Panthers Preview: Aleksander Barkov Autographed Card

(team and product links go to sponsored Amazon products, player links go to related pages on my blog, news links go to source pages)

This will likely be the preface to all of this year's Season Preview posts: Unlike in the distant past where I would post different texts on my personal blog (here) and my collectibles blog, I've been using a new format for the past couple of years, where I'll copy the same text on each one. As a father of two young kids, I just do not have enough time to write two separate posts per day on each blog. This year again, the entire scope of the analysis will take place first and the featured player will have a direct or perhaps indirect connection to what's written, below.

Caveats: At this point, despite training camp being set to start in a little over a week, several players haven't found a team yet, (at least) three star players have active trade requests, and a few clubs are currently above the salary cap, which means there is much left to do.

Key exits: Sergei Bobrovsky (G), Evan Rodrigues (C), Mackie Samoskevich (RW), Daniil Tarasov (G), Jesper Boqvist (C), Tomas Nosek (LW), A.J. Greer (LW), Luke Kunin (C), Vinnie Hinostroza (RW), Noah Gregor (LW), Mike Benning (D), Nolan Foote (LW), Jack Studnicka (C), Wilmer Skoog (C), Ben Steeves (LW)

Key Arrivals: Brady Tkachuk (RW), Jacob Markstrom (G), Radko Gudas (D),Lars Eller (C), Garnet Hathaway (RW), Akira Schmid (G), Sam Lafferty (C), John Beecher (C), Alexander Petrovic (D), Angus Crookshank (LW), Bokondi Imama (LW)

Top prospects: Simas Ignatavicius (RW, 18), Marek Alscher (D, 22), Ryder Cali (C, 18),Jack Devine (RW, 22), Gracyn Sawchyn (C, 21), Sandis Vilmanis (LW, 22), Linus Eriksson (C, 20), Matvei Shuravin (D, 20)

15 exits including a Hall of Fame goalie, one star forward and a former star goalie coming in, in addition to the league's most dangerous hitter - to the most rugged team in the NHL.

What makes their odds look good:
So much firepower up front, with captain Alexander Barkov returning, Brady joining brother Matthew Tkachuk, Carter Verhaeghe, Sam Reinhart, Sam Bennett, Anton Lundell, and Brad Marchand, among others, three proven offensive defensemen, three proven rugged defensive defensemen, one of the most knowledgeable coaches in the game in Paul Maurice... Despite missing the playoffs (due to too many injuries) last season, they enter this one as the clearest Stanley Cup contenders in the East.

Question marks:
Markstrom was a Vezina-level goalie with the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames, but looked lost with the New Jersey Devils - which Jacob shows up in Florida? How many man-games will be lost to injury on one of the league's oldest rosters?

Outlook:
The deepest offense in the league, the meanest defenseman in the league, Gustav Forsling, Seth Jones and Aaron Ekblad all in their primes on D, and what I believe will be Markstrom's comeback. Like everyone else, I see this team right back on top.

Prediction:
1st in the Atlantic Division.

Sasha Barkov missed the entire regular season last year due to ACL and MCL damage; he also missed the Olympics, but was able to suit up for Team Finland at the World Championships after the Florida Panthers missed the playoffs, scoring 3 goals and adding 8 assists for 11 points in 10 games, helping Finland to the gold medal and earning a spot on the tournament's All-Star Team. He also has a silver medal from the 2016 Worlds, and a bronze medal from the 2014 Olympics.

Here he is repping the Cats' white (away) uniform on card #495 from Upper Deck's 2021-22 O-Pee-Chee set:

He signed it in thick blue sharpie after a game against the Ottawa Senators at the then-Scotiabank Place.

Kings Preview: Alex Turcotte Autograph Card

(team and product links go to sponsored Amazon products, player links go to related pages on my blog, news links go to source pages)

This will likely be the preface to all of this year's Season Preview posts: Unlike in the distant past where I would post different texts on my personal blog (here) and my collectibles blog, I've been using a new format for the past couple of years, where I'll copy the same text on each one. As a father of two young kids, I just do not have enough time to write two separate posts per day on each blog. This year again, the entire scope of the analysis will take place first and the featured player will have a direct or perhaps indirect connection to what's written, below.

