Introducing The Music Swap

“When you write a song you don’t know what ghosts are going to come out of it.”

-John Prine

Hello, welcome to The Music Swap where we share about songs and the ghosts they bring out.

The late John Prine wrote a song about the late John Garfield called “The Late John Garfield Blues” from the album Diamonds in the Rough. In a songbook called Beyond Words, Prine tells a behind-the-music esque story about the song.

Prior to the release of Diamonds in the Rough, Prine shared the album with Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolige. They had just bought a house together and borrowed a record player to listen to the album. When the song The Late John Garfield Blues, which makes mention of Franklin Street, came on, the power in the house went out. The house Kirstofferson and Coolige bought just so happened to be on Franklin Street. And if that weren’t strange enough, they later found out that John Garfield had once lived at the house. Songs, as Prine mentions, bring out all kinds of ghosts in us.

The OG Music Swap is a text thread between Ben Dockery, Jonathan Berry, and Kody Gibson. There are all kinds of text threads you need in your life. This one is primarily for sharing songs and artists we love and how they tell the truth, bring awareness, and get us through the day. We talk about the ghosts that come out of them. And sometimes we just love to celebrate a great sounding tune.

We recently felt compelled to extend The Music Swap to our friends and beyond without blowing up our phones (and yours). So, if you want to receive a Friday morning email to help you set your end-of-the-week playlist, then subscribe to our newsletter. Here’s what you can expect each week:

• A song quote to kick things off

• Ben, Jonathan, and Kody will try to provide a song recommendation for your Friday playlist

• Bonus track! Every now and then we’ll provide some bonus content like extended writing on an artist or song, a featured playlist, and more

• A comment option at the end of each newsletter where you can share the songs moving you on any given week

• A playlist that captures all the songs we share in case you miss an email

Thank you for reading The Music Swap!

Alabama Pines by Jason Isbell (Ben)

Somebody take me home, through those Alabama Pines.

Songs often take us to specific places. The place you first heard the song. The place the songs describes. Maybe it’s church or a high school dance. Other times, songs take us to a shared emotion - roll the windows down pop songs, nostalgic country lyrics, or just a great, sad break up song.

Jason Isbell’s Alabama Pines does both. He tells a specific story of roads and store names near his hometown. In doing so, he provides a shared sense of trying to discover who we are and who knows our name.

I love this song and the first time I heard it, it took me home.

Also on YouTube and Apple Music

Empty Hearts by Josh Ritter (Kody)

This is a New Year’s banger and hands down my favorite New Year’s song. Move over Death Cab for Cutie. It’s a song thick with nostalgia and longing. As you listen, you’ll journey through the perspective of a lonely soul who “pretends the night could just bend on forever” while drinking with his friends. In the end, he discovers that “all of these empties” are too much for a man with “empty arms, empty hands” which triggers his plea to avoid a new year with an empty heart. You can’t hear this song without feeling and singing:

Don’t let me into this year with an empty heart, with an empty heart

Don’t let me into this year with an empty heart

Also on YouTube and Apple Music

And It’s Still Alright by Nathaniel Rateliff (Jonathan Berry)

Nathaniel Rateliff is one of my favorite artists, especially when he is releasing songs with his group Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats.

However, And It’s Still Alright, comes from one of his solo albums by the same name. This entire album, filled with sad lows and a few highs, was written out of great loss in his life—the death of his friend and producer, and his divorce. Released almost three years ago in February of 2020, he didn’t know what a period of great loss was to hit a month later (I was actually supposed to see him that April, but the show was, of course, canceled).

This song as the title track was therapeutic for him as he dealt with his losses. While much of the album is sad, you still get several of his soaring vocals that come out of nowhere, which is one of the reasons he’s one of my top artists.

While I definitely prefer the much more upbeat rock/soul/jazzy sound when he’s with his group, I thought this was a good place to start as we get get close to the three year mark of the pandemic’s start.

He’s an artist that I can listen to every song he has, so be sure to check out more, especially the Night Sweats.

Also on YouTube and Apple Music

Bonus Track - Your Musician Mount Rushmore

Who’s on yours? Lucky for me (Kody) our first newsletter features all of the artists on my Mt. Rush - John Prine, Jason Isbell, Josh Ritter, and now Ruston Kelly.

There’s no-one like Ruston. The best way to describe his music, using his own words, is dirt-emo. By that I think he means a fusion of country/folk/americano and EMO, which is absolutely brilliant and probably why I like him so much - he has found a way to wed the raw emotional sounds of my youth with the music and lyrical style of my middle-aged dad life. I don’t know if there is a more self-deprecating what-you-see-is-what-you-get songwriter out there.

I could write for a long time about Ruston. His music has shaped me more than any other artist over these last 2-3 years. One memory stands out at the moment - me and my family in our van driving across the country to Phoenix, AZ, still reeling from a lost job and removal from all we knew as home, me singing (maybe screaming) with Ruston: LET IT BURN UNDER THE SUN!!! And burn it did. “Under the Sun” would become a tale for two remarkable years of healing in the Valley of the Sun.

I’ll spare you an essay. Here are some reasons to check out Ruston:

• I’ve already said it, but the music. Great steel guitar melodies, distinct raspy-like voice, songs that start out folky but end up throw-up-your-fist-anthem rocky.

• He writes very very very honestly about addiction and recovery. If you want to step into the shoes of an addict, listen to Ruston. If you want to step into the shoes of a recovering addict, listen to Ruston.

• Related, but different, Ruston will invite you to face your demons. Even if you’ve never struggled with substance abuse, you’ll relate to Ruston’s well documented grappling with the pain that led him to seek his medication. You’ll find yourself more self-aware and hopeful after journeying with him through both descent and ascent.

• Fun fact: Ruston’s dad is named Tim and goes by TK. He plays the steel guitar on tour with Ruston. From Ruston’s song, Paratrooper’s Battlecry, “And I remember what TK said: ‘You can't steer no boat by looking back at the wake.’”

This week Ruston released the title track of his forthcoming album, The Weakness. Boy is it a real banger. “We don’t give into the weakness.” Enjoy!!!

Back to the question, who is on your songwriter Mt. Rush? Reply to the email or leave a comment with yours. Last thing - we’re creating a playlist that captures all the songs we mention in case you miss a newsletter. Here you go.

-TheMusicSwap

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