1. Don't Let the Kids Win, Julia Jacklin
"Don't Let the Kids Win" is my favorite song of Julia's. (Probably.) It's terribly sad, so maybe that's why. I showed my mother Julia's music this past summer, and she's come to love her too. We're in Tokyo right now (me and mom, not me and Julia), and I went to Tower Records yesterday. It's the biggest record store I've ever seen—I can't even imagine one bigger—and I almost left without buying anything at all. And then I saw they had one Julia Jacklin record left, and the cover is so beautiful when it's all big like that, and I listen to Julia with my mother, and mostly because the cover is so brilliant and "Don't Let the Kids Win" (song) is so fantastic, and because I'd love to make pasta sauce to her music (when I grow up), I decided to buy it. I played it for my mom last night, and we laid on her bed with our legs against the wall for a much needed stretch (traveling makes our knees ache), and then she put it on this morning before she did her yoga. I was laying in the top bunk with the window open and the air cold. I think I forgot to mention the record itself is blue. It is bright, just like the exercise ball on the cover. The record player in our hotel is crappy, but it sounds like Julia is singing to us. I love this record, and I love that I bought it in Tokyo.
2. Miles of Aisles, Joni Mitchell
Every time I listen to this record I think of that video of Joni Mitchell singing "California" at a music festival and the audience (so big it's sea-like) is quiet as they lay on their backs. Most of them don't even watch her, they just listen and close their eyes or maybe look at the sky.
3. Soul Journey, Gillian Welch
I listened to this record so much as a kid and when "Look at Miss Ohio" came on I'd ask if we could roll down the windows, even if we were on 87. I still listen to this album and I think I'll listen to this album when I'm in my seventies, and at each age I think it will fit into my life just as well.