Caveats: At this point, despite training camp being set to start in a little over a week, several players haven't found a team yet, (at least) three star players have active trade requests, and a few clubs are currently above the salary cap, which means there is much left to do.

Key exits: Andrei Kuzmenko (LW), Phoenix Copley (G), Mathieu Joseph (RW), Jeff Malot (LW), Jacob Moverare (D)

Key Arrivals: Mats Zuccarello (RW), Corey Perry (RW), Erik Haula (LW),Erik Gustafsson (D), Lane Pederson (C/RW), Scott Perunovich (D), Jan Jenik (D)

Top prospects: Elton Hermansson (LW/RW, 18), Liam Lefebvre (C, 19), Adam Goljer (D, 19),Carter George (G, 20), Hampton Slukynsky (G, 21), Henry Brzustewicz (D, 19), Franceso Pinelli (C, 23), Vojtech Cihar (RW, 19), Erik Portillo (G, 25)

I'm surprised there are so many prospects on this list, considering GM Ken Holland's propensity of trading them (and high draft picks) for aging veterans.

What makes their odds look good:
New head coach Peter Laviolette has a (long) history of over-delivering results in his first year behind a team's bench. Artemi Panarin is still a good first-line player.

Question marks:
What does life after Anze Kopitar look like? How much gas does Drew Doughty have left in the tank? How will goalies Darcy Kuemper and Anton Forsberg split starts?

Outlook:
There are a lot more question marks on this team than there are sure-fire positives, and that's before factoring in the fact that the Los Angeles Kings have been ousted in the first round of the last five playoffs. Their so-called blue-chip prospects take longer than expected to become difference-makers, and there is a real possibility that Alex Laferrière (third-round pick, 83rd overall in the 2020 NHL Entry Draft, generally considered a middle-six winger) might outscore Quinton Byfield (second-overall pick in the same draft, thought to be the team's #1 centre for the last couple of years) atop the team's standings this year.

Prediction:
5th in the Pacific Division.

Which brings us to Alex Turcotte. A former first-round draft pick himself (5th overall, 2019), he is about to begin his third full-time NHL season, having never posted a point-per-game average in (parts of) four different seasons in the AHL. Even with the Wisconsin Badgers of the NCAA, he had 9 goals, 17 assists and 26 points in 29 games in 2019-20, after five very productive seasons with the U.S. National Under-18 Team, playing behind the likes of Jack Hughes, Cole Caufield, Matthew Boldy, Trevor Zegras and Matty Beniers.

Here is Alfie Turcotte's son wearing the Kings' white (away) colours on card #SS-AT from Upper Deck's 2024-25 SPx set and Super Scripts sub-set:

It features a blue-sharpied sticker autograph affixed to the card.

Hurricanes Preview: Rod Brind'Amour Dual Jersey Card

(team and product links go to sponsored Amazon products, player links go to related pages on my blog, news links go to source pages)

This will likely be the preface to all of this year's Season Preview posts: Unlike in the distant past where I would post different texts on my personal blog (here) and my collectibles blog, I've been using a new format for the past couple of years, where I'll copy the same text on each one. As a father of two young kids, I just do not have enough time to write two separate posts per day on each blog. This year again, the entire scope of the analysis will take place first and the featured player will have a direct or perhaps indirect connection to what's written, below.

Caveats: At this point, despite training camp being set to start in a little over a week, several players haven't found a team yet, (at least) three star players have active trade requests, and a few clubs are currently above the salary cap, which means there is much left to do.

Key exits: Frederik Andersen (G), Mike Reilly (D), Noah Philp (C)

Key Arrivals: None.

