We were lying in Stephen's bed with the lights off, listening to The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter and the steady hum of the air conditioner.
This was like three months before he stopped talking to me.
"Know who I think you'd like?" Stephen asked.
"Who?"
"M. Ward."
"Never heard of him."
A few months later, I got an M. Ward album. Last week, I got another one.
I almost let Stephen ruin The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter for me. We listened to it so many times on his bed that for months I had to struggle to put him out of my mind when I heard the album.
I still have moments.
But in the end I came out a bit ahead. Because M. Ward is great.
His new album, Hold Time, is on near-constant repeat these days for me.
It's worth checking out, which you can do via this link, which will play music.