Freshly Squeezed, Vol. 45: OMYO, Mat Kearney, Erik Dylan & more

Welcome to Freshly Squeezed, a weekly new music playlist: spanning country, pop, EDM and urban, mainstream and other.

It’s been three and a half years since my dad died. He was pretty abusive growing up and a rather stubborn jackass. But there are moments ⎯⎯ like weekend camping trips and excursions down to Virginia Beach ⎯⎯ that I cherish the most. In his final days, as he slipped further and further into ALS’s firm, unrelenting grasp, I saw my life flash before my eyes, as many of the most important mile markers of my life were tangled up in his. Music has a way of coming back around and reminding you of the past and where you’ve been. Erik Dylan‘s “Funerals & Football Games” knocked me off my feet this morning. It’s an evocative track from the singer-songwriter’s new record, Baseball on the Moon, and within his honest and plainspoken language, he excels at peeling back layers of the human existence.

The ode to his father kicks off our newest playlist, ripe for crying, for exposing your fears, for giving you license to celebrate life in this exact moment. We’ve also got new songs from OMYO, who explore mental health with “Save Me,” Mat Kearney, Sara Diamond, Sweater Beats, Michael Blume, TOMI, BANNERS and Dagny, all tremendous storytellers in their own right. Life is a roller coaster; that much is true. You live. You love. You laugh. You die. It’s an endless cycle. It’s a magical thing, and as fleeting as it is, it contains colossal power. Each of our lives are a dot in the bigger cosmos, but our connections to one another can be a marvel of their very own.

The new playlist also contains Birds of Chicago, Jenn Bostic, Luke Combs, Troye Sivan, Middle Kids, Lake Street Dive, Jess Glynne, Violet Days, HalfNoise and The Young Novelists, among countless others.

In all, we’ve got 44 new cuts to sink your teeth into this weekend.

Each playlist will be refreshed every Friday morning/afternoon. We reserve the right to update anytime during the week, so make sure you bookmark this page.

Take a spin:

Follow B-Sides & Badlands on our socials: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram