GRAMMY Songs

Billy MF Strings, Rufus Wainwright, Zach Bryan, and Taylor Swift

The best songs will never get sung

The best life never leaves your lungs

So good you won't ever know

You'll never hear it on the radio

Can't hear it on the radio

—Wilco. The Late Greats

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We get the sentiment, Tweedy, but it’s GRAMMYs weekend, and the Swap is accepting of anything that bops. So this week Ben, Jonathan, and Kody each chose a GRAMMY-nominated artist. Funny enough, we selected artists who fit our middle-aged dad vibe.

Stick around for a great Bonus Track from a young millennial in tune with what the kids love.

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1. California Sober by Billy Strings - featuring Willie Nelson (Jonathan)

There are almost 60 years that separate Billy Stings (real name William Lee Apostol) and Willie Nelson, but their combined 120 years have given this duo a Grammy nomination for Best American Roots Song with California Sober. Billy, a younger talent with a mature voice, and Willie, one of my favorite artists that I am sure to highlight on a later Swap, are also both nominated separately for Best Bluegrass Album.

Also available on Apple Music.

2. Heading for Home by Rufus Wainwright - featuring John Legend (Ben)

Wainwright is nominated for Best Folk Album, Folkocracy (2023). As a kid who moved every 2-4 years until I was married and had kids, I have an elusive relationship with “home.” I think the longing everyone carries for home is captured in the tone and lyrics of this song. Plus, songwriter Peggy Seeger sneaks one of my favorite words “unfurled” into a verse. While I would not immediately put Legend and Wainwright together, it works (especially the end).

Also available on Apple Music.

3. I Remember Everything by Zach Bryan - featuring Kacey Musgraves (Kody)

The second I heard this Best Country Duo/Group Performance and Best Country Song nomination I was hooked. Like many country greats, it’s full of heartbreak, hurt, and regret, all caused by the bottom of one too many bottles. I’m just going to leave you with some of its one-liners and call it a day:

“The sand from your hair is blowin' in my eyes
Blame it on the beach, grown men don't cry”

“Strangе words come on out
Of a grown man's mouth when his mind's broke”

“You're drinkin' everything to ease your mind
But when the hell are you gonna ease mine?”

“I wish I didn't, but I do
Remember every moment on the nights with you”

Also available on Apple Music.

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Bonus Track: A Reflection on Taylor Swift’s Anti-Hero by Lucas Hahn

If you’re a Brad, Chad, or dad, you may want to keep scrolling because this week’s bonus track is brought to you by Taylor Swift.

You may be tired of Taylor Swift, especially if you have any association with the NFL, Chiefs, Travis Kelce, or Kansas City, but the Recording Academy certainly isn’t, and honestly neither should you.

Swift’s hit song “Anti-Hero,” nominated for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance (also, it’s on the album Midnights which is up for Record of the Year), reveals a vulnerability and honesty rarely seen by stars of her magnitude. Driven by a 1980s synth-pop melody, the song explores themes like fear, depression, anxiety, and trust over the course of 3:20 through masterful lyricism and reflective thoughtfulness.

On the track, Swift said, “I struggle a lot with the idea that my life has become unmanageably sized and not to sound too dark, but I struggle with the idea of not feeling like a person. This song is a real guided tour throughout all the things I tend to hate about myself.”

Lines like “I’ll stare directly at the sun but never in the mirror,” “Did you hear my covert narcissism I disguise as altruism like some kind of congressman?,” or “it’s me, hi, I’m the problem, it’s me” address the tendency we all have as humans to be overly self-critical, to mask our shortcomings, and to seek security through self-preservation.

And that’s what I really enjoy about the song. Her ability to deliver a bop saturated with contemplative heart-level struggles is unmatched.

Should she win Record of the Year? We’ll let the Recording Academy decide, but it’s refreshing to be able to relate to the most iconic musical talent of my generation.

Note: Swift could possibly enjoy a historic 2024 GRAMMY Awards on Sunday. Currently tied with Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra, and Paul Simon with three Album of the Year awards, if her album “Midnights” wins Album of the Year, she’ll break the record for the most wins of all time. (She already holds the record for the first and only woman to win it three times).

For More Listening Pleasure: If you’re not already listening to the Acquired podcast, what are you doing? Just kidding, but seriously. The Acquired podcast tells the stories and strategies of great companies. I got hooked because of their Costco episode (solidly in my Costco era right now). They released an episode on the “business” of Taylor Swift covering her early years, the battle for her masters, and her ascendance to icon status. It’s such a good listen!

Grammys Honorable Mention: One of this year’s nominees for Best Gospel Album, The Maverick Way by Maverick City Music, includes a song that I literally cannot turn off. Forrest Frank, member of Surfaces, has a solo career that’s taken off in the last year with bop after bop. His single “No Longer Bound” is covered by Maverick City on their album and is worthy of a listen ASAP (as are many of his other singles).

“Even in the valley of the shadow of death, I can take rest 'cause the living God is living in my chest”

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Lucas Hahn is the biggest advocate for St. Louis (where he lives with his wife, two kids, and dog) you’ll ever meet. Let him be your tour guide the next time you’re passing through the "Gateway to the West." Lucas’ first dance with his wife Sam was Tenerife Sea by Ed Sheeran and his favorite running song is 100 Bad Days by AJR.

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Enjoy the GRAMMYs!

-TheMusicSwap