Every week in The Picayune Sentinel I offer up song or tune that is somehow relevant to me at the time — maybe it’s just been on my mind. Here is a list of those tunes with links to the YouTube version and to the associated little item I wrote giving context, history or, in some cases, excuses for the selection.
2021
Sept. 9, 2021 — “Cullom’s Reel” (Ben Zorn)
Sept. 16 , 2021 — “Swannanoa Waltz” (Rayna Gellert)
Sept. 23, 2021 — “Why Don’t You Introduce Me As Your Darlin’?” (Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno)
Sept. 30, 2021 –“Tusk” (Fleetwood Mac)
Oct. 7 , 2021 — “Sweet Nell” (fiddled by Clarke Williams, Maddy Mullaney & Ben Zorn)
Oct. 14, 2021 — “Waiting for Nancy/Valley Forge” (Kaia Kater)
Oct. 21 , 2021 — “Bohemian Rhapsody” (Bluegrass version by The Petersens)
Oct. 28, 2021 — “The Cat Came Back” (Anna Roberts Gevalt)
Nov. 4, 2021 — “When I’m Gone” (a 1930s version of Anna Kendrick’s pop hit of the same name.) (The Carter Family)
Nov. 11, 2021 — “Are You Washed in the Blood?” (The Louvin Brothers)
Nov. 18 , 2021 — “Far Side Banks of Jordan” (Johnny Cash & June Carter)
Nov. 24, 2021 — “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come” (Scottish Festival Singers)
Dec. 2 , 2021 — “Loving Her Was Easier Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again” (Kris Kristofferson)
Dec. 9, 2021 — “Gonna Sing” (Mary Schmich’s song as performed by the Oak Park District 97 Virtual Chorus)
Dec. 16, 2021 — “Chariots” (John Roberts and Tony Barrand)
Dec. 23 , 2021 — “On This Christmas Day” (Fred Campeau and the Songs of Good Cheer Band)
Dec. 30, 2021 — “How Beautiful Upon the Mountain” (Tom Paxton)
2022
Jan. 6 2022 — “When I’m Sixty Four” (The Beatles)
Jan. 13, 2022 — “Music for a Found Harmonium” (banjo version by Josh Turknett)
Jan. 20, 2022 — “The Bramble and the Rose” (Jim Ringer & Mary McCaslin)
Jan. 27, 2022 — “Smoke Behind the Clouds” (Joseph Decosimo)
Feb. 3, 2022 — “Congleton Bear” (John Roberts and Tony Barrand)
Feb. 10, 2022 — “Hate Song (Stamp Out Hate)” (The Mad Show Ensemble)
Feb. 17, 2022 — “Argeers” (as danced by the Chestnut company in Paris)
Feb. 24, 2022 — “Knoxville Girl” (Louvin Brothers)
March 3, 2022 — “Spiegel im Spiegel” (Arvo Pärt)
March 10, 2022 — 30 fiddle styles in one performance (Michael Burnyeat)
March 17, 2022 — “Broccoli Shy” (Lou and Peter Berryman)
March 24, 2022 — “Tenting on the Old Camp Ground” (97th Regimental String Band)
March 31, 2022 — “Cindy” (Ben Zorn and James Fraser)
April 7, 2022 — “Chaise Longue” (Wet Leg)
April 14, 2022 — “I Never Go to Work” (Michael Grosvenor Myer)
April 21, 2022 — “Michael Row the Boat Ashore” (The Highwaymen)
April 28, 2022 — “Stacy’s Mom” (Fountains of Wayne)
May 5, 2022 — “Early” (Greg Brown)
May 12, 2022 — “Famous in France” (Michael Peter Smith)
May 19, 2022 — “That’s My Weakness Now” (Cliff “Uncle Ike” Edwards)
May 26, 2022 — “I and My Maker” (Dan MacDonald and Emily Nott)
June 2, 2022 — “Hindsight” (Max Allard)
June 9, 2022 — “Summer Breeze” (Seals and Crofts)
June 16, 2022 — “Another Train” (Pete Morton) (a better but slower recording is here)
June 23, 2022 — “Dwelling in Beulah Land” (Helen Bonchek Schneyer)
June 30, 2022 — “He’ll Pilot Me“(The Pine Ridge Boys)
July 7, 2022 — “Heaven” (Talking Heads)
July 14, 2022 — “From a Distance” (Nanci Griffith)
July 21, 2022 — “The Bells of London Town” (Dan MacDonald and Sara Leginsky)
July 28, 2022 — “Pal-Yat-Chee” (Spike Jones and His City Slickers with Homer & Jethro)
August 4, 2022 — “They Don’t Let You in the Opera if You’re a Country Star” (Kelli O’Hara)
August 11, 2022 — “The Carnival is Over” (The Seekers)
August 18, 2022 — “The Lovers Waltz” (Jay Ungar & Molly Mason)
August 25, 2022 — “Under the Summer Moonlight” (Garnet Rogers)
Sept. 1, 2022 — Reader favorites
Sept. 8, 2022 — “Cumberland Gap” (Eric Zorn’s interpretation)
Sept. 15, 2022 — “Lorena” (performed by John Hartford)
Sept. 22, 2022 — “Hamlet in Three Minutes” (Michael Cooney)
Sept. 29, 2022 — “Mighty Big River” (Jim Post)
Oct. 6, 2022 — “Wait Till the Clouds Roll By” (Larry Perkins and Andrea Zonn)
Oct. 13, 2022 — “You Get What You Give” (The New Radicals) (nominated by Charlie Meyerson, proprietor of Chicago Public Square)
Oct. 20, 2022 — “Be” (Common) (nominated by TV/radio/podcast star Brandon Pope)
Oct. 27, 2022 — “Are You Happy Now?” (Richard Shindell)
Nov. 3, 2022 — “Let the Mystery Be” (Iris DeMent) (nominated by former Tribune columnist Mary Schmich)
Nov. 10, 2022 — “Orange Cocoa Cake” (Cathy Fink’s interpretation of a Lou and Peter Berryman song)
Nov. 17, 2022 — “Unforgettable” (Nat King Cole) (nominated by WCPT-AM 820 Joan Esposito)
Nov. 22, 2022 — “Uncle Dave’s Grace” (Lou & Peter Berryman)
Dec. 1, 2022 — “Mayfly“ (Dolly Varden) (Nominated by former Tribune columnist Barbara Brotman)
Dec. 8, 2022 — “Long Way Around the Sea” (Low)
Dec. 15, 2022 — “Will You Know Him When You See Him?” (Beverly Smith and John Grimm)
Dec. 22, 2022 — “Christ Child Lullaby” (Also known as “Who Am I to Bear You Here?” ) (John Doyle, Karine Polwart, and Christy O’Leary)
Dec. 31, 2022 — “The Turning Year” (Jennifer Cutting’s Ocean Trio with Windborne) (nominated by Rich Warren, former host of “The Midnight Special” folk music program on WFMT-FM 98.7)
2023
Jan. 5, 2023 — “Sea of Tears” by Eilen Jewell (nominated by Steve Chapman, former Tribune opinion columnist)
Jan. 12, 2023 — “That’s the Way That the World Goes ‘Round,” a John Prine song performed inside a taxi by Della Mae.
Jan 19, 2023 — “Soldier’s Joy” by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Earl Scruggs supplemented by “Soldier’s Joy” fiddled by Ben Zorn.
Jan 26, 2023 — “We Shall Meet Someday” (Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin)
Feb. 2, 2023 — “That Lonesome Train That Took My Baby Away” performed by Jonas Friddle
Feb. 9, 2023 — “Rose of My Heart” (Johnny Cash)
Feb 16, 2023 — “Stewball” (version popularized by Huddie Ledbetter, a.k.a. Lead Belly)
Feb. 23, 2023 — “Multiply the Heartaches” (George Jones and Melba Montgomery)
March 2, 2023 — “No Hard Feelings” (Avett Brothers) nominated by John Williams of WGN-AM 720
March 9, 2023 — “It Was a Very Good Year” (Frank Sinatra) (nominated by Laura Washington)
March 16, 2023 — “The Humline Song.” or “60’s Mudley,“ (Mike Agranoff)
March 23, 2023 — “Levitating” (Dua Lipa) (nominated by Johanna Zorn)
March 30, 2023 — “What a Game!” (from the Broadway musical “Ragtime”) (nominated by author and former New York Times writer Bruce Weber)
April 6, 2023 — “Radiant Hue” (Shadow Show) (nominated by writer Nancy Nall Derringer)
April 13, 2023 — “Tennessee Politics” by John Hartford
April 20, 2023 — “Georgia Hard” by Robbie Fulks (nominated by Mark Guarino)
April 27, 2023 — “Jump in the Line,” by Harry Belafonte
May 4, 2023 — “Cotton Jenny” by Gordon Lightfoot
May 11, 2023 — “Waltzing on Top of the World,” by Jim Reeves
May 18, 2023 — “The Mary Ellen Carter” by Stan Rogers (nominated by Peter Sagal)
May 25, 2023 — “Mighty Mighty” by Earth, Wind and Fire (nominated by Jim Wynton)
June 1, 2023 — “Keweenaw Light,” a Craig Johnson song performed by AJ Srubas and Rina Rossi
June 8, 2023 — “Give Yourself to Love” by Kate Bush
June 15, 2023 — “New Harmony” by Craig Johnson
June 22, 2023 — “Laundry Pile” by Arkells (nominated by Mike Pesca)
June 29, 2023 — “Come on, Aphrodite” by Natalie Merchant and Abena Koomson-Davis (nominated by Barbara Mahany)
July 6, 2023 — “Whiskey Before Breakfast” as fiddled by Roger Netherton
July 13, 2023 — “Dream Operator” by the Talking Heads
July 20, 2023 — “Fast Car,” Tracy Chapman’s 1988 original and Luke Combs’ 2023 hit cover version.
July 27, 2023 — “Fourth of July” by Sufjan Stevens, nominated by Colleen Kujawa
August 3, 2023 — “Twilight is Stealing” sung by Jody Stecher and Kate Brislin, nominated by The Twilight Stealers.
August 10, 2023 — An assortment of reader nominations:
- Maureen Baird — “Bachata En Fukuoka” by Juan Luís Guerra
- Ann Boland — “Cat People” by David Bowie
- Susan Buchanan — “I Am a Patriot” by Jackson Brown
-
Susan Butchko “Grandpa Was a Carpenter” by John Prine
- Charlie Buttrey — “I Know You By Heart” by Eva Cassidy
- Kathleen Daly — “Brandy” by Lookingglass
- Joe Dempsey — “The Weight” by The Band
- Rob Geiger — “Life is Sweet” by Mike Leigh
- Martin Horn — “I’ll Never Find Another You” by the Seekers
- Dan Knight — “Beaumont Rag” by Doc Watson
- Mark Komissarouk — “We Need Changes”
- Craig Kraus — “I Drink Beer” by Dan Reeder
- Carol Krol — “September” by Earth, Wind and Fire
- Ann Lamas — “Blues Power” by Albert King
- Marie Martinek — “Challenger Memorial” by Hope Eyrie
- Jack Mason — “The Dutchman” by Michael Smith
- Lynne Taylor — “Cowboy in the Jungle” by Jimmy Buffett
- Paula Uscian — “If We Were Vampires” by Jason Isbell
- Tim Roznowski — “The Ballad of Elizabeth Dark” by Michael Smith
- Teresa Savino — “On a Day Like Today” by Cathy Barton and Dave Para
- Frederick Slate — “Love at the Five and Dime” by Nanci Griffith
- Gillean Wilsak — “Hallelujah” by Mamuse
- Jane Workhoven — “Mail Order Annie” by Harry Chapin
- Peter Zackrison — “The Dock of the Bay” by Otis Redding
August 17, 2023 — Stephen Foster’s “Old Dog Tray” performed by Tom Roush.
August 24, 2023 — “A Summer Wind, A Cotton Dress,” by Richard Shindell
August 31, 2023 — Merle Haggard’s “Ramblin’ Fever” performed by John Prine
Sept. 7, 2023 — “Volcano” by Jimmy Buffet
Sept. 14, 2023– “Walking in Memphis” by Marc Cohn, nominated by Jon Hansen
Sept. 21, 2023— “Time in a Bottle” by Jim Croce
Sept. 28, 2023 — “Who’s on the Way?” by Hogwire Stringband.
Oct. 4, 2023 — “Life During Wartime” by the Talking Heads (from the concert movie “Stop Making Sense”)
Oct. 12, 2023 — “All The Pretty Little Horses,” performed by Tricia Spencer and Howard Rains
Oct. 19, 2023 — “Love and Mercy,” performed by Wilco, nominated by Monica Eng of Axios Chicago
Oct. 26, 2023 — “If I Fell,” the Beatles.
Nov. 2, 2023 — “I Can’t Explain,” by the Who, nominated by Cate Plys
Nov. 9, 2023 — “Ain’t No Ash Will Burn,” by Ranch Romance
Nov. 16, 2023 — ” Mojado” by Ricardo Arjona , nominated by Tribune reporter Laura Rodríguez Presa
Nov. 21, 2023 — “We Gather Together”
Nov. 30, 2023 — “Burn it Down” by Cassandra Violet
Dec. 7, 2023 — “Rush” by Troye Sivan
Dec. 14, 2023 — “The Man,” by Taylor Swift, nominated by Cori Bills
Dec. 21, 2023 — “Mary Had a Baby,” performed by Anna Jacobson
Dec. 28, 2023 — “This Will Be Our Year,” by the Zombies
2024
Jan. 4, 2023 — “Come and Get Your Love,” by Redbone
Jan. 11, 2024 — “Prisencolinensinainciusol” gibberish from Italian pop star Adriano Celentano
Jan. 18, 2024 — “I Am Very Glad, As I Am Finally Returning Back Home” sung by Eduard “Mr. Trololo” Khil
Jan. 25, 2024 — “Woe, Woe, Woe,” by Joe Issacs and the Calvary Mountain Boys
Feb 1, 2024 — “Amelia Earhart’s Last Flight” performed by the Greenbriar Boys
Feb 8, 2024. — “Only Love,” by John Prine
Feb. 15, 2024 — “Round and Round,” by Perry Como
Feb. 22, 2024 — “Leader of the Pack” by the Shagri-Las
Feb. 29, 2024 — “Hope Lingers On,” a Lissa Schneckenburger song performed by Low Lily
March 7, 2024 — “Motherlover” by Justin Timberlake and Andy Samberg.
March 14, 2024 — “The Galway Girl” by Steve Earle
March 21, 2024 — “I Still Believe” by Frank Turner (nominated by Deni Mayer)
March 28, 2024 — “Texas Hold ‘Em” (nominated by Marianne)
April 4, 2024 — “When My Time Comes” by Dawes (nominated by Joanie Wimmer)
April 11, 2024 — “Just One of the Guys” by Jenny Lewis (nominated by Steven K.)
April 18, 2024 — “A Better Son/Daughter” by Rilo Kiley
April 25, 2024 — “Hal and Tow” by the Watersons
