Knock, knock.

Who's there?
No one, I just needed some sort of horrible transition to remind you of how great the start of this song is because it's still one of my all time favourites.

... No one, who?
Never mind. Let's just move on to this week's songs, shall we?

The First: Rather Make A Living by Steve Moakler

I heard about Steve Moakler yesterday while listening to the radio (they were talking about his current single, Suitcase) and I was intrigued enough to do some digging. I think he's kind of reinvented himself in recent years and changed up his sound to be more country. Surprise, surprise: he does it well. I like several of his songs, as it turns out, but this one specifically caught my ear. Listen to my friend Steve and don't let this be you.


The Second: Grinnin' by Drake White

This song was a recommendation from a fellow country music appreciator, Jordan. You should know that he is arguably more of a country music fan than I am... so you just know that this is a good pick. I think my favourite part of this song is when he scats and just kinda takes the song where he wants it to go in the moment. Like, 4:25 onwards is just perfection. Basically what I'm saying is that it's a great acoustic performance and has anyone made progress on that whole time machine thing because I'd love to go back and be in that audience. I'd also use it to stock up on more adorable stationary and throw pillows (you can never have too many) while Target Canada still existed, but I suppose that's neither here nor there.


The Third and Final: Cover Me Up by Jason Isbell

I don't think I've shared any Jason Isbell on here yet, so it must be about time. Like all these guys, he's got lots of great songs I could feature but I think this one effectively captures the gravellyness (...it's a word) of his voice and the way he sings emphasis on certain words really well.


Here's to a Friday that flies by! I'm personally looking forward to welcoming the sunshine back for a fun weekend and short work week! Hope you all have exciting things planned and if you're a Vancouverite hitting up Greek Day, perhaps I'll see you there ;)

Thanks for listening!
Karla

K & P

My incredible friend Kali (yes, the one we chatted about not too long ago) and her hilarious partner, Paul, are getting married tomorrow. So obviously we're celebrating their loOoOoOove in this week's CMF.

This will either make them very happy or very embarrassed... but we won't know until we try, will we? (Jk, I already know it's going to be the latter. Ha ha ha.)

The First: Love's Lookin' Good On You by Lady Antebellum

It's lookin' real good, you two. Almost as good as head-to-toe Star Wars costumes. Almost.

The Second: Save Water, Drink Beer by Chris Young

This is a selection for so many reasons. Here are just a few:

One: there's going to be a wedding, so... 

Two: Kali always talks about the California drought and yells at people for not finishing their water before they leave a restaurant.

Three: You just know that this is going to be a real fun song to dance to.

The Third and Final: All Nighter by Dan + Shay

These boys are back with their usual wonderful musical ways. This song seemed like an appropriate choice for tomorrow's highly anticipated, likely lengthy celebration.

And an extra special shout out to Dan Davidson's Found, which I've featured before but they really like so we might as well all be reminded of how great it is.

Have a wonderful weekend, whatever you're up to! And don't forget to tell your dad all the reasons he's so great this Sunday. I'm lucky enough to get to have lunch with mine because we'll be in the same town this year!

Thanks for listening!
Karla

Be an Optimist Prime, Not a Negatron.

If I cut to the chase, this title was really just a not so round about way for me to share with you my secret love of transformers, the movie. Opinions of Shia Lebeouf aside, that first movie had me gasping for air at times because I was laughing so hard. Was it supposed to be as funny as it was? Probs not. Did I buy it on DVD anyways? You bet your bottom dollar I did, Annie. (PS the Tony's are this Sunday.)

Moving along, this week's selection has a little splash of optimism for you, because why the heck not?

The First: Lawn Chair Lazy by James Barker Band

Fingers crossed for a little bit of this over the weekend! Just kidding. It's gonna be real rainy. So it will probably turn into something more akin to couch time lazy which, sadly, has much less of a ring to it. Does anyone else feel like that guitar slide in this tune is very Dierks Bentley circa Drunk on a Plane? Because it is. It really, really is.


The Second: Old Boots, New Dirt by Jason Aldean

When was the last time we heard from Jason on here? A while ago, that's for sure. I stumbled upon this song (that came out a while ago) recently and love it! I think I can get on board with this whole whole Optimistic Country sub-genre. Especially since the entire reason CMF started was in an attempt to convince a colleague that Country wasn't "the most depressing genre of music."


The Third and Final: The Shape I'm In by Joe Nichols

I have so much love for this song. I love the message and the story and that it's just plain wonderfully uplifting. Because everyone can use a glass-half-full perspective at the end of a long week or some trying times. Right? Right.

Hope that was a nice way for all y'all to enter the weekend! And in the spirit of optimism, I'm going to spend my likely rain-driven couch time this weekend thinking about how wonderful it is that all the places that need rain are maybe gonna get some tomorrow. #optimistprimeftw

Thanks for listening!
Karla

Tough Love

I am blessed with some really wonderful friends. Friends who are supportive and generous and make me laugh erryday. One of the things that I love about my friends is that they tell me what they really think and the really close ones don't even feel the need to edit their thoughts/streams of consciousness before delivering them to me. Which as you might imagine, can sometimes turn into a sort of tough love approach.

I'll share an example:
My really lovely and super gentle friend Kali recently found out that online CMF playlists are a thing. Kali's immediate reaction, of course, was to tell me that she "would punch me in the throat" if I didn't share the following links/reminders with everyone this week... so in case you are like Kali and didn't know, you can listen to past CMF selections on Youtube and on Spotify. Apparently she felt it was her duty to ensure everyone else was appropriately informed.

I'll leave the "Thank you" flower orders and fruit basket arrangements to all of you.


The First: Rock On by Tucker Beathard

If you're not a fan of country twang, you may not love Tucker. In fact, I've actually been in an argument with myself for the past few weeks about whether Tucker's voice is even considered twang at all, or if it's in an entire category all on its own. Jury's still out, to be honest. But whatever the verdict, this song is clever and I dig it. The video, of course, is meh.


The Second: I'm The Rule by Kelsea Ballerini

I intended to feature Peter Pan but the video started with a silly little monologue (which we know I hate - it's not a movie, it's a music video people) and I could almost overlook it but then she was wearing a very flowy Carrie Underwoodesque jumpsuit thing with unnecessarily long bits of fabric blowing in the artificial wind and I just couldn't do it. So instead I picked this one partially because it's catchy, but mostly because she hasn't yet made an awful music video out of it yet.


The Third and Final: Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under by the incomparable Shania Twain

This song is a shout out to my good friend Lawrence because it's his favourite country song. Apparently as a child this song was played in the car by his friend's mom on the way to school enough that it stuck. Back when we used to live in the same city, Lawrence and I would sing this song in the car with slightly altered lyrics. Ahh the memories. Now I just send him snapchats of me lip-syncing it whenever it comes on. Our other car song is Forget You by CeeLo Green and he always rolls his eyes when I try to put it on as if he doesn't like it even though I know he secretly loves our sing-a-longs. (You're not fooling me, Lawrence). Also, this video could not be more classic Shania.


Enjoy your weekend, CMFers! I have no plans and could not be more delighted at the prospect of sleeping in and then doing nothing unless I feel like it for two full days.

Thanks for listening!
Karla