Doug Paisley

I have a habit of becoming lustfully obsessed with certain songs. A couple years ago I was deeply obsessed with Neil Young's "Tell Me Why." It was one of those songs I didn't appreciate until I listened to it really drunk and/or stoned-- when the meaning opened up to me in an intense and rapturous way. I cried multiple times listening to "Tell Me Why."

This year's "Tell Me Why" is Doug Paisley's "What About Us," from his excellent eponymous album released last year on No Quarter. Paisley, formerly known as Dark Hand and Lamplight, is a warm, straightforward folk rock songwriter with a fantastic pop sensibility a la Eric Andersen and early James Taylor. This is not the only great song on the album, though it's the only one that's brought me to tears (I'm serious guys).

Doug Paisley "What About Us"