As a high schooler in Columbia, Tyler Gordon looked to Aaron Graves, Those Lavender Whales, and the Fork and Spoon crew as role models in the scene — “the slightly older kids we all wanted to be like back in high school.”

“I learned how to play shows and be part of a community by watching Aaron,” Gordon says. “All that eventually comes to mean even more as an adult, so I consider the time I got to spend with Aaron to be some of the most important moments I’ve had in life.”

For the “I Love My Friends” sessions, Gordon — performing solo from his band Hillmouse — plays “Crack Up” in front of the “I Love My Friends” mural honoring Graves. “Crack Up is a song about removing the pretense from why we do what we do, and why we are who we are,” he says. “So it seemed like a good call to do a song about authenticity to tribute a very authentically good person.”