"There's a time in life for Hoagy Carmichael. There's a time in life for Claude Debussy. There's a time in life for Jerry Lee Lewis. There's a time in life for Destiny's Child. All these things have their moment." ~Elvis Costello
17 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: joshua james, queen of the city
Joshua James: “Queen of the City” (2012)
Indie folk songwriter Joshua James has been writing spooky, spare, introspective songs “since I got the disease”.
He’s the rare folk singer who can land multiple songs on the Sons of Anarchy soundtrack and release an album of Carpenters covers.
His voice, like his songs, comes across with a gritty and arresting honesty–exactly what you’d expect from a guy who raises chickens, goats and honeybees.in Utah.
15 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: elliot smith, waltz #2 (xo), waltz no 2
Elliott Smith: “Waltz #2 (XO)” (1998)
On the heels of Elliot Smith’s Academy Award-nominated work (“Miss Misery”) for the Good Will Hunting film soundtrack, he signed with a bigger label and released a bigger sounding album.
Smith was still writing songs of torment, depression and addiction. But adding horns, string arrangements and Chamberlin, Smith at least made the darkness sound more (musically) attractive than ever.
Quoting Jayson Greene’s XO album review in Pitchfork:
“‘Waltz #2”, Smith’s lead single, deals rather conspicuously with the troubled dynamic that Smith observed between his stepfather, Charlie Welch, and his mother, Bunny.
The song is set in a karaoke bar, the characters a man and wife taking turns on the stage. The woman selects “Cathy’s Clown” (”Don’tcha think it’s kinda sad/That you’re treating me so bad?”), while the man returns the message, with a vengeance, choosing “You’re No Good.” “Waltz #2” is a song about people singing subtext-loaded songs to each other.”
See also: Songs You May Have Missed #210 | Every Moment Has A Song
15 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in Did You Ever Realize Tags: da ya think i'm sexy, jorge ben jor, rod stewart, taj mahal
11 Aug 2026 Leave a comment
in Songs You May Have Missed Tags: peter wolf, there's still time
Peter Wolf: “There’s Still Time” (2010)
Peter Wolf’s “There’s Still Time” is a grown up rock song about reflection and re-centering.
The man who presided over the sweaty house party that was the J. Geils Band sounds like a guy quite a few miles down the road on his 2010 offering, Midnight Souvenirs.
Some rockers don’t know how to settle down or get on with the next phase, and nothing’s sadder than seeing geriatric rockers trying to maintain an image, or songwriting POV, suited to a 25-year-old.
It’s nice to hear one act his age.
