“Everything (But One Thing)” - Izaak Opatz

Being late to the party, despite what you may have heard, is a perfectly acceptable way to find new music.  

Case in point: When the algorithm fed me this track by Montana songwriter Izaak Opatz, there was a second of presumed familiarity followed at once by confusion and the realization that this song/artist, which is squarely in my wheelhouse (+1 algorithm) was completely new to me.  

How did Opatz’s work escape me all these years? I checked and there are no fewer than ten press releases about this release in my inbox that were…unopened.  

It would seem that this is a crisis of my own creation.  

But lost time is never as valuable as the time we have ahead of us. And what lay ahead for me was discovering the work of an artist whose work is rich with humor, intelligence and heart. Listen closely and you can hear echoes of Van Zandt (Townes), Johnson (Eric), and more. But the tales he spins of how we’re all just fumbling through this world trying to figure our shit out, are wholly his own. 

If you’re already familiar with Opatz’s work, let me know in the comments which road I should travel down next in his catalog. And if you’re new here like me, “Everything (But One Thing)”, a look at love when you know the love just ain’t right, is a perfect place to start.