Trending Thursday Morning Shuffle - TGIW Mix

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After getting behind on Tuesday, I am finally all caught up, so we can have a regularly scheduled, non-rushed shuffle. 

We have a cool shuffle today that includes some first listens that I am really excited about bringing to you.

Let's go!

Wild Wednesday Morning Shuffle - Friends with Benefits Mix

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I am going to link to yesterday's shuffle which didn't get posted until today as to avoid the social media faux pas of making two posts back to back. 

Check out the awesome Trending Tuesday Shuffle.  HERE

Today's Wild Wednesday Shuffle - lives up to the name - as we have songs that span 91 years.

I have to be a little quick so bear with me.

Trending Tuesday Morning Shuffle - Burn it Down Mix

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So, I got sidetracked yesterday and never finished my shuffle for Trending Tuesday.  I have to be quick, but since I already created the video playlist and deleted the songs from my phone, I wanted to go ahead and tell you what I listened to.

Music City Monday Shuffle - 3rd Verse of Bastards of Young Mix

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In case you missed it, we premiered a new song and music video this morning from Nashville band Ghost Town Remedy.  It's a fun video and a great song.  Check it out  HERE.

Anyway, it's good to be back. I was under the weather on Friday.  It's time for a Music City Monday Shuffle.  These are all artists who are or have been associated with Nashville.

Anyway, we have a good one, so let's get started!

E2TG - Song and Video Premiere - Ghost Town Remedy - "Super Glue"

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Let's get this week underway with our first Song/Video Premiere of 2019.  It comes to us via Nashville based band Ghost Town Remedy. Ghost Town Remedy describe themselves as a  Cathartic Indie/Emo/Dad Rock outfit.  "Super Glue" has a massive sound.  The video is a whole lot of fun - a Dungeons and Dragons themed adventure.

The song is out today via all the normal streaming  outlets.

Trending Thursday Morning Shuffle - One Setback at a Time

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I'm back. I had a training away from my office which made it impossible to get the shuffle posted yesterday.  So, we are back with our Trending Thursday. 

We have our usual mixed bag of music and mayhem.  Let's shuffle!

Trending Tuesday Morning Shuffle - Seeing Red Mix

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Here we go again.  It's Trending Tuesday. My time is short - so let's go!

Featured Friday Morning Shuffle - Sop it Up Mix

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I am kind of short on time today, so let's just jump headlong into the Featured Friday shuffle.

I think I'm pretty much done explaining what each days shuffle means so if you have questions, ask.

Trending Thursday Morning Shuffle - Sue was a Charmer Mix

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Sometimes I have random thoughts about society and life and I think, gee, I wish I had a place to share these thoughts besides as  Facebook Status Updates. Then, I remember, hey! I have a blog that I post to every day.  That being said, please feel free to skip my self-indulgent rambling ahead.

*START SELF-INDULGENT RAMBLING*

Lately, there is something I have been pondering. Namely, why so many people seem to devote so much energy to music, movies, books, art, celebrities that they don't like. (For this purpose, I am excluding criticism of current government leaders - however, there is possible still some relevance). I have seen instances were an article appears about a particular band or artist or whatever, and rather heated debate ensues between those who like said artist and those who despise said artist. What is interesting to me is not the debate or posts themselves but the amount of thought and attention that goes into the comments of those who don't like... nee hate... the said artist. Like they offer detailed explanations that demonstrate a deep familiarity with the said artists work. And it seems clear that they devote a significant amount of time, energy, and head-space to the despised artist's work. And, they seem invested in trying to convince fans of said artist that they are "wrong." 

Don't get me wrong, I encourage anyone to listen to music before  dismissing an artist or album whole cloth, but I just can't understand. There are certainly bands and artists that I really do not like. I gave a listen and decided it just wasn't my thing. I don't feel compelled to "straighten out" people who actually like them. I have neither the time, energy, or inclination to dissect and analyze all the reasons I don't like their music. I get if a professional journalist is tasked with this, but as an amateur and more importantly, as a music fan, I don't understand it. There is more good music being produced than I can possibly take in (and arguably I spend more time than the average person listening to new music). If I spend time on the bands I hate, I would have even less time for the bands I love.

And yes, I do recognize the irony of using time and blog-space to even write about this. 

