|
The 16 Songs Project
May 2026
|
|
|
|
May is a fantastic month for listening to music, which makes it a wonderful time for The 16 Songs Project.
I mean, most months are good for listening to music. Hell, they all might be, in their own way, but May's way connects with the vibes of the music and really hits home.
Go for a walk, sit outside, or roll your car windows down and pop on this month's playlist.
...Well, I guess it's actually June now. That's kind of the thing about doing a month end playlist. We've jumped a page in the calendar. I could just call this the June playlist, but that's now how this whole thing works, OK??
Just trust me, these 16 Songs will still have you tapping a foot or shimmying a shoulder, no matter the date.
16 Songs - May 2026 | The Playlist
|
|
|
I believe this helpful link will take you to this playlist, no matter which service you use for your music (Apple, Amazon, YouTube, Tidal, Etc.) Let me know if you're a non-Spotify user and this did or did not work for you!
|
|
|
"Can't Be Wrong" - Low Cut Connie
I've been a longtime enjoyer of Philadelphia band Low Cut Connie, despite having never seen them live (more of a him than a them, considering it's the creation of frontman Adam Weiner and he's the only person to be in the band for its entire existence). All reports indicate Low Cut Connie makes for quite the live show, so I'll need to remedy my ignorance at some point soon (November 20 at Union Transfer, perhaps?).
This track, like so many Weiner's created in the past, is a rooting, tooting good time. The last minute of this song, with background singers hollering and saxophone wailing, is a party.
|
|
|
"Who You Gonna Run To?" - Hiss Golden Messenger
Hiss Golden Messenger fits into a similar box as Low Cut Connie for me. For a decade, a handful of...their (? Or maybe his? Again it's primarily the focus of frontman MC Taylor) songs have been in steady rotation.
Unlike Low Cut Connie, which is essentially all gas, no brakes, Hiss Golden Messenger also has a slow side, putting out plenty of folk songs with poetic lyrics and a slow, soft sensibility. But, like I say just about every month in this space, the real fun is when the band gets grooving. That's no exception here, with horn section and funky baseline bringing the heat on my favorite song from a new album released this month.
|
|
|
"Love of My Life" - Maya Hawke
I'm not purposefully continuing to highlight the music of the young, talented actors from Stranger Things, after falling in love with Joe Keery's work as music-alter-ego Djo and his album The Crux and featuring one of his tracks in January. Yet I am going to do that again, this time spotlighting a track from the new album from Maya Hawke.
Surely this famous actress, the daughter of Uma Thurman and Ethan Hawke, needs little old me promoting her side project for her. Hey, I'm happy to do it! The album's pretty good. Maybe you're going places, kid.
|
|
|
"Music City Mockingbird" by Dialup Ghost
Heard this one as part of music critic Steven Hyden's recent deep dive into 2020's "alt-country", a movement led by artists like MJ Lenderman and Waxahatchee.
Most of the acts he focused on that piece, including a look back to the 90s "alt-country" acts like Wilco, aren't fully my cup of tea. That's mostly because my taste veers into what *I* would prefer to call "alt-country", the classical Western stylings of the Sturgill Simpson-Tyler Childers-Brandi Carlile-Sierra Ferrell crowd. My preference would be to call that music "alt-country" and the Wilco-Waxahatchee lane would be..."country-alt" or "Southeastern emo"? I'm not entirely sure what difference this makes, but it's real to me, dammit. Most of that 2020's Lendermania music is indie rock, with a slide guitar visiting the studio sometimes, several degrees away from anything I'd call country music.
Who cares?
What matters is that deep dive led me to this song, from barely discovered band Dialup Ghost. Really like their sound and you may see them again in June as I further explore their 2026 release Donkey Howdy (presumably we're aiming for a Don Quixote-pun here, but as the parent of two kids under five, I'm already well aware that PBS Kids is already on that block with puppet show Donkey Hodie, but really it's time for me to shut up and get to the next song).
|
|
|
"California Blues" - Alex Amen
This song popped up on my Spotify algorithm and I've probably listened to this song six or seven times since. I have yet to hear it and accept that it was written and released in May 2026.
That simply cannot be true. This song had to have been written in the Laurel Canyon in the 1960's. I refuse to believe otherwise. It simply must have the fingerprints of Joni Mitchell or Graham Parsons or James Taylor all over it. SURELY, IT WAS THE CREATION OF CROSBY OR STILLS OR NASH OR YOUNG.
No? It was actually written and released in 2026? And Alex Amen is a real person, not an AI created to sound like Jackson Browne making demos for a new Eagles album? (I actually did check to make sure this song wasn't AI, given everything happening at Spotify and its uncanny timeless feeling AND the artist's name being ALEX AMEN, which also sounds fake).
It's not. It's real. He's real. And it friggin' rules.
|
|
|
"Worlds Unknown" - Cut Worms
Back-to-back months on the playlist for Cut Worms. Found his work last month and featured an older song, but dove more into his newest album this month and found this track well worth inclusion.
|
|
|
"Never Gonna Die" - Houndmouth
Kind of an ironic title for a song from Houndmouth.
The band put out two albums I absolutely adore in 2013 and 2015. Then keyboardist Katie Toupin, who provided background and occasionally lead vocals, left the band to pursue a solo career.
This led to what was once one of my favorite sentences on Wikipedia (it no longer appears there, but can still be corroborated as factually correct):
That's right. When the keyboardist with an angelic singing voice left the band, Houndmouth instead replaced her with TWO SAXOPHONES.
Not to be outdone, Katie Toupin never gained much traction in her solo career so she's instead taken on a country alter-ego called "Candi Jenkins". Toupin's released nine singles as Jenkins, but no album, and has gone as far as deleting her regular Instagram account and committed to life online as Candi. Ok? Cool? I'll figure that out in June.
For now, we turn back to the lead single on Houndmouth's forthcoming album. The band released two LP's post-Toupin departure. One was forgettable, the other was fungal.
This song is the best thing the band has released in a decade, with the ensuing two singles also trending in the right direction. I'm hopeful the fellas at Houndmouth have steadied the ship.
|
|
|
"Don't Throw Rocks" - Westside Cowboy
We now take a little three song detour back into that world of 2020's "alt-country" or whatever you (or I) want to call it. It does feel particularly notable when discussing if this band can be called anything close to country, they are British.
"A cheeky little twangly jangly, innit? A wee yeehaw, innit mate?"
|
|
|
"Oblivion" - Brown Horse
Brown Horse is also British and describe themselves, on their Spotify bio, as "slacker twang".
Sure, let's go with that.
|
|
|
"Coyote" - Thomas Dollbaum
We're getting closer here. Dollbaum is from the American Southeast, but was born and now lives in two of the least American Southeast-coded cities in the American Southeast: Tampa and New Orleans.
Very fun song. Really builds.
|
|
|
"No Woman" - Whitney
I like this song a lot but have one major issue. It starts with those horns and they are gorgeous. Then...it forgets about them for three whole minutes? You can't tease me like that, Chicago-based indie band Whitney! Bring those horns back in! Turn those machines back on!
Thankfully, they do return and make this song sizzle on the outro.
|
|
|
"I Believe In Love" - Tyler Ballgame
Tyler Ballgame was featured in the February edition of this newsletter, but has not escaped my listening habits in the months that followed, so let's bring him back.
I was very, very close to including his song "Down So Bad" here, but the final cut for the May list was determined by "I Believe in Love" absolutely bullying my brain and getting stuck in there for days at a time. I played golf last weekend and constantly sang this in my head up and down the fairways.
|
|
|
"Different Light" - Rostam
I've been a casual-to-fairly-North-of-casual listener of Vampire Weekend for a long time. I'd comfortably call them one of my favorite 20 bands of my lifetime, but fully admit I had no knowledge of the band's inner workings or members aside from frontman Ezra Koenig.
So, it came as surprise to me when reader Stan recommended the new album from Vampire Weekend founding member and longtime producer Rostam.
Yeah, his solo stuff has some of the same crispy sound and layered vocals of Vampire Weekend, but without some of the joy and whimsy I expect from Ezra and crew.
|
|
|
"Planting By the Signs" - Tyler Childers and Senora May
There are not hard and fast rules for what can and cannot be included on this playlist each month. We try for new, we mention some old. If there were some set of rules or expectations, "When one of Shane's favorite artist releases a new song, and it aint half bad, it makes the list," would be a pretty good starting point.
In this case, we have Tyler Childers duetting with his wife, Senora May, for the first time on a track together, covering the brilliant SG Goodman on the deluxe re-release of her album from last year.
New Tyler? It's on the playlist.
|
|
|
"I Like the Way You Walk" - The Donkeys
Great band name.
Great song name.
Very good song.
|
|
|
"Freight Train" - Jerry Garcia and David Grisman
As the father of two previously mentioned little ones, it is a critical part of my music consumption to find music that my kids like that is not specifically music for kids. I can only do the songs from Frozen, Toy Story, and Kpop Demon Hunters so many times.
Enter this track from the Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia and collaborator David Grisman, on an album explicitly titled Not Only For Kids.
And yes, it starts with some train sounds, but once it gets moving makes for a lovely listen for kids and adults alike.
|
|
|
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
|
|
|
