Vinyl Revival

Wilderado, Green Day, Lone Bellow, and a musician for millennials

I've got a dusty old pile of vinyl records sittin' on my floor

I've played each one of 'em over and over a dozen times or more

All I've got is a beat up chair a mattress a fork and another to spare

And that dusty old pile of records on my floor

-Todd Snyder

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For the first time since 1987, vinyl records sold more units than CDs. The “Vinyl Revival” is here to stay, and we’re here for it.

Ben Rector, the subject of this week’s Bonus Track, was born a year before the last time the vinyl defeated the CD. Scroll down to celebrate the man who wrote the soundtrack for millennials. But first, here are the songs we’d like to share with you this week. If you’ve missed an edition of the Swap, here’s a playlist (also on Apple Music) featuring all of the songs shared here by Jonathan, Ben, and Kody.

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Surefire by Wilderado (Kody)

The first time I heard this song I was hooked. It’s a song made for the drives with the windows down, rolling with your homies, and shouting at the top of your lungs, “Oh my, oh my. Surefire, yeah, the setting sun is going to set on me.” It’s amazing how a song can take you back to a place and time. This song takes me back to highway drives in Phoenix on my way home from work watching the sun in all its glory settle in its final location. If you’ve been knocked down by the bitter cold of winter, let this song remind you that the warmth of spring is coming.

Also available on Apple Music.

Wake Me Up When September Ends by Green Day (Jonathan)

Over the years I have not really been a Green Day fan—nothing against them, just not my cup o’ tea. Although I did own their first popular album Dookie! (I ordered it through the BMG music club, one of the defunct CD-by-mail gimmicks.)

One song I have enjoyed of theirs is “Wake Me Up When September Ends”. There is one night in particular that solidified the meaning of the song to me. Two seminary roommates of mine, Dees and Moon, were riding around late one evening, and I was in the back seat DJing with one of their iPods. The next song up was this Green Day song, and we were jamming. Well, at that moment, I noticed the clock—it was 11:59pm on September 30! I pointed it out to them as the clock rolled over to October, and we went absolutely crazy. Maybe it’s one of those moments you had to be there for, but it was mass chaos in that vehicle. Anyway, enjoy this song, you have six months before September ends.

Also available on Apple Music.

Homesick by Lone Bellow (Ben)

This song is on one of those text your buddies albums. Lone Bellow stepped it up in my book. Our thread lit up as we listened. It dropped late last fall and has all sorts of big “flavors” (for lack of a better word). This song starts off with such a good feel and the chorus carries a message worth considering. My favorite line: “And all the lightning bugs were lightning just to be.” (What a mesmerizing little creature in our enchanted world.)

Also available on Apple Music.

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Bonus Track: Ben Rector, the Songwriter for the Common Millennial by Shelby Maddox

We millennials are complex. No one wants to identify with us (1981-89 babies I’m looking at you). We spent the first half of our lives without smartphones, yet everyone thinks we were born with an iPhone in hand. We grew up listening to full albums like Alanis Morisette and The Eagles, yet we love the gift of music streaming, which allows us to discover single songs and niche artists, much like a lot of the ones recommended on The Music Swap. At the end of the day, we’re not really sure what we’re known for or who rightly represents us.

When Kody told me about The Music Swap I was pumped. I knew I’d be getting even more exposure to great tunes. Kody was the one who first introduced me to Jason Isbell and I think he’ll end up with an extra diamond on his heavenly crown because of it. I told him the only way I could contribute was if I wrote about the way that Ben Rector has created the soundtrack to the millennial’s life.

So let me tell you about Ben Rector (also a millennial). A songwriter for the common millennial is what I’ve heard him called before - literally just made that up. He’s not mysterious. He doesn’t really mess with symbolism or allegory in his writing. He writes as if your good friend took to Nashville and hit it big. He writes about everyday life that captures the ordinary moments and turns them into a sort of Extraordinary Magic. He writes with his roots in mind. As his Life Keeps Moving On, he writes about it. And by the time Ben releases a record the songs hit us millennials right in the heart of the moment we’re sharing with him. 

When we were in college we were driving to Whataburger at 2am listening to The Beat and Let the Good Times Roll. When school let out we were blaring Thank God For the Summertime. When we were falling in love we had Forever Like That and I Like You to swoon to. Young and married life? The tongue-in-cheek reality of being broke with Crazy. An absolute nostalgic winner, Old Friends, made us text our childhood friends recommitting our friendship to them. As we were growing into the rhythm of marriage he gave us the love ballad Love Like This with the tear-jerking line “it’s funny how everything I dreamed about starts to seem so empty without you.” 

His most recent record, The Joy of Music, then captures essentially everything that describes the millennial’s current situation - Sunday quiches, the Cliches (with Taylor Goldsmith of Dawes) of parenthood being so real, and the honest prayer life with Thank You. 

What if I’m not a millennial, you ask? As we all know, music takes us places. I just shared with you the places Ben’s music takes me. Even if you’re not a millennial, I still think he has somewhere to take you. So if you haven’t already, give his stuff a try. I think you’ll enjoy his music and songwriting. He has written the soundtrack to my life thus far, and I’m happy to dub him the Songwriter for the Common Millennial.

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-TheMusicSwap