In the latest iteration of The Big Baltimore Playlist, we round up five local songs we can’t get enough of right now, ranging from boundary-breaking bluegrass to vital hip-hop and thought-provoking spoken-word poetry. Check back each month for new songs of the moment, and follow our Spotify playlist as we continue to build a soundtrack for our city. 

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“White Horse” by Bumper Jacksons 

At the exact moment of the Women’s March on Washington in 2017, Bumper Jacksons frontwoman Jess Eliot Myhre was in labor with her first child. The lead singer emerged from that life-changing experience and found herself moved to write this spirited anthem, reflecting on motherhood, feminine power, and the #MeToo movement. With hearty acoustic strums and the wavering twang of steel guitar, Myrhe and her master-of-their-craft bandmates create a call to collective action for women the world over. “We don’t need a man on a white horse, we don’t need anyone to save us,” she sings with gusto. “We can move mountains, when we harness our own power.” In this country-tinged tune, the Americana septet does exactly that, mobilizing through melody, using their feel-good sound to speak truth to power.

“Feel Nobody” by Butch Dawson

This West Baltimore artist approaches his tracks with a punkish edge, carving out his own corner in the local rap canon as he imbues his smoke-swirled melodies with nonchalant murky beats and, lately, a horror film’s flare. See last fall’s video for “Dead Man Draggin’,” in which Dawson transforms into a woods-wandering zombie a la The Walking Dead. But where that slow-burned with chill wave vibes and jazzy drums, this new number is an edge-of-your-seat thriller. “Feel Nobody” hooks you with its incessant whir, deep bass, and occasional scream-like sample, then Dawson’s delivery brings the suspense—his rhymes gaining new intensity and volume with every hard-hitting verse. At its core, the song is about survival in “the swamps,” as he calls Baltimore’s toughest neighborhoods, and staying unapologetically true to yourself. Keep an eye out for his forthcoming full-length Swamp Boy.

“Caroline” by The High and Wides

Since forming on the Eastern Shore in 2015, the High & Wides have crossed the Chesapeake Bay to Baltimore, combining the backwoods roots of their hometown with the gumption of their new city to create a modern “hillbilly music” revival. From fiery barn burners to heartbroken ballads, this talented string quartet is celebrating the region’s rich bluegrass history, carrying the torch for the Old-Line legends who came before. The band’s boot-stomping first single puts their expert instrumentation and finger-picking finesse on full display. Full of hearty harmonies, lightning banjo, tight fiddle, and driving bass, it’s a simple reminder of how goddamn gorgeous the naked voice and unadulterated instrument can be. We’ll follow their breathless tempos down whatever dusty road—or up whatever chart, as the album just debuted at No. 10 on the Billboard bluegrass chart—they go.

“Invocation: Dear Baltimore” by Judah Adashi and Erricka Bridgeford*

One of the most beautiful things to be born out of the Baltimore Uprising is that of Rise Bmore, a free evening of music, speech, and community that takes place every April 19, on the anniversary of Freddie Gray’s death. Now in its third year, this spring’s event began with the premiere of this breathtaking ballad and love letter to Baltimore. The song combines “Rise,” a Civil Rights-inspired composition by Judah Adashi—Rise Bmore’s founder, plus Peabody professor and organizer of the Evolution Contemporary Music Series—with words by Erricka Bridgeford, the creator of Baltimore Ceasefire, which just celebrated another successful weekend without murder. With ascending piano and aching breaths of flugelhorn, the song evolves from poignant storytelling to courageous poetry. Bridgeford’s husky lines captures the city’s essence in a few simple notes. Listen. Meditate on these words. Feel your heart fill with hope for our hometown of Baltimore.

“4 3 2 4 1” by Smoke Bellow

We first caught wind of this song by way of the long, strange trip of its music video. The short film was so perfectly oddball that it could only have been made in Baltimore. After a three-year hiatus in their Australia homeland, Christian Best and Meredith McHugh returned to Baltimore in 2017 with their first new record in years. Just released via Ehse Records, Isolation 3000 was inspired by Smoke Bellow’s two distant and disparate locales, and includes this otherworldly song. With a new third bandmate, local artist Jessie Hughes, it takes the minimalist experimentation of the band’s past work and evolves it outward—or, rather, inward—down a sort of psychedelic rabbit hole. Swirling in synth loops and droning guitar, McHugh’s meditative incantations urge listeners to follow. Their labyrinthine dreamscape—from space through the ocean to the Outback—is worth getting lost in.

*Not available on Spotify. We’ll add it when if/when it comes online.

Celebration

Wounded Healer (Bella Union)

Celebration is truly Baltimore. For years, the eclectic electronic rock trio has made the type of one-of-a-kind music, nurtured on our small stages and lauded beyond our county lines, that couldn’t quite be pigeonholed. On this new album, frontwoman Katrina Ford is a fearless leader, her expansive, dramatic vocals sweeping across 11 tracks, while her bandmates, multi-instrumentalist Sean Antanaitis and drummer David Bergander, create imaginative suites of sound. Each song is distinct from the others—be it a reverberating, ’80s-infused rock number (“Rolling On”); a whirring, Wall-of-Sound love song (“Spider”); a spacey, symphonic expedition (“Velvet Glove”); or one steady, sunny duet with Future Islands frontman Sam Herring (“Paper Trails”). “Granite” might just be one of the prettiest songs we’ve heard all year. The joy of Celebration is that they take themselves seriously, but not too much.

