Wild Wednesday Morning Shuffle - Mexican Eagle Mix

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I am back.  I had an extra extended long weekend - to recuperate from whatever it is I need to recuperate from.    I am back and it is Wild Wednesday.  We have a pretty wild one today.

By the way, some behind the scenes technical information.  I got a new phone over the long weekend, and so this was officially the first shuffle off the new phone.  I did have to recreate my playlist. So the Trending Thursday shuffle tomorrow will be the first from the new Trending playlist.  I had to recreate it from memory.

I have not tried to recreate the Featured Friday playlist, and I am thinking of taking a different approach with that one. More on that later.

Let's get right to the shuffle!

 Tim Henderson @ Kerrville Folk Festival Photo: Bill Nash

2018 E2TG Earie Awards - # 10 - Recap October 2018

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


I  hope everyone is having a good holiday season or at least making it through,,,,

Best laid plans... well, I had timed it out so that I could recap January through November - one month at a time to end on my last day of work for the year, which was December 21.  Unfortunately, in between I had a couple of days where I didn't have time to finish and post my shuffle.  Meanwhile, my holiday has flown by and now here we are on the last day of the year.  So, let me see what I can do.

Today's shuffle - which I listened to back on the 20th is from October 2018.

November 2018 recap should follow shortly, if all goes as planned - which it rarely does.

Trending Tuesday Morning Shuffle - Famous to Me Mix

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All of this happened a long time ago when the world was a very different place. Of course, none of us knew that at the time.
(From The Drift - A Novel by Joe Wolfe-Mazeres) Available at Amazon.com (Kindle edition also available)

If you have read The Drift, please consider writing a review on Amazon. If you haven't read it, you can get your own copy through Amazon or if you are in Nashville, you can get them from me.

I am continuing to work on my Spotify playlists for E2TG.  So far, I have completed seven - January - July2018.  These are meant to be a cross-section of music I featured during those months - not necessarily music released in those months.   If you are interested, you can check out the playlists (links below)  and follow my personal profile to find out when new playlists are created.

E2TG January 2018
E2TG February 2018
E2TG March 2018
E2TG April 2018 
E2TG May 2018
E2TG June 2018
E2TG July 2018
E2TG August 2018 (coming soon!)
E2TG September 2018  (coming soon!)

SAVE THE DATE!!!!!  Thursday, November 15, 2018 - We have a pretty cool event in the works.  More to come!


The other night, I found myself, lamenting my lot in life or at least some aspects of my lot in life. Almost automatically, I started to mentally tick off a list of things that are good about my life. This wasn't always an automatic response. It literally took me years, and it's still not always automatic - but it often kicks in fairly quickly.  In religion, they call it "counting your blessings", in the recovery communities, they call it "a gratitude list". The thing is, more often than not, it works for me. 

An aside, I am aware that for some with serious issues of clinical depression or other conditions, the solution is rarely this simple. But, it is one tool (among many) that just may help.

Regardless of all the hard times, bad decisions, pain, and struggles that it took for me to be where I am, the fact is, I am a music fan - who has a choice to go see great live music anytime I want to.  I have a music blog that allows me to meet all sorts of cool people from all over the world.

I also have a radio show that I have been doing for over two years with one of my favorite people in the world (Sue Havlish) on the BEST RADIO STATION in Nashville (as voted by the Readers of the Nashville Scene - for the second year in a row!!!!!!!). That is amazing.

So, while my life is so far from perfect that I can't even imagine what perfect looks like, it is still pretty damn good.

Onward, we move back into the "New Music" playlist.  We have a few "first listens" and overall, a pretty wild and diverse shuffle - so, let's do it!

Trending Thursday Morning Shuffle - And the Band Played On Mix

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TONIGHT! 

Come on out to see Brian Milligram, Darrin Bradbury, and The Coal Men.  As an added bonus, I will be reading a short section from my novel, The Drift.  It is an early show (6-8:30) a low ($5.00) cover, and the food truck will be open if you want to eat a bite. As always in Nashville, there is a ton of stuff going on.  I hope you will make the E2TG Anniversary show - a part of your pre-weekend Summer Solstice plans.  It's the longest day of the year, so don't say you don't have time. \


Remember, next week,we wrap up the month-long residency with Joanna Barbera, Bee Taylor, and Eli Cook!


