The staff of the College Football America Yearbook is on the road every weekend of the college football season, shooting games and gathering information for the following year’s book. That means a lot of driving and listening to a lot of music.
Earlier this year our College Football America Yearbook publisher Kendall Webb and our director of editorial content Chuck Cox put together ‘The Coronavirus Countdown – 100 Days of Great Music.’ Each of them sat down and compiled a list of 100 great albums. Their goal was not to select the ‘100 greatest albums of all time.’ It was simply to select 100 great albums to write about as they passed the time during quarantine and shelter-at-home orders.
This 2020 college football season will be unprecedented in so many ways. It’s very likely none of us will be on the road for games because, like most people, we’re trying to stay healthy. And we hope you are too.
So, for the next 100 days, we’re going to publish their countdown here at CollegeFootballAmericaPR.com (the list was originally published on Webb’s personal site, kendallwebb.net). Consider it the ultimate playlist for the ultimate college road trip — music for every taste, from every genre and from every decade of the modern era of music. When the staff of the College Football America Yearbook is back on the road, you can bet these will be some of the tunes we’re listening to.
And, if you missed the previous installments of our series, just click here to head to the Coronavirus Countdown — 100 Days of Great Music home page.
Here’s Day 49
Terry Scott Taylor makes up one-fourth of the Lost Dogs whose 1992 album Scenic Routes is Kendall’s Album Of The Day.
Taylor’s main band at the time was Daniel Amos, but he teamed together with Gene Eugene of Adam Again, Mike Roe of The 77’s and Derri Daugherty of The Choir to form the Dogs, who continued to get together through the years for various albums and tours after the release of Scenic Routes. Eugene, unfortunately, died in 2000 while working in his studio The Green Room, but the other members have continued on with various projects through the years keeping the Lost Dogs alive.
The members’ four original bands were all players in the burgeoning Christian alternative rock scene starting in the late ’70s, and collectively, they’ve released several dozen albums through the years, too. One of those releases — Daniel Amos’s 1981 “Horrendous Disc” — holds the distinction of being the only album released by those bands to carry a perfect five stars on Allmusic.com. It captures the sound of a band exploring an ever-expanding sonic palette while moving far beyond the limitations of its early country-rock aspirations. It reminds me of music you might have heard on college radio in the mid- to late ’80s. It’s also your bonus pick of the day.
— Chuck Cox and Kendall Webb
CHUCK’S ALBUM OF THE DAY
Why I Love It
This album is another one that’s near and dear to my heart. From the time I heard the debut single, “Who Will Save Your Soul,” I was an instant Jewel fan. Once I got a copy of the album, I was completely blown away by the Alaska native’s beautiful voice and acoustic style throughout each beautiful track on the album. I was most struck by the fact that part of the record is recorded in a studio, while the rest is recorded in front of a live audience. To this day, I believe that’s an incredibly ballsy move for a debut record. Fortunately, Jewel knocked it out of the park. I probably don’t go more than a month or two without listening to some or all of this record. It’s tremendous and more than holds up 25 years after its release.
Album Highlights
“Who Will Save Your Soul,” “Foolish Games” and “Painters”
Kendall on Chuck’s Album of the Day
When we got through our selections and compared them, I was disappointed in myself for overlooking this album. Honestly, on any other given day, this would have been on my list, and it’s truly a spectacular, ground-breaking album that initially failed to make any impact on its release. It was out for more than two years when Jewel was invited to open for Bob Dylan around the time of his comeback album “Time Out Of Mind” and suddenly the album took off. It eventually was certified 12 times platinum in the United States, and remains one of the best-selling debut albums of all time. To Chuck’s credit, he was on to Jewel before the album really took off if I recall.
KENDALL’S ALBUM OF THE DAY
Why I Love It
This is an album from my early days in Austin in 1992, and it came courtesy of my friends Cory Collins and Brian Wells who gave me at least a couple of albums on this list.
Lost Dogs is a Christian supergroup comprised of members from the bands mentioned above in the daily preview. If that’s inclined to scare you away, then I’d encourage you to rethink your stance because you’ll be missing out on some great music.
To begin with, the album has a surprisingly alternative country feel to it — an early, underground Americana gem before that term was even in wide use. There’s dobro, fiddle, banjo and steel guitar on various tracks creating a surprisingly rootsy album built on sturdy songwriting by the various members. Yes, it has spiritual themes winding their way through the lyrics, but doesn’t a lot of truly great music do the same? Among the handful of traditional songs and covers is a great take on Bob Dylan’s “Lord Protect My Child.”
Album Highlights
“Fortunate Sons,” “Amber Waves Goodbye” and “Smokescreen”
Chuck on Kendall’s Album of the Day
Lost Dogs is another artist that Kendall introduced me to, and I have enjoyed the band’s entire catalogue for more than 20 years now. Although Lost Dogs may not be a household name, the band proved right out of the gate with this impressive debut album that they should be. The songwriting on this record is outstanding. There are three or four tracks on it that Kendall and I have listened to together probably 100 times. I definitely recommend giving this one a shot. These guys are something special.
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