A friend of mine gave us tickets to see country singer Kelsea Ballerini at Capital One arena last weekend (seen above). I knew very little about her or her music — a handful of her songs rang a bell — but Landon and I almost always say “yes” to live music opportunities when we can. To me, concert-going is one big “ice cream moment” — who can be ill-tempered at a concert?! It’s a time for unbridled joy. You are there solely for pleasure! And isn’t there something extra thrilling about the live aspect of it? Anything can happen!
(I will say that Landon was one of about four men in all of Capital One stadium last weekend – ha. Definitely tapped into a Galentines spirit — but we had a great time nonetheless. Lan is used to being surrounded by spirited women anyway; I’m one of four daughters and Emory is our passionate leading lady.)
When we were talking about the concert with some friends beforehand, they were astounded I didn’t know more about Ballerini. My friend’s husband said: “You consider yourself a country music fan?!” Have I been living under a rock? I love country, and yet I wasn’t familiar with her at all. This made me wonder — what other musical acts am I somehow cloistered from knowing?
Would you share some of your favorite musicians and bands that you have a sneaking suspicion are not widely known, but should be?
I’ll start, although I’m now second-guessing myself on the heels of my Ballerini comeuppance — are these groups actually considered “mainstream”? I have a sense that some of these acts will be new to at least some of you because I’ve mentioned them to friends who’d never heard of them, though. Here goes:
+Aaron Frazer — I listen to his “Into the Blue” album probably 5-10x a week, start to finish, with only one skip (“Perfect Strangers”). I wrote a huge chunk of my fictional manuscript listening to this, too. “I Don’t Wanna Stay” gave shape to a pivotal scene in it.
+Clairo — Her “Charm” album is flawless. This is one of our go-to “weekend morning” albums — easy-listening, great voice. Norah Jones but Gen Z vibes. I learned about her from my teenage neighbor. (She just put out a funky music video featuring Weird Al Yankovic for one of the tracks on this album that’s worth a watch.)
+Teskey Brothers — Great neo-soul; the lead singer has an Otis Redding vibe I love.
+Hermanos Gutierrez — Soothing, no-lyrics guitar music with a driving beat. Great for listening to while working on a project/cooking/focusing on something else.
+Khruangbin — More cool, no-lyrics music for hanging out. We have been listening to this while playing Wingspan and enjoying a happy hour glass of wine.
+St. Paul and the Broken Bones — Lead singer has the most epic Gospel voice, which he pairs with more modern lyrics. Love the big brass sound.
+Nathaniel Rateliff — His album “Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats” takes me right back to our time in Chicago. We listened to this album endlessly! Like St. Paul, major brass, and Rateliff’s huge, raspy voice is stirring!
I’m going to add to this list a few artists we are obsessed with that I think you’re more likely to know but I recently asked a friend if she knew who Laufey was, and she had no idea! So just in case…
+Laufey — OMG. Bringing back the crooning songstress of the 40s and 50s but with modern lyrics. I love, love her album “Bewitched.” I always have a few albums downloaded to my phone when I travel — I like to have them as my “comfort blanket” while on plane / waiting / etc. This one has made the cut on my last two trips!
+Sturgill Simpson — In our opinion, the best contemporary country artist. His lyrics, his vocal stylings! We saw him at The Anthem a few weeks ago and sounded incredible.
+Tyler Childers — Another great country music artist — his lyrics are also gutting to me in different ways. We’re seeing him in a few weeks!
+L’Imperatrice — I think this group is really well known but they were new to me as of a few years ago, when my brother-in-law introduced me to them. Fun, vibey European party music. (Start with “Vanilla Fraise.”)
OK, your turn! What should I be listening to?
Post-Scripts.
+Where do you find meaningful stuff? (This is my follow-on question – how do you find good new music? I’m guessing part of the answer is in the comments section on this post.)
+Random thoughts on John Mayer. (Turns out, we Magpies love him?)
+What is your go-to “house music”?
Shopping Break.
This post may contain affiliate links. If you make a purchase through the links below, I may receive compensation.
+One of my most-asked questions on Instagram is — where is your heart necklace from? Mine is Dorsey and I’ve been hunting for a look for less for months because I know it’s $$. I finally found a very similar style for under $100 here.
+Two GREAT, under $120, finds this week: this $98 cardigan and this $119 look-for-less for Doen’s Sebastiane skirt. (Compare with the Doen version here. I did just order the Doen! Can’t wait to style.)
+Kule is running 15% off their new spring collection with code SPRING15. Love their grass green pieces, like this top with the matching shorts paired with some great sandals for spring break.