Okay - let's get right into today's shuffle. It is Thursday.  We always shuffle up our "New Music" playlist on Thursday, and today is no exception.

What you may or may not know is that some time in the past, E2TG would post cover songs on Thursdays. This was before, I started getting so much new music that I needed to add more to focus on the new music coming my way. The reason I mention this today is... well just check out the first four songs of the shuffle....

Featured Friday Morning Shuffle - No No No But Yes Mix

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Well, country music was saved last night, thanks to Buck N Stuff.  Their CD release show for their live album Saviors of Country Music: Live at The American Legion Post 82 was held at The American Legion Post 82.  There was lots of Buck and a fair amount of Stuff to be had. The awesome Brandy Zdan opened the show. It had been a minute since I saw her perform, and it was a good reminder of how good she is.  She was playing songs from her forthcoming album which judging by her performance is going to be amazing.

It's time for our Featured Friday shuffle... The thing I love about playing random shuffles for my daily posts, is the weird things that happen with randomness. If you look at yesterday's shuffle and today's, it might be hard to believe that they came from the same playlist of songs.  Yesterday's shuffle was dominated by  EDM, industrial, punk, and jazz music. Today's is almost exclusively singer-songwriters (albeit each very unique and different).  I don't plan this - it just happens...

Let's shuffle!

Wild Wednesday Morning Shuffle - Things U Do Mix

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Well, it's mid-week, and it's a rainy day in Nashville.  I had a good time last night. I checked out a showcase at The Basement with an incredible songwriter - Angie Aparo. He was playing with a full band. Great songs, a great voice, and some very original arrangements.

After that, I ended up at $2 Tuesday again.  Saw greats sets from Ayleen O, Wade Sapp, and Trisha Ivy plus an extended late set from host Derek Hoke and his always amazing band that this week included pedal steel great Paul Niehaus.

Well it is Wednesday, and on Wednesday - we shuffle from all of the songs in my phone's memory. We call it Wild Wednesday - because it like a wild card - you can expect anything: new music, classic tunes, E2TG favorites from blogs posts gone by, and other tunes that made their way through various routes on my phone memory card.

The results.... well, let's just say that you are unlikely to find this combination of songs/artists anywhere but E2TG.

Featured Friday Morning Shuffle - Mother Earth Mix

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I feel like the week is just starting and now it is over. :-)

I still have a ton of submissions to dig through, but I already have a large "New Music Playlist". So, let's knock some songs off that list.

Just some housecleaning/reminders:  Most days, the shuffle comes from MP3s of songs I have saved on my phone. It's what I listen to on my way to work.  (Monday - I used a special Music City-centric Spotify playlist.

Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday are dedicated to featuring songs from my "New Music" playlist. These are almost always music that was sent to me through various channels (directly from artists, through publicists, etc).

I do not often do album reviews (I would love to, but time ends up being an issue).  By featuring music like I do through shuffles - it gives me a chance to write about albums in-depth over time. It's kind of my thing.

I do, on occasion, do video and song premiers - when opportunities and time allows.

I'm not super picky about submission methods. I accept CDs and/or downloadable links/files. MP3 (320) would be my preference for electronic submissions.  The problem I have with WAVs is that either have to convert them to MP3 or I don't have complete meta data, and I end up with files I can't identify.

I am located in Nashville, Tennessee - and in recent years, there is a definite Nashville leaning but I welcome submissions from anywhere, and I try to be as diverse as possible - so I have no limits on genres or styles. Over the years, I have covered about every genre I know of and a few I didn't even know about. And I love hearing new things.

Here you will find a fair amount of "Americanaish" music - roots-influenced, blues, folk, country. But, you will also hear punk, metal, experimental, hip-hop, shoegaze, shitgaze, power pop, rock (of various flavors), electronic music, instrumental music (of various flavors), and more.

