I’ve had a tough week this week, and not a ton of time to hunt down new tunes.  So…there’s a little bit of old and a little bit of new here.  Hope it brings a kick to your week…

1.  Drive All Night – Needtobreathe

If Golden State’s Division hadn’t FINALLY come out on Thursday, this would have been my most played track of the week.  I was lucky enough to start seeing this band when they were on their way up, thanks to Annie and Brad who became fans early on and took me to my first Needtobreathe show five or six years ago. Been a fan since that first show at Amos’, and am super happy to see the guys getting the attention they deserve.  They’ve recently been on tour opening for Taylor Swift and I know that little girls’ will soon start getting tattoos of their lyrics.  Anyway, new album out in September, but this is the single they released this week….It’s got banjo.  How can you not love it?

2.  Grass Grows Green – Sequoyah (Prep School)

I’ve written before about Sequoyah (formerly/also known as Sequoyah Prep School).  These kids are the real freakin’ deal.  They played in town last night, and I was once again reminded of exactly why I fell in love with them – I have never seen a tighter group of musicians on stage.  Justin, West, Johnnie, Jordan and Harrison have an average age of about 23, but they’re writing and musicianship is that of a band that’s been playing together for twenty years.  As you’re listening to this one, listen to the lyrics and how adult and honest they are.  The imagery is downright sick, too. It’s hotter than Hades here in NC right now, and the line about paint peeling off the walls because of the heat is … well, on target.

3.  Slipping Away – The Aeroplanes

I love gravelly, raw male vocals.  C’mon – Springsteen, Kelly Jones from the ‘Phonics, Matthew Ryan…the list goes on, and on and on. I heard this song on “Royal Pains” on Wednesday and it immediately got my attention.  So, I googled the lyrics and … voila!  Apparently, this Brit band has been around for some time – since ’03. Their album, Broken Hearts & Maladies, was released in 2008. I have listened to all the track samples and it’s now in my queue to pick up…but I had to download this song.  Such a fun, summery little number.

4.  Stands to Reason – Dandelion Wine

See above, re: scratchy male vocals. A few years ago, I stumbled upon a band from NYC called Dandelion Wine and immediately fell in love with lead singer Danny Musengo’s voice.  He recently started a blog with the same name as Dandelion Wine’s first album, Fairy Tales for the Fatherless, and I am enraptured by his stream of consciousness writing style.  Last week, he posted this video of the band playing at a backyard picnic, a song “about his mother.  and everything.”  It’s absolutely stunning, and I’ve played the video about a dozen times this week.  I cannot wait for them to put out a new album.

5.  Let Somebody In – Son of a Bad Man

I spent the majority of this week pouting that I couldn’t go see Son of a Bad Man play a big gig in Orlando on Friday. SOABM has become one of my favorite bands over the past eighteen months, as much for the music as for the people in the band.  The lead singer, Shawn, celebrated his 23rd birthday yesterday, so I can’t think of a better way to say Happy Birthday than to put my favorite track from their EP on my Sunday Funday playlist.