+Last week, Lan and I went on a date to use a sauna and “float” — have you heard of float therapy? You’re in a sensory deprivation chamber, floating in the pitch black in a salt water tank. I had a really hard time relaxing in there for the first 20 minutes but the last 40 were trippy in a good way. I don’t think I’ll do it again, though. However, I LOVE the sauna. I’m trying to convince Landon we need to build one in our backyard. In the meantime, I’m super intrigued by these sauna blankets from Higher Dose. Has anyone tried?! It’s so expensive but I feel like I’d use it all the time. Or is part of the magic of sauna life actually sitting in the wooden chamber? I love it so much.
+A really chic ladylike coatigan in great colors for $138.
+Marysia vibes for less with this bikini (top, bottom). (Compare with Marysia here.)
+BTW, if you’ve never shopped at Shopbop before – they are currently running a new customer promo! 20% off with SHOPMY20. All my Shopbop picks here. Lots of great spring break finds, like this funky shirtdress from Alemais, this under-$200 striped sundress, this gorgeous wrap skirt, these Prada-inspired sunnies (under $80). Although the Prada sunglasses themselves are on sale at Nordstrom for a good price!
+Throw these fun $75 jelly sandals into your suitcase, too! I got the taupe pair. I love jellies! I actually got a ton of wear out of these jelly ballet flats last summer. Surprisingly comfortable — they don’t have that jagged/hard plastic. Every single time I wore them, I got tons of compliments!
+The Lake sale is ongoing! These Relax sets have been the bestseller among Magpies this week.
+Gorgeous $95 accent table/stand. This is in my cart because my desk is so small and I’m often throwing a stack of notebooks and notepads on the floor to make room. I think if I had this to place my notebooks on right next to me, things might be better!
+Love this new solid-colored cardi from La Ligne. Vibe for less (more of a shrunken style) here!
+I just ran out of my RMS priming/blurring serum I typically blend with my Westman Atelier foundation and realized I still had some of this stuff from Elemis, which is super similar, and you can currently get it for 20% off with code JEN20, making it slightly less expensive than the RMS. I really love this process of blending a glowy primer with the foundation for a more dewy look.
+Still digesting and so grateful for all your tips and suggestions on Disney here! I just ordered these two disposable cameras for my kids, per a reader rec 🙂
I love that you love the Teskey Brothers. They’re so good!
I also enjoy and have on my playlists Tedeschi Trucks Band, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Eva Cassidy, Jon Batiste, The Red Clay Strays, and The War and Treaty. I could go on and on, but you get it. Music, I feel is such an intimate way to express who you are and if you really want to know someone, just look at their playlist(s).
Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors. Amos Lee. And hands down…Walk Off The Earth (I could listen to the acapella “Farther We Go” a million times and not get tired of it!) Lastly, Punch Brothers. Insanely gifted musicians. Happy listening! 🙂
You got me onto Aaron Frazer and Kelsey Musgraves. My current playlists are Chappell Roan, John Tesh, the score from the Holdovers film,…and a lot of other films Ive seen recently too such as The Brutalist, Babygirl, and I Love Trouble. Brian Culbertson is worth mentioning too. And throwing it back to Gym Class Heros.
Ooo — the Holdovers soundtrack! I need to look into that!
xx
So excited to make my way through so many new-to-me artists! Listening to Hermanos Gutierrez this afternoon and really enjoying!
My two year old loves Ray LaMontagne. So much so that my husband and I almost took her to his Raleigh concert last fall. She has been dancing and singing along to Ray since she was a baby.
So many great recommendations!
If you enjoy L’Imperatrice (one of my favorites!), I think you would like Rhye and The Marías. Both have similar fun, chill, elevated international party vibes,
You also may enjoy Rachel Chinouriri and Sarah Kinsley.
Love your blog!
RHYE! How do more people not know Rhye?! I left off my list but love the Sade vibes.
Thanks for these other recs!! And for the generous compliment too. Happy you are here!
xx
I already knew our musical tastes were aligned with John Mayer, so not surprised to see Nathaniel Rateliff, Hermanos Gutierrez, and Khruangbin on your list. I had the pleasure of seeing Hermanos Gutierrez and Khruangbin perform last fall with Leon Bridges (separate shows) and both were equally fantastic. LA LOM was another band that I got turned onto from yet another Leon show – great vibe. Ray LaMontagne, The Lumineers, Bahamas, and Shakey Graves are all heavy in my rotation. Shakey’s “Ready or Not” is a favorite. And I find myself perpetually going back to Carla Bruni’s Quelqu’un m’a sit album – my French wedding photographer turned me onto her and it was part of the soundtrack to that chapter of my life.