I believe in connections - both obvious and obscure.  I tend to focus on more under-the-radar type artists. Lately, I have had the good fortune to get some new music from higher-profile artists (at least in my limited realm).

Oh, and I create a YouTube playlist to match each day's shuffle.  The purpose is not specifically to showcase music videos, but it provides a simple for readers to stream the music they are reading about.  I used to be able to embed the Video Playlist directly into my post, but You Tube "improved" that feature away, so now I provide a link.

When I cannot find a video for the specific song featured, I try to substitute a relevant video by the same artist.  When possible, if a video for the song is not found, but I can find a link to stream the song being featured, I will include that in my post (like I did today) 

That's enough... let's shuffle!

Rare Saturday Shuffle - Heart of a Saturday Afternoon Mix

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Well, it's been a little while. Thanks for bearing with me during my brief time away. I will be back to regular posting on Thursday, but I thought I would take a few minutes on this Saturday to listen to some songs from my "New Music Playlist".  I shuffled up the playlist while I did some errands, and I ended up with 17 tracks. I will be rather brief, but if you hear or read about something you like - be sure to dig deeper and shoot me a line if you have any questions.

Featured Friday Morning Shuffle - Diamond Feast Mix

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Another week bites the dust... it's been a challenging one, to be sure.

I'm very excited about all of the awesome new music that has come my way, and I am cooking up some exciting things. Keep coming back!

I do need to let you know that posting will be sporadic at best over the next two weeks.  I will try to dart on with some updates just to keep things interesting. In the meantime, I hope you will check out my past posts for any you may have missed.  Thanks in advance for your patience.

Now, let's get to today's "Featured Friday" shuffle of songs from the "New Music" playlist. 

Featured Friday Morning Shuffle - Feedback Downerzzz Mix

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Well, we've reached the end of another work week and another week of shuffles.  I haven't had a normal five day work week in almost a month, and I am going to be taking some time off at the end of January, first part of February - more on that later....

I've been thinking about E2TG quite a bit. It has been a part of my life for going on seven years. In the beginning, I stated a philosophy and even though much has changed in those seven years, I still try to stick as close to that philosophy.  I recognized early one that I could never "compete" with some of major music sites in terms of covering all the "hot" or "hip" or whatever music. So, I set my sights on featuring music you may not be reading about in those brand x blogs. What that has meant has changed somewhat but not entirely. In recent months, I have had the opportunity to feature some artists that would have never thought possible before.

What thrills me more than anything is the diversity of music that I am able to feature and write about. For me, that is more than a philosophy or modus operandi, it is an imperative. Since I first got interested in music, I have had an almost insatiable appetite for more and different music - always aware of the sometimes obscure thread that runs through it all.

With that being said (whatever it was I said), I have a wonderful and diverse set of songs that came up randomly in my shuffle of my new music playlist. Yesterday - there were only six songs in the shuffle - today, we have twelve.

Trending Tuesday Morning Shuffle - Big Drum, Small Axe Mix

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Well, yesterday was a holiday.  I was going to try to post something, but I ended up spending a large portion of my day at the eye doctor.  Then, I went into work today (and listened to the shuffle below while traversing the snowy roads of Nashville with people who do and do not know how to drive in snowy conditions.  Then, around eleven, pretty much everyone decided to go home, so I slipped and slid down the hill to my car and made my way home where I am writing this post.

Anyway, it's extremely cold, and I am sipping on a hot beverage.

I have to give a huge shout out to everyone who made it out Saturday for my birthday bash.  Special thanks to those who bought me beer and to those who unexpectedly brought me presents, and extra special thanks to Conrad y Skordalia, Danny Henry, and Nelson, Zimmerman, and Quinn for providing great music.

Onward and upward - as they say...  By the way, several songs in this shuffle are brand new and/or not yet released, so I could not find the videos for the exact song in some cases. I have tried to post a video to represent each song, and where possible, I have provided link or embeds for the song featured. In a couple of cases, you will have to wait until release to hear some of the songs.  In any case, let's go!