About That Song: End-of-Year Special 2025!
About That Song #95
In our special series, singer-songwriter Sarah Morris interviews artists about the songs that shaped them.
Hi! I’m Sarah Morris. I’m wildly in love with songs and the people who write them. There have been a few songs in my life that have been total gamechangers—songs that made me want to be a songwriter and songs I’ve written that made me feel like I am a songwriter. About That Song is a space where I can learn more about those pivotal songs in other writers’ lives.
In addition to being a huge fan of songs and the people who write them, I am a fan of almost any kind of “year-in-review” behavior. Please, oh please, tell me the 5 best things you ate! What were your top 5 books? Give me a month-by-month highlight reel. Where were you surprised and delighted? What did you learn? I’m here for all of it.
And also, I’m HERE—at About That Song—for (a version of) it! For this 95th edition, I asked this year’s guests, as well as my fellow Adventures in Americana staffers, to tell us about a song that really stood out to them this year. The responses netted us a pretty delightful playlist, by the way. Here goes!
Was there a song in 2025 that you fell in total songwriter love with? A song that delighted you, blew your mind, or just wouldn't leave your head/heart no matter how you tried? Tell us About That Song!
“‘Bitin’ List’ by Tyler Childers has lived rent-free in my mind since the album Snipe Hunter came out this summer. I am a loving person; no room for hate in my heart. That said, there is something so delightfully charming about the way Tyler sings about biting people he doesn't like so he can give them rabies. This song reminds me of some of the quirky, dark, but fun, songs of the ’90s like The Chicks’ ‘Goodbye Earl’ or Jo Dee Messina’s ‘Lesson in Leavin’.’ I first saw Tyler at The Ryman when he opened for Margo Price, years ago. I usually only go to see a big artist like Tyler once, but I probably need to see him again so I can catch this jam live.” - Breanne Tepler of Breanne Marie and the Front Porch Sinners (check out their latest release: Two Trees)
“Yesss—‘Hollow Bones’ by Anna Graves is just hitting me in all the right autumn/winter feels. Oof.” - Andriana Lehr aka Mother Coyote (latest release: When The War Comes)
“‘Ao romper da Aurora’ by Ismail Silva. It’s a samba tune from 1957 that has become a classic; I first heard it in the version recorded by the artist Ceu. I had a baby in August, whose name is Aurora; her dad remembered this song and it has become her theme song. :) ‘Aurora vem raiando, Anunciando o nosso amor... Quando chega o dia, desaparece a tristeza; Fica a alegria, pela própria natureza’—‘Aurora/dawn breaks, announcing our love... when the day arrives, sadness disappears; joy remains, as per its nature.’ - Sarah Larsson of Red Thread (latest release: Immigrantke)
“Oh man, just ONE song? That’s tough. The clear winner for me is ‘Mother Eagle (Sing Me Alive)’ by the incredible supergroup I’m With Her (Sarah Watkins, Sara Jarosz, and Aoife O’Donovan). Every song these three have ever released, together or separately, is stellar, but the harmonies, lyrics, and arrangement of this song are just … transcendent. It was on heavy rotation for me (my most-streamed song of the year, in fact), and I cried like a baby when I got to hear it live.
Honorable mention goes to ‘Goddamned Saint’ by Nickel Creek (another Sarah Watkins outfit) because even though the lyrics don’t immediately jump out at you, I think they’re incredibly powerful and relevant to the times we’re living in. ‘You can only change someone as much as you’re willing to be changed.’
