses miss the dew”). But it also functions as someone looking back on life.
I’ve been down this road before, Alone as I can be; Careful not to let my past, Go sneaking up on me; Got no future in my happiness, Though regrets are very few; Sometimes a little tenderness, Was the best that I could do.
Check out the video below of John Prine singing “I Remember Everything” in his living room.
The new album from Lucinda Williams — Good Souls Better Angels (2020)– is a far cry from her 1992 album Sweet Old World. Of course, the world has changed a lot since 1992 and so has Williams. But her new album, veering at times more toward punk music and blues than country, still reflects her great talent.
Recorded in Nashville with Williams’s band Buick 6, the album Good Souls Better Angels is from a powerful singer and strong person asserting herself amidst a crazy world. In the opening blues track, Williams proclaims, “You Can’t Rule Me,” and you believe her.
Her energy comes through on such songs as “Wakin’ Up,” about an abusive relationship, and “Man Without a Soul” (“You bring nothing good to this world”) about Donald Trump.
But she also reveals softer moments in some of the highlights of the album, including “Big Black Train” and the closing track “Good Souls.”
Many reviewers love the new album. Pitchfork calls it an “unsparing new album” with “some of the heaviest, most inspiring music of [Williams’s] career.” Others have compared it unfavorably with her best work. AllMusic reports that Good Souls Better Angels is “full of fierce, engrossing music from a great band with a mesmerizing frontwoman, but as fine as that is, it comes from someone who is capable of better work.”
I’m still listening to the album more and more. And although at this moment I do not yet know if it will become my favorite Lucinda Williams album, it is the album for our current era. Williams captures the anger, insanity, and, yes, beauty, of our times in a powerful album. And I’m not sure you can ask for more than that.
What do you think of Good Souls Better Angels? Leave your two cents in the comments.
There was a lot of love going around in last night’s tribute to John Prine called Pictire Show: Tribute to John Prine. Singers, performers, and friends appearing with stories and songs included Bonnie Raitt , Todd Snider, Sturgill Simpson, Brandi Carlile, Eric Church, Bill Murray, Kevin Bacon, Rita Wilson, and many others.
Throughout the tribute, Prine’s wife Fiona Prine makes several appearances to introduce artists. It is a loving tribute with great stories and music.
The full tribute is available for a limited time through Sunday, June 14. So, for now, check it out below. [Update: The full show is no longer online.]
Sturgill Simpson provided us with a musical treat during the coronavirus pandemic. To raise money for charity, Simpson and his band gave us some bluegrass performed live at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium. Due to the pandemic, there was no audience beyond those watching online.
