Monday Moods: “Vintage Vibes”

Maybe it’s because TNT showed Almost Famous and Taking Woodstock back to back this weekend but I was inspired to pack some vintage, ’70s-style recordings into this week’s Mood, starting with “Songbird Revisited” from Joe Bourdet. Our own Michele Garber profiled Joe earlier this month, illuminating the inspiration behind Meadow Rock, an album that embodies the wistfulness and imperfection of Laurel Canyon troubadours. Says Bourdet, “genres such as folk do not feature perfect pitch. The music isn’t intended for commercial demand. It’s meant to be wild and untamed. Some of the best artists have a distinct style. It’s largely a lost charm.” Next up is Runnner with “Awash,” a track with stacked harmonies so divine it had me dialing up CSNY’s So Far and vibing on “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes.” But when the reverbed guitars mix with the banjo licks, it comes into a spiritual word all its own.

Next up is Katie Pearlman, who dropped her debut EP, Mantra Songs, in late June. “The Exception” captures us with its lyrical twists and turns that detail a fast but fleeting relationship between Pearlman and an older suitor. “The person I wrote this song about is a distant, distant memory, but one that still feels so close to me,” she remembers. “I met him in college at a dinner party during Jazz Fest in New Orleans. He was older (practically twice my age) but our banter was electric. We spoke about music, philosophy, religion. It sparked a year long, life forming, relationship that awoke so many things in me. When it eventually died, I truly felt a part of me died with it.” If that isn’t a timeless tradition for every romantic-in-training, I don’t know what is.

Hazel English dropped her debut album, Wake UP!, in April of 2020, but this recent cover of “California Dreamin’” is an instant throwback classic. Not much more to say about it other than you should add it to your playlist of favorite covers because it’s so worth it. Last up on this week’s Mood is Ben Reddell, a Texas born-and-raised psychedelic LA cowboy who just dropped ¡LA Baby!, his country tome about living that country life in the heart of Los Angeles. Says Reddell of the album, “We went into the studio in December, and we were all really happy and in a good place. I went into it after watching Once Upon A Time In Hollywood, which was a celebration of LA, as much as you can celebrate our demon angel of a city. So the movie kind of filled me with a sense of instilling the tunes with a sense of being in LA, and I feel that comes through.”

Want to add a little more California to your life? Jump over to Spotify and smash the follow button on our “Stay Golden” playlist. Every week we add new tracks by established and up-and-coming musicians from the Golden State. Enjoy!