No Expectations 092: Respect Yourself

65 songs for your holiday get-together. Plus, a gig recap on Robin Pecknold and Hannah Frances at Thalia Hall.

Photo by Pawel Czerwinski on Unsplash

No Expectations usually hits inboxes on Thursdays at 9am cst but I’m running the newsletter on Wednesday because of the holiday week.

Reader mailbag email: Noexpectationsnewsletter@gmail.com. The newsletter I produce at my day job with WTTW News (PBS Chicago) can be found here.

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Headline song: The Staple Singers, “Respect Yourself”

Thanks for being here. This week’s No Expectations is the now-annual Thanksgiving playlist. Apologies to the non-American subscribers but since there’s no real theme connecting the songs below, feel free to use this mix for any occasion: Sunday mornings, road trips, family reunions, chill parties, etc. As always, you can upgrade to a paid subscription or tell a bud to check out one of the artists you read about here.

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Try This if You’re Handed the Aux Cord Over the Holidays

Whenever you see family and loved ones over the holidays, you have to navigate personalities, histories, and individual tastes. Chances are you avoid talking about politics or religion at the dinner table (or you encourage it if you’re a member of my family) and try not to bring up things that might start a fight or upset someone (again, you or your family’s mileage may vary here). That same delicate emotional needle-threading should also be how you approach a holiday playlist.

Because of my job (or because my family knows it’s a good way to appease me), I’m usually in charge of the music at get-togethers. I think I’ve gotten pretty good at it. Certain songs I choose hold sentimental value to the people I love most and some tracks I avoid to placate a family member’s tastes. The same goes for you and your loved ones. Here’s how I put it last year:

The key to a good playlist for a family get-together is to not go too crazy with it. You’re setting a vibe, not showcasing your eclectic, crate-digging tastes. You shouldn’t pick anything too loud or too weird (If you must pick a Grateful Dead song, don’t make it “Blues For Allah.”) This isn’t about you: You’re with your loved ones so the conversation and good times have to take priority over the songs. Plus, like being a good host, you have to balance the different personalities, tastes, and moods of the people around you.

Because it’s Thanksgiving, I tend to lean into older, crowd-pleasing songs that bounce across genres (no tracks from 2000 and beyond are in here). There’s some Steely Dan here for the dads, some disco for the moms, plus that Gerry Rafferty song because your Zoomer cousin loves Euphoria. For a Thanksgiving mix, I think it’s corny to only include tunes that touch on themes of gratitude, family, and food, so there’s a good variety here: break-up songs, kiss-offs, love songs, and more. There’s also soul, country, classic rock, yacht rock, and folk: a little bit for almost everyone. I didn’t feature anything that made it onto last year’s playlist either, so hopefully you can find something new to dig into. Think of this as an autumnal, wholesome, and exciting collection.

A quick tip: take requests (within reason). Another, albeit non-important, piece of advice: Don’t put it on shuffle. I tested it out and there’s a good flow here. It took hours to curate it so if you do need to shuffle it, please don’t tell me lol.

Hope your holiday rules. Stream the playlist below and see ya next week.

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What I listened to:

The No Expectations 092 Playlist: Spotify // Apple Music // Tidal

1. Blur, “Tender”
2. Allen Toussaint, “Goin' Down”
3. Nashville West, “Mental Revenge”
4. Jim Ford, “Changin' Colors”
5. Kathy Heideman, “The Earth Won't Hold Me”
6. Labi Siffre, “Cannock Chase”
7. Emmylou Harris, “Sweetheart of the Pines”
8. Bob Dylan, “Forever Young (Fast Version)”
9. Sandy Denny, “Who Knows Where The Time Goes?”
10. America, “Ventura Highway”
11. Carole King, “It's Too Late”
12. The Flying Burrito Brothers, “Here Tonight”
13. Blue, “The Way Things Are”
14. Joni Mitchell, “People's Parties”
15. Norma Tanega, “Illusion”
16. Marlena Shaw, “California Soul”
17. The Staple Singers, “Respect Yourself”
18. Maxine Brown, “Seems You've Forsaken My Love”
19. Gloria Ann Taylor, “Love is a Hurtin' Thing”
20. Sade, “Hang on to Your Love”
21. Ann Peebles, “Trouble, Heartaches & Sadness”
22. Eugene Record, “Overdose of Joy”
23. Jackson Browne, “Doctor My Eyes”
24. Sanford Townsend Band, “Smoke from a Distant Fire”
25. Patsy Gallant, “It'll All Come Around”
26. Gerry Rafferty, “Right Down the Line”
27. Stephen Bishop, “Save It For A Rainy Day”
28. Natalie Cole, “This Will Be (An Everlasting Love)”
29. Dolly Parton, “Baby I'm Burnin’”
30. Holly Maxwell, “Only When You're Lonely”
31. Billy Preston, “Nothing From Nothing”
32. Eggs Over Easy, “Henry Morgan”
33. Looking Glass, “Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)”
34. Bobbie Gentry, “Gentle On My Mind”
35. Gram Parsons, “Brass Buttons”
36. Linda Ronstadt, “I Fall To Pieces”
37. George Harrison, “My Sweet Lord”
38. Rob Galbraith, “Tell Me With Your Eyes (Just Be You)”
39. The Band, “Ophelia”
40. Van Morrison, “You Make Me Feel So Free”
41. Alice Clark, “Never Did I Stop Loving You”
42. John Lennon, “Stand By Me”
43. D.J. Rogers, “Love Brought Me Back”
44. Weldon Irvine, “I Love You”
45. Steely Dan, “Peg”
46. Gary Hyde, “Waste of Time”
47. Fleetwood Mac, “Did You Ever Love Me”
48. Betty Everett, “Better Tomorrow Than Today”
49. The Velvet Underground, “Rock & Roll”
50. Bonnie Dobson, “Good Morning Rain”
51. Crazy Horse, “I Don't Want to Talk About It”
52. Jerry Jeff Walker, “About Her Eyes”
53. Elyse Weinberg, “Houses”
54. Goose Creek Symphony, “A Satisfied Mind”
55. Faces, “Glad and Sorry”
56. Grateful Dead, “Box of Rain”
57. Irma Thomas, “Anyone Who Knows What Love Is (Will Understand)”
58. Gene Clark, “Tears Of Rage”
59. Warren Zevon, “Lawyers, Guns and Money”
60. Mother Funk, “Sunshine”
61. Bobby Charles, “I Must Be in a Good Place Now”
62. The Emotions, “Best of My Love”
63. David Bowie, “Sound and Vision”
64. Beverly Glenn-Copeland, “Colour of Anyhow”
65. Aretha Franklin, “The Weight”

