Showing posts with label Patty Loveless. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Patty Loveless. Show all posts

Oct 11, 2023

Defending Patty Loveless, 24 Years Later

By Bobby Peacock


On April 9, 1999, Mark Robison of the Reno Gazette-Journal published a review of Patty Loveless's Classics in the newspaper's entertainment insert Calendar. (Link here: https://www.newspapers.com/article/reno-gazette-journal/133011767/ ) Now, I'm no stranger to hot takes myself, including a couple on Patty Loveless. Namely, I think she has about 50 songs better than "How Can I Help You Say Goodbye" (which is not to say that one its itself bad; it's just a "very good" in a sea of "excellent to legendary"); her cover of "Lovin' All Night" is by far her worst single and misses the point of the song; and her voice sticks out like a sore thumb on Alan Jackson's otherwise-great "Monday Morning Church.” But when it comes to hot takes, Robison is a Carolina reaper.

 

For those who don't know, Patty Loveless underwent vocal cord surgery in October 1992 during her transition from MCA Nashville to Epic Nashville. The overwhelming consensus in country music is that her Epic catalog in the '90s is considered some of the best country music of the entire decade, due to both her voice and overall quality control taking a massive leap. This is a consensus with which I strongly agree, and this is why I'm shocked at Robison's take. Let's break it down point by point.

 

"[T]here's less range.” I'm not sure if he means emotionally or vocally, so I'll assume both. I don't think vocal strength is defined entirely by range, although I'll address that point anyway. Loveless's voice would most likely be classified as an alto, and just looking at the sheet music shows a wider range on some of her Epic material. For example, she hits G♭3 several times on "Lonely Too Long,” a song whose highest note is a B♭5, and she would later go a half-step lower to F3 on the lowest notes of "The Last Thing on My Mind.” By comparison, "Chains" and "Timber, I'm Falling in Love" both require a vocal range of exactly one octave: from B3 (the note just below middle C) to B4 on the former, and from C♯4 to C♯5 on the latter. At first glance, this would suggest that the lower end of her range became more pronounced post-surgery with little to no negative impact on the upper range. Furthermore, this live performance of "Timber, I'm Falling in Love" -- which while undated, is clearly sometime after her surgery -- shows that the higher notes were still easily within her range: "Timber, I'm Falling in Love." And if you saw her sing "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive" with Chris Stapleton last year, you'd know she clearly hasn't lost a step with age.

 

Emotional range, however, is a bit more subjective. It's well known that I'm not a fan of belting divas, which were already a thing in country music in 1999. If you play a Patty Loveless song next to, for example, "Whatever You Say" by Martina McBride, then the latter is probably going to sound more dynamic thanks to her extended belting (to be fair, this is one of the few Martina McBride songs on which I can tolerate such an approach). But to me, the beauty of Patty Loveless is how she doesn't need volume to convey emotion. "Here I Am" and "How Can I Help You Say Goodbye" have softer deliveries befitting the songs, while she still has the muscle for something more upbeat like "Blame It on Your Heart" or "She Drew a Broken Heart,” and all are equally nuanced in her reads. There were several up-tempos in the 90s that were kneecapped by limp deliveries (Ricky Van Shelton's "Wild Man" comes to mind), but I guarantee you none of them were by Patty.

 

For comparison, listen to any Jo Dee Messina record. I've never been impressed with her voice, as she seems to sing everything in the exact same delivery, and she rode the "you go girl" shtick so far into the ground that I genuinely do not remember the three singles between "Bring On the Rain" (her best, both lyrically and vocally) and her embarrassing cover of Joe Diffie's "My Give a Damn's Busted.” To this day, I still get "I'm Alright" and "Bye, Bye" mixed up, and I also have zero memory of "Because You Love Me" (which therefore means it is the worst song by the usually reliable Kostas, whose name is on many a Loveless album). There's just too little vocally, instrumentally, or lyrically to make most of her songs stand out from each other, and I often find her delivery so impersonal that I wonder if some sort of voice synthesis program was used. And thus, "I don't like Jo Dee Messina" is my hot take for the day.

