Monday has arrived – did anyone get to see the cool Harvest Moon (aka the Werewolf Moon) over the weekend? We were able to get a glimpse before the clouds rolled back in to obscure it, but of course I didn’t get any pictures. Maybe next year!

Meanwhile, it’s Monday – and Monday means music! For the month of September, our Spotlight Dancer is our bloggy friend and regular Monday’s Music Moves Me participant, Mary from Jingle, Jangle, Jungle! She has chosen the theme for this week, which is “Farm Aid was founded Sept 22, 1985. In honor of Farm Aid, build a playlist featuring artists that have performed at the annual event. If you need help, visit Farm Aid”. We’d best get busy!

Let’s start with an artist who has performed at Farm Aid in years past, and who will be performing in this year’s Farm Aid. this is a song about a small-town gossip and the effect it has on the singer and the guy she’s secretly in love with. It turns out that they’re rumored to be having an affair, and since the rumor-spreaders already think that the two people are involved, the song asks, why not have an affair anyway, thus giving them “something to talk about.”

For this artist, this was by far her biggest chart hit in the United States.

Give a listen to Bonnie Raitt with “Something To Talk About”:

Next up is an artist who perform at Farm Aid in 1990. This is actually a brand new song where he teams up with another favorite country artist with a rowdy bar room anthem where they sing about spending their summers in American dive bars.

So fill your cup / Raise it up / Jump in and join the club / And float this whiskey river reservoir / We’re gonna spend the weekend in the deep end of a dive bar

The song was released to country radio on June 18, 2019. The pair gave the song its live premiere the following day when The Voice judge joined the seasoned country star to perform it at his show in Boise, Idaho. Even though the seasoned country star co-wrote the song, the sound of the resulting track was not what he expected. He was quoted as saying:

“My biggest shock in all of this is I think I know my voice and I think I know his, but there were several times I looked over at Matt, the engineer, when we were mixing it going, ‘Is that him or me?'”

Without further ado, here’s Garth Brooks featuring Blake Shelton with “Dive Bar”:

Next up is an artist who I believe has performed at just about every Farm Aid, and will be performing again this year. He wrote this song about his experiences growing up in the small town of Seymour, Indiana. The media portrayed the artist as the champion of small town America when the song was released. While he has remained true to his roots and often returns to Seymour, he claims he was simply writing about his life, and not trying to make a statement.

The music the artist listened to growing up in the ’60s was a huge influence on his work, and he often put bits of classics songs from that era in his tracks. On the bridge of this song, you can hear the riff from The Supremes song “Back in My Arms Again.”

The artist believes this was a hit because it makes people feel good. He thinks many of his songs don’t do well because they make people confront problems, like the plight of American farmers.

Give a listen to the inimitable John Mellencamp with “Small Town”:

Last, but certainly not least, is sort of a workaround – one of the featured artists who supplies some of the vocals for this song is scheduled to perform at this year’s Farm Aid. While he’s not the lead of this song, I heard it recently and fell in love with it, so it’s cool that on of the supporting artists will be performing at Farm Aid. Not to mention the other featured artists on this song are also favorites.

The main artist may have some complex musical skills—guitar, banjo, mandolin, Dobro, keys and lap steel—but if you want a simple look at who she is as an artist, this song is the perfect way to do so. She was quoted as saying:

“It was an honor to have such iconic and respected artists write this song for me and have the opportunity to collaborate with them on it,” says Caroline. “I have known Mac for almost 10 years now, and have had the privilege of going out on tour with both Jimmy and Kenny. They have all become friends and mentors, which I am grateful for.”

For your listening pleasure, here’s Caroline Jones featuring Jimmy Buffett, Kenny Chesney, Lukas Nelson (who will be performing in this year’s Farm Aid), and Mac McAnally with “Gulf Coast Girl”:

Have a great Monday – see you on the dance floor!

Now on to the particulars of Monday’s Music Move’s Me:   Photobucket

I have the supreme honor and privilege of being a co-host with the inimitable Xmas Dolly and our musical cohort, the awesome Cathy from Curious as a CAThy, Callie of JAmerican Spice, and Alana of Ramblin’ with AM!

Want to join in the fun? It’s easy – just find a tune that rocks your boat, post it and link up – don’t forget to grab Xmas Dolly…er, um, I mean her button…over at her place here. Check out Xmas Dolly’s sidebar for the random themes we sport each week – and you can always ask for a specific theme of music you like, too. Check out the other music lovahs and let’s jam!

INTRODUCING OUR “SPOTLIGHT DANCER”:



8 Comments

  1. It’s a shame Bonnie Raitt was around for such a long time before anyone realized she was around. Good blues singer: her first couple of albums featured Junior Wells and Buddy Guy. These were some nice choices, Stacy!

  2. All tunes are so fun! Girl, you sure know how to pick them. Great job. I’ve been laying down a lot on and off today due to getting shots in my knee just got me pooped I guess. How you been? I haven’t talked to you in like forever. What’s up? Well, thanks for the country swing! BIG HUGS

  3. Stacy,

    Your mewsic lineup is spot-on country, well with the exception of John Mellencamp but he’s certainly singing about country life in a way with ‘Small Town’. I definitely grew up in a small town. We had one gas station, one post office, and a grocery store if you can call it that. It was more like a convenient store considering its size and inventory but it worked for our community. Oops, correction…there were two grocery stores. One was bigger than the other but not by a whole lot. Have a boogietastic week, dear friend!

  4. Not sure I’ve heard Caroline Jones before; this (with her “guest musicians”) was a fun song, as was the Garth Brooks/Blake Shelton Duo. I’ve been a John Mellencamp fan since he was “named” John Cougar but mainly enjoy him for his hit songs. “Small Town” and “Jack and Diane” are two favorites but I also enjoy songs such as “Blood on the Scarecrow”, which has a definite message.

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