Songs for One Year

During the first lockdown, I started listening to the blues. Thanks to the Bitter Southerner podcast episode 'Is the Blues Dead?' I discovered the music of Jontavious Willis and listened to his album Spectacular Class on repeat. A year later, the song 'The World is In A Tangle' still lifts my spirits. I hope it makes you smile too.

 

I listened to a lot of podcasts in the first weeks of lockdown--one that still stands out to me now is the 1619 Project podcast, especially the episode The Birth of American Music, about the role of Black music and musicians in America and the world at large. What I heard led me to subscribe to the Music Maker Relief Foundation's mailing list, and because of their newsletter, I began listening to the music of Mississippi John Hurt. I'll always remember playing his recording of  'You Got to Walk that Lonesome Valley' over and over again in those early days of the pandemic.

It gave me hope and still does. What songs have meant the most to you over the past year? I'd love to hear what you've been listening to.