- Kashus Culpepper – After Me?
- Maria Somerville – Projections
- Quadeca – Monday
- Willie Nelson – Oh What a Beautiful World
- Rikashay – MARKHAM FAIR
- Frank Turner- international Hide and Seek Champions
- Zoé Basha – Dublin Street Corners
- Pere Ubu- Movie in My Head
- Màiri Morrison & Alasdair Roberts with Pete Johnston & Friends – The Joyful House of Airlie
My notes
Kashus Culpepper – After Me?
This week, I have chosen some songs from a new Guardian music series – Add to Playlist.
Their first selection is I think the best in to group – Kashus Culpepper.
This is what they write
Kashus Culpepper’s story has something of the Hollywood movie about it. A former firefighter who went on to enlist in the US Navy, he only picked up a guitar five years ago to entertain his fellow troops when they were locked down in barracks during the pandemic. On his return to the US, he began working for a cement company while posting clips of covers and his own songs to social media: one attracted the attention of Samuel L Jackson, who reposted it to his 9 million followers. Within a few months, Culpepper had both a record deal and a co-sign from another navy veteran, country star Zach Bryan. By the end of last year, Culpepper was performing at Nashville’s legendary Grand Ole Opry.
Kashus Culpepper – After Me? (Official Music Video)
He is definitely a rising star – from his promo material, Big Loud
Named one of GRAMMY.com‘s 25 Artists to Watch in 2025, Apple Music Zane Lowe’s 25 Artists for ’25, 2025 Amazon Music Bonfire Artist to Watch, 2025 Pandora Country Artist to Watch, Opry NextStage Class of 2025 and Billboard’s February 2025 Country Rookie of the Month, GRAMMY.com hails Culpepper as an artist who “has revived the melodic crooning of ’80s and ’90s country, buoyed by his blues influence.”
Quadeca – Monday
and another from the new Guardian list
QUADECA – MONDAY
Once a YouTuber and video-game commentator, then a rapper and now a singer-songwriter, Quadeca tries to get through a rocky relationship patch over Sufjan-leaning cellos, flutes and more.
Hard to find much more about him. Here is a snippet from an April 2025 article
Quadeca is an artist who started out on YouTube and is now proving to people he is an immense talent in the music world.
Quadeca is an artist who has certainly gotten a lot of love over the last year or so. Since going from YouTuber to musician, he has dropped nine projects and his most recent was his most beloved.
Overall, Scrapyard was one of the best albums of 2024 and there is no doubt that he has the potential to drop something even better. In 2025, fans are supposed to get Vanisher, Horizon Scraper which already has the lead single “GODSTAINED.” It was a beautiful track and now, the artist has returned with another thing of beauty.
This new song is called “MONDAY” and it is filled with gorgeous string sections and piano keys. Meanwhile, Quadeca dabbles with singing which ends up going over extremely well and you can’t help but appreciate the talent on display here.
As for the lyrics, they are extremely beautiful and describe the kind of love anyone should want for themselves. If you are a real yearner, than this song is definitely going to be for you.
Definitely worth listening to more by this ex-YouTuber
Rikashay – MARKHAM FAIR
I like these guys a lot. I first saw them on a series they are doing to play each of the Beatles’ songs—one song a day—beautiful renditions. You can find their series on their Instagram account.
not very well known, you can hear their music here on Bandcamp
Not very much written about this band, but I like their music. Here is some of their promotional material
Rikashay is a constantly evolving zesty indie rock trio from Markham, Ontario. A fusion of relentless experimentation and old-time pop motives has long shaped Rikashay’s sound and can be heard throughout their extensive catalog of singles & EP’s since their inception in 2015. The band has taken its jovial and striking sound to countless audiences at prestigious Toronto venues like The Horseshoe Tavern and The Mod Club, as well as stages throughout Eastern Canada and Quebec. Singer/guitarist Isaac Papineau, drummer Jaiden Crawford, and bassist OG Bassman have joined forces yet again alongside producer David Matta on their forthcoming full-length album that is currently in production and highly anticipated by Canadian indie music fans and outlets alike.
