Strand Of Oaks: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert

June 19, 2015 by BOB BOILEN • Strand Of Oaks’ music is filled with bite and sometimes regret, but also a good deal of warmth. Neil Young is an obvious touchstone when the loud guitar solos kick in, but so is Jason Molina. In fact, the late Ohio singer-songwriter was the subject of the song that became my hook into the music of Strand Of Oaks; it’s a song Timothy Showalter sings here at the Tiny Desk that can also be found on his 2014 album HEAL; it’s called “JM.“ I was an Indiana kid, gettin’ no one in my bed I had your sweet tunes to play I was staring at the map, feeling fire in my head I had your sweet tunes to play I was mean to my dad, ’cause I was mean to myself I had your sweet tunes to play Stealing smokes in my car, with the windows way down I had your sweet tunes to play, your sweet tunes to play Showalter’s words and life experiences — a bad relationship, a house that burned down — suggest a dark, even bitter, undercurrent. But when he drove alone in his van down from Philly and arrived at