EmmyLou by First Aid Kit

This might be the sweetest sounding song I have heard this year. I had earlier spoken of this band. The Lions Roar off their last album was wonderful but this song singing to a lover asking him to be her Graham or Johnny, she will be Emmylou or June just hits the spot.

Harmonies that are like a country Cranberries and name dropping legendary in love rock and rollers like Gram Parsons, Johnny and June Cash, and the incomparable, and incidentally of the four the only one still with us, Emmylou Harris one senses First Aid Kit know their music history and have a clear path they wish to follow.

A great song on all levels.

Florence + the Machine Unplugged

If you are not one of those folks who have discovered the band Florence + the Machine this is time to do so. This lady can sing. Not just sing, but sing, wail, any adjective of your choice for a big voice.

After having two successful albums they have been given the Unplugged treatment on MTV. The performance is the perfect vehicle for a singer like Florence. Hit songs like What the Water Gave Me, Shake it Out, and Dog Days Are Over lose nothing and gain intensity in this setting.

The songs that you have to hear however are the two covers she digs out for this performance. First we hear the Otis Redding classic Try a Little Tenderness. With one of those voices that the proverbial phone book would sound melodious this might be the best version of the song that I have heard, other than the original of course.

As strong as this entry is, once joined by the lead singer of a band I had never heard of called Queens of the Stone Age, a man named Josh Homme, a version of the Johnny and June Carter Cash classic Jackson is rolled out. It too is a song that gets in your head. I have added it to my prime playlist and think it will be there for quite some time. A classic song sung by current artists and sung well gives one hope in this day of predominantly awful music.

Listen to these songs, then listen to the rest. Florence Welch is a singer we will be hearing for many years to come.