You like penguins? Me too! They’re adorable, usually friendly, always dressed for success, plus they’re the stars of my favorite scene of any halfway-decent nature documentary series — the obligatory Antarctica scene. You know, the one in which thousands of male penguins huddle together in negative-bazillion-degree-temperatures for months without sunlight, taking turns on the group’s extra-chilly perimeter, all while playing the world’s most boring game of soccer with the unborn child that rolls around between their legs the whole time? Seeing footage of this rotating huddle always blows my mind,  but this act of extreme parental endurance isn’t even my favorite penguin fun fact. Did you know that after all those soccer balls hatch and form a giant field of thousands of cute, fluffy, pretty much identical penguin chicks, the parents identify which is theirs by listening for their chick’s distinct call? In a sea of screaming voices, one cuts through. It’s incredible. So what does this have to do with Cotton Jones? Well, this folk-y/rock-y/whatever-y band (Thought Cotton Jones was the dude’s name? I did too. The curse of Jethro Tull strikes again…) from Cumberland, MD wrote a song that may very well be my illegitimate musical penguin baby (DNA tests are pending). I wasn’t terribly familiar with the Cotton Jones catalog before seeing them at the Camel this past Thursday, so a few hours before heading out, I rushed through some of their albums, enjoying them immensely but moving too quickly to commit the songs to memory… except for one. One tune stood out as I hurriedly listened, a sweet and timeless-sounding river song from their Tall Hours in the Glowstream album called “Somehow to Keep It Going.” The same thing happened at the Camel, as hearing the chorus produced such a strong reaction of recognition mixed with excitement that it’s hard to believe I’d heard the song for the first time just hours before. In a sea of unfamiliar music, “Somehow to Keep It Going” cut through and connected, and I can’t wait to explore more deliberately the rest of what Cotton Jones has to offer. Listen below and click here to snag Tall Hours in the Glowstream from iTunes.

Cotton Jones — “Somehow to Keep It Going“