It's only during the summer months that hippie music feels right, for some reason. Or maybe it's just become the holiday music for the summer season. Either way, there is something spiritually medicinal about it when it's two hundred and three degrees outside - when the bitchy, I'm-tired-of-sweating attitude comes out raging like a banshee. Then, it's Grateful Dead or Allman Brothers to the rescue. I have an old copy of some of the best bluegrass ever, from Oklahoma hippie-fine musicians The Farm Couple (featuring the amazing and beautiful Monica Taylor) that does the trick, too. Yonder Mountain String Band, Phish - there is something about this genre of music that makes the need for sunshine and fresh air in the searing heat more bearable.

Whether it's about running naked through the woods or more about the blues, hippie music and culture in the summertime is just healthy. It's okay if your a little slow, and who cares if it's from smoking pot or from having your brain baked by mother nature. It's cool if you got a little B.O., no one cares if you're broke...just repay in kind. Join the club. Between the normal daily grind and too much vitamin D, we're all on the same plane and just need to relax and enjoy the ride.

So as the wait for wool-laden, boot-wearing-techno-music falls and winters goes on, here is a tribute to summertime lovin'.:

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