*END SELF-INDULGENT RAMBLING*


Speaking of new music!  I loaded even more new music into my phone last night - including a couple I am really excited to feature coming up soon.

Today is Thursday and it is time to dive back into the "2019 Trending Playlist" of the newest of the new arrivals at E2TG,

Wild Wednesday Morning Shuffle - Day After Tomorrow Blues Mix

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Time moves on... we are half way through the first month of 2019.  I continue to be overwhelmed with a lack of free time + too many commitments + a need for quiet reflective time + anxiety + cool music events to go to + procrastination + existential crises + political and social upheaval + cat memes + social awkwardness +did I mention lack of free time? + money concerns + did I mention cat memes? + not knowing how to end a list of things that seems endless..... whew!

Breathe!  I am right here, right now. I am doing what I am doing - which is writing this blog - and just for this moment, this is what I am supposed to be doing.

It is Wednesday and time to shuffle up all the songs saved to my phone memory card and see what comes out of it!

Let's go!

Trending Tuesday Morning Shuffle - Taken Away Mix

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E2TG's connection to Darrin Bradbury goes back to 2012 when his old band Big Wilson River was a "Featured Artist". What I didn't know is that the band was in their final days, and I never really connected with them - although I had several mutual friends.  Fast forward to late 2013 when one of those mutual friends Papa Tunes (who was a vital part of the early days of E2TG) sent me a message that Darrin was moving to Nashville and that I should keep an eye out for him. I immediately went out and found some music he had out on Bandcamp - mainly a collection of demos called The Almost Great Crepes. I was utterly blown away by his songwriting.

Darrin moved to Nashville with bassist Cameron Carrus (Buck N Stuff, Tim Carroll, Nikki Bluhm etc) and lived for a time in a car in the parking lot of a Wal Mart. He also started playing every open mic in town and meeting fellow musicians and songwriters.

Early 2014, Darrin went out on an extended tour and my life kind of fell apart.  Meanwhile, his songs started showing up in my shuffle - like every day.  Finally, in the Spring of 2014, I met Darrin in person.  In the Fall of 2014, I followed Darrin to open mics of every kind imaginable. Through him, I met a bunch of people. I began to dig myself out of a personal hole and E2TG was revitalized.

We had a lot of late night, early morning conversations when he was working the back door at The 5 Spot.

Last night, on my birthday - no less - I learned (officially) that Darrin had signed to ANTI- Records out of L.A. - the home of Tom Waits, Mavis Staples, Wilco, and so many more. I could not be more proud of him. I claim no part in his success, but I am grateful to have been along for what has been an incredible journey.

As is always the case, the road ahead is filled with unknowns, but I will happily follow along and see where and how it goes.


I need to add - there is no formula for success and I do not consider myself to have any particular skill in assessing who will or will not be a "success" (whatever that term means). I simply write about music I like and love. In the 7 and a half years of E2TG, I have written about artists/bands who I thought were incredible who are now no longer making music. I knew Darrin Bradbury was something special, but I didn't know if anyone else would ever see and know that. I am happy that it appears that some have.


Back to the here and now.   I am super-stoked about the variety and quality of the music in my new "Trending" playlist.  It's Tuesday - so let's shuffle!

Music City Monday Shuffle - Thankful for the Small Things Today Mix

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Back in the early 1990s, before blogs and social media, I used to change my outgoing answering machine message every day.  On January 14, 1993, I used a portion of this song from the self-titled debut album by Cracker. Since then, it has become a (not exactly annual) tradition.  Twenty six years after the first time I used this song, here is "Happy Birthday to Me" by Cracker.  I remain, "Thankful for the Small Things Today".

I will be celebrating tonight at the Radio Cafe with a show featuring Ryan Sobb, Jeremy Ivey, and Darrin Bradbury.  Three of Nashville's finest - a great way to spend the evening.


We have our weekly Music City Monday shuffle.  This is a good one!  Let's get to it!

Featured Friday Morning Shuffle - Such a Jerk Mix

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Well, this post will wrap up the first full work week of 2019.  For those new here, I typically post shuffles every day I'm at work (with a few exceptions). The shuffles are just the random song shuffles of what I listened to on my way to work.

Here is a run down of a typical week at E2TG:

Monday - Music City Monday - a shuffle from a special Spotify playlist of music from people who live or have lived in Nashville. It is the only shuffle that comes from Spotify. I created this just to give a glimpse into Nashville's musically rich past, present, and future.

