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The 16 Songs Project
June 2026
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Before we dive into the June selections for The 16 Songs Project, I have a piece of housekeeping!
If you have attempted to subscribe to receive this monthly update as an email, you should have gotten an email to verify/confirm, but that email almost certainly ended up in your spam folder. Would love for you to either find it or simply re-subscribe and keep an eye out for the confirmation.
With that out of the way, let's get to the fun stuff. This month we've got 16 Songs that are all over the map. This playlist was over 50 songs and got whittled down to the best of the best. Some new, some old. Some big names and some new ones for you.
16 Songs - June 2026 | The Playlist
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Here is your everywhere but Spotify link, no matter which service you use for your music (Apple, Amazon, YouTube, Tidal, Fleeb, Moops, Etc.)
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"Round of Applause at the End of the World" - Wild Pink
The lead single from a forthcoming record from a band that's become a reliable source of pleasant listens. Wild Pink's handful of albums are consistent front-to-back crowd pleasers and this single only makes me more excited for what's to come.
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"Fish Sticks" - mildred
Speaking of fun new albums, the 2026 entry from Bay Area indie band mildred (lowercase letters by choice, not mistake) is a really solid way to spend 37 minutes. It took some hemming and hawing for me to settle on "Fish Sticks" as the song for the playlist ("UPS Brown" and "Fleet Week" also came close).
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"Cut and Dry" - Charlotte Cornfield
A lovely song from a gal whose name does not sound real. "Charlotte Cornfield" sounds like the name of an artist imagined by someone who regularly tries these playlists but thinks my taste is too country-western.
"Oh wow, Shane. Another alt-country lady. What's her name, friggin Charlotte Cornfield?"
Yes, actually. That is her name. And the back half of this song, when the synth hits (or is it a real horn?), is so smooth.
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"Slackers and Go Getters" - Euphoria Again, Dogwood Tales
That is not one band name with a comma in the middle but is actually two bands who came together to make one album. Can you do that?
Well, they did. And it's a very enjoyable album, with this as my favorite song on it. It's got Tom Petty-energy in the best possible way, with a guitar riff that feels straight out of Springsteen's The River album.
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"Dustin Hoffman" - Goose
"But Shane, you already featured a Goose song a few months ago!"
No! That was Geese. This is Goose. It's 2026, guys. We can't keep doing this.
Here's a helpful pneumonic device to remember:
If it's artsy indie rock you please, you prefer Geese, my friend.
If a funky jam band makes you move your caboose, then you choose Goose, my dude.
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"Juniper & Gin" - Jamestown Revival
I loved the first two albums from Jamestown Revival, released in 2014 and 2016. Then two more followed that were fine, but move the needle much for me.
It's now been four years since Jamestown Revival released anything, but the boys have been busy. They wrote the songs for the Broadway production of The Outsiders, which would go on to win Best Musical at the Tony Awards.
Can't say I've checked out the songs from The Outsiders musical, despite the accolades and rave reviews from reader Sharkey. Maybe next month!
I do like The Outsiders, the book and the 80s movie, and will never forgive my 7th grade teacher for reading us a complete plot summary that spoiled the ending as she handed out the books to the class. What the hell, lady?
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"Think Aboutcha" - Fruit Bats
This comes from the recently released The Landfill, the 12th studio album from Fruit Bats. Thirty years into a deep discography, it's pretty impressive to still be producing music that sounds as fresh as this album and this song.
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"Nervous Ground" - Futurebirds
Futurebirds doesn't quite have the same history at Fruit Bats, but the story is similar. We're nearly two decades and more than a hand's full of albums into the career of Futurebirds and the output stays the same: upbeat, foot-tapping southern rock and Americana jams.
Their most recent album is available streaming everywhere, sort of. It's a double album and you can find Far Out Country I wherever you get your music. To hear Far Out Country II, you'll need to buy a physical copy. It's an interesting play, potentially inspired by our next artist...
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"Whiter Shade of Pale" - Johnny Blue Skies
Johnny Blue Skies is the new name of country/rock/everything-under-the-sun artist Sturgill Simpson. Sturgill's my favorite artist currently releasing new music (a fun caveat so I don't have to choose between him and some of my other long time favorites) in large part due to how eclectic his output has been. His first two albums are straight forward country-Western. Then he added some horns and some hard rockin', then even more hard rockin', made an anime cartoon companion to an album, pumped out two awesome bluegrass albums, wrote a story concept album that'll break your heart, then kept to a promise to not release any more music...as Sturgill Simpson.
Enter Johnny Blue Skies, functionally just Sturgill by a new name with a new band behind him. The first JBS release (Passage Du Desir) developed into one of my favorite albums...ever? I was beyond excited when he started teasing a new release last year.
Then came the news that the album would be available but only on physical media. I pre-ordered the vinyl and a CD for the car in a heartbeat. About a week later, oops, Sturgill put the whole thing on YouTube for a few days.
I got my copies and have listened a few times, yet the quality of the album did not quite match my excitement. Musically, it's right there with some of his best work. Lyrically? There's some cringey moments and some outright stinkers.
After a few months, the album came to streaming services. Did I feel slightly duped that I bought two copies only for it to be on Spotify now? No, not really. I was probably going to get the vinyl either way and I'm happy to support one of my favorites.
