What I'm Doing: Listening To Ryan Davis, Joan Baez and The Return of Oasis

"Love Minus Zero/No Limit" plus "No Limits"

Jul 06, 2025

Hey everyone! Thanks for all the positive feedback about (possibly) paying for this newsletter someday, should it become the primary home of my writing. Good to know y’all are out there in these days before the full-on A.I. takeover of the internet.

I didn’t publish anything last week, which is just as well given that the world puts up a “Gone Fishin’” sign this time of the year. I did interview Ryan Davis, the oft-brilliant singer-songwriter from Louisville set to put out a new record, New Threats From The Soul, on July 25 with his able backing group The Roadhouse Band. Davis has been in the game for a while now, back to his days fronting the literate country-punk band State Champion. That outfit wasn’t terribly well-known, but the followers they did have made up for in quality what the fanbase lacked in quantity. One fan was David Berman, who called Davis “the best lyricist who’s not a rapper going.” Another fan was MJ Lenderman, who lurked at State Champion shows as a teenager and later invited Davis and The Roadhouse Band to open the first legs of the Manning Fireworks tour in 2024. At 40, Davis now has his highest profile yet, teeing up New Threats as a potential late-career breakthrough.

I won’t say much about what we talked about, since my article is set to be published later this month. There’s also an embargo, which tells you something about the kind of media attention Davis is getting these days. I’ll just say that if you don’t know much about Davis already, you’re going to be hearing a lot about him in the weeks ahead. For now, I’ll just share his latest single, “Monte Carlo/No Limits,” which is representative of his rangy country-rock sound and wry lyricism. (Favorite line: “The doorbell doesn’t work but it don’t need to if the Rottweiler’s home.”) The song ends with an out-of-left-field drum-and-bass breakdown, and I semi-jokingly asked if the song title was a reference to Master P’s No Limit Records. Davis said no, it was actually a nod to Dylan’s “Love Minus Zero/No Limit.” Even better!

Speaking of tributes to Bob, I recently talked about one of my favorite Dylan cover albums on my podcast Never Ending Stories and the reaction was … interesting. The record is Any Day Now, a double LP recorded and released by Joan Baez in 1968. In the past year, I’ve come around on Baez’s music, after initially feeling like it was a little stodgy. After digging in deeper, I realized that she’s actually a fantastic guitar player and a sensitive interpreter, particularly of Dylan’s music. And I do mean music — even now, most of the focus with Bob is on his words. But on Any Day Now, you’re reminded that the guy also has tunes for days. Working with the cream of Nashville’s studio musicians, Baez took Bob in a solidly country direction right before the man did it himself on Nashville Skyline. I think it’s a beautiful record. Alas, many of the pod listeners did not agree! The comments were kind of brutal, which was disappointing. I’ll let you decide for yourself.

I can’t not say something about the Oasis reunion, which commenced on July 4. The setlist is pretty incredible. Playing “Acquiesce” second shows that the Gallaghers are actually taking this seriously. Liam’s voice sounds fantastic and Noel looks like he’s on the verge of tears every time he steps to the mic. Oasis haters keep losing!

I’m going to be in London in two weeks, and I’m hoping to see one of the shows at Wembley Stadium. By the way, if you have any tips for London fun (for families especially) hit me up in the comments.