Highly recommend sitting down with the lyrics sheet on that one, and spending some quality time with the entire albums that both these songs are from (and indeed these bands’ entire discographies).” - Andrew S. Lentz aka *Splash!* (latest release: Breaking the Dam)
“I caught Jobi Riccio live, having not heard any of her stuff before, and was floored by ‘For Me It’s You’ when I heard it the first time. Jobi is amazing, but that song is something special! The whole album Whiplash is great!” - Michael Gay (latest release: Michael Gay & His Dang Bang: Live from a Dive)
“This year I wrote a long critical piece and overview on the music of pianist, composer, singer, and songwriter Amina Claudine Myers. (I had more writerly things to say about in that piece, which can be found on my NR MINT page.) I’m a longtime fan of Myers’s work, and it was rewarding to catch up with her recent music, including her 2025 solo recital, ‘Solace of the Mind.’ On the new album, she revisits ‘African Blues,’ one of her signature pieces, first released in the early ’80s and marked among other things by wordless vocals. This new version is slower and strictly instrumental. Check out both, though the original is, for me, nearly unrivaled in drama and depth of feeling, and it’s a model of how eternally beautiful traditional, ready-to-hand harmony can be in service of complex ideas. I also enjoyed returning to Myers as a lyricist, such as on ‘Plowed Fields,’ a poignant extended meditation drawn from her memories of growing up in rural Arkansas in the ’40s and ’50s.” - Dylan Hicks (recent release: Avian Field Recordings)
“I listened to ‘My Man’ by Lilly Hiatt 10,000 times. Been a while since anyone wrote one like that. She’s so good at that nostalgia thing!” - Caitlin Cannon (latest release: Love Addict)
“Anything by the beths off their new record, straight line was a lie. Melody, backbeat, production—this record has it all.” - The Scarlet Goodbye (latest release: El Camino Adios)
“‘I’m A Song’—has there ever been a song written from the perspective of the song itself? Such a clever song that reminds us how music is with us through all moments of life. It brings you back to all those first loves, losses, and the challenges of life that we all go through. The power of a song, much like how this series explores, is eternal and constant. This song blew my mind this year as I discovered Stephen Wilson Jr’s story and first album about losing his dad.” - Tom Smouse, Adventures in Americana writer and photographer, host of the Smouse in the House podcast
“My song of the year was definitely Mary Bragg’s ‘Limelight.’ Mary came to the inaugural Lutsong Songwriting Retreat this past spring, and I had major feelings of missing out as I wasn’t able to attend that retreat! I started listening to her and fell so hard for this song! I listened on repeat. I covered it. I used it as a reference when recording my single ‘Good Morning Raindrop.’ I love how the background vocals in ‘Limelight’ enter sparingly, then become an essential and unforgettable element. I love how the acoustic guitars have two tracks that subtly weave in and around one another—making them almost inseparable. I’m also in love with how she gets at this thing as a performer where sometimes the only place in the world that makes sense is performing in front of people.
hold me closer to the limelight
where I know what I'm doing with my life
filling up, pouring out my spirit
where it doesn't take much concentration
to set a soul on fire”
- Doyle Turner, Adventures in Americana writer, singer/songwriter (latest release: “Good Morning Raindrop”)
(Fun fact! Mary Bragg was also a guest of About That Song this year—please check out her interview, if you haven’t already.)
“It’s not an obscure, clever choice, but the song that keeps making its way into my brain this year is ‘Sky Child,’ written and performed by the writer/actor Tom Basden (feat. costar Carey Mulligan) for the film The Ballad of Wallis Island. The movie itself is irresistibly charming and centers around an eccentric widower who hires a singer/songwriter with a waning career and his estranged music partner/lover to reunite for a private performance on a remote island.
‘Sky Child’ is Basden’s character’s wistful love letter to his ex. I’m such a sucker for a hook that slides from minor to major chords, and this one does so with a simple elegance. There are several great originals on this soundtrack, but this one gives me that sweet frisson every time.” - Christine Davis, Adventures in Americana writer, co-host of The Hook interview series on AiA
“‘Showing Up’ by Clare Doyle. There’s no official studio version of it yet, but it’s on the compilation Glad You’re Here – On Air: Vol. 1—a selection of songs performed on Grant Glad’s podcast—which came out in January. From an emotional angle, this song nails the disorientation and dissonance of showing up every day as a human being even when your inner life is a mess, when you feel adrift and hopeless and out of step with the rest of the world. From a craft angle, every word in her lyrics is deft and precise. It’s hard to choose my favorite line, but the refrain is the part that gets stuck in my head for days on end: ‘There’s gotta be a better way than tooth and nail every day.’ And the last line of the chorus: ‘Somebody tell me, is this what livin’ feels like?’ Damn. Clare is a songwriter’s songwriter’s songwriter, I tell you.” - Carol Roth, Adventures in Americana co-founder, writer, editor, etc.
