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January 23, 2026      —–     Chart #335 Hello Music Friends, Hey folks, welcome to another edition of Chart of the Week. Before we go any further, let me offer a lighthearted apology for today’s selection. Yes, yes… I know — Dance With Me isn’t exactly in the same historic league as Van Morrison, Paul Simon, Rodney Crowell, or the Rolling Stones. Nobody’s writing doctoral dissertations about Orleans. But what can I say? Every now and then,… Read more: DANCE WITH ME

January 16, 2026      —–     Chart #334 Hello Music Friends, Hey folks, welcome to another edition of Chart of the Week. Every once in a while, a song shows up that feels like a deep breath of clean Texas air — the kind you only get standing somewhere between Houston humidity and Hill Country limestone. Oh, What a Beautiful World is one of those rare tunes that doesn’t just land in your ears… it straightens your… Read more: OH WHAT A BEAUTIFUL WORLD

January 9, 2026      —–     Chart #333 Hello Music Friends, Hey folks, welcome to another edition of Chart of the Week. There are songs that drop you straight into a memory you didn’t even know you still had. Night Moves doesn’t ask permission — it just reaches into the glovebox of your past, pulls out a half-forgotten summer night, and hands it back to you like a postcard from your younger self. The opening guitar alone… Read more: NIGHT MOVES

January 2, 2026      —–     Chart #331 Hello Music Friends, Hey folks, welcome to another edition of Chart of the Week. Some songs feel like they know something about your life that you haven’t admitted yet. Slip Slidin’ Away is one of those — Paul Simon in full philosopher-poet mode, humming in your ear like a wise friend who always tells the truth, but gently. The tune is warm and sweet, the lyrics are a little… Read more: SLIP SLIDIN’AWAY

December 26, 2025      —–     Chart #330 Hello Music Friends, Hey folks, welcome to another edition of Chart of the Week, another Christmas edition. Some songs are Christmas. You can string a million lights, bake a hundred cookies, and play every carol ever written… but the moment Nat King Cole starts singing “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire…” you know the holiday has officially arrived. Nat didn’t just record this song — he defined it.His voice… Read more: THE CHRISTMAS SONG

December 19, 2025      —–     Chart #329 Hello Music Friends, Hey folks, welcome to another edition of Chart of the Week, A Christmas edition. There are Christmas songs that gently usher in the holiday spirit… and then there’s Let It Snow, which kicks open the door, pours you a drink, steals your mistletoe, and leans on your fireplace like it owns the place. Dean Martin didn’t write this song — but he sure as tinsel made… Read more: LET IT SNOW

December 12, 2025      —–     Chart #328 Hello Music Friends, Hey folks, welcome to another edition of Chart of the Week. Some songs punch their way out of the speakers like they’ve been waiting their whole lives for you to hit “play.” It’s All Over Now is one of those — early Stones, scrappy Stones, back-alley British R&B Stones — the version of the band that sounded hungry enough to eat a microphone and ask for… Read more: ITS ALL OVER NOW

December 5, 2025      —–     Chart #327 Hello Music Friends, Hey folks, welcome to another edition of Chart of the Week. There are songs that sound like a warm blanket, a sunset, or a memory. California Dreamin’ sounds like all three, even if you’re listening to it in February while scraping ice off a windshield in Little Rock. It’s one of the great American singles — part folk, part pop, part fever dream — delivered by… Read more: CALIFORNIA DREAMIN’

November 28, 2025      —–     Chart #326 Hello Music Friends, Hey folks, welcome to another edition of Chart of the Week. Some songs make you want to roll the windows down, ease off the gas, and let the world go by at about the speed of a Sunday afternoon golf cart. Long May You Run is one of those — Neil Young in his wistful-poet mode, humming along like a man who’s thinking about old friends,… Read more: LONG MAY YOU RUN

November 21, 2025      —–     Chart #325 Hello Music Friends, Hey folks, welcome to another edition of Chart of the Week. Every now and then a song comes along that makes you tilt your head like a Labrador trying to understand a crossword puzzle. If I Had a Boat is that song — a perfectly Texan blend of charm, wit, daydreaming, and “Well now… where exactly is this going?” Nobody does that better than Lyle Lovett,… Read more: IF I HAD A BOAT

November 14, 2025      —–     Chart #324 There are those moments when a song lifts you gently and unexpectedly into a quieter space—like a soft breeze on a busy day. That’s what “Anywhere Like Heaven” does. It’s not the headline grabber from Sweet Baby James, but side two of the record holds its own kind of magic. Written and sung by James Taylor, “Anywhere Like Heaven” debuted in 1970 as the B-side to the soaring single… Read more: ANYWHERE LIKE HEAVEN

November 7, 2025      —–     Chart #323 Howdy Music Friends, Some songs cut through the airwaves like sunshine through water—bright, unexpected, and instantly uplifting. That’s exactly what happened when The Dirt Band (yes, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band wearing a streamlined name in the early 1980s) conjured up “Make a Little Magic.” Written by Jeff Hanna, Bob Carpenter, and Richard Hathaway, the song emerged in 1980 as the title track from their Make a Little Magic… Read more: MAKE A LITTLE MAGIC

October 31, 2025      —–     Chart #322 Howdy Music Friends, Sometimes a song comes along that feels like a private late-night conversation—sharp, honest, and just a bit bittersweet. That’s what Bob Dylan served up with “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.” A song wrapped in folk tradition, complete with a folk-picking melody, and words that feel like they were scooped right out of a broken heart. Bob wrote this one in 1962, during a quiet but… Read more: DON’T THINK TWICE, IT’S ALL RIGHT

October 24, 2025      —–     Chart #321 Howdy Music Friends, There comes a moment in a songwriter’s career when everything clicks: the right melody, the right words, the perfect woman. For Billy Joel, that moment came with “She’s Always a Woman,” where confessional piano meets timeless lyric, wrapped in the warmth of admiration… and maybe a dash of awe. Written entirely by Billy Joel, the song appeared on his 1977 breakthrough album The Stranger. Joel released… Read more: SHE’S ALWAYS A WOMAN TO ME

October 17, 2025      —–     Chart #320 Howdy Music Friends, Every once in a while, a song leaps across genre lines like a well-tuned lasso and finds a home in your heart—whether it’s draped in gospel, R&B, or country-southern charm. That’s what “Stand By Me” did when Mickey Gilley made it his own in 1980: it sashayed from Ben E. King’s soulful roots into honky-tonk legend, and just like that, it became the soundtrack to an… Read more: STAND BY ME (MICKEY GILLEY)