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Gig Recap: Robin Pecknold, Hannah Frances at Thalia Hall (11/20)

One of the most formative shows of my life—the gig I bring up whenever I see my childhood friends—is seeing Fleet Foxes play Grand Rapids’ Ladies Lit Club in 2008. I don’t remember how I got into their music but I remember seeing the artwork for their debut EP Sun Giant earlier that year. Intrigued, I listened and was amazed by the band’s pristine harmonies and frontman Robin Pecknold’s show-stopping voice. At the time, a pre-Father John Misty Josh Tillman was drumming for them. My friends and I managed to get there early enough for front-row seats and the show was stunning. Towards the show's end, Pecknold unplugged his guitar, stepped away from the mic, and performed a hair-raising cover of “Katie Cruel,” a traditional folk song. I had goosebumps then and it stuck with me 16 years later.

Last Wednesday, in his first acoustic solo tour, Pecknold performed that song at Thalia Hall, plus selections from the Fleet Foxes catalog and a few choice covers. Hearing it in 2024 transported me back to being 16 again: how that version floored me and led me to discover Karen Dalton’s music (her version is incredible too). Covers are gateways into new worlds. It’s artists basically telling you, “This song means a lot to me, I’m going to play it, and if you don’t know it, I hope it leads you to discover their catalog.” It’s a beautiful thing. Throughout an intimate and jaw-dropping 100-minute set, Pecknold played songs by Elliott Smith, Judee Sill, Joni Mitchell, Bobbie Gentry, Arthur Russell, and more.

What struck me as someone who’s always liked Fleet Foxes is how well these songs hold up in a sparse context. Even tunes from the knotty and ambitious Crack-Up, like “Third of May/Ōdaigahara” soared stripped down. It was a trip to hear “Mykonos,” “Meadowlarks,” and “Helplessness Blues” sung with such gravitas and amiable charm. For a songwriter who largely keeps to himself and doesn’t do many interviews, Pecknold boasts one of the most identifiable voices and melodic sensibilities in indie music. He’s one of the most influential artists of the last 15 years and it’s not folk musicians—the newer jam bands I occasionally write about all cite Fleet Foxes as the formative band. While he’s experienced critical acclaim for his entire career, it’s a catalog that feels underrated solely for its consistency and homespun, nostalgic palette.

Hannah Frances opened the show. It was the first I’ve seen her perform solo and it was incredible. I originally thought Keeper of the Shepherd was one of the year’s best albums for its expansiveness and its immersive full-band arrangements. That’s all true but these songs, stripped to their barest parts, are simply undeniable. A perfect night. I even bought the poster.

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What I read:

Ben Lerner, 10:04

I read Leaving the Atocha Station in college and bought Bern Lerner’s follow-up novel in 2015 when it came out. I’m embarrassed to admit I waited almost a decade to get around to it because Lerner is one of the most virtuosic, electric, and vivid prose stylists working today. For what the plot lacks in propulsive action, Lerner makes up for it in astute, unconventional riffs: observations that make you want to revisit each section not because you missed its meaning but because you want to stay in his world just a little longer. Its plot is bookended by two 2012 hurricanes that hit New York City (Irene and Sandy). Set in an Occupy Wall Street world, it’s a markedly meta book that in Lerner’s words sits “on the very edge of fiction." Like Lerner, the protagonist is a burgeoning author finally hitting success who navigates friendship, health, anxieties, and professional responsibilities. While it’s hyper-self-aware, it never indulges in navel-gazing. If it does, Lerner’s striking sentences still make it one of the best things I’ve read in a long time.

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The Weekly Chicago Show Calendar:

The gig calendar lives on the WTTW News website now. You can also subscribe to the newsletter I produce there called Daily Chicagoan.