Tuesday and Thursday - Trending Tuesday and Trending Thursday - a shuffle of the newest of the new songs to the E2TG playlist. This is new for 2019.  I am going to try to keep this playlist fairly small and rotate music in and out more often.

Wednesday - Wild Wednesday - a shuffle of ALL the songs saved to my phone memory card. This shuffle can be anything from new stuff, classic songs, rare/weird tracks, songs ripped from CDs I've owned for up to 30 years.

Friday - Featured Friday - This shuffle comes from the "Featured Friday" playlist.  This list is also kind of new. It is basically the old "New Music" playlist (music submissions from late 2017 to 2018, but it also includes all music from the Trending playlist, plus any new to me music I get which doesn't fit the "Trending" designation - for example - I got a mix CD for a friend over the holidays - that is included here, I received a CD as a gift - that is included here.


The Video Playlist - every day there is a shuffle, I create a Video Playlist (a YouTube Playlist) as a representative playlist for the daily shuffle.  The approach I generally take is,  if I find an "Official Video" in my cursory search, I include that video, if not, if there is one of those automatically generated videos, I include that, otherwise, I include interesting live clip of the song or at last resort - I will include a "fan-made" video.  If I cannot find a video of the song at all - which sometimes happens - especially if the song is from an upcoming release, I pick a different song to represent. Rarely (although it happened yesterday), I cannot find any video by the artist in question, in which case I just skip the song.

The video playlist is really just a convenient way for E2TG readers to hear a playlist similar to the one I listened to on my commute.


Now, let's shuffle!

Trending Thursday Morning Shuffle - True or Not Mix

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I know some people may get tired of me saying this... and I freely admit, Nashville is the only music town I know really well... and I know there are extraordinary music makers all over the world...however, I continue to be blown away by the depth and breadth of the musicians and music here in the Music City.

Last night, I arrived at The 5 Spot at 6pm and left a little after midnight.  During that time, I saw five different bands.  Jim Hoke - who I think is the most inventive and creative minds around - highlighted songs from his new album backed by an incredible collection of musicians, singers, and guests. Interspersed throughout the good sized crowd, was a veritable who's who of Nashville songwriting and musician greats.  Jim Hoke is the mastermind behind the visionary group Aqua Velvet and he is also a multi-instrumentalist who backs many other talented folks.

The late show - featured four bands. Lakehouse Boys went on first, I was very impressed by their pop-oriented sound and on-stage humor. The band features one of the regular sound men from The 5 Spot as wells as a member of the band Boy Named Banjo.  Born Animals was next. Despite some technical problems that shortened their set time, I really liked their high energy punkish sound.   Timothy George aka The Singing Butcher was next - backed by an amazing band. George is one of my favorite songwriters in town, and it has been a little while since I have seen him with a full band.  E2TG Band of the Year, The Big Dumb, closed the night with a typically manic/amazing set of songs. I have already said a lot about them this week, so suffice it to say, I was not in the least bit disappointed by last nights show.

Now, it is time to dig back into our newish "Trending Playlist" - some of the more recent additions to the E2TG playlist. Let's do it!

Wild Wednesday Morning Shuffle - Wherefore Art Thou? Mix

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I am sometimes asked (not really, I just wanted to tell you) why "Wild Wednesday"?  Well, to my way of thinking, we've made it this far through the week and that is worth celebrating. So, on Wednesday, we open up and shuffle music from all the songs saved to my phone. The songs on my phone include current and previous featured music, songs from legacy E2TG favorites, other music from my personal collection, and random music files that came my way but didn't meet the criteria to be featured music.  The shuffle always ends up being a lot of fun and usually a little wild.  The "wild" in wild Wednesday, however, is a reference to a "wildcard" in that this shuffle be anything.

Let's jump right into the shuffle!

Trending Tuesday Morning Shuffle - Bayou Lady Mix

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Now that 2018 has been wrapped up tight, let's move back into our Trending music for 2019.  Today's shuffle comes from the new "Trending" playlist - which is new music we added in November 2018 or later.  Not sure how often I will refresh this playlist, but I want to limit the size of it. 

We have a bunch of first listens today, so let's jump right into the shuffle!