Plus, I was far from the only person supporting. Mutiny After Midnight debuted at #3 on the charts. It was the highest debut for a non-streaming album since a Taylor Swift vinyl re-release and a Garth Brooks box set. Beyond those, it appears to be the first wholly original album to chart that highly without being on streaming since...streaming was introduced. I don't even mean Spotify and Apple Music. I mean since people were buying on iTunes. It's the best selling physical-only album... since all albums were physical.
It's also nice that the newly released streaming version came with three new songs, all covers, including this one. This is originally by 60s British band Procol Harum, but has also been covered by Willie Nelson and Annie Lennox. I skimmed through those, plus a few other versions, and surprise (!), Sturgill's my favorite. His voice hits a gear that almost no one else has and it wiggles into my brain in such a perfect way.
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"Didn't Leave Nobody But the Baby" - Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, and Gillian Welch (from O Brother, Where Art Thou?)
I know, this is an insane song to be listening to and writing about in 2026.
Hear me out!
We all need to collectively be thinking and talking about the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack a lot more. I've been (very) slowly trying to watch every Coen Brothers movie and recently did O Brother. It's a good movie. It made $70 million. It was nominated for two Oscars and lost both. George Clooney got a Golden Globe for his performance.
But the soundtrack went bananas. It sold 8 million copies, going eight times platinum! It was the 6th biggest album of 2002 (despite a December 2001 release) and the best selling country album of 2002, per Billboard. IT WON ALBUM OF THE YEAR AT THE GRAMMY'S. It beat albums by U2, Bob Dylan, and OutKast!
Everyone in this country was obsessed with the old timey country bumpkin jams from O Brother, Where Art Thou?
And now, the movie and the songs are pretty forgotten! It kind of inspired the run of folk and American pop hits of the 2000s and 2010s, but certainly no one would remember that. Mumford and Sons is not namedropping this 25 year old movie soundtrack as inspiration in interviews.
Listening back, "Man of Constant Sorrow" is the most notable song and is most prominently featured in the movie, but this one's the actual best song.
What a weird world in which we live.
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"Chance Encounter" - Penelope Road
I went to see the Marcus King Band live last month but came away more intrigued by the opening act, Penelope Road. This is a group of early 20-somethings putting out music that sounds like 90s dorm room fodder. Like, Gen Z is pumping out Third Eye Blind, Hootie and the Blowfish, and Goo Goo Dolls soundalikes. Maybe the kids are alright.
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"I Knew It, I Knew You" - Taylor Swift
We here at the 16 Songs Project love to spotlight smaller artists who need some publicity. That's why I was excited to hear this song from a recently married promising young songwriter named Taylor Swift. She's got a future in this business!
In reality, I typically don't love Taylor Swift's music (ducks, hides) for reasons mentioned in my Noah Kahan rant two months ago. Most of the time when I try to listen to a new Swift release, I get incredibly bored. Part of that is due to the build-up of the "Swiftiverse" and the obstacles it creates to experience Taylor's music as music. It feels like there are only five or six Taylor Swift songs that the world has accepted to listen to and play as normal music without having to download two decades of backstory and Easter eggs to understand or enjoy (those five or six being "Cruel Summer", "Shake It Off", "Anti-Hero", "Blank Space" and the old country hits).
But the song that she made for Toy Story 5, which only plays during the closing credits and is almost surely just a ploy to be nominated for and perform at the Oscars, feels like real music. That harmonica feels authentic. This song sounds like a 21st century Bruce Springsteen song, which is a bit of a backhanded compliment, but isn't intended that way. There's a fun melody and a catchy hook. It's maybe my favorite Taylor Swift song...ever? Low bar, given the first two paragraphs above, but I like it.
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"less" - Olivia Rodrigo
A small part of why I find Taylor Swift's music unamusing is the existence of Olivia Roridgo. She makes a genre of music that I would call Taylor Swift But Interesting.
I will be blissfully ignoring any of the surrounding alleged drama between those two artists and simply say that all three times Rodrigo put out an album, I listened, found some heart and some juice, and enjoyed myself. End of statement!
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"Fayette County" - Candi Jenkins
This entry calls back to both last month's playlist and a prior entry this month.
First, we remind you that Candi Jenkins is actually former Houndmouth member Katie Toupin, who left that band, tried to create a solo career, found mixed success, and is now instead chasing a country-forward career as alter-ego Candi Jenkins.
Maybe she's been inspired by the Johnny Blue Skies gambit. Maybe she has other reasons. Ultimately, the Jenkins thing is kind of working. I mean, it sounds almost exactly like her old music, but she seems to be enjoying herself, so I'll sit back and keep listening.
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"Smokin' in the Kitchen" - Natural Child
An incredibly, off-the-charts level fun rock song, in the vein of Warren Zevon. It's followed on Natural Child's album by a song called "Cookies in the Kitchen" which is under a minute long and acapella and sounds like the band riffing a song about eating cookies in the kitchen. It includes someone coughing on mic. It rules.
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"This Love of Mine" - Alex Amen
I tried so hard to not include another Alex Amen song after featuring him last month, but the guy and this song are undeniable. I don't know how he's managed to create music that sounds so much of another time but also timeless and genuine.
This song sounds like something John Denver or George Harrison might have released 50 years ago. Just beautiful stuff.
Amen was featured as WXPN's Artist to Watch for July, in which he references Denver as an inspiration. Honestly, it's just nice to see him featured to further erase my irrational fear that he's an AI creation. He's not, but his music is simply too smooth to be believed.
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That's all for this playlist. I hope you found a few songs you like. Let me know if there's an artist or song you think I'd like.
See you next month,
Shane
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