There's a Heartbreak Somewhere: A Compendium of Country Soul

         I don't know why it took me so long to put together a country soul compilation as it's easily one of my very favorite genres/subgenres of music.  Perhaps, it's because it's a difficult genre/subgenre to adequately define.   I mean, "I" know it when I hear it, but I would also imagine some of the stuff that I consider to be country soul isn't seen that way by others.  

        Regardless, I hope folks enjoy the compilation, even if you have misgivings about some of the choices.  I would also highly recommend Charles Hughes' book - Country Soul: Making Music and Making Race in the American South.  It's a very interesting look at the complicated racial dynamics at play amongst musicians, producers, record labels during the heyday of country soul in the 1960s and 1970s "country-soul triangle" (Memphis, Nashville, and Muscle Shoals).  It's published by an academic press and there's a little academic jargon, but it's really a must-read for any fan of country soul.  (You can also check out Charles Hughes' country soul playlist on Spotify if you're interested.)

       I'll post Discs 3 & 4 next month - in case, you were wondering why I omitted your favorite country soul artist. :)  I've also re-upped my rare soul compilations from five years ago.

Download Disc 1 and 2

Disc 1
Just A Little Lovin'	Shelby Lynne
To The Other Woman (I'm The Other Woman)	Doris Duke
A Woman Is A Man's Best Friend	James Carr
Ode to Billy Joe	Joe Tex
He Made A Woman Out Of Me	Bobbie Gentry
The Son Of Hickory Holler Tramp	O.C. Smith
A Man Needs a Woman (a Woman Needs a Man)	Z.Z. Hill
I Don't Need You No More	George Jackson
He'll Have To Go	Solomon Burke
Eddie And Polly	The Delines
It Ain't Easier	Yola
You Really Know How to Hurt a Guy	Arthur Conley
I Threw It All Away	Bob Dylan
Sleeping Without You Is a Dragg	Swamp Dogg
Patches	Clarence Carter
Just Like Old Times	Mighty Sam McClain
Your Cold Heart	Lloyd Hendricks
Stand By Your Man	Candi Staton
Disc 2
Hold on	Alabama Shakes
Let's Do It Over	Toussaint Mccall
Life Has Its Little Ups And Downs	Brook Benton
You've Been Crying	O.V. Wright
She's Not For You	Willie Nelson
Reconsider Me	Johnny Adams
Son Of A Preacher Man	Aretha Franklin
Needledrop Blues	Emily Duff
Fancy	Irma Thomas
You Are My Sunshine	Earl Gaines
She Ain't Gonna Do Right	James & Bobby Purify
I'm So Proud	Hacienda Brothers
While I'm Away (Baby Keep The Faith)	Eddy G Giles & The Jive Five
Loving Cup	The Rolling Stones
One and the Same	The War and Treaty
Hot Burrito #1	The Flying Burrito Brothers
Don't Make Me Hate Loving You	Jeanie Greene
Crying In The Chapel	Mavis Staples With The Staple Singers

Songs for The Uninhabitable Earth Soundtrack

        I'm a little ashamed to admit that it took reading David Wallace-Wells' book, The Uninhabitable Earth two years ago to really send me spiraling into a doom loop about the environment (as I should have been residing in that doom loop a lot longer).  While a doom loop may, understandably, have negative connotations, I think it's kind of a necessary space if it propels climate activism and actions, however small, to reduce carbon emissions.  Now I do realize that making a compilation of environmental songs does nothing to improve the environment, but.....it was kind of oddly therapeutic for me and maybe they can use some of the more obscure cuts when they're making the anthology series about the book.  (I just found out about this.)

  Download

Wildfire	Hand Habits
Don't Go Near The Water	Johnny Cash
Fall On Me	R.E.M.
Monkey Gone to Heaven	Pixies
I Had a Dream I Was Falling Through a Hole in the Ozone Layer	Deee-Lite
New World Water	Mos Def
Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)	Marvin Gaye
Every Planet We Reach Is Dead	Gorillaz
The Trees Are All Gone	Roger McGuinn
Before the Deluge	Eliza Gilkyson
Last Great American Whale	Lou Reed
Terra	Caetano Veloso
Blacktop	Calexico
Humans From Earth	T-Bone Burnett
The New Pollution	Beck
And It Rained All Night	Thom Yorke
Earth Intruders	Bjork
Here Comes The Flood	Robert Fripp