DJ Russell
Guest Playlist
If our publishing schedule is something you follow, you may have noticed that last Thursday came and went without a post from yours truly. It is with a sad but hopeful heart that I share with you that my sweet, precious brother Russell was recently diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. I, of course, immediately flew home to be with him and my family as he was admitted into Emory Hospital. Although the disease is super serious, the prognosis is hopeful as he is a young buck and we caught it earlier rather than later. His care and caretakers are top notch and he is exactly where he needs to be.
Needless to say, blogging has been one of the furthest things from my mind and I appreciate your patience (especially Coralie’s) as we deal with this. And although cancer is never fun, there is, however, a lot of waiting. As such, I will hopefully have some time to regularly update the blog. Today, however, I wanted to throwback to a guest post/playlist that Russell actually wrote for the blog. If you’ve met Russell, then you know how special he is. He is one of the funniest, sweetest individuals I’ve ever had the privilege to know and am lucky that I even know him, let alone that he is my brother. So, if you get a minute in your day, send some positive energy my family’s way.
Here is a youtube playlist I created (as we are slowly moving away from Spotify as a music hosting platform) of his original playlist as well as his song choice explanation.
1. Victory Dance/ My Morning Jacket- I’ve recently really gotten into MMJ. I saw them at Centennial Park in Atlanta two weekends ago and they played this song and the crowd went nuts. It was awesome.
2. Lay Your Burden Down/ Gov’t Mule- I chose this song because with school and other responsibilities weighing so heavily on me sometimes I just have to remember, “ If it’s heavy, lay your Burden down.”
3. Two Tickets to Paradise/ Eddie Money- Who doesn’t like this song? Like seriously?
4. Feel Like Making Love/ Bad Company- The band I’m in (Big Milk) has recently started to cover this song. There’s nothing better than busting into the chorus and trying to harness your inner Paul Rogers (lead singer of BC).
5. Outta My System/ My Morning Jacket- This song is just about being young and stupid. You know sometimes you just have to get all the wild and crazy activities out of your system, because I’m sure once you get older it will be harder to turn up.
6. Devil In A New Dress/ Kayne West ft. Ricky Rozay- I remember the first time I heard this album and it was mind blowing. Its still one of my favorite albums to this day, Kanye and Rick spit such balling verses on this song.
7. Love Gun/ Kiss- “ I’ll be a gambler baby, so lay down your bet. When we get together Mama, you’ll sweat. No where for hiding baby, nowhere to run, you pulled the trigger on my LOVE GUN.” I think we all know what Paul Stanely is talking about here.
8. California Waiting/ Kings of Leon- Just a real solid Spring/ Summer jam.
9. I Don’t Regret/ Thomas Wynn and the Believers- This song is a song about how a lot of times you may mess up your relationships by saying things that you regret when you are partying on the scene, but through it all you don’t regret the love you shared.
10. I’m Single/ Lil Wayne- What a great song to follow up “I don’t regret.” When you do screw up your relationships there is always a time period afterwards when you just need to ball out and get back on the scene.
11. Willin’/ Little Feat-
“ I been warped by the rain, driven by the snow
I’m drunk and dirty don’t ya know, and I’m still, willin’
Out on the road late at night, Seen my pretty Alice in every head light
Alice, Dallas Alice
I’ve been from Tuscon to Tucumcari
Tehachapi to Tonapah
Driven every kind of rig that’s ever been made
Driven the back roads so I wouldn’t get weighed
And if you give me: weed, whites, and wine
And you show me a sign
I’ll be willin’, to be movin’ .
If this song doesn’t make you wanna be a trucker, I don’t know what will.
12. Can’t Stop/ Mayor Hawthorne feat. Snoop Dogg- Mayor Hawthorne is someone who my sister and I have really dug. It’s a white guy who has tried to bring back that classic soul sound. He got Snoop to come and do a verse on here and S-N- double O-P D-O- double G did not disappoint. Its not so much of a rap verse as it is him singing and it is too nice.
13. You Are the Best Thing/ Ray Lamontagne- There is a great horn line in this song and it just has a real good vibe to it. One of the few songs where Ray is not just whispering.
14. Life Line Woman/ Thomas Wynn and the Believers – This song is just about finding that one good girl that just keeps your life going.
15. Streets of Arklow/ Van Morrison- Classic hot tub jam. Whenever I hear any song off the Veedon Fleece album, I can just picture myself in our hot tub in Lavonia during a cold winter night.
16. Win Lose or Draw/ The Allman Brothers- Just some real soulful vocals from Greg Allman. This song can definitely heal the hurt.
17. Fight For Your Right/ The Beastie Boys- This song is about not letting the man bring you down. Sometimes you just have to break free and not listen. You have to fight for your right to party.
18. Waiting in Vain/ Bob Marley- With Summer being right around the corner this is for sure a great song to listen to by the pool or ocean. I don’t want to wait in vain for your love baby.
Loved reading this one again!