Bumper Jacksons

I’ve Never Met a Stranger (self-released)

As regulars at local venues like the Creative Alliance and outdoor showcases like the Charm City Bluegrass Festival, the Bumper Jacksons have become a beloved Bmore favorite. The energetic septet makes music for old souls. Their expert instrumentation, from New Orleans street blues to Appalachian backwoods country to old-school roots jazz, is a lively celebration of Americana, present and past. They’re best known for their toe-tapping, skirt-flipping party music, but on this third album, we found our favorite moments in the quiet corners of the slow songs. Sure, we loved the rockabilly rally of “Get On Up” and the swinging groove of “Many Paths to the Top of the Mountain,” but we fell hard for the gentle twang of “Technicolor Waltz” and the pedal steel of “Waiting Round Here.” We can’t wait until these cool cats come back to town.

Five things to eat, drink, see, hear, and do with your Charm City weekend.

 EAT

May 5-6: FlowerMart

Mount Vernon Place, 699 Washington Pl. 11 a.m.-9 p.m. Free.

For the 106th year, the square around the Washington Monument will bloom with flowers, festivities, and hordes of festival food, like Maryland crab cakes and the Baltimore classic lemon peppermint stick. Rain or shine, dig into spring eats, join in the Maypole dance, follow the floral pet parade, and purchase some petunias to brighten up your home in this time-honored festival. April showers really do bring May flowers. Hopefully May showers will make for a pleasant June.

 DRINK

May 7: Baltimore Whiskey Company Sunday Funday

Baltimore Whiskey Company, 2800 Sisson St. 3-9 p.m. Free.

This weekend, the BWC is hosting the ultimate Sunday Funday at their Remington space to kick start the drinking season of spring. Enjoy fresh cocktails from Sugarvale, Korean-inspired fare from their sister restaurant Dooby’s, and try your hand at lawn games. With music by DJ Jack Denning from All Mighty Senators and endless amounts of award-winning Shot Tower Gin, it’s sure to be good vibes all around. 

 SEE

May 3-7: Maryland Film Festival

Parkway Theatre, 5 W. North Ave. Times vary. $10-400. 410-752-8083.

Cinephiles rejoice—the 19th annual Maryland Film Festival is back with a five-day silver screen soiree. The newly renovated Parkway Theatre campus in the Station North Arts & Entertainment district will boast 6-screens and 125 feature and short-length shows full of drama and stunning visuals. Don’t miss the post-film Q&A sessions with filmmakers, as well as workshops and expert panel discussions.

 HEAR

May 3-7: Bumper Jacksons

Creative Alliance, 3134 Eastern Ave. 8 p.m. $17-23. 

This Saturday, the Creative Alliance is going to transform into a rowdy dance party, but not one you might expect. Instead, as D.C.’s beloved Bumper Jacksons return to Highlandtown for the fifth time to promote their new album, I’ve Never Met A Stranger, the band’s blend of jazz, swing, blues, and old-time country will make the eclectic art space less like a booty-shaking get-down and more like “an old-time barn dance in downtown New Orleans.” 

 DO

May 6: Kinetic Sculpture Race

American Visionary Art Museum, 800 Key Hwy. 10 a.m. Free. 410-244-1900. 

The American Visionary Art Museum’s wonderfully wacky Kinetic Sculpture Race returns for the 19th time this month. Across 14 miles from Federal Hill to Canton and back, contestants compete on handmade, human-powered works of art that navigate over land, mud, and water to win awards such as “Worst Honorable Mention” and “Next to Last.” Whatever the weather, watch the awesomely awkward spectacle from sidewalks across the city.

Too Big World
Bumper Jacksons (self-released)

This D.C. sextet might officially belong to the District but they play here enough—as with their June 5 album-release show at the Creative Alliance—that we feel we can claim them. If you’re unfamiliar, the band fuses jazz, blues, and country swing into a hootin’, hollerin’ party, full of brass, strings, and backwoods instruments like washboard and kazoo. Their New Orleans-by-way-of-Appalachia sound is stronger than ever on this fourth record, stacking flirty ragtime; mountain ditties; and smoky, Southern soul into a rich revival soundtrack, perfect for a back-porch boogie on a hot June night.

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Again Weekend
Super City (self-released)

Put on Super City’s debut album and you might do a double take: No, you’re not listening to Alt-J, Arctic Monkeys, or The Strokes, though lead singers Dan Ryan and Greg Wellham sound uncannily similar in their pretty minimalism. This young quintet, formed by recent Towson grads, is as good as any of those bands, but seems poised to blaze its own trail. Their tracks amble between hyphenated rock genres but remain confident and catchy throughout. Whether its shimmering pop-rock, sedated folk-rock, or rough-and-tumble alt-rock, they fully commit, and so do we.