Songlights: Adrianne Lenker; Florist; Valerie June; Terry Scott Taylor; Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds; Johnny Cash;
Songs that are lighting my weeks: Aprill 6–April 19, 2025.
[Songlights are tracks I’m listening to this week that brighten the light of my days. Check back during the posted date range. I may add more songs as those days pass.]
To those who have written to me complaining that I am annoying them with political commentary — go enjoy the extraordinary privilege (or the powerful capacity for denial) you must possess to go through your days unaffected by the tides of violence rising all around us. If my heart is heavy over what is happening all around me, I’m going to be honest about that. The world is saturated with distractions and ways to make us comfortably numb. I’m praying for change, and that doesn’t happen without discomfort. Frankly, I worry about the state of conscience in those who are not grieving the wildfires of hatred burning down the free world and rushing through what we call “the church.” I am heartbroken that America is finding so many ways condemn our neighbors as criminals instead of showing the rest of the world what respect, generosity, and grace look like. You can’t sing “God Bless America” and then treat people in ways antithetical to the teachings of Jesus. (Well, you can — but the Scriptures say “Woe unto them” who do.)
Anyway — I’m not here just to tell the truth about the darkness.
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I’m also here to share the lights I’m finding that nourish my head and my heart.
I’m here to share the medicine that renews my belief that love is bigger than anything in its way, and that no executive order or Supreme Court betrayal can overrule God’s promises that the last shall be first, and that what the wicked count as gains will turn to ash.
I was reluctant to get out of bed on Tuesday, April 15, after all that played out on Constitutional Crisis Day: April 14, 2025. (I posted a lament and a call to prayer on Letterboxd.) But then I stumbled onto a link that felt like a personal letter of encouragement from a friend: Adrianne Lenker, whose album Bright Future remains my favorite record of 2024, is releasing a double-live album, Live at Revolution Hall, recorded in my original hometown of Portland, on April 24! And here’s a new song that give me another spark, another candle, another star by which to find my way through the darkness. Another reminder of the good company I have in grief and in longing.
Jellywish: a vibrant, moving new bouquet from Florist
Along similar lines and with similar sounds, the new Florist album is one of the highlights of 2025 so far.
“There has got be light hitting us from the other side…”
That’s the line that, in the context of a day full of news about America’s devolution into crimes against humanity, made my eyes well up with tears. There are times, and these are some of them, when it’s hard to imagine any kind of salvation for the here and now—only salvation in the Beyond. I find myself dreaming more and more of a new heaven and a new earth, a complete reboot… which is what we’re promised.
Anyway, I’m grateful for songs about God’s irrepressible ministry of beauty, change, and grace — even if I’m not sure the artists know that’s what they’re giving me.
Valerie June’s joyful new record of Gospel-infused glories
Produced by M. Ward, the new Valerie June record — Owls, Omens and Oracles — may be my favorite of her whole catalog. If you, like me, need to kick at the darkness by seizing occasions for joy and for prayer, well… here’s an opportunity.
Terry Scott Taylor stocks up on love for the haters
I rediscovered this song from just yesterday, and I felt as if the lyrics had been written that very hour:
There’s no arsenal in my basement;
No guns or ammo or bombs
I’ll stock up on love for the haters
Draw on love when the weapons get drawn
My heart is The Valley of Megiddo
I am my own worst enemy
I’m not concerned about some
strange and vague future
Yes, these are the last days
These are the last days
These are the last days
For you
And me
Returning to Ghosteen to move through grief guided by transcendent vision
You are invited into the paradoxical, prayerful poetry of Nick Cave as he grieves while meditating on the undeniable beauty in the created world, on the rumors of glory in wild flares of light, on the possibility that horses might not be just horses, and the fields might not be just fields…
Listen to Grandfather Cash
One more prayer with one of the masters…
O Death, where is thy sting?
O Grave, where is thy victory?
O Life, you are a shining path
And hope springs eternal, just over the rise
When I see my redeemer beckoning meOh let me sail on with my ship to the East
And keep my eye on the North Star
When the journey is no good
For man or for beast
I'll be safe wherever you areJust let me sail into your harbor of lights
And there and forever to cast out my line
Give me my task and let me do it right
And do it with all of my might
[Late-breaking additions]
Amos Lee looks for love in the “Darkest Places”
Was this written this week?!
I've been reading the news and boy it looks so bad
So many people out there really struggling
All these profiteers with all our tears as souvenirs
All the time they're juggling
Well I played the clown and fought
And baby I would do it for you all again
But when the sands are always shiftin'
It's so hard to know exactly where to stand
When I'm sinking down that's when I cry out above
Yes, even in the darkest places we still look for love
Thank you. And please don’t turn away from calling out what’s destructive and holding onto hope. The faithful do both, and you in particular have a voice and position to do it well.