Monday Moods: “6 Strings For You”

Guitar-driven gems to propel you through the week.

This week’s Mood delivers a mix of instrumental and lyrically-driven songs, but the common theme is the way they all uniquely lean into the six magical strings of their creator’s guitars. We’re kicking off with multi-platinum songwriter Delacey because “Boy With The Blues” features a lyric that inspired our playlist’s name. This is the first cut off her forthcoming LP, The Girl Has A Dream, which is set to drop on August 6 via her own Delicate Flower label. You can also check out the amazing video for “Boy With The Blue” on Delacey’s YouTube.

Next up is husband and wife due flora cash, whose single “Soul Mate” is their first volley since the release of Baby It’s Okay, the LP they dropped in the middle of quarantine. Indie rock synth pop artist Geographer (Mike Deni) delivers a stripped-down version of his fan-favorite single “Verona,” a track off his 2010 full-length Animal Shapes. Says Deni, “When quarantine started, I did a live stream concert every week for about 4 months, and I recorded a lot of the performances. I’ve always wanted to release an official version of ‘Verona’ stripped down, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity since I had so many versions of it sitting on my hard drive.”

Next up is a B-side version of Ben Harper’s “Inland Empire,” a track which originally appeared on his 2020 album Winter Is For Lovers. While the original tracks are solo instrumental slide guitar performances from Harper, the new B-sides feature an ensemble including Robert Glasper, Jimmy Paxson and Mike Valerio. Rounding out this week’s five-piece is Adrian Aiello and “Calculated.” While this track dropped late last winter, we’re resurfacing it not just because it pairs nicely with the other four tracks, but it’s theme of yearning to break out of the box and take action is really resonating with us as we emerge from the last 12 months of uncertainty.

As always, you can check out our entire Stay Golden playlist on Spotify. Make sure to give it a follow so you can stay up on all our favorite Golden State selections.