It seems that every other week, some old white dude decides that rock and roll is dead. This time it was Roger Daltrey, who announced the demise in in an interview with The Times. He went on to add that “the only people saying things that matter are the rappers,” and while the rad rap tracks in our countdown this week bear out the value of the genre, the old Who-head ought to take a look at our list every week, as it regularly features great rock tracks. Give us a holler, Dalt! We’ll set you straight!
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10. Kevin Morby – “Beautiful Strangers”
Photo by Philip Cosores
Earlier this year, the world mourned one of America’s worst attacks: the Pulse nightclub shootings in Orlando. Though time has passed, many of those wounds, both literal and community-based, remain open. One of the people to feel its pain is singer-songwriter Kevin Morby. After hearing about the tragedy, he took to the studio to record two new songs, one of which is “Beautiful Strangers”, a winding, intimate folk number that picks up momentum as it goe. This goes out to “people who liked to laugh, dance, and love in the way that we all do, but can’t anymore,” he wrote on his Bandcamp. It may seem strange at first to grin or move in time to his song, but let it grow. Morby’s songwriting catches a hold of the heart in funny ways and, when given time, convinces you it’s time to move, even if your body’s biggest dance move is a subtle sway back and forth. –Nina Corcoran
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