This month the poetic songwriter Heather Styka is taking over my Lyrics in the Limelight playlist on Spotify!
She's picked out 33 songs that will pierce your soul, leave you lonely, and make you hungry for a pile of mashed potatoes and an extra chicken-wing (only one of the songs will fulfill that last promise, actually).
I met Heather the very first time I attended Folk Alliance International, years back in Memphis. She was playing CD Baby's showcase at some ridiculous hour after midnight, and it was phenomenal.
Her lyrics are smart and evocative in a way that feels inevitable, not clever, and yet she's comfy just singing a single syllable when that's what makes the most (non)sense — like on the chorus of her song "Careful with My Heart."
I asked her to include a couple of her own songs, so you can hear what I'm talking about, and listen to some other great writers she admires: John Moreland, Gillian Welch, Anna Tivel, Joe Pug, and many more.
Listen and follow 'Lyrics in the Limelight' HERE.