Track 8: "Here Comes the Sun Again" by M. Ward

Kingdoms and queens they all bow down to you,
branches and ranch hands are bowin too,
and I've taken off my straw hat for you,
singing--here comes the sun again

Track 8 is going new school on that ass, with some old-school stylings.

I have Patrick Hill, one of my closest friends and the guru of the Atlanta indie rock scene, to thank for introducing me to M. Ward. We lived together as roommates for a little over three years once I got to Atlanta and have literally been friends our entire lives.

I'd just gotten an IPod when I moved here, and given my OCD-like sense for acquiring new music and Patrick's obscenely large CD collection, I began to ask him for suggestions on stuff he thought I'd like. And M. Ward's "Transistor Radio" was one of the first albums he offered me. And I got hooked immediately.

Not sure why he goes by the letter M. instead of "Matt" (must be an indie-cred thing), but I've sense accumulated most of the guy's catalog--including the recent "Monsters of Folk" record with Jim James (My Morning Jacket) and Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes) fame, which is very close to the Travelling Wilbury's album of the new millennium--great record.

And of course the "She and Him" album M. Ward did with the super cute Zooey Deschanel, which doesn't showcase M. Ward as much, but is an excellent throwback record that sounds like it could've been made in 1965.

But back to M. Ward--I really dig his voice, sort of old-school crooner meets indie-folk singer. His songs are just pure-- simple arrangements and great lyrics. I could easily list about 10 other tunes of his I could listen to over and over. But this one takes the cake for me. Just a great, chill, Sunday morning cup of coffee song.