Top prospects: Bradly Nadeau (LW, 21), Felix Unger-Sorum (RW, 20), Charles-Alexis Legault (D, 22),Semyon Frolov (G, 19), Justin Poirier (RW, 19), Charlie Cerrato (C, 21), Justin Robidas (C, 23), Nikita Artamonov (LW, 20)

The only departures were an oft-injured, 37-year-old goalie, a depth defenseman, and a fourth-line centre - and with no notable arrivals, their replacements will come via the team's system, which will inject some youthful energy to a group that played until the end of June. Alexander Nikishin is at a contractual impasse and may be used as trade bait for a player in a similar situation from the Detroit Red Wings, a top-end goalie from the Winnipeg Jets, as part of a package for a defenseman from the Minnesota Wild, or any other roster player who used to warrant $7.5M in salary and whose value rose above $12M this summer.

What makes their odds look good:
They won the Stanley Cup in just 19 games (only three playoff losses) mere months ago, and the only lineup changes so far have been limited to letting depth guys go and replacing them with younger options. These guys have been playing this system for years and it's paid off well in every regular season so far.

Question marks:
Will the goaltending hold up with Brandon Bussi as the #1 guy and Pyotr Kochetkov being asked to triple his workload from last season? Does it even matter, though?

Outlook:
They won't necessarily coast to a first-place finish because, like Charlie Sheen, they only have one speed ("Go!"). But they are a machine that will only be stopped by time and the effects of years of compound physical play, like last year's Florida Panthers.

Prediction:
1st in the Metropolitan Division.

Head coach and former captain Rod Brind'Amour is no stranger to the Carolina Hurricanes' success, as he has them playing just like he used to himself, with speed, skill, strength, intelligence, stamina and led by willpower.

As a player, Rod The Bod amassed 452 goals, 732 assists and 1184 points in 1484 regular-season NHL games that included the entire Dead Puck Era, as well as 51 goals and 60 assists for 111 points in 159 playoff games, culminating with a Stanley Cup in 2006 (and another Final in 2002) and two Selke trophies as the league's best defensive forward. He has better credentials than many current Hall of Famers. He also won a gold medal with Team USA at the 1994 World Championships.

As a coach, he won the Cup last summer, but is also one of the rare winners of the Jack Adams Trophy (best head coach, 2020-21) to not get fired the very next season. Maybe that's his way into the Hall.

Here he is wearing the Canes' red (home) uniform on card #AF-RD from Upper Deck's 2008-09 SP Game-Used Edition set and Authentic Fabrics and Dual Jerseys sub-sets:

As implied, it features two (black) game-worn jersey swatches.

Top 10s Of The Week

(product links go to sponsored Amazon products, previous post links go to related pages on my blog, news and place links go to source pages)

Top 10 Songs:

10. MIDNIGHT SUN, Zara Larsson (2026)
9. YOU IN '95, Beth Bombara (2026)
8. THE FATE OF OPHELIA, Taylor Swift (2026)
7. MISTAKEN IDENTITY, Everlast (2026)
6. PAPA WAS A ROLLIN' STONE, The Temptations (1972)
5. JOLENE, Dolly Parton (1974)
4. OPALITE, Taylor Swift (2026)
3. THE CURE, Olivia Rodrigo (2026)
2. WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME, Olivia Rodrigo & Robert Smith (2026)
1. DAI DAI, Shakira featuring Burna Boy (2026)

Mammoth Preview: Maveric Lamoureux Autograph Card

(team and product links go to sponsored Amazon products, player links go to related pages on my blog, news links go to source pages)

This will likely be the preface to all of this year's Season Preview posts: Unlike in the distant past where I would post different texts on my personal blog (here) and my collectibles blog, I've been using a new format for the past couple of years, where I'll copy the same text on each one. As a father of two young kids, I just do not have enough time to write two separate posts per day on each blog. This year again, the entire scope of the analysis will take place first and the featured player will have a direct or perhaps indirect connection to what's written, below.

Caveats: At this point, despite training camp being set to start in a couple of weeks, several players haven't found a team yet, (at least) three star players have active trade requests, and a few clubs are currently above the salary cap, which means there is much left to do.

