Whitney Fenimore & Addison Agen

Punching Bag

Stream (single)

2023

I’ve had this on repeat for the last two weeks. It is still a single, but I look forward to the day the album is released.

Steve Earl

Essential Steve Earl

CD

1993 

I listened to Steve Earl while reading a book. I had to set the book aside and grab my iPad to follow the lyrics. I came away with a deeper appreciation for Steve Earl and his music and lyrics as a weaver of tales. I want to get some of his albums to soak in his music deeper than I can on a best-of album.

Listening to the stories Steve Earl put to music got me thinking about other musicians who are spinners of yarns. Being in a bit of a county-western groove, I put my money down on Corb Lund and his excellent album 5 Dollar Bill. Corb’s albums are pretty much filled with story songs.

Corb Lund

5 Dollar Bill

CD

2002

 Bob Dylan

Rough And Rowdy Ways

CD

2020

Mr.Dylan received a Nobel Prize for writing, so putting him on this blog should be easy. No, it wasn’t that easy. He is a prolific writer and does some story songs, but most songs are just that. He does write darn good music, but I had to do some searching and remembering when it comes to story songs. My first stop was at my favourite Dylan album, Desire. This album is more like a book set to music. The opening song is Hurricane, the story of Rubin “Hurricane” Carter. It’s a great song and a great story song. I know Dylan has dozens of other story songs, but that would require a long blog to cover them all, so I’ll stop at Desire and Hurricane. Please keep checking back because I have a blog under construction about story songs.

 The Decemberists

The Crane Wife

CD

Colin Meloy is the lead writer for The Decemberists and a fantastic storyteller. Much like Dylan, there are too many to cover in a short blog so I will highlight one album, The Crane Wife. The title song is an homage to a Japanese folk story—two other distinct stories, When the War Came and Shankill Butchers, are included. Much of the Decemberists’ catalogue has stories. I recommend The Hazards of Love as a fantastic story album.

 David Gilmour

David Gilmour

LP

1978

This is the David Gilmour. Yeah, the guy from Pink Floyd. This is his first solo album, recorded in 1978 between Animals (1977) and The Wall (1979). This album is like listening to a Pink Floyd album pieced together from the cutting floor of those two Pink Floyd albums.