A little bit Duffy coded, Jessie Baylin delivers a Mid-Century Modern strain with 'A Song For While I'm Away.' Her voice is commanding and steady amidst an electro-organ, which serves as the obvious hook that grasps me to this one.
You can stream the song via the YouTube link below:
Like most of my music discoveries of late, I stumbled upon '79 Shiny Revolvers' six years after its release.
The tune is penned by Rayland Baxter, a more grounded version of Mac DeMarco. But he happens to hail from Nashville, as opposed to the Great White North. Rayland's dad is Bucky, a guitarist in his own right, who passed away in 2020.
'79 Shiny Revolvers' presents itself as a Jeff Buckley-meets-John Prine exegesis; it is a wistfully plaintive ditty about America's great firearm obsession. (Think 'Pumped Up Kicks' by Foster the People, but without the electronica and reverb).
I am honestly surprised that Rayland hasn't had more press or hype than I am aware of. He seems to have a lot of potential.
While there is no official music video for this track, Rayland Baxter performed it live for Paste Magazine a few years ago. You can stream that performance below: