Features / The Weekend Stream

Welcome back to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles making digital debuts, plus new works from legacy acts and even some personally curated favorites. We’ve got new tracks from John Mayer and Kacey Musgraves, a new tribute to a favorite Disney theme park, plus some holiday and even inspirational favorites.

John Mayer, “Tom and Jerry” (Mercury) (Apple / Amazon)

After five years out of the spotlight as a solo artist – instead co-leading Dead & Company up to a series of 60th anniversary shows for the Grateful Dead in 2025, the last of Bob Weir’s career – John Mayer is back at it with “Tom and Jerry,” the presumptive lead single to his ninth studio album. (His last, 2021’s Sob Rock, also closed his longtime contract with Columbia Records; here, he’s partnered with Mercury, with audio copyright held by his own imprint, also named Sob Rock Records.) The lovelorn tune is sonically similar to that last album, full of shimmery, synth-like guitar tone and a vibe not unlike Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire.” Mayer’s next confirmed move is an 18-show residency at The Sphere in Las Vegas through the spring of 2027, which will feature solo and full band sets as well as a reunion of his blues trio with bassist Pino Palladino and drummer Steve Jordan.

Kacey Musgraves, “Weekend in Texas” / “Mi Tesoro” (Lost Highway) (Apple / Amazon)

Texas country heroine Kacey Musgraves’ Middle of Nowhere, released this past summer, was an artistic triumph, deftly mixing classic and contemporary country in a way that satisfied this listener as much as her Grammy-winning Golden Hour back in 2018. So it’s a thrill to hear she’ll be continuing the threads of that album soon with Middle of Nowhere Vol. 2: The Tex Mex Tapes, a companion album of new material in both English and Spanish (including deluxe tracks from that last album – like a cover of George Strait’s “All My Exes Live in Texas” – and a previously released Spanish version of single “Uncertain, TX” with Tejano/norteño ensemble Intocable). The next two tracks from the album, “Weekend in Texas” and “Mi Tesoro” are available ahead of the album’s release on January 15.

JoJo, The High Road (20th Anniversary Edition) (Seeker Music) (Apple / Amazon)

Joanna “JoJo” Levesque struck a chord when she broke through in 2004 with “Leave (Get Out),” a killer pop/R&B jam that, when it topped Billboard‘s Mainstream Top 40 radio chart, it made her, only 13 years old, the youngest singer to do so. Follow-up The High Road, released in 2006, may have been even better, thanks to the tremendous break-up anthem “Too Little Too Late,” which soared to No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. But both albums had the misfortune of being released by the troubled label Blackground Records, whose absence from the digital music world was, until recently, the stuff of legend. Levesque fought valiantly to get out of her contract with Blackground, re-recording both her albums in 2018 not long after securing her first of several new deals with Warner. Now, the label Seeker Music has acquired both recordings of those two terrific albums, additionally releasing The High Road as an expanded edition that includes four original ex-U.S. and retail-specific cuts integrated into the new track listing as well as a new, stripped down, Spanish-language version of “Too Little Too Late.” (CD and double vinyl editions are forthcoming.)

The Music of EPCOT (Walt Disney Records) (Apple / Amazon)

Recently issued as a vinyl double album through Disney Music Emporium, this newly curated collection, arriving about a year ahead of the theme park’s 45th annivesary, offers new selections from Future World and World Showcase as well as themes to classic attractions like the Sherman Brothers favorites “One Little Spark” and “Makin’ Memories.”

Stan Getz, Early Autumn (Verve) (Apple / Amazon)

A newly-curated, streaming-only set features tracks from The Sound that are perfect for the cooler, leafier months.

Sheena Easton, For Your Eyes Only EP (RT Industries) (Apple / Amazon)

The latest breakout from Cherry Red’s Sheena Easton singles box features several very different takes on her Oscar-nominated theme to the 1981 James Bond film. (With an anniversary year for the film, perhaps La-La Land has Bill Conti’s score in their sights for the end of the year?)

Talking Heads, The Name of This Band Member is David (Warner/Rhino) (Apple / Amazon)

Three quarters through the Talking Heads’ own curation of the best of their catalogue! This time, frontman David Byrne is spotlighted.

Marcy Levy, Marcella (Epic) (Apple / Amazon)

A backing vocalist for Bob Seger and Eric Clapton (with whom she co-wrote his Top 5 hit “Lay Down Sally”), Marcy Levy worked on several solo records in the ’70s and ’80s, including an intended debut for RSO with David Foster as producer. What was ultimately released was a more pop-focused selection for the Epic label that failed to find a larger audience. Undeterred, she changed her professional name to Marcella Detroit and teamed up with Bananarama’s Siobhan Fahey to form the U.K. hitmakers Shakespear’s Sister.

Basehead, Play with Toys (self-released) (Apple / Amazon)

Emerging from the local alternative scene in Washington, D.C. in the early ’90s, Basehead combined frontman Michael Ivey’s love of rock and hip-hop for a killer mix of style and substance that became a favorite to college radio listeners. (Shortly after the release of debut Play with Toys in 1992, the group’s DJ at one point was Clarence Greenwood, now known as alt-singer/songwriter Citizen Cope.) SuperVisible Multi Media has partnered with Ivey to put Play with Toys on digital music stores, allowing it to inspire a new generation of listeners.

Montreux, Let Them Say (Windham Hill) (Apple / Amazon)

A unique jazz/bluegrass hybrid act, Montreux recorded for nearly a decade on the Windham Hill label; Let Them Say, issued in 1989, would be their last album, but the title track had a lengthy lifespan as a recurring music bed for NPR programming. SuperVisible is once again back at it, filling the gaps in the legendary New Age label’s discography.

Eddy Grant, Hearts and Diamonds (Ice) (Apple / Amazon)

The latest digital debut from the “Electric Avenue” singer isn’t from the ’80s! Hearts and Diamonds was in fact released in 2000 – a jazz-affected reggae album from the British-Guyanese singer. Thanks as always to reader Tom Riise for checking in with Grant’s latest.

The Nerves, Best Collection (Third Man) (Apple / Amazon)

A short-lived but monumentally talented power-pop trio from San Francisco, all three of The Nerves were talented singer/songwriters: drummer Paul Collins later fronted the Paul Collins Beat and bassist Peter Case went on to found The Plimsouls. As for guitarist Jack Lee, he wrote The Nerves’ best-known song, although it would be best-known as a U.K. Top 5 hit for Blondie in 1979: “Hanging on the Telephone.” Now ripe for rediscovery even after the death of Lee in 2023, Third Man has compiled more than two dozen of their tracks for a new CD and double-vinyl anthology that makes its streaming debut today, as well. (Thanks to Tom Riise for the note on this as well!)

Raffi, Love is Everywhere (Craft Recordings) (Apple / Amazon)

The beloved children’s entertainer and activist has partnered with Craft Recordings to release his newest album! Love is Everywhere is recorded in part with the award-winning folk/country trio the Good Lovelies, and also commemorates the 50th anniversary of his breakthrough album Singable Songs for the Very Young by including the original version of that album’s “I Wonder If I’m Growing.”

Debbie Gibson, Winterlicious D’luxe (Stargirl) (Apple / Amazon)

The ’80s pop hitmaker’s 2022 holiday album is reissued with five new tracks, including the new single “Lit Up” and a seasonal remake of her hit “Out of the Blue.”

Grant-Lee Phillips, Yuletide (Yep Roc) (Apple / Amazon)

Known for delighting the population of Stars Hollow with his original tunes on the hit series Gilmore Girls, Grant-Lee Phillips first released this holiday EP in 2020; it’s now been expanded with a new track, “It Doesn’t Feel Like Christmas.”

Earl Grant, Winter Wonderland (Decca/Geffen) (Apple / Amazon)

Though he recorded prolifically for Decca for just over a decade (until he died in a car accident at the age of 39), pianist/organist Earl Smith’s discography is sadly thin on digital services. That changes somewhat with the timely release of 1965’s Winter Wonderland, an album of festive holiday favorites.

Big thanks to reader, friend, and music historian Tim Dillinger for giving us the heads-up on the next two titles…and even penning the most excellent blurb to the first one! Please visit Tim over at God’s Music Is My Life!

Teri DeSario, A Call to Us All (Curb) (Apple / Amazon)

Largely remembered for her Barry Gibb-produced disco hit “Ain’t Nothing Gonna Keep Me From You” (from 1978’s Pleasure Train on Casablanca Records), Teri DeSario’s musical trajectory has been far broader than the general public might expect. When her final album for Casablanca (1981’s Relationships) went unreleased, she became a staff writer for Word Records, a contemporary Christian music label then home to Amy Grant and B.J. Thomas. The label soon signed her to a deal as a solo artist. The result was 1983’s A Call to Us All, a work that colored outside the rigid theological lines of mainstream contemporary Christian music. Inspired by the works of Christian mystics, DeSario’s music introduced interfaith concepts, feminism, and what would later become known as the gospel of inclusion to the Christian music market.

Wooten Hill, How Did We Get Here (Wooten Hill) (Apple / Amazon)

Kim Hill and Paulette Wooten’s paths often crossed while they pursued separate solo paths in music: Hill as a Grammy-nominated and multiple Dove Award-winning artist and Wooten as a songwriter, film composer, and multi-instrumentalist. Though they’d worked together, it was always as solo artists joining forces.  But when they joined forces personally as well as professionally – unexpectedly falling love – they united as a musical duo. The title of Wooten Hill’s first album, How Did We Get Here, clues listeners into the album’s personal story. Fusing folk, country, and Americana styles, it’s a deeply moving statement from two talented artists, individually and collectively. Read an interview with them here!