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Today’s challenge: A favorite song that’s kinda FOLK.

My folk tastes lean toward the subgenre that’s been called “Americana” — the historical root mixture of folk, country, blues, etc. And hands-down, my favorite practitioner of the genre is Rhiannon Giddens, a classically-trained opera singer and multi-instrumentalist who, initially with her band the Carolina Chocolate Drops, and now in her solo work, explores the historical black Americana that often gets ignored in what can be a very white-washed musical genre. She’s also a friend of a friend, and I’ve gotten to meet her (an experience leaving me uncharacteristically tongue-tied), so she’s definitely my favorite.

I’m giving two of hers:

…and this one, which she wrote from some unused Bob Dylan lyrics, as part of T Bone Burnett’s “The New Basement Tapes” project:

Today’s challenge — a theme from your favorite television show growing up.

There were pretty much only two choices, but this one definitely edged out the other (which was Doctor Who, by the way):

Today’s challenge – A song that’s about outer space!

It’s an instrumental, so it’s not technically about outer space, but it was originally composed for the TV series BUCK ROGERS IN THE 25th CENTURY, as the music performed by the band “Andromeda” in the episode “Space Rockers,” and was later released by the composer as a 12″ single to discos under the equally-spacey title “Odyssey,” so I say it counts! Fight me!