No Miracles-Or Ideas-Here
Originally published on www.thirdsonginpodcast.com (July 17, 2025)
As I type this opening sentence, I’m hoping for a full-blown miracle and that somehow the remaining fifty or so sentences that should make up the rest of this blog write themselves. Seeing as I’ve typed that same opening sentence about five times and no additional sentences have appeared, I guess I’ll never be a saint, and, far more importantly, I may never finish this week’s blog. Fucking miracles.
In light of the fact that I clearly don’t have one “big idea” for this week’s blog, I will go the cheap route and share some random thoughts with my loyal readers. Maybe one of these little nuggets will eventually become a full blown topic down the road, but for now, you just get little glimpses into what’s rattling around in my head.
On the pretty damn serious side of things, I just found out yesterday that my mom will need open heart surgery next week. She went into the hospital a couple days ago with symptoms of pneumonia and has gone from pretty significant concerns about her blood sugar being too high to the discovery that her heart is mostly blocked, thus requiring bypass surgery. I’m choosing to see this as a truly fortunate outcome for my mom, and for those of us who love her. Assuming/hoping the surgery goes well, this can really be seen as a second lease on life as she enters her eighties. I’m not much for religion, but she is, so I will be praying for her over the next couple weeks. Otherwise, I’m just not ready to fully deal with this yet, at least not in writing..
On the music front, there are a couple artists that I have long admired who are coming out with what I can only describe as happy music, or at least happier than what they've been recording. The first is the band, The Honeydogs. I got to see them a couple years ago in what I thought might be their last concert ever. Lead singer, and primary songwriter, Adam Levy was clearly and understandably going through a very dark and incredibly sad period where he dealt openly and honestly with the suicide of his son. A heart-breakingly beautiful solo album, entitled Naubinway, captures the rawness of his pain, with every song on the album dealing with some aspect of his son’s death, including the “backward baptism” when they threw his ashes into Lake Michigan at Naubinway. The family chose that site because it was the last place they remembered their son, Daniel, smiling. It’s not an easy album to listen to, but it’s painfully beautiful and highlights how incredible Levy is as a songwriter.
That songwriting is in its full pop-rock glory on the latest singles that the Honeydogs have released, including “An Irish Goodbye” and “Attic Brain.” I’m not assuming that Levy is over his heartbreak, but it makes me smile to hear happiness in his latest releases.
The other artist seemingly coming out of a sadder phase is Ruston Kelly. I have mixed emotions about this one because Kelly writes some of the greatest breakup songs out there. And we all know what a sucker I am for breakup tunes. One of his very best in this vein is “Cold Black Mile (Hotel Version).” This one was on repeat for me for weeks. I love the stark, rough edge quality of the “hotel” recording, but more importantly, Kelly’s words just resonate with me. “It’s in the pain without answers, it’s in the things you can’t change / It’s in the calling it forever, then the words just blow away / And I might die a thousand times, but I know I can survive / I’ll just keep on pushing down the cold black mile.”
Like Levy, Ruston Kelly is a brilliant songwriter, and at his very best, his sad songs can rip right through you like the worst breakup possible. I always assumed, rightly or wrongly, that this string of sad songs was related to his short-lived marriage to Kasey Musgraves. If true, it resulted in a number of outstandingly sad but fantastic albums by Kelly His latest releases suggest that the other great side of Kelly’s songwriting is coming back - his wry humor. “Wayside” was a staff pick of mine on a recent episode, and is a light, catchy, and insightful ode to falling in love in our current age of information overload. For me, the emphasis is and should be on the falling in love part, which is good to hear from Kelly. Similarly light-hearted and upbeat is the song, “Pickleball,” which fortunately only mentions that annoying sport in the title. What made me smile about this one is I’m not the only one who is noticing the new, happier side of Kelly. A commenter on YouTube Music wrote, “Love to see and hear you happy big dawg. New album is going to be so sick.”
I hope it is. I’ve got tickets to his show in October. Bring on the happy stuff…is something you never thought you’d hear me say.
Well, I need the happy stuff more and more these days.. In addition to my mom’s health concerns, my work, which has always (sadly) been my solace, is depressing as hell. I had to lay off some really good people and their last day is fast approaching. I know I did all I could to make it as easy and painless as possible, but to hear the fear and uncertainty in the voices of my soon-to-be-former colleagues is gut-wrenching. And the worst part is, I don’t even know if we’re done.
All of this uncertainty; all of this stress; all of this seeming madness going on in our country right now is piling up, and there seems to be no end in sight. I can’t help but think of the “Sword of Damocles,” which is a concept that has always strangely intrigued me. Unfortunately, it seems to be much more than just a concept these days.
So, in this blog, I’ve referenced failed miracles, semi-praying and mythical swords of doom. Pretty much a typical, upbeat blog for me.
The one constant, though, is that music is the part that matters the most to me. I believe in the power of music to help me get through things. Ruston Kelly and Adam Levy are two of my favorite artists and if they can make it through to a happier place, I assume I can too.
Well, what do you know, that’s kind of a big idea, and in this case, it’s the best you’re going to get. See you next time…
Chris Derickson (July 2025)