Meet Me @ The Altar-“Garden”: This, this is amazing. I am going to try my hardest not to totally fan girl over this single and this band, but man it’s tough. Meet Me @ The Altar is what pop-punk should sound like in 2020. The lyrics are great, the music is outstanding, and don’t get me started on the vocals, oh man the vocals are fantastic, and this is being done by three women of color. Where was this when I was coming up? We had Whole Wheat Bread, and that was great, but to have a group of black women making pop-punk that sounds like The Story So Far meets old Paramore!? That’s insane, and I’m all about it. This band has the ability to be something great, and I think they will. They already have been endorsed by people such as Soupy from The Wonder Years and Alex Gaskarth of All Time Low. I’ve played this single over and over since I found out about them, and you will too.

Fever 333 – “Supremacy”: Jason Butler and his crew do not stop. And I wouldn’t expect them to with the current climate of this country. Jason has been so vocal about what’s going on, and I love it. “Supremacy” is the latest in a string of political songs. I’m going to get this out of the way now: the sampling of “Rapture” by Blondie adds so much to what they are trying to get across. As always the lyrics are powerful, honest, and on point. I wouldn’t expect any less from this unit. This is evident right off the bat, as the first words you hear are “Born into a world where we’re dying to be free, but we’re living underneath their supremacy.” If that doesn’t affect you in any way, I don’t know what will. Also after doing a little looking, I found out those vocals were done by Jason’s wife, Gin Wigmore, who recently released a pretty good single of her own. Check her out as well.

Mickey Guyton – “Black Like Me”: I read about Mickey and this single on Rolling Stone Country. The article wasn’t about her but about Yola and Rhiannon Giddens, two black women who make beautiful folk and bluegrass music. Rhiannon has been at it for years, and Yola is just getting started. The article was saying how they have set the path for other black women in Country music and such. In the end they mentioned Mickey Guyton, of whom I had never heard. So, naturally, I listen to her, and I instantly fall in love. Her voice is angelic. But I didn’t hear the country music influence. It took four songs until I did, but that’s not really important. What is, is her and this song. This is one of those songs that I 100% relate to and still do. It opens with “Little kid in a small town, I did my best just to fit in. Broke my heart on the playground, mmh, when they said I was different.” That was life for me growing up in South Georgia, and it sucked. I just wanted to play. Then there is the part of the chorus that goes “If you think we live in the land of the free, you should try to be black like me.” 100% on it!!!! I’d like to think things are starting to change and things like this will become less and less. Time will tell.

Terrace Martin – “Pig Feet”: Let me just say this, the first 30 seconds can be a little hard to listen to, simply because of what has transpired over the past few weeks. But we should not forget them. But, anyways, on to the song itself. I like the use of jazz in it. It adds so much to an already good song; the jazz is what makes it a great song. It brings to mind the type of music you would hear in a Blaxploitation film from the 70s. I can hear this song easily on the soundtrack to Trouble Man. And Terrace Martin himself is one of the most intelligent, versatile musicians around today.