Key exits: J.J. Peterka (RW), Vitek Vanecek (G), Sean Durzi (D), Ian Cole (D), Alexander Kerfoot (C), Andrew Agozzino (LW), Maksymilian Szuber (D), Cole Beaudoin (C), Scott Perunovich (D)

Key Arrivals: Vincent Trochek (C), Anders Lee (LW), Joshua Roy (RW), Sebastian Cossa (G), Zac Jones (D), Andrew Peeke (D)

Top prospects: Caleb Desnoyers (C, 19), Tij Iginla (C, 20), Maveric Lamoureux (D, 22),Cossa (G, 21), Daniil But (RW, 21), Ethan Belchetz (LW, 18), Michael Hrabal (G, 21), Dmitri Simachev (D, 21)

This franchise has pretty much always been seen as a team on the rise, but they often get caught behind the Central Division powerhouses like the Colorado Avalanche, Minnesota Wild and Dallas Stars. But those teams seem to be in a limited window due to their aging cores; the Utah Mammoth are just entering a ten-year playoff contention window that should have a decent four-year run at the Stanley Cup in the middle of it.

What makes their odds look good:
Look at that list of Prime prospects! And the current core is also young and excellent. They are well-coached by André Tourigny, and GM Bill Armstrong is also at the top of his game.

Question marks:
Can Karel Vejmelka find the consistency that being a #1 goalie requires over many seasons? Will Clayton Keller continue his ascension into a 90-point player? Is Logan Cooley ready to produce at a point-per-game average over a full season? How long can John Marino keep playing at a pace that keeps up with the league's elite defensive defensemen?

Outlook:
This is a playoff team, and had they been in the Pacific, they might have finished first in the division, and would be second or third in the Metropolitan. There is no superstar on the team, but their balance is nearly on the level of the Carolina Hurricanes and Montréal Canadiens.

Prediction:
4th in the Central Division.

Two of the Mammoth's top prospects, Desnoyers and Lamoureux, hail from the LHJMQ, which has been a rare occurence in the last two decades. The Québec and Maritimes' top Juniors league and overall hockey ecosystem used to produce the world's best goalies (Georges Vézina, Jacques Plante, Bernared Parent, Rogatien Vachon, Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur, Jean-Sébastien Giguère, Roberto Luongo, Marc-André Fleury), Hall of Fame forwards and defensemen (Maurice Richard, Jean Béliveau, Doug Harvey, Mario Lemieux, Denis Savard, Vincent Lecavalier, Sidney Crosby), as well as more than half of the NHL's tough guys; in 2025-26, Québec-born players barely accounted for 8% of the NHL as a whole, meaning that a fictionnal Team Québec would have gone from a medal contender to barely a participant in an Olympic-like tournament.

Lamoureux is a unique player: 6'7", 215 pounds (projected to play at 220-225 in the NHL), gifted offensively, able to pass cross-ice between skaters, very physical with good gaps. Chosen 29th overall in 2022, he projects to have a higher ceiling than what was originally thought of Hall Of Fame defenseman Zdeno Chara when he was drafted 56th overall in 1996. I do not necessarily see that for Lamoureux, but am not against seeing him with a career path like a harder-to-play-against one-time All-Star and Stanley Cup champion Kevin Shattenkirk.

Here he is on the signed insert version of card #314 from Upper Deck's 2023-24 CHL collection and Stars sub-set:

It shows him wearing the Drummondville Voltigeurs' white (home) uniform (and alternate captain's "A") at a face-off, and features a blue on-sticker autograph that was added to the card.

Kraken Preview: Matty Beniers Jersey Card

(team and product links go to sponsored Amazon products, player links go to related pages on my blog, news links go to source pages)

This will likely be the preface to all of this year's Season Preview posts: Unlike in the distant past where I would post different texts on my personal blog (here) and my collectibles blog, I've been using a new format for the past couple of years, where I'll copy the same text on each one. As a father of two young kids, I just do not have enough time to write two separate posts per day on each blog. This year again, the entire scope of the analysis will take place first and the featured player will have a direct or perhaps indirect connection to what's written, below.

