Tune Tag #127 with Mark Nash of Joy in the Journey, Pt. 3: Rachel Sweet, Jellyfish, Beck, Jack Black, Will Worden, Rome Will Burn, Danger Mouse, Jesus and Mary Chain
From the north of England comes one of our favourite true gents, Mark! He comes bearing gifts, and brandishing a quiver filled with wickedly musical arrows sure to send one of these🏹to your💘! Enjoy!
Greetings and welcome, Mark Nash of Joy in the Journey!
You can get to know Mark pretty well by the music he loves, and from 3 of his most inspiring albums he shared recently on Andres’ The Vinyl Room, on his popular new video-interview feature, “Vital Records”:
🌟Mark also publishes the popular word game, “WORD(PLAY)LIST” on his Joy in the Journey! Here’s a recent one! You’ll want to subscribe so you don’t miss future ones!
🌟And, here’s Mark outlining all the fun he’s got planned for his Substack in 2026:
🌟This, by the way, is Part 3 for Mark in his Tune Tag travels. He and I last Tagged in April 2024, nearly two years ago (click here to enjoy that one)!
Last week, we had the pleasure of welcoming Clark, from Vinyl Ted:
💥Next week, be sure to join us as we’ll be taggin’ tunes with The Record Room by Zute!
Mark’s song #1 sent to Brad: Will Worden, “Lovin’ You Forever,” 2025
Mark’s rationale: There are several reasons I decided to lead off this week’s Tune Tag with Will Worden’s “Lovin’ You Forever.” First off, I love this album! It’s one of my favorites of ‘25, and easily figured near the top of my rankings for 2025!
Second, when I first heard the opening line of this song I was reminded of the opening of “Ticket Back to Georgia” by Head East. I was introduced to their Flat as a Pancake album (and the band) by Brad way back in July 2023 when he covered the Head East hit song, “Never Been Any Reason”:
Finally, with this track there are so many directions Brad could go from here! Does he pick up on Worden’s harpsichord and head in that direction? Or does he go with another country song? Or does he take us in a completely different direction?
Sadly, there’s no exciting “origin story” on how I came across Worden’s The Only One & All the Others album. Presumably, I unearthed it in one of my weekly new music deep dives that sees me rabidly searching and scouring the interwebs for new music!
All I know is that it’s been on my “2025 Music” playlist since the second week of February, not long after it was released, and it was a shoo-in for my 2025 AOTY List. While I’m far from an expert on country music, what really struck me when first seeing the cover and listening to the album was how much it harkens back to a different era. This album feels like it could’ve come out 50 or 60 years ago!
Brad: Keen observation by Mark! Here’s proof of that country puddin’:
Speaking of Dale McBride (pictured lower left), a recent collab with Robert C. Gilbert on a country singer my mother managed from the mid-’70s through the early-’90s:
Mark: I’m intrigued to see where Brad takes us next!
Brad’s response: A baritone, Worden hails from Sugarland, Texas (a suburb 20 miles southwest of my native Houston). According to Discogs, his album was issued in standard black vinyl limited to 100 copies. Vinyl was first available for sale during the album release show at Zebulon in Los Angeles on Feb. 1, 2025.
Worden’s Wax Mage “Labelburst” design vinyl, limited to 25 copies, featuring inlaid pieces of label along with glitter and micro hexagonal sequins:
If everything I’m seeing here is what I think it is, I’m going to guess this was a discovery by, and a retro-packaging (jacket, presentation, etc) by former Jellyfish singer/keyboardist, Roger Joseph Manning, Jr….just as Jellyfish, themselves, were ever-so-retro, while at the same time being as uber-groundbreaking and adventurous as they wanted! Which, of course, is where I’m going next! There’s a method to the madness, if not vice-versa!
Brad’s song #1 sent to Mark: Jellyfish, “Now She Knows She’s Wrong,” 1990
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