Tag: Folk Monday

Folk Music Rotation – Week of July 7, 2025

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Orinally Posted Under Folk Monday Now Located Under Folk Friday

Each Monday, I survey the Folk Music Charts and pick the albums I’d like to listen to over the rest of the week. I give each one a quick listen — sometimes just a few seconds is enough to know it’s for me. Sometimes it takes a track or two. I always hope to find a few old friends and a few brand new discoveries.

Here is this week’s Folk and Americana rotation. I’ve found new music from six artists that are new to me, plus six from musicians already in my library.

Six Newly Discovered (by me) Musicians and Their Most Recent Albums Added to My Folk Monday Music Rotation

  1. Dark Traces leads off the Folk Monday Music Rotation for July 7,2025
    Delta Traces     – Billy Jeter (RMR #9)
    First thing that caught me was the first track, “Hambone Stomp” — Bobby Rush’s harp hooked me!
  2. Middle – Jesse Wells (RMR #12)
    The lyrics in the opening track sealed the deal. Deep, poetic, and timely. This guy is for me:

    All my flannels made in Bangladesh
    All my T-shirts in Vietnam
    There are places that we quietly ignore
    There are places that we go and bomb
    You know I thought an awful lot about Jesus
    Even more about Lao Tzu
    They say that the way of the Tao is to do nothing
    Then what the hell am I supposed to do?


  3. Shelby Means – Shelby Means (RMR #18)
    Great vocals with great pickin’ — what’s not to love?
  4. Beautiful Thing – Peaches & Quiet (RMR #20)
    The second track, “Calgary Skyline,” caught my attention — they’re Canadian? I immediately thought of Ian & Sylvia.
  5. You Never Can Tell – Diane Hubka & The Sun Canyon Band (RMR #29)
    Any album that starts with covers of Guy Clark and Bob Dylan deserves a full listen. What else do they pull off?
  6. Dime Store Mannequin – Son Stone (RMR #39)
    The opening track “Old Fashioned” grabbed my attention with its raw, confessional lyrics:

    You told me I was repulsive when you met me at the bar
    Then you pulled me in and kissed me hard and drove me home in your car
    By the morning you′d forgotten my name and I’d forgotten yours
    Then you pushed me out of bed and kicked me out your door

    You ask me for the reasons why and push comes to shove
    Well there′s an Old Fashioned recipe for our love
    You only love me for my guitar playing and I love your southern drawl
    Our love is one part passion and three parts alcohol…


Bonus Pick: Songs for a World Gone Mad – Mark Rubin, Jew of Oklahoma (FAI Folk Chart #6, May 2025)
I couldn’t pass up an album with a title like this one — found it via the Folk DJ List.

Six New Albums from Musicians in My Music Library Find Their Way into My Folk Monday Music Rotation

  1. Field of Stars – John McCutcheon
  2. Dark Ages – Eliza Gilkyson (RMR #8)
  3. Bones of Trees – Tim Grimm (FAI Folk Chart #1, May 2025)
  4. The three albums above are from old favorites I’ve followed for years. Each of them has a thoughtful new offering to explore.
  5. Backstage Balladeer – Jefferson Ross (FAI Folk Chart #27, May 2025)
    If I didn’t write about Jefferson Ross on No Depression years ago, I meant to! Glad to see he has a new release.
  6. The Herculeons – John Cowan & Andrea Zonn (FAI Folk Chart #40, May 2025)
    John Cowan and New Grass Revival were staples in my rotation — I had to check out this new project with Andrea Zonn.
  7. Arcadia – Alison Krauss & Union Station
    Time to dig out my cassette copy of her first album and do a full-circle listen!

*Folk Alliance International FOLK CHART – May 2025

Compiled from FOLKDJ-L playlists | 10,531 plays from 359 playlists by 102 Folk DJs

🎧 Stay tuned for ratings, brief notes, and links to reviews for my top picks this week.

Suggestions welcome — let me know who I should listen to next Monday!