Friday Random Ten: saying goodbye to 43 edition

Lots of good stuff for this, the last FRT of the Bush presidency. It’s a genuinely random 10 the shuffle on iTunes produced, but I suppose that a case can be made that several of these songs have W. themes.

I make no apologies for loving #10, though the first 9 line up better with the genres I normally focus on. And the bonus track, as always, is the non-randomly chosen song that has been in my head most this week. I never liked the Seattle sound much, but while I had little time for Nirvana, I was always fond of Alice in Chains and the doomed and charismatic Layne Staley. Ryan Adams offers a faithful and strong cover of what, for me, is the quintessential early ’90s grunge classic. It’s very fine.

And though I like the Jimmy Martin version better, Del and the boys do a good job with #7.

1. “Dancing Barefoot”, Patti Smith
2. “Welfare Music”, John Hiatt
3. “Johnny 99″, Bruce Springsteen
4. “You’ll Always Be”, Oh Susanna
5. “Water and Stone”, Catie Curtis
6. “Biko”, Peter Gabriel
7. “My Lord Keeps a Record”, Del McCoury Band
8. “No Time to Cry”, Iris Dement
9. “I Am a Rock”, Simon and Garfunkel
10. “Umbrella”, Rihanna

Bonus Track: “Down in a Hole”, Ryan Adams