Music City Monday Shuffle - Gaza to Paris Mix

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In case you missed it, we had two final 2018 posts including the Bands and Artists of the Year which were posted over the last two days.  Below are the links:

1. Penultimate Earie Shuffle 
2. 2018 Fimale - Bands and Artists of the Year (plus one)

Now we can get back to 2019.  Today, we have our first Music City Monday Shuffle of the new year. 

The name "Music City" is traced back to 1950 when it was used by WSM-AM announcer David Cobb. Nearly eighty years earlier, Queen Victoria, herself, upon hearing the Fisk Jubilee singers, is quoted as saying, "These young people must surely come from a musical city."

Truly, I am willing to put Nashville up against any city in the world for the depth and breadth of the talent.

The Music City Monday playlist (Spotify:Music City Monday) was made to showcase a good cross-section of that music past and present. Every artist in the shuffle is connected to Nashville - even though a particular recorded included by pre-date or post-date their time here. My logic is that every artists adds to the music culture of our fair city when they come and leaves changed in some way by their time here.

Without further ado - let's get right to the shuffle!

E2TG 2018 Artists and Bands of the Year (Final 2018 Post)

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Here's a little truth for you: periodically, I have moments of doubt about continuing to do E2TG.  It usually gets worse toward the end of the year. Truth is, E2TG takes up a fair amount of my time, and I time is often in limited supply. So, when money gets tight or time gets tight or mercury is in retrograde or whatever, I find myself thinking, maybe now is the time to call it quits.

Then comes December and for the last three years the Earie Awards. To me it was just a silly idea and a way to recap the year, but I have found it means something to many of the recipients. and the responses I have gotten have been very affirming of what I do.

About the money thing: about four years ago, I took a look at if it would be possible to make E2TG a money-making endeavor. I came to the conclusion that I could not do it and have E2TG be what I want it to be.  This is not say that anyone doing what I do who makes money is doing something wrong. Some of my decision was based on my situation.  Anyway, the advantage about it not being about money means I can truly do what I want to do. Which is help bring attention to great music - much of which may fly under the radar.

Since 2014, there has been more of a local Nashville connection, but I have made a point of also featuring music from all over the world.  The fact is, there is likely enough music here in Nashville to sustain a blog, but to me, putting such a limitation would be constricting.

Prior to 2014, to be honest, I was not at all connected to the Nashville music community, and E2TG reflected that as the majority of my posts were about non-Nashville bands.

Which brings us to the Artists and Bands of the Year award - or like I have dubbed them - the Golden Earies.

Some history (skip if you know about the history of E2TG Band/Artist of the Year):

When  E2TG began in May 2011, I had to go out find bands to write about. I would pick one band every week to write about as our "Band of the Week". When the end of 2011 came, I had a list of 30 something Bands of the Week. I got this silly idea to run a "Readers Poll" to select a Band of the Year. It was silly because I honestly didn't have many "Readers" to poll.  So, I ran the poll, and people responded. My page views shot up, it was a tight race, but the poll software I used was pretty wide open and there was some definitely ballot stuffing. Anyway, a band from UK The Mobbs were the winner. 

The Band of the Year as so much fun, I got a better program for running a poll, and I started the Band of the Month poll - this ran for about a year. At the end of 2012, all 12 Bands of the Month plus some Wildcards competed for the Band of the Year.  A great Upstate New York band called Skeletons in the Piano won that award.  By early 2013, I was burned out on the polls. Basically, I didn't want bands expending energy trying to get fans to vote in a silly poll. So, I stopped the polls. For a while, I had Featured Artists every month.  And at the end of 2013, I named then Brooklyn band, The End Men as Band of the Year.

2014 was a year of upheaval in my life and a transition for E2TG. At the end of that year, there was no question that Darrin Bradbury would be Artist of the Year.  It was equally obvious in 2015 that Jon Latham was the choice for Artist of the Year. 

 E2TG continued to grow and expands. 2016 came and I simply could not select one Band or Artist. So, I decided to name 3 - Band of the Year and Artists of the Year - divided between Nashville and non-Nashville.  Brian Wright and Jason P. Krug were named Artists of the Year (Nashville and non-Nashville respectively). Valued Customer from Toronto won Band of the Year. d

Last year, I expanded the award again to 4 (Bands and Artists of the Year - Nashville and non):  Rayvon Pettis and Ladies Gun Club won for Nashville Artist and Band, and Ugggy (of Valued Customer) and The Foresters (won for non-Nashville).  