Oooh a lot of these are familiar to me but I haven’t gone deep on any of them. Going to put on Shakey right now!!
xx
Going to check out your recs! All are new to me except Nathaniel Rateliff. I like Tame Impala, The 1975, Sault, Anne Wilson, Hollyn, for king & country. Honestly, I mostly listen to the local indie radio station or the TobyMac spotify channel. Station? Whichever!
I’m cleaning out my basement and was reunited with all my old cds. My car still has a cd player so I’ve reverted to riding around with my travel cd case (insert grandma emoji). But now I can leave it sitting in my front seat bc no one wants to steal cds anymore!
LOL – that’s so funny about the CDs being a totally devalued object now. Anti-theft!
I also really like one song from Sault; will listen to more, and the rest of your recs are new to me. How?! Any top tracks/recs from these singers? (Starting to put together a new playlist!)
xx
Oooh…we love us some Tobymac! Went to Hits Deep last weekend and it was incredible, as always.
I like listening to a lot of older music these days from artists that are not as mainstream. I love Shelby Lynn’s CD Just a Little Lovin, a tribute album to Dusty Springfield, Ingrid Michaelson, Lights Out, The Gap Band, you feel like you’re at a backyard barbeque with friends and you don’t want the party to end great dance music. The Best of Randy Newman, one of our best songwriters goes from upbeat from You Got a Friend in Me to soulful Feels Like to Home to Me and I think it’s Going to Rain Today, just fabulous songs.
You might also like: Lake Street Dive, Sierra Ferrell, Orville Peck, Charley Crockett, Leon Bridges, Marcus King and The Ruen Brothers.
LOVE so many of the groups you’ve included! Lake Street Dive, Orville Peck, and Charley Crockett are favorites. Hadn’t heard of Ruen or Sierra — ty!!
xx
The Ruen Brothers have played in the past (at least twice) at Jammin’ Java in Vienna VA … 🙂
Oooo!
Came here to recommend Sierra and if you ever get a chance to see her live DO IT. She’s an amazing performer. She also has incredible quirky style. Her whole story is out of a movie–the Dolly Parton of our age. Old youtube videos of her busking in Nashville are gold! I love her so much!
Ooo very excited!
Music is as essential for me as breathing so I can’t wait to return to this list and see who people recommend!
I don’t know if they’re lesser-known but some of mine would be:
Tinariwen – a Tuareg rock band who started in 1979 (!!!). We got to see them last year in Tbilisi and it was one of the best sets, most magical, and coolest gigs I’ve ever been to. Their sound is mesmerising, infectious, and electrifying all at once. For a taste of this feeling, their Live in Paris 2014 recording is sensational.
Joshua Burnside – a new Irish folk musician with astounding lyricism. One friend described his music as being a bit like Jose Gonzales. His new album comes out this week!
Big Red Machine – this is a niche down into Aaron Dessner and Bon Iver’s side project which is like a supergroup where they make music with all their other musician friends. The result is incredibly lush and heartfelt pieces that are somehow both abstract and cut straight to the core. It’s frequently sombre but not remotely whiny. Their last LP is 2021’s How Long Do You Think It’s Gonna Last? that front to back is an emotional slay. If I was only picking one song to recommend, it’s a tie between Latter Days and Phoenix. It’s no surprise that an album made during the pandemic has so much going on yet it’s the catharsis delivered through communal introspection that elevates it into a timeless beacon of pathos.
Happy Friday xx
Oo la la, immediately listening to all of these! I love the descriptions you’ve provided. “Astounding lyricism” — !!
How do you find new music?
xx
Jen! First time poster but long-time reader. I love nothing more than dropping my kids of at school then returning to ice roll, sip coffee and read your blog. Best start to the day – so, thank you so much for sharing your gifts of writing and community-building with us!
Back to the topic at hand: this band may be well-known to others, but has been a newer discovery to me: Manchester Orchestra. Their ballads and slower songs are hauntingly beautiful. Capital Karma and Letting Go are favorites for when I need a good cry.
Gosh thank you so much for inviting me into your day! I love the image of you ice rolling while reading. I’m so flattered :). Thank you.
Haven’t heard of Manchester Orchestra — adding to my playlist now!
xx
*You’ve given me an idea of creating a “Magpie new music” playlist — tysm!
Was just coming here to suggest exactly that! I still listen to your 40th birthday playlist all the time – such a great blend.
Yay, in the works! 🙂
This is great. I take your music recommendations very seriously since you endorsed Chappell Roan way before she blew up! I got so much credit from my goddaughters for introducing them to her music. It made me seem so much cooler than I actually am—ha!
Awww yay!! I was just telling Landon that sometimes I have this strange desire to yell out “I listened to her years ago!” but, like, who cares? Haha. I’m glad she’s getting the praise and recognition and listening she deserves!
Woohoo for bonus points with your goddaughters 🙂