“‘Dream that Came True’ by Karina Kern. It’s the best song she’s released to date. Her vocal performance is flawless, and the acoustic production is just right. It’s a perfectly written love song. It was my most listened-to song on Apple Music for 2025, and my only argument with that is I feel I listened to it way more than 35 times.” - Andy Ellis, Adventures in Americana writer, co-host of The Hook interview series on AiA
“‘Hold It Over Me’ by Stop.Drop.Rewind. I found this Indiana-based band this year and saw them play a magical show in Minneapolis for about 20 people.
‘Hold It Over Me’ is probably my favorite song of theirs, and I listened to it probably 50+ times this year. It starts with a bass riff in an incomprehensible time signature. The drums and guitar enter but only stabilize things a little before they finally settle on a 7/8 groove that feels comparatively like solid ground. When the chorus finally rips into 4/4 it feels outrageously cathartic as the singer growls, ‘This heavy love, do you hold it over me?’ which should resonate with anyone who has ever been in a complicated relationship. The song hits full force in the bridge as it builds into half-time, along with the lyrics ‘All my life, all my time ... is it yours if it isn’t mine?’
Stop.Drop.Rewind is an amalgamation of Blink-182 and Rush that I realized I’ve been looking for for decades. Punk rockers with music degrees and their own flavor of music that really makes me feel stiff, rather than just figuring out the math puzzle they present in their songs. They might not be for everybody... but that makes me feel even more like they’re just for me.” - Jesse Norrell of Riffin’ Griffin (latest release: Drawing The Silver Lining)
“‘So Easy (To Fall in Love)’ by Olivia Dean. Love the classic vibe of this song and especially love the diminished chord hitting on the word ‘agree’ in the chorus—it’s just so tasty and warm! Been really digging the entire album by Olivia Dean and the classic, catchy, and beautiful songwriting.” - Molly Brandt (latest release: American Saga)
“This year, I fell happily in songwriter love with the tune ‘I’m A Song’ by Steven Wilson Jr. It’s an older release (2023, I think?) but new to me, and from the first listen, I was hooked. It feels like a classic country love song—describing in heartwarming and heartwrenching detail the way music (like a faithful friend) walks through life with you, knows your heart, puts words to your pain, holds your memories, and guides you onward.
I’m the words that’ll hit you
That’ll get you where you’re going
So you never go there alone
I’m the melody glued to the memory
That you can’t shake when it comes on
I’m the part of you that you listen to
Riding in the radio all night long
I’m a song
As someone who has been saved by music over and over again, I felt myself saying yes and amen to this song. It’s definitely worth a listen for all the music lovers out there. It’ll give ya a chance to reflect on all the ways music has been there for you on your own journey as we head into a new chapter and a new year.” - Hilary Yoder of Wren + Wilde (who will release a new single in the new year, so stay tuned!).
“‘We’re Only Human’ from Hayes Carll’s album of the same name. In a year of so many wonderful releases, this is the song I came back to time and again. It sings the ‘I see you out there, person, being a person, please keep doing it’ that I needed to hear—on repeat. With a melody that follows these natural, singable contours, a groove that allows for you to swing or sway or just rock a little if you need to, I feel like it’s a perfect marriage of lyric and music. Also, I think the production is so incredibly spot on. The strings are there—for a sense of rise and triumph—without ever becoming grand or epic because … we’re only human, you know? I bet you do.” - Sarah Morris, writer of this series; singer/songwriter; wonderer; lover of things like the morning, the sky, and you (latest release: Say Yes)
A huge thank you to everyone who stopped by to chat with me About THAT Song this year. An even huger thank you to Carol, Jacyln, and Adventures in Americana for shining a light on independent music, and sharing their Adventures with all of us.
Wishing you a fantastic start to your New Year!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah Morris. Photo credit: Tom Smouse.
Sarah Morris is a superfan of songs and the people who write them, and a believer that certain songs can change your life. A singer-songwriter / mama / bread maker / coffee drinker who recently released her fifth album of original material, she’s been known to joyfully sing with people in her Big Green Bathroom.