 

"[L]ess adventurousness and simply less spunk" is also hard to quantify. Yes, if you look at the ten songs on her MCA Greatest Hits, the only real ballads on it are "If My Heart Had Windows" and "Don't Toss Us Away"; everything else is mid-tempo or upbeat. She just didn't do a lot of ballads early on, although she did end her MCA tenure with the very Patsy Cline-esque "Can't Stop Myself from Loving You.” While she did start hitting with ballads on Epic, it's not like she gave up on up-tempo by a long shot. I'm sure you're all familiar with such upbeat hits of hers as "Blame It on Your Heart" or "I Try to Think About Elvis.” And she did throw a few curve balls here and there. Listen to the keyboard riff on "You Will,” the plot twist in the last verse of "Here I Am,” or her standing toe-to-toe with George Jones on "You Don't Seem to Miss Me.” Or hell, just the fact that "To Have You Back Again" is probably the only country song with the word "chameleon" in it.

 

"[I]t's harder to distinguish her from all the other women on country radio.” I never thought that at all, not even as a kid when I had far lesser understanding of artistry. While she didn't write her songs, her husband Emory Gordy Jr. produced nearly all of her albums, and the sound is pristine. There's no multi-tracking like Alan Jackson; no rock hooks like Shania; no Phil Collins snares and heavy reverb like early Toby Keith; and no blaring Dann Huff guitars. Sure, the heavy twang puts her in a similar league as Reba McEntire or Natalie Maines, but at the same time, Patty never chased trends or derived herself from other artists. She didn't do dance remixes. She didn't start doing overwrought pop ballads at the end of the '90s (a mistake even Reba made). or try to do a Shania Twain-style rocker. Every single song in her Epic catalog feels like something she wanted to make because it was her music.

 

"As for the songwriting, it's not just derivative but lazy.” Oh, really? You mean "blame it on your lyin', cheatin', cold, dead-beatin', two-timin', double-dealin', mean, mistreatin', lovin' heart" is lazy? A hook like "you can feel bad if it makes you feel better" or "holdin' onto nothin' but the wheel" is lazy? A song whose entire premise is mocking the man who's still carring a flame for you -- because you're still carrying a flame for him too -- is lazy? Yeah, I'm not seeing it. Now, around 1980-81 when it felt like every other song by a country woman had the word "cheatin'" in it? That was lazy.

 

Speaking of "Nothin' but the Wheel,” how the hell does that sound like Rosanne Cash? Her music cast a wide net too: the shiny pop crossover of "Seven Year Ache,” the old-school folk of "Tennessee Flat Top Box" (a personal favorite), the protest-tinged "What We Really Want,” the haunting "September When It Ends.”.. all different, all clearly Rosanne Cash, and none of them sounding even remotely like "Nothin' but the Wheel.” And how is a list song of any kind, "I Try to Think About Elvis" or otherwise, anything remotely close to Mary Chapin Carpenter? She never did list songs to my knowledge, and her up-tempos always had meat on their bones. Just look at "I Feel Lucky.” Finally, there's comparing "Blame It on Your Heart" to Highway 101's "Honky Tonk Heart.” Now, I love Highway 101. Paulette Carlson's tremolo-heavy voice over those tight harmonies, mixing California country-rock guitars in all the while? That stuff's aged like fine wine to me. "Honky Tonk Heart" is a peppy breakup shuffle with a couple unusual chord changes, meaning just on structure alone, it could hardly be different from the evenly-measured, unrelenting tongue-twister that is "blame it on your lyin', cheatin', cold, dead-beatin', two-timin', double-dealin', mean, mistreatin', lovin' heart.” (I just wanted to type that again to prove I could do it from memory.)

 

As someone with a bit of experience as a music critic, I know what it's like to have an unpopular opinion. So I'm not looking to trash Mark Robison here. This review's from 1999, and he probably doesn't agree with every word of it 24 years later (if he even remembers writing it at all). I was just flabbergasted by the tone of the review and felt a counterpoint to it would be a good match for my own brand of analytical wit.



Jun 15, 2023

Beavis & Butthead Country Reaction Gifs

What Morgan Wallen fans think Americana is

The Monday after a music festival when you hit 40

When your friend says he's into country rap now

"Just listen to 30 seconds of this Dan + Shay song, you'll change your mind"

When Patty Loveless comes on in the shuffle

I know the new Turnpike album is on the way but

When your friend won a hundred bucks on a scratch-off ticket
and bought two 12 packs and a tanks of gas with it

I fell in to a burning ring of 

When I mention that I prefer country songs to have drum sounds performed by humans on physical drum sets

When others ask you to turn down the Whiskey Myers


 This is probably the 3rd edition of B&B CRG, but I'm not sure anymore.

Jan 4, 2023

Bobby's Picks: Best Songs of 2022



by Bobby Peacock


BEST OF 2022



20. "Circles Around This Town" by Lunatic Country Music Person... I mean, Maren Morris

I've always liked Maren Morris, although I get why she's not everyone's cup of tea. The "trying to make it big in Nashville" trope is one that's been done, but Maren's take has plenty of flavor. She touches on the cliché nature of songwriting ("trying to compete with everybody else's ones that got away") and the relentless hustle needed to make it big. She even works in a couple references to her earlier hits that make perfect sense in context. Sure, you could argue it could be produced a little cleaner, but it still conveys a brightness and optimism just the same. And I've always felt Maren had a more progressive edge to her stuff that would make her stand out, so the subtext of her younger and more contemporary leanings is a perfect match for the concept of trying to write circles around stodgy conservative ol' Nashville.


19. "Something in the Orange" by Zach Bryan

The vastly lopsided way it caught on with streaming, international audiences, and just about every damn place but country radio is telling; this is quickly falling into the "Feathered Indians" pile of "Americana/alt-country song that's accessible enough to catch on with the social media and bar band crowds.” Truth is, I'll probably be burnt out on it by 2024. But taken entirely on its own merits, I love the tension of this impending heartbreak, combined with how the abstract metaphor of the title conveys that sense of unease. (I'm a very literal person, so if a more metaphorical song clicks this hard for me, you know you've done something right.) The old-school singer-songwriter approach (gruff vocals, guitar, harmonica, that's it) can be a cliché in the wrong hands, but here it feels like deliberate minimalism. In short, I'm happy that a song this different and artful has managed to reach a lot more ears.

 

18. "Don't Come Lookin'" by Jackson Dean

It's refreshing to hear a newcomer with some bite and an original premise. This guy just wants to clear his head, and he'll go anywhere that isn't "here.” I love the hook "if I don't come back, don't come lookin'" and how it summarizes that sense of wanderlust. His vocal delivery is appropriately rough-edged and he knows how to vary his phrasing a bit on each chorus. But probably the best element here is the production: with the low-tuned acoustics and hard-edged slide, the guitar work sounds straight out of Jay Joyce's playbook. If Jackson Dean hadn't gotten to this song first, I could easily see it being a new cut from Eric Church. I'm lookin' for Jackson here to have more hits in 2023 that have even a little bit of this one's grit.


 

17. "Marlboros & Avon" by McBride & the Ride

Although I'm considerably younger than the nostalgia brought up in this song, I can still relate. Even in the early 90s, my small town still had a drive-in theater; my neighbors still had wood-panel TVs; I listened to CCR; and dad drove my grandma's old 1987 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, which isn't that different from a Mercury Marquis if you're not a car guy. Hell, even the smell of Marlboros and Avon is nostalgic to me, as our housekeeper was a chain smoker who also sold Avon products on the side. And by matching all these details to the tight twangy harmonies of McBride & the Ride -- who sound like they haven't aged a day since five-year-old me was captivated by "Sacred Ground" in 1992 -- that nostalgia buzz hits all the harder.

 

16. "Everything She Ain't" by Hailey Whitters

I admit, seeing her name on the atrocious "Happy People" was a case of starting on the wrong foot. Thankfully that was the only misfire, because everything else I've heard with her name on it since then has been great. Case in point: her first bow as a singles artist. Between the banjo and sharp twangy vocals, I'm already getting serious Chicks vibes from this in all the right ways. You don't often see the "dump the person you're with because I'm better" trope played from a female perspective, and that's probably why this one stands out to me. Some of the details are quite interesting as well, including possibly the first ