On July 4th, 2019, Season 3 of the Netflix hit show Stanger Things dropped. That is when so many people were introduced to a new character named Robin Buckley, who inspired a LOT of 2019 Halloween costumes.
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| You all had one friend who dressed like this that year. ADMIT IT! |
That character was played by actress (and daughter of Uma Thurman) Maya Hawke.
Now, when you all saw the name of the artist, a lot of you didn't need me to tell you that this was Robin. I learned the name of the artist, and I wondered if she was related to Ethan Hawke (she is - that's her dad). Because, you see, I've seen maybe five minutes of Stranger Things.
This isn't an actor's blog. It's a music blog. So, where am I going with this?
On August 16th, 2019 - just a month later - Maya Hawke started her music career with two songs that she co-wrote with Jesse Harris. She was a young singer-songwriter, but was already showing a maturity in her storytelling.
The absolute best thing about this blog is learning about new music that I would not have otherwise heard.
Lately, that journey has taken me to Australia an awful lot. Take this band, who formed in Melbourne in 2024 and just released their second EP, NEW AGE, this February. Combining post-punk and showgaze elements, they bring a fresh energy to their music.
I listened to this album - Graceland Way - on the day it came out - last Friday, April 24th - without knowing a single thing about Mikaela Davis. The cover did tell me something about the album, though.
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| Can we guess the genre? |
What I did NOT guess was that Davis was a classically trained harpist, which is really cool. And she actually plays it - on the album and on stage.
What I did NOT guess is that Davis's record label is Kill Rock Stars, famous home to the riot grrl revolution of the 1990s.
What I REALLY did NOT guess is that Davis is performing at the Lilac Festival in Rochester, NY on May 13th - a Wednesday night, so I likely won't be there, but that does not mean I'm not going to try - because, and this is the kicker, she's actually FROM Rochester, NY.
Without knowing ANY of that, I listened to what is an excellent album. This is the second single from that album - featuring Tim Heidecker (of the comedy duo Tim & Eric) and Grammy winning artist Madison Cunningham - and it is a sweet, bright, throwback of a country song... complete with harp.
To be fair, he DID write it, and he DID record it first - in 1978. It's HIS song.
It feels a little weird to pay tribute to a great outlaw country singer-songwriter like David Allan Coe - whose biggest hit wasn't made popular by his own recording of the song. ("Take This Job And Shove It", by Johnny Paycheck, by the way).
But no. This perfect country and western song - co-written by Steve Goodman and an uncredited-by-choice John Prine, would end up being Coe's biggest personally recorded hit song. It hit #8 on the Country charts in 1975, and ended up being one of the biggest hits of the year.
This live performance of the song - despite the fact that he didn't write it - illustrates just how great a storyteller Coe was.
