Sometimes a song changes once you know who’s singing it. Back in 2019, I stumbled across JOHNNYSWIM’s “Bridges,” and the performance itself immediately grabbed me. Today’s listen showed it still has that power. Amanda Sudano and Abner Ramirez move through the song with this mix of joy, conviction, flirtation, and earned weariness that makes the wholeContinueContinue reading “Marginalia: JOHNNYSWIM, “Bridges””
Category Archives: Stories & Sound
Stagger Lee Was a What?
A childhood song, a Christmas Eve shooting, and a Stetson hat that started it all I must have been seven or eight the first time I heard it. Maybe younger. My mother had the radio going… she usually did. And this thing came on with a groove that just grabbed you. Something about a clearContinueContinue reading “Stagger Lee Was a What?”
Something That Won’t Let You Settle
Something has been bothering me. Like a car alarm down the street on a still afternoon. Not an emergency. Just something that won’t let you settle. The kind that reaches you before you’ve identified the source. Since 1982, when I first registered to vote, I’ve been watching something cycle through American public life like weather.ContinueContinue reading “Something That Won’t Let You Settle”
The Quiet Strength of a Donegal Voice: Remembering Moya Brennan
I heard her before I knew her name. That’s how it usually goes with voices that stay with you. “In a Lifetime” came out in 1985, a duet with Bono, and I remember thinking the woman singing with him was doing something he couldn’t quite do — something quieter and older and more certain. BonoContinueContinue reading “The Quiet Strength of a Donegal Voice: Remembering Moya Brennan”
“It’s You When I Look In The Mirror”
Last week we looked at a song called “Kite.” This week I want to turn to what feels to me like its companion—a song that covers similar ground but arrives with a different weight. Where “Kite” accompanied me, “Sometimes You Can’t Make It on Your Own” confronted me. Where “Kite” opens its hands, this oneContinueContinue reading ““It’s You When I Look In The Mirror””