End of history lesson:

Which brings to the present (or recent past). 2018 was a year of unprecedented growth for E2TG in terms of the number of artists and bands we featured.  In keeping with our new tradition, for the second year in a row, we have four awards (in the categories explained above and below). There is not one factor that leads me to this decision - rather it is a combination of things.

So, without any more ado - here are the 2018 Golden Earie Awards:

E2TG 2018 Earies: Penultimate Mix

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The Drift - A Novel by Joe Wolfe-Mazeres Available at Amazon.com (Kindle edition also available)


As I have implied several times during the posting of the 2018 Earie Awards, there are two keywords for this year on E2TG: Growth and diversity. The amount of new music that came my way in 2018 was incredible and at times almost overwhelming. One morning, I looked at my e-mail and realized that I had received ten inquiries/submissions before noon (maybe before ten). I was able to feature more artists and bands then ever before - even so I know some worthy music slipped by me.

When it came time to do my recap of 2018 (which is what my "Earie" awards really is), I was once again overwhelmed. (Maybe overwhelmed should be a keyword for 2018). During the year, I started creating playlists on Spotify to highlight the music featured each month. It was an imperfect system - not all music I feature is on Spotify, but it was something. So, when it came time to do the Earies, I decided to use those playlist and fall back on the bread and butter of E2TG (the shuffle). All throughout December, we revisited each month and awarded Earie Awards - about 90 in total.

As you might expect, even with featuring 90 artists and bands from throughout the year, there were still some that didn't get included. The shuffles were random. I don't have time to recap all the great music that didn't make it into an Earie shuffle. I wish I did, but I am eager to get on with the new year.

Still, I have a short list of about nineteen bands and artists that I wanted to be sure to mention.

Read a bit more after the jump.

Featured Friday Morning Shuffle - The Devil Mix

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Okay - expect two posts over the weekend to wrap-up 2018.  I have one final Earie Award post - for all the ones that didn't come through during the eleven Earie posts I made in December.  Then, we have the highly anticipated 2018 "Golden Earie" Awards for Bands and Artists of the Year.  Who will it be?  Check back with us later this weekend.

Now, we wrap-up our first week of shuffles for 2019.  This is Featured Friday.  From today until further notice, Friday will be only day in which our shuffle comes from the large "Featured Music" playlist.  Essentially, this list will be all the music from the New Music playlist used last year, plus any new music submitted to E2TG, plus any other music acquired.

Let's get to it!

Trending Thursday Morning Shuffle - The Resistance Mix

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E2TG moves into 2019. 

First of all I know I still owe you all two posts for 2018.  I have a Earie wrap-up post mostly done and then the all important Golden Earie Awards. Realistically, it will be this weekend before those get done. 

However, last night, I got caught up on a ton of new music that has come my way over the last month or so. I loaded over 300 songs into my phone.   For 2019, I have created a new "Trending" playlist for Trending Tuesday and Trending Tuesday. This is all music received since around November 2018 or later. That playlist stood at 313 songs at the beginning of today.

The previous "New Music" playlist has been re-dubbed the "Featured" playlist. This will be a constantly expanding playlist of music that has come my way. It has all the music from the previous New Music playlist plus some music accumulated in November and December that wasn't submission. (For example, I got a CD from a gift exchange and I got an annual mix CD from a friend) - those went into the "Featured" playlist but not the "Trending" playlist.  However, I should point out that all the music added to the "Trending Playlist" went into the "Featured Playlist".

So today, is Thursday so the shuffle came from the newly created "Trending playlist"

Bottom line, it's all good.  Listen to music!  Let's shuffle!

Wild Wednesday Morning Shuffle - Law and Order Mix

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The Drift - A Novel by Joe Wolfe-Mazeres Available at Amazon.com (Kindle edition also available)


Well, I still have a couple more posts (one done and one not done) to go to finish off 2018, but it is 2019 and I am back to work.  So... here is our first shuffle of 2019. It is Wednesday - so let's get wild! It's been a little while since we did a Wild Wednesday shuffle - which is where we shuffle all the songs in my phone.

I have a huge collection of music to add to the mix to begin 2019. This is music accumulated from late November until now that I didn't get a chance to upload in December. I'll hopefully be getting that done tonight.

For now, let's shuffle!