Vic's Picks, Vol. 1: Sweet Soul For Gregg (and YOU!)

I went back and forth about what the first entry of Vic’s Picks should be about. And then I went forth and back, and vice versa and made myself all stressed out for days causing my brain to give up. But I powered through for hours and hours thinking and now I’m back and have made a decision about what I should share with you all. How cool is that?? I did it. Don’t ever give up, folks.

Overthinking is a detriment to anyone’s happiness. It’s a form of fear. It’s planning for everything that could go wrong. It’s giving energy to the worst of our negative thoughts, which only amplifies them and gives them way more legitimacy than is ever necessary. Breathe, Vic. Breathe. It’s just a post on Patreon. Okay? Okay.

This week I’m giving you a compilation I made for the great Gregg Turkington. We were up in Portland for TimFest ‘24 and had some time to kill before a show. We went back and forth sharing 60s & 70s soul tunes. I felt real proud of myself because Gregg, a legitimate music buff, was somehow unfamiliar with most of the tunes I showed him. I told him I’d make him a mix of some of my favorites in this genre. It’s mostly what I would refer to as Sweet Soul; saccharine tracks featuring manly falsetto blended with gritty, yet pleasant grooves aplenty.

Many of the groups featured here are worth exploring individually. Highly recommend digging into the catalogs of The Intruders, The Dells, The Dramatics and the Delfonics and any other acts that sound good to you here. The Sylvers are so fun, too. As is past OHL guest Dionne Warwick(e), of course. My favorite track here, as well was for Gregg, is Maybe So Maybe No by New Holidays. You’ll be hooked first listen. Tons of hooks, lovely falsetto breakdowns, the curious innocence of the lyrics. I don’t know how this wasn’t a hit.

Much more to come as I continue the Vic’s Picks series. This is me kind of dipping my toes in. I’ll do my best to stop overthinking what I’m sharing with you all and heave myself off the diving board into a big ol’ belly flop of music and whatever else is going on in my head!

Let me know what you think of the mix and tell me your favorites in this youtube playlist. I would love to hear in the comments any other songs or artists you like from this genre, so as Mr. Yearwood a.k.a. Garth Brooks so famously said, “Let the conversation begin.”

EDIT: Here's the spotify version of this playlist - https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7GslEMx7azLwG79e8RRcy8