Caveats: At this point, despite training camp being set to start in a couple of weeks, several players haven't found a team yet, (at least) three star players have active trade requests, and a few clubs are currently above the salary cap, which means there is much left to do.

Key Exits: Jaden Schwartz (LW), Jamie Oleksiak (D), Eeli Tolvanen (RW), Matt Murray (G)

Key Arrivals: Mackie Samoskevich (RW), Curtis Douglas (C)

Top prospects: Chase Reid (D, 18), Jake O'Brien (C, 19), Jani Nyman (RW, 22), Blake Fiddler (D, 19), Jagger Firkus (RW, 22), Oscar Fisker Molgaard (C, 21)

xxx

What makes their odds look good:
Some of their best prospects are young enough to build sustainable success around... if they break through. Samoskevich coming via trade with the Florida Panthers this summer and Bobby McMann from the Toronto Maple Leafs last year show that new GM Jason Botterill may indeed be the right person to build this team up (and/or he has excellent assistants in Ricky Olczyk, Alexandra Mandrycky, and Ryan Jankowski, to which former Vancouver Canucks GM Patrik Allvin was added this summer, along with all the analytics staff).

Question marks:
Will Matty Beniers fulfill the promise of his Calder Trophy-winning season and join the ranks of the All-Stars ot elite? Will Shane Wright get traded, or improve? Will Lane Lambert provide stability (i.e. a four- or five-year run) behind the Seattle Kraken bench for the first time in franchise history?

Outlook:
Like the Detroit Red Wings in yesterday's post, the Kraken seem mired in mediocrity and non-playoff futility. Unlike the Wings, however, their prospect pool includes a lot of players aged 20 or younger, especially among the highest-rated players. There is a light at the end of the tunnel even if the currect crop of players does not get to find success themselves.

Prediction:
6th in the Pacific Division.

Key among players hoping to take another step and either make the jump to the next wave instead of just bridging the gap to it is Beniers, the second-overall pick of the 2021 draft; to be fair, only Jesper Wallstedt (20th, Minnesota Wild) and Wyatt Johnston (23rd, Dallas Stars) have established themselves as top players in the first round from that draft class, with Josh Doan (37th, Arizona Coyotes), Logan Stankoven (47th, Stars), Matthew Knies (57th, Leafs), J.J. Moser (60th, Coyotes), and Jackson Blake (109th, Carolina Hurricanes) looking like steals in the later rounds.

With three 20-goal seasons under his belt, Beniers hasn't been a flop by any means, but the 24 goals, 33 assists and 57 points he registered in his rookie season remain career highs to this day:

Internationally, he has been successful in depth roles on Team USA, winning gold at the 2021 World Juniors and 2025 World Championships, as well as bronze at the 2019 World U-18s and 2025 Worlds.

Here he is on card #60 from Upper Deck's 2024-25 SP Game-Used set and Red Jersey sub-set:

It features a dark blue game-used jersey swatch.

Red Wings Preview: Lucas Raymond Banner Card

(team and product links go to sponsored Amazon products, player links go to related pages on my blog, news links go to source pages)

This will likely be the preface to all of this year's Season Preview posts: Unlike in the distant past where I would post different texts on my personal blog (here) and my collectibles blog, I've been using a new format for the past couple of years, where I'll copy the same text on each one. As a father of two young kids, I just do not have enough time to write two separate posts per day on each blog. This year again, the entire scope of the analysis will take place first and the featured player will have a direct or perhaps indirect connection to what's written, below.

Caveats: At this point, despite training camp being set to start in a couple of weeks, several players haven't found a team yet, (at least) three star players have active trade requests, and a few clubs are currently above the salary cap, which means there is much left to do.

Key exits: Patrick Kane (RW), Cam Talbot (G), Travis Hamonic (D), James van Riemsdyk (LW), David Perron (RW), Erik Gustafsson (D), Sebastian Cossa (G)

Key Arrivals: Viktor Arvidsson (LW), Daniil Tarasov (G), Keegan Kolesar (RW), Jacob Bryson (D), Wilmer Skoog (LW/RW)

Top prospects: Michael Brandsegg-Nygard (RW, 20), Trey Augustine (G, 21), J.P. Hurlbert (LW, 19), Carter Bear (LW, 19), Nate Danielson (C, 21), Carter Mazur (LW, 24), Max Plante (LW, 20)

GM Steve Yzerman's failed rebuild stepped down was fired moved on beyond hockey operations just too late to salvage the season at hand, leaving the team without a contract boss two weeks into free agency season, with captain Dylan Larkin requesting a trade out from his hometown team and future #2-3 defender Simon Edvinsson without a contract as a Restricted Free Agent. It is chaos. And it's not like the team was a contender to begin with.

What makes their odds look good:
Lucas Raymond and Moritz Seider are legitimate top-flight players. Alex DeBrincat is not an accidental 40-goal scorer. I still believe in John Gibson as a 45-to-50-game starting goalie.

Question marks:
What if Larkin is better suited as an elite second-line centre? Is Todd McLellan the coach that can bring an underachieving team to the playoffs, instead of underachieving in the playoffs with well-built teams (as he has in the past with the San Jose Sharks, Edmonton Oilers and Los Angeles Kings)?

Outlook:
This is a mediocre team - in the true sense of the word, not as a metaphor for "bad"; these players are all probably among the 1,000 best in the world which, factoring in the fact that there are elite players in the Juniors circuit and that the KHL, AHL and European leagues are legitimate pro leagues where players deserve to make a living from the sport, means they are legitimate NHLers. That is not where the problem lies; most of their top prospects are in their 20s and have not broken into the league yet. Drafting, which used to be the team's bread and butter (with their owner's deep pockets), no longer finds Hall Of Famers in the late rounds - heck, they often seem to get outdrafted in the first round by later picks from other teams (which could signal to a development issue as well). While an argument can be made every year that they are on the cusp of breaking out and could finally contend for a playoff wild card spot - and they do usually hang around for nearly half the season - the recipe just isn't working, and instead of fighting to be around 15th overall, they fall closer to 30th. These players chosen by this management to be led by this coaching staff (and the last three...) do not produce a good enough result for where the team was 20-30 years ago; they look a whole lot more like the team from the 1980s, and that's what's scary about it.

Prediction:
8th in the Atlantic Division.

For the third straight season, Raymond has produced around a point per game, but he has also improved defensively, with a Fenwick For above 52% and a plus/minus line that has consistently improved as well, going from -32 to -17 to -12 to -15 to +1 in his five NHL seasons. He also took on a larger role with Team Sweden internationally, going from 4 points in 7 games (bronze medal) and 5 points in 5 games (5th place) at the 2020 and 2021 World Juniors respectively, to 8 points in 8 games (6th place) and 9 points in 10 games (bronze medal) at the 2023 and 2024 World Championships, to 3 points in 3 games (3rd place) and 11 points in 10 games (bronze medal) at the 2025 4 Nations tournament and World Championships respectively, to 9 points in 5 games at the 2026 Olympics and 11 points in 8 games at the 20215 Worlds. He's one of the Detroit Red Wings' best players, in his prime, but at 24 years of age, he might not still be when the team's next solid nucleus reach their peaks.

Here he is on card #BYGS-LR from Upper Deck's 2024-25 SP Game-Used set and Banner Year sub-set:

It shows him wearing the Wings' red (home) uniform from the 2023 Global Series (as attested by the patch on his right pectoral muscle), along with a piece of decorative banner from the event:

Video Of The Week: Everlast

(product links go to sponsored Amazon products, previous post links go to related pages on my blog, news and place links go to source pages)

Former House of Pain lead rapper Everlast successfully reinvented himself as a rugged blues/rap/acoustic rock songwriter after suffering a heart attack at the tail end of the 1990s that required him to no longer Jump Around. While the quality of his recording outpus has been steadily declining since Whitey Ford Sings The Blues (his second-overall solo record but first post-House of Pain), he does have good songs on each subsequent release, and his second and third "Whitey era" records (Eat At Whitey's and White Trash Beautiful) still spin regularly in my home, as does his cover of Johnny Cash's Folson Prison Blues.

He released Embers to Ashes yesterday, and the leadoff video is Mistaken Identity: Let's not kid ourselves: if it wasn't Everlast, I probably wouldn't want to hear that song more than once, but with my favourable sentiment towards Erik Schrody, I don't mind it and might even enter it in a "Songs of 2026" playlist of sorts - though probably not a "Best of the 2020s" nor my "Eternal Playlist", where dozens of his songs still play daily.

It's a typical ballad with themes of loss, yearning, learning and self-affirmation, with a little bit of hip-hop boasting thrown in for good measure, which is possibly where director Ryen McPherson found the inspiration to portray it as a Reservoir Dogs-esque bit of torture porn where Everlast first faces himself at his current age and the victim personae eventually turns into his younger self, played here by Yelawolf, the former Eminem protégé who produced the new record.

Video Of The Week: Dolly Parton (featuring Linda Perry)

(product links go to sponsored Amazon products, previous post links go to related pages on my blog, news and place links go to source pages)

The world got a little bit bleaker today when the news came out that Dolly Parton had passed away at 80 years old, after a short battle with cancer. She was a legendary songwriter, a talented singer, a renowned philanthropist, as well as an accomplished actress and businesswoman.

Although I had heard her duet with Kenny Rogers, Islands In The Stream, when I was a kid, from it playing on the radio once in a while, I only really got acquanited with the Queen Of Country Music's art via the 1993 album Honky Tonk Angels with Loretta Lynn and Tammy Winette, which came a year after Whitney Houston's cover of I Will Always Love You for the soundtrack to The Bodyguard. From then I fell into such classics as Jolene and Coat Of Many Colors, and the poppier 9 To 5.

She was inducted in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame in 2022, a nomination she initially wanted to pass on, but was convinced to accept after fan pressure and the Hall explaining that her influence surpassed the realm of country music and that "Rock And Roll" had a meaning that extended beyond the straight line from Elvis Presley to The Beatles to Led Zeppelin to Soundgarden. But she insisted on making a "rock" album to justify her inclusion, with such luminaries as Sting, John Fogerty, Steve Perry, Ann Wilson, Steven Tyler, Warren Haynes, Joan Jett, Rob Halford, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Pat Benatar, Peter Frampton and Stevie Nicks, among others, offering to lend a hand in what was ultimately a gloriously tacky record that warrants an A for effort and C+ for execution. From the second disc of that album is a cover of 4 Non Blondes' What's Up, featuring frontwoman Linda Perry:
I'm not sure how happy Mrs. Perry was that Mrs. Parton changed so many of the lyrics to the song, but this version reflects the way Dolly Parton saw life - with hope and positivity. I'll give it a try myself in her honour.

Video Of The Week: Queens Of The Stone Age

(product links go to sponsored Amazon products, proper name links go to related pages on my blogs, news links go to source pages)

Just days after leader Josh Homme confirmed having recorded a song with Shania Twain, Queens Of The Stone Age themselves released a video for a country-ish duet with none other than Nikki Lane, this generation's ultimate outlaw country singer: Directed by the duo of Christopher Gruse and Tony Wolski from Hungry Man Productions, with cameos from veteran actors Diedrich Bader (Drew Carey Show, Veep) and wife Dulcy Rogers (Father of the Bride Part II), the video for Easy Street follows a battered and bruised Homme seemingly running from a motley crew of disguised degenerate characters and then hosting a party for them at a huge cottage.

It's definitely a slower jam than most QOTSA songs, but not completely out of place considering past tracks like Make It Wit Chu and the sublimely subdued cover of Billy Idol's White Wedding.

I'll probably require time for it to grow on me a bit more - and will likely hope I don't see it too often live - but it will probably make its way onto my Eternal Playlist eventually.