NewYearsDayProject | a song a day blog

  In 2018, I met a young man who claimed to like “Indie music. You know, like Coldplay and Imagine Dragons ?” I hope I didn’t roll my eyes in the middle of the conversation because it was extremely hard to bite my tongue when he had just named two of the biggest bands in the world. The kid in his early twenties talking to me in my early thirties at the time did, however, remember a time when calling Coldplay indie was more accurate. My first exposure to Coldplay came in 2001 when they released their third single “ Trouble ” in America. Specifically, I remember watching the music video with my dad on MTV or MTV2. While “ Yellow ” may be the more remembered single from Coldplay’s early days, I only have recollection of hearing the song a while after hearing “Trouble.” THEY SPUN A WEB FOR ME. Coldplay formed in 1997 when the members attended University College London . After releasing two EPs and signing to Parlophone Records , the band released their debut album Parachutes in 2000 an

Three years ago, I taught a lesson on Irish music to my students. I played examples of Celtic instrumental music. I showed videos of  River Dance . I played sad songs like " The Parting Glass " and " Danny Boy ." Then I played some famous Irish artists like  Enya ,   U2 , and  T he Cranberries . Then I played   Kodaline 's " High Hopes ." When I asked my students which they liked the best, they said Kodaline. But that was  kind of a stupid question for a music lover. There are times when I want to listen to Celtic bagpipes and jigs. There are times I want to go out and have fun in an Irish pub and hear Celtic punk rock. There are times I want to listen to U2, and it's certainly not the same day I want to listen to Enya, but those days happen too. But like my students, I think Kodaline's first album fits more into my everyday listening habits. BROKEN BOTTLES IN THE HOTEL LOBBY.  While  In A Perfect World   is a great everyday listen, you have to

Lifehouse was a made-for-TV band from their 2001 debut. The band was commercially marketed to many shows and movies. But unlike many of the other artists filling TV soundtracks, Lifehouse had radio hits. The band had Billboard ’s number 1 song of 2001 , “ Hanging By a Moment ” and the number 5 hit “ You and Me .” Both songs feature two different sounds of the ‘00s rock band. The band debuted with the post-grunge sounds on No Name Face . “Hanging By a Moment” eclipses the other two singles, “ Sick Cycle Carousel ” and “Breathing.” The band’s second album, Stanley Climbfall , also appeared as a sophomore slump, with the album’s two singles, “ Spin ” and “ Take Me Away ,” failing to impact the pop charts. Often this is the end of the story for pop-rock bands. I’LL KEEP US TOGETHER. While rock audiences were ambivalent to Lifehouse, the age of pop-rock was at its peak in the mid-’00s. Lifehouse continued releasing rock songs, but no longer with heavy guitars and drums on their eponymous

Mat Kearney 's music has changed a lot from when he debuted in 2004 with his first record   Bullet   on   Peter Furler 's Christian label InPop Records. Kearney's early work infused acoustic singer-songwriter styles with hip hop, a style the singer mostly abandoned by this third record,   City of Black & White .  Nine years after that stylistic departure and three records that didn't seem to move far beyond the folk-pop sound, Kearney released a poppier, more electronic-inspired record,   CRAZYTALK   in 2018, which produced the single “ Better Than I Used to Be .”   MY PLANE LEAVES TOMORROW.  Teaming up with Iranian-American electronic artist  AFSheeN  for the first track on  CRAZYTALK,  "Better Than I Used to Be," Kearney expands upon his sound. Although AFSheeN has worked with much bigger artists than  Kearney, remixing and producing, AFSheeN's most streamed song is Kearney's 2018 hit. The singer-songwriter has written for K-pop acts such as  NCT

In 1996, David Josiah Curtis and friends formed a punk band called Side Walk Slam . The Southern Illinois-based band released an independent record, Rock Anthems from the Midwest , in 1999 before signing to a small label, Boot to Head Records , and releasing Two Steps Forward, Five Steps Back the next year. Then in 2001, the band signed with Tooth & Nail Records and released three records between 2001 and 2003. Little by little, the bare-bones punk rock band started incorporating more and more production on their records. By their 2003 record, And We Drive , the band even included a piano. It was after releasing And We Drive, that the band decided that Side Walk Slam had strayed from their Punk Rock sound so much that they decided to change their name, rebranding with a new sound and retiring the expectations that the band would sound a particular way.  YOU’LL HAVE YOUR UPS AND DOWNS. Run Kid Run released their debut record This Is Who We Are three years after Side Walk Slam

  Jon Foreman became the liberal long-haired surfboard philosopher to millions of youth group kids in the late ‘90s and early ‘00s. The San Diego-based band Switchfoot, firmly based in the West Coast faith-based music tradition, often challenged the ideas of capitalism in Christianity and the over-politicization of Christianity, while never seeming to have found all parts of the solution in organized religion. And yet, lead singer Jonathan Foreman, offered that while the “faith of our fathers” isn’t perfect, he has not found a better solution. The Beautiful Letdown was the band’s thesis statement-- Foreman had been rewriting this thesis statement for three albums, and after their fourth record, he would expound upon that statement. I WILL CARRY MY CROSS TO WHERE I DON’T BELONG. Whereas my mom could tell me every track on Fleetwood Mac ’s Rumors or The Rolling Stones ’ Some Girls , many youth group kids my age know every track on Switchfoot’s Beautiful Letdown. Five of the 12 songs f

" You Are My Sunshine " is a popular folk song copyrighted and recorded by American singer-songwriter Jimmie Davis in 1939, though its authorship is disputed. Davis later became the governor of Louisiana, and "You Are My Sunshine" became the state's official song. Davis's recorded versions are not the definitive version of the song, though. M any artists have covered the song, such as Johnny Cash , Christina Perri , and  Zach Bryan . Each time the song is covered, the artist brings an emotional layer to the beautiful song. Cash anthologizes the song in the American songbook and Perri emphasizes the lullaby-like qualities of the song.  THE OTHER NIGHT DEAR, AS I LAY SLEEPING. “You Are My Sunshine” is a   cradle song many mothers sing to their children. It’s a bright love song with a twinge of melancholy that grows upon examination. It’s a song full of longing and desire with the full knowledge that the sun may be covered by the clouds. The speaker hopes that