Zoé Basha – Dublin Street Corners
Zoé Basha: Gamble review – confident debut of a deft new voice in folk
Dublin Street Corners
and back to the Guardian for the last two selections, this time to their folk section.
Just a bit about Zoé Basha from the Guardian section
Bookended with canonical traditional songs and sung in eerily bright a cappellas, Gamble is a confident, self-produced debut by an exciting new voice. This is Zoé Basha, a Dublin-based French-American singer and guitarist whose folk music swims deftly around country, jazz, French chanson and the blues.
Zoé Basha – Dublin Street Corners (Official Video)
Màiri Morrison & Alasdair Roberts with Pete Johnston & Friends
Remembered In Exile: Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia – The Bonny House of Airlie
I had to include this – songs about Nova Scotia and with a lead singer named Màiri. All to commemorate Mairi’s last day of work before Amelia comes along at the end of the month!!
And the endlessly curious Alasdair Roberts crosses the Atlantic with Scottish Gaelic singer Màiri Morrison and double bassist Pete Johnston on Remembered in Exile: Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia (Drag City), full of spirited, briny songs that journeyed west between the 17th to 19th centuries.
Pretty cool alternative sound to this song
Maria Somerville – ‘Projections” – Luster
Maria Somerville is an Irish singer-songwriter who self-released her debut LP, All My People, in 2019. Her new one is titled Luster, was just released a couple of weeks ago. The record addresses the importance of being in nature, and the stories she heard from her dad. The music is a swirl of Irish folk steeped in dream pop. She is now on the 4AD record label which has been releasing music like this for decades with bands like the The Cocteau Twins and This Mortal Coil.
Pitchfork is all on board with Somerville.
https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/maria-somerville-luster/
Willie Nelson – “Oh What a Beautiful World” – Oh What A Beautiful World
What else can one say about Willie Nelson? The 92 year old music legend is not slowing down. His latest record focuses on the songs of Rodney Crowell. The album is the latest in Nelson’s storied history of focusing entire albums on a single songwriter’s work. Nelson first covered Crowell decades ago with this fine number https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0T8wIN41fk8
I always thought it was original by Blue Rodeo
Here’s the title track
Frank Turner- “International Hide and Seek Champions”- Undefeated
Frank Turner is an English punk and folk singer-songwriter from England. His career has followed a similar trajectory to fellow Englishman Billy Bragg. Both started in punk bands and then embarked upon primarily solo careers with fairly rabid followings.
Undefeated is his 10th solo album. I chose “International Hide and Seek Champions” as the selected track as it reminded me of the Monty Python Sketch.
There’s an official video
But I prefer the nice acoustic version. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPM9HPcUkjA
Pere Ubu- “ Movie in My Head”- Trouble On Big Beat Street
From Wikipedia: “Pere Ubu is a rock group formed in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1975. The band had a variety of long-term and recurring band members, with singer David Thomas being the only member staying throughout the band’s lifetime. They released their debut album The Modern Dance in 1978 and followed with several more LPs before disbanding in 1982. Thomas reformed the group in 1987, continuing to record and tour until his death in 2025. Describing their sound as “avant-garage,” Pere Ubu’s work drew inspiration from sources such as musique concrète, 60s rock, performance art, and the industrial environments of the American Midwest. While the band achieved little commercial success, they have exerted a wide influence on subsequent underground music.”
Here was my introduction to Pere Ubu in 1981 documentary Urgh! A Music War.
Around the time, I also was introduced to possibly their most “well known song”.
For brief shiny moment in the eighties, they found a place on MTV and Much Music.
Now 50 years after the band debut, Pere Ubu has released probably their final album as David Thomas died in April at the age of 71. The band is still quirky as hell after all these years.
…
Whole-Hearted 