by

Song of the Day #3,048: ‘Old Man Trump’ – U.S. Elevator (Feat. Mac McCaughan and Tim Bluhm)

woody_guthrieThe coolest back story of any song in the anti-Trump 30 Days, 30 Songs project belongs to this tune by California band U.S. Elevator.

I’ll let the official intro tell the tale:

In 1950, American raconteur and folk icon ‪Woody Guthrie wrote a song about his landlord. It took over half a century for these lyrics to surface, but earlier this year, Guthrie scholar Will Kaufman unearthed the handwritten lyrics while performing research at the Woody Guthrie Archives in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Normally a discovery like this would be notable for the folk set and Guthrie fanatics – but this song, and this year is different. Woody’s landlord was none other than Fred Trump, father of Donald J. Trump, and the subject matter could have been pulled directly from the campaign of 2016.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #3,047: ‘Knot Comes Loose’ – My Morning Jacket

my_morning_jacket_z‘Knot Comes Loose’ is the penultimate track on My Morning Jacket’s acclaimed 2005 album, Z. I first jumped on the MMJ bandwagon with the release of 2008’s Evil Urges and later bought Z to catch up on the band’s catalog.

This album didn’t grab me right away and, though I have bought a couple of My Morning Jacket releases in recent years, I abandoned any possibility of going all fanboy over them.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #3,045: ‘Backwards Blues’ – Adia Victoria

adia_victoriaOur final anti-Trump song of the week comes courtesy of Adia Victoria, a “gothic blues” singer-songwriter based in Nashville.

This is one of the better songs in the 30 Days, 30 Songs project, both in concept and execution. Victoria’s track is a mournful acknowledgement that Trump’s success proves nearly half the country is, to quote our next president, deplorable.

Continue reading →

by

Song of the Day #3,044: ‘Clockwork’ – Sam Cohen

sam_cohenI noticed today that 30 Days, 30 Songs re-branded itself recently to 30 Days, 40 Songs. I guess they’ve had no problem finding artists willing to submit songs bashing Donald Trump.

Today’s selection, like so many of these, is from an artist new to me. Sam Cohen is a Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter who has performed as a solo artist and with a couple of bands over the past seven years. He has a nice sound.

Continue reading →