23 October 2025 - Minor Threat - Straight Edge

In the early 1980s, the hardcore scene in Washington D.C. was exploding, and one of its leaders was Ian MacKaye, the frontman and principal songwriter for the band Minor Threat (and later, Fugazi and other bands) - formed from the ashes of his band the Teen Idles.  

He also founded a great DIY record label that ended up being extremely influential - Dischord Records - on which his bands were releasing material that would end up selling exceedingly well.

One thing that MacKaye espoused as one of his philosophies was abstinence from drugs of any kind - and that wasn't unique to him, as the movement existed in the punk scene already.  However, that movement didn't have a name.  

Then MacKaye gave it a name. "Straight Edge" to this day refers to that way of life. 

It wasn't that live version that I blasted every time my pothead neighbors were blasting Pink Floyd, though.

It was this version.

22 October 2025 - Daniel Johnston - Walking The Cow

Daniel Johnston is very likely a name you do not know.  His origins were in the great state of West Virginia - and started making lo-fi music there in his teens.  He bounced in and out of institutions, and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

That didn't stop his musical output. 

Most of his musical catalogue was made up of homemade cassettes that he recorded on his organ in his home in New Cumberland, West Virginia.  This song - from his 1983 cassette Hi, How Are You, is one of his best known songs, with many other artists covering the song.  Written and produced by Johnston in its original form, it was inspired by a Blue Bell ice cream container. 

This version is live, a couple of years before Johnston's death (of a heart attack) in 2019, performed with Jeff Tweedy of Wilco.  Released as part of the Hi, How Are You project for mental health awareness, it's an absolutely beautiful performance.

His music brought him around the world - and his music just couldn't help but break out of his body.  Here he is in Argentina in 2013.

It sounds different in its original 1983 version, which features his organ. 

All of these versions are beautiful.  

21 October 2025 - Grace Potter And The Nocturnals - Paris (Ooh La La)

Grace Potter is from Vermont, and she formed her band in Vermont in 2002.   The band broke up in 2015, not coincidentally the same time Potter's marriage to the band's drummer broke up.  

Today's song is from their 2010 self-titled third album.  She was already a rock star of Robert Pollard dimensions (you'll understand that reference on Monday if you don't now), and this song, which became an adult contemporary hit and got some radio airplay, cemented that.  

Also, it's a fun, fun song.

Normally, I would go here and do a traditional live performance....

and not one they recorded in a San Diego hotel room.  

But here we are. 

And, unlike most unplugged performances, it may just come harder than the original electrified version.

20 October 2025 - James Brown - It's A Man's Man's Man's World

James Brown may have made his money in Atlanta, but he was born into poverty in South Carolina.  

This song, written by Brown and Betty Jean Newsome, was recorded in New York City in 1966 and became a huge R&B AND Pop hit in the US a year later.   It is a slow, brooding, soulful tune.  Is it a little chauvinistic?  It sure is, but I bet Brown didn't think it was, because he was trying to convey that a man needs a woman, or a girl.  

It would become one of his signature songs. 

You might note that the single is short. 

His live versions were decidedly not.  In fact, the brooding and jazzy nature of the tune lent itself well to extended versions of the song.  And, here he is, in 1981, singing the hell out of it live. 

Here he is, later in life, performing the song with an orchestra and Luciano Pavarotti.

I'd just like to point out that, at this point in their lives, both men were battling health issues, and still sang the hell out of this song.   

17 October 2025 - Loretta Lynn - Fist City

By the way, the other possible Kentucky artist is almost inarguably the best-known artist from Kentucky - Loretta Lynn. 

The coal miner's daughter was never one to shy away from social issues - like the social liberation given to women with the birth control pill, and divorce.

She was also not shy to threaten a beatdown on a woman trying to steal her man.   This rather forward song - written by Lynn - was her second number one hit, in 1968.  

You know she performed the hell out of this song every time. Look how cheerful she looks while she threatens to kick someone's ass. 

In fact, she ALWAYS looks so happy when she sang this song.  She was so chipper when, as the A.V. Club mentioned, she threatened "to beat a bitch down when the situation called for it."

17 October 2025 - Sturgill Simpson - Railroad of Sin

It wasn't impossible to not do a country artist when it came to Kentucky.  

The reality was, it came down to two choices for me.  Sturgill Simpson was my first choice here - he's an innovator in the world of country, making music that teeters on rock fusion, while still sounding fresh and at the same time classic.  

You might recall we once posted his Nirvana cover on Totally Covered. 

This was his first video, recorded in 2013 as a single from his debut album, High Top Mountain, which is excellent.  There are a lot of trains in this video, needless to say.  

All these years later, he still performs this early song, like he did in 2024....

...but perhaps his best-known performance of the song happened in 2016, at Farm Aid.  

16 October 2025 - Soccer Mommy - M

Tennesee.

Was.

Never.

Not.

Gonna.

Be.

Soccer Mommy.

Don't @ me with the "she was born in Switzerland" bullshit.   She grew up in Nashville.  

"M" was the 2nd single from her latest full-length album Evergreen, which was my favorite album of 2024.  I had the pleasure of sitting through a pre-release listening party from her Evergreen (stripped) EP that featured pared-down versions of several songs from the album, including this one.  I don't remember her exact phrasing (I didn't know I was doing this at the time) but when asked what her favorite song from Evergreen was, she chose this song.  

Anyway, that was a great experience.  I would absolutely do it again. 

This is not the stripped version.  It is a great song from a great album.  

This IS the stripped version. I love the strings in this version, which is the one I actually prefer. 

This is neither the stripped nor the not-stripped version.  This is Sophie with a guitar and her voice at the SiriusXM studios.