Young Gun Silver Fox KCRW guest playlist: ‘Ticket to Shangri-La’

Young Gun Silver Fox — the duo composed of Shawn Lee, and Mamas Gun frontman Andy Platts — build on the yacht-rock-mellow-mood set by their 2022 album Ticket to Shangri-La as they share sounds fit for smooth sailing.

The Doobie Brothers, Marvin Gaye, Barry Manilow, and Paul McCartney are in the mix as we chat with the pair about desert island musts, dance party go-tos, and their Myspace origin story.

See below for their song selects, and the stories behind the picks.

TRACKLIST:

The Doobie Brothers – “Minute by Minute”

“If I'm choosing one yacht rock jam, the voice is gonna be Michael McDonald,” says Andy Platts. “I want that caramel coming into my ears.”

Marvin Gaye – “Let’s Get It On”

“It's probably my favorite overall Marvin record,” says Shawn Lee.

“There's so many great ones: What's Going On, I Want You … I really love those records too. But this song is just [one that] every time it comes on, it's an instant jam. From the opening — the beat hits, the vocal comes in, and it's just faultless. It's so exuberant. It's slow, but it's so bouncy and full of energy and life. It's fun, and I would never not be in the mood for it. I would never get sick of it.”

Barry Manilow – “Copacabana”

I've got a musician friend who I've known for years, and we've toured the world,” Platt declares. “And after every show, we've gone to a club — often it will be like the hippest club in the city. [I feel like] I have no business being there with the kind of people who are there. But Dave Oliver, he always requests this song. And then he gets the whole whole club to do line dancing. It turns the place around, it's always to this song, and he's like this wizard conduit.”

Paul McCartney & Wings – “Arrow Through Me”

“It's got a soul thing,” says Lee, “but it's very sort of moody and electronic.”

“Then there's an Isley Brothers kind of “Footsteps in the Dark” thing, and then kind of some Stevie [Wonder]. And this really interesting horn line. It's funky, and it's jaunty. I love that it's a real under your nose deep cut.”