William Rodney Herring

So you know how I know my iPod is an adaptive piece of AI? My friend Doug introduced me to Richard Buckner recently, and I've been listening to two of Buckner's albums like non-stop. So when I actually shuffled my entire library this morning, here (no lie) are the first 10 songs I got:

1. 'Raze,' Richard Buckner
2. 'On The Road To Find Out,' Cat Stevens
3. 'Old Familiar Steam,' Old 97's
4. 'Beautiful Despair,' Rodney Crowell
5. 'Time Has Told Me,' Kelly Willis
6. 'Miss Amanda Jones,' Rolling Stones
7. 'In The Morning of the Magicians,' The Flaming Lips
8. 'I Will Be There When You Die,' My Morning Jacket
9. 'Pull,' Richard Buckner
10. 'No One Knows My Name,' Gillian Welch

Now, in addition to songs one and nine being Buckner songs (both outstanding), song three is of interest because on Thursday, I made Doug (and another co-worker, Jamie) list his favorite five Old 97's songs. He found it difficult -- and he's since gone on record with a list of 18 songs. But the main point is, we discovered that really different songs draw us to the band. In point of fact, "Old Familiar Steam" is perhaps my very favorite Old 97's song, and Doug can't quite understand why. I won't justify that here, but my iPod thought to remind me on Friday just how good it was, in case I had doubts.