Fresh Cuts: “Hey North Star, could you just shine through?”
Fresh Cuts! Here we are. Cindy’s picks. Cindy hosts. We have the ED of FA, Sarah LaDuke, writing her reactions to some of the songs for the Fresh Cuts blog post. Where is that? You’re reading it right now.
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Humbird – “Hey Big Dipper”
🎵“Dizzy with the spins from another hard knock – doing the best that I can swing on this flying rock.”🎵
Have you ever identified with the lyrics of a song so much you felt like they were, or should be, tattooed *inside* of you? I said that to my husb [sic] once and it hit his brain literally and he said “What? Gross.”
Humbird’s fourth full-length album, ‘Morning When It Comes,’ features twelve new secular hymns that pray, if you will, not to a humanized god – but to the vastness of space and its contents. The album comes out on Nettwerk on 9/25.
We’re sharing “Hey Big Dipper” on this week’s Fresh Cuts. I can’t tell you how much I relate to and immediately internalized this song.
The Jayhawks – “Mr. Lincoln”
Isn’t it strange to imagine, in 2026, the remains of a president traveling by train? In 1865, President Abraham Lincoln’s funeral train passed 444 communities in 7 states. “Mr. Lincoln,“ from The Jayhawks’ “Sanctuary Park” (out today on Thirty Tigers) was written by Jayhawks’ frontperson Gary Louris and Emerson Hart from Tonic. It’s sung from the perspective of an imagined musician who played in a band as Lincoln’s funeral train passed through their town and its arrangement and vocals bring CSN to mind.
🎵“I’m an Old Dominion man, I must admit that I was not your biggest fan. But in light of these events and sadness trends I wouldn’t wish that end on any man.But it all came down to you, to paint a picture of this new red, white and blue. But the blood is spilled and the fields are tilled so tell me what the hell are we supposed to do?” 🎵
What the hell, indeed.
Cindy’s playlist also has a killer from Miko Marks, an excellent rumbler from Riley Downing, and some emotion-facing elevation from (individually) Ruthie Foster, Rhiannon Giddens, and Mary Gauthier.
Fresh Cuts:
Ruthie Foster – “Take Time”
The Jayhawks – “Sanctuary Park”
Mama’s Broke – “Reunion”
Sera Cahoone – “Pulling Up Roots”
Billy Strings – “So Much for Goodbyes”
Humbird – “Hey Big Dipper”
Riley Downing – “Landfill Poetry”
Rhiannon Giddens – “Freight Train”
Howley – “Joy”
Katie Pruitt – “The Aftermath”
Justin Hiltner & Jon Weisberger – “I Could Cry”
Mary Gauthier – “Some Times”
Miko Marks – “Death Rolls Like Thunder”
