Song of the Week: "Your Hand in Mine" from Explosions in the Sky

The player for the featured "Song of the Week" can be found on the upper right corner of the weblog for one week.




The Austin-based Friday Night Lights gets another season according to Austin 360. In hopes of catching the audience they haven't found for it yet, NBC is re-running ten episodes this summer.

I recommend the show, but not without mixed feelings. On the one hand, the "unvarnished" portrayal of teens drinking, hooking up, and sometimes treating each other cruelly isn't easy to watch. (Similar scenes made the film difficult to recommend as well.) In addition, most of us who have actually lived in small Texas towns know all the ways the show doesn't match reality. As one Texas Monthly critic said, the problem with FNL is that it's the way New York sees Texas.

On the other hand, the writing is well-done, and in the midst of all these plot lines of self-destructive choices, you have Coach Eric Taylor and his wife, Tami, as solid, exemplary anchors. Played by Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, Eric and Tami Taylor show the kids, and the town, two lives worth following. In fact, it was interesting to watch the character of Tyra Collette change as she had a chance to interact with the coach's family. Initially the school tough girl (played by 23-year-old Adrianne Palicki), her character changed the most through the first season. There was a great moment halfway through the season when circumstances put Tyra at the coach's house, and as she watched Eric and Tami interact with each other, you could see on her face she caught a glimpse of a home life to aspire to.

Many of the stories in FNL simply take an unblinking gaze at lives that could really use a good dose of the Book of Proverbs. But the producers also take an unblinking look at noble choices and sacrifice as well.

This week's Song of the Week is from "Explosions in the Sky," an Austin band whose music serves as the soundtrack both for the film and the television show. The song is called "Your Hand in Mine" from the album, The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place (iTunes; Amazon).

(Find out more about the Friday Night Lights “kids” here, and learn what they think about their stay in Austin during the filming.)