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Song of the Day #1,128: ‘Letter to Me’ – Brad Paisley

In 2007, Brad Paisley released his fifth album, 5th Gear. This album has the same structure and sensibility as his previous two but it doesn’t quite live up to their standard. If I were ranking his albums best to worst, 5th Gear would come in fifth (appropriately), ahead of his first two more cautious efforts but behind the string of stellar LPs he kicked off with Mud On the Tires.

Earlier this week I wrote about how Miranda Lambert hooked me right out of the gate. Paisley wouldn’t have. If his first two albums were my introduction to him, I would have recognized the talent but not been grabbed the way I was when I heard American Saturday Night and Mud On the Tires. He’s one of those artists who keeps getting better with each release.

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Song of the Day #1,127: ‘A Pirate Looks at Forty’ – Jimmy Buffett

I own one Jimmy Buffett album, and it’s my most dreaded type of record — a greatest hits collection.

It’s called Songs You Know By Heart, and chances are you have a copy as well. Doesn’t everybody? It’s up there with Bob Marley’s Legend in the ranks of albums that represent the only thing you really need to own by a prolific artist.

Parrotheads will find that sacrilegious, of course. They find treasures on every one of the man’s 20-something albums and the idea of narrowing that discography down to 13 songs must seem asinine. Same way I feel about a Bob Dylan Greatest Hits.

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Song of the Day #1,126: ‘Don’t Fear the Reaper’ – Gus

I’ve been meaning to post this song ever since I started my Song of the Day posts more than three years ago.

How I’ve managed to go 1,125 days without getting around to it is a testament to how much damn music there is in the world, I guess.

On the flip side, the fact that I have now found room for it might mean I’m running out of material. Perhaps this song was like the backup propane tank and once I use it I’ll always be in danger of running out of blogging fuel.

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Song of the Day #1,125: ‘Famous in a Small Town’ – Miranda Lambert

For me, Miranda Lambert is the country Fiona Apple.

Now, I’ll need to explain that analogy further because clearly these two women are nothing alike. Lambert isn’t one to wallow the way Apple can — her breakup songs are more likely to end with a gunshot than a minor piano chord. And certainly their musical styles live on opposite sides of the spectrum.

No, my comparison is based on something much more superficial — the fact that each has completely captured my heart, mind and imagination over the course of just three albums.

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Song of the Day #1,124: ‘Fly From Heaven (Live)’ – Toad the Wet Sprocket

It’s funny how you can know, and even love, a song for years and never really grasp what it’s about.

Maybe you just never take the time to really pay attention to the lyrics. Maybe the music works so well that the singer may as well be singing Chinese for all you care. Maybe the words seem too cryptic to bother deciphering.

But one day you pay a little more attention than usual or read something that makes you see the song in a new light, and suddenly its meaning is glaringly obvious. That’s what happened to me recently with Toad the Wet Sprocket’s ‘Fly From Heaven.’

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