Peggy Honeywell fills her bluegrassy country songs with marvelous sincerity and passion, the stuff childhood daydreams are made of: planets, birds, cats and sunsets. Her songs are written and recorded between long hours spent painting.

Tracklist:

Peggy Honeywell – “Miss Communication”
Creedence Clearwater Revival – “Graveyard Train”
Patsy Cline – “Life’s Railway to Heaven”
Sarah Vaughan – “Black Coffee”
Barry Cocker – “He Ain’t Heavy...He’s My Brother”
Vashti Bunyan – “Rose Hip November”
The Zombies – “Sometimes”
Mazzy Star – “Fade Into You”
Pink Floyd – “Wish You Were Here”
Sonic Youth – “Bull in the Heather”
Generation X – “Ready Steady Go”
Joy Division – “She’s Lost Control”
Johnny Cash – “Girl from the North Country”
The Byrds – “Farther Along”
Jimi Hendrix – “The Wind Cries Mary”
Johnny Cash – “Were You There (When They Crucified My Lord)”
Queen – “Another One Bites the Dust”
Prince featuring Sheena Easton – “U Got the Look”
Faces – “Glad and Sorry”
Pink Floyd – “Fearless”
The Rolling Stones – “She’s a Rainbow”
Roy Orbison – “Candy Man”
Elvis Presley – “Bossa Nova Baby”
Otis Redding – “That’s How Strong My Love Is”
Tina Turner – “I Idolize You”
Eric Clapton – “Lay Down Sally”
Sister Nancy – “Bam Bam”

Brian Roettinger works primarily as a graphic designer under the moniker Hand Held Heart. He is most widely known for his album cover artwork for bands like No Age, Liars and Death From Above 1979, and for books like Jason Rhoades' Black Pussy Cocktail Coffee Table for the David Zwirner Gallery in New York. He is currently the art director for the Southern California Institute of Architecture. In February 2008 he was awarded 2007 Album Designer of the Year by Rolling Stone magazine and was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2009 for his design for No Age’s Nouns LP.

A recent addition to the Black Iris family, Nick Koletic specialized in entertainment law at UCLA before pursuing a career in music licensing and production. Nick loves domin’ out on vinyl records, and what he lacks in humility, he makes up for with his enthusiasm to make a reggae fan out of you. According to Nick, below is the best playlist of all time complete with transcendent commentary.

Fela Kuti – “Let’s Start”
Yes. Let’s. With a HORN BLAST TO THE FACE. The whole album is this relentless.
Fool’s Gold – “Nadine”
My favorite song on a record overflowing with craft and heart.
Best Coast – “When I’m With You”
Catchy as all hell. Her LP is gonna be big.
Surfer Blood – “Take It Easy”
Big year for these kids. Kids! Recorded this in their dorm room. Impressive production.
Jay Electronica – “Renaissance Man”
This Dilla protégé is about to blow UP. Great flow on his sensei’s beat.
Die Antwoord – “Wat Pomp”
Asa Taccone scooped me to these…people. Not sure if they’re a joke or not, but these South Africans’ beats are serious.
Dam Funk – “Hood Pass Intact”
Straight G beat by this LA native. It goes nowhere perfectly. Drive to this.
Caetano Veloso & Gilberto Gil – “Cada Macaco No Seu Galho”
Late-career genius from these two Brazilian titans.
Milton Nascimento – “Para Lennon e McCartney”
Late-60s Milton doing his Tropicália thing. Listen to the buzz guitar, organ work and, of course, Milton’s voice.
Harry Nilsson – “Girlfriend”
This one is for [Black Iris boss man] Daron. A cloying classic by a dude who owned the early 70s. Too sweet to eat!
Jonathan Richman – “Velvet Underground”
Mr. Indie. Love this send-up of his favorite band complete with Lou Reed impression.
Robert Johnson – “Sweet Home Chicago”
Tough to pick one of his, so just took one at random.
Woody Guthrie – “Car Song”
I’m glad such a revolutionary didn’t take himself too seriously.
Elvis Presley – “Crawfish”
Elvis making seafood sexy. Joe Strummer’s fave Elvis song. Mine too…maybe.
Isao Tomita – “Arabesque No. 1”
1974 people! Synths basically just came out. He mastered them and reinterpreted some of the most accessible classical music. TO THE DOME!
The Pop Group – “She Is Beyond Good and Evil”
Post, uh, everything. I love the late 70s. Dedicated to Michael Harris.
Debra Keese & The Black Five – “Travelling”
Lee Perry is my favorite producer. There, I said it. Listen to the bass drum create this sticky groove. Lots of inscrutable stuff going on sonically. Typical.
Scientist – “Attack”
Rhythm track by the heaviest reggae band ever, the Roots Radics. Given the Scientist dub treatment. Look for that effect seemingly tied to the snare.
Little Dragon – “Runabout”
Tons of legit stuff coming out of Gothenburg recently. Great icy, wet, sexy, cool production here.
Toro y Moi – “Talamak”
Great songwriting and production, particularly for a laptop record. Very well made. One of my fave records of 2010 so far.
Ahmad Jamal – “What’s New”
He’s my favorite pianist — a minimalist whose technical flourishes are always well placed. Recorded live, this groove HAS to have been sampled — too heavy!