Summer playlist, 2026

Kate told me to post my summer playlist and now it's almost fall - and I only have one song on my fall playlist so far. Should we all kill ourselves? Maybe. Just kidding, never kill yourself, we have to find out what happens with the midterms.

Anyway, here it is. (Here's a Spotify link, also.)

Hunter Root - '94

I used to have a big brother
He died of cancer, that's the answer
He died a heroin addict
God is a master of writing the tragic

Xiuhtezcatl, Renata Flores - SÍGUEME

Gente de la Tierra
Gente de revolución, siempre en mis vеnas
Gente de ríos quе fluyen, gente chinampera
Mi gente más fuerte que el calor en la frontera
Dentro del agua los balazos no lo encuentran

Hiss Golden Messenger - I’m People

Every person I've known bears a different load of suffering
Some can't quit it, and some don't even notice it
I guess I'm somewherе in between "Ain't life sweet?"
And gambling the only thing I truly own

Warren Zevon - My Shit's Fucked Up (Kate got so mad at me over this one because she's tormented me with young Zevon for years. "I should have just TOLD YOU he also had DEPRESSING stuff," she howled in April. And she was right.)

I had a dream
Ah, shucks, oh, well
Now it's all fucked up
It's shot to hell

Johnny Blue Skies,Sturgill Simpson - Mint Tea

Need an early morning matcha? Girl, I got you
You know my days don't see the light
I go to bed with the moon, and should I fall asleep too soon
Wake me up with that mint tea at midnight

Allison Russell - Rainbows

Remember all the stories that you used to tell
To strangers in the park when you were scarеd
Old Willow tree bowed her head
Hеld you in her branches till you felt better
Ducks on the pond as twilight fell
Too many secrets you can't tell
You wanna get back when you were twelve
Cicadas sang love songs in the Dell

The Beatles - Now And Then

And now and then
If we must start again
Well, we will know for sure
That I will love you

Yoko Ono,Cat Power - Revelations

You are a sea of goodness
You are a sea of love
Bless you, bless you, bless you
Bless you for what you are

Mon Rovîa, Mjhanks, Philip Bowen - Where the Rivers Run

So I'm hеaded to the coast
Wherе the rivers run
In search of Freedom
And I hope that I forget, everything I've done
Underneath the Sun

Tori Miller - Boston Mountains

Then my mind rewinds to Mabel's face
She's got all that money and poise and grace
And I think of all those things I've had my fill

Hiss Golden Messenger - Who You Gonna Run To?

Tuesday night at the Bye and Bye
In the fiddles and the sawdust
Hard as it's been for everyone
Never felt so perfect

Khatumu - blackout

Well, it's a Monday and it's only locals
I know God is closer when I'm feelin' hopeful
Drinking around and staying out
I feel like I'm someone when I blackout

Josiah and the Bonnevilles - Carolina Heart (I think this is objectively kind of a bad song but I love bad country music...c'est la vie)

Come on, baby, before you rip me apart
Could you find a little lovin' in your Carolina heart?
If it ain't me, who's gonna play that part?
Could you find a little lovin' in your Carolina heart?
Come on, baby

Margo Price - I Just Don’t Give A Damn

I've done everything I can to make you happy
But every word I spoke, you always put me down
And tomorrow, my arms may ache and long to hold you
Ah, but tonight I just, I just don't give a damn

Zach Bryan - Bad News

Didn't wake up dead or in jail
Some out-of-town boys been giving us hell
I got some bad news
Woke up missing you

The Neighborhood Kids, Indigenous Cats - THEY AIM AT US

Mira, mira
Es la policia
Cuida, cuida
Los niños y las niñas
Pria, Pria
Es pura porqueria
Migra, migra
Cuiden su familia

Adeem the Artist - Jason Isbell B-Side

I told my agent I was dying
And that we had to play less shows
Now I don’t have that agent
‘Cause he figures I ain’t paying all that well
That’s how it goes

Khatumu - exposure therapy

Counted your breaths on the car ride back home
I wish I could watch us on a TV screen
Kissing in your bed
Then to a morning routine

Robyn - Sexistential

So I was about to go have a kid on my own
And then my doctor said, "Now, Robyn, who would be your dream donor?"
Well, Adam Driver always did kinda give me a boner
She like, "Yeah, wasn't he great in Don't Mess With The Zohan?"

TLC - No Scrubs

A scrub is a guy that thinks he's fly
And is also known as a busta

Doechii,SZA - girl, get up. (feat. SZA)

Sippin' my kombucha on a rooftop
Smokin' Blue Dream on my Kama Sutra

Jensen McRae - Let Me Be Wrong

Though it's never worth the cost
To dance on glass with my shoes off
Something rotting in my brain
Tells me, "Do it anyway"

Zach Bryan - Appetite

I've been out and I’ve been drinking, why am I always thinking
'Bout thing that really matter, like twin towers and satellites?
Everyone I know got older, told my drunk ass to get sober
Settle down and have some kids, be content with all of it

Mon Rovîa - Rust.

Morning light, everything’s new
Looking over the covers, still by you
Coffee, warm on the table with a bowl of fruit
Headed out the door before you hit snooze

Baby J - Fallen Angel

Eyes cut like the devil
He seen more than all the rest em
Preaching hope through all the bad stuff
He invoking something special

Rose Betts - Goodbye California (Another objectively bad song that is nonetheless aurally pleasing, by an artist I do not respect at all because she took hot girl summer way too fucking personally.)

As I drive out of Los Angeles
The hot wind blows my hair to frizz
I'm sweating in my homemade dress and tights
Packed my life into my Subaru
I wish my friends were coming too
They’re all that I regret to leave behind

Waylon Jennings - Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way

Somebody told me when I came to Nashville
"Son, you finally got it made!
Old Hank made it here, we're all sure that you will"
But I don't think Hank done it this way, no
I don't think Hank done it this way, okay

Shooter Jennings - Lawyers, Guns and Money - Live (I think it drives Kate crazy that I listen to the cover of this song...sorry Kate)

I went home with the waitress
The way I always do
How was I to know
She was with the Russians too?

The Beatles - The Ballad Of John And Yoko

Standing in the dock at Southampton
Trying to get to Holland or France
The man in the mac said, “You've got to go back”
You know, they didn't even give us a chance

Robyn - Talk To Me

Yeah, I'm so close, I'm almost there
Want you to tell me how to do it
It's not as good by myself
So, baby, will you talk me through it?

Beyoncé - Crazy In Love (feat. JAY-Z)

When I talk to my friends so quietly
("Who he think he is?") Look at what you did to me

Rihanna, Calvin Harris - We Found Love

Yellow diamonds in the light
And we're standin' side by side

Quoting lyrics for this one feels very funny. We literally found love in a hopeless place! What else is there to say?

Willi Carlisle - Big Butt Billy

I sat in the corner booth with that particular conundrum
Do I want the Salisbury steak or do I dare the liver and onion?
I laid eyes on somethin' I knew nothing about
I tell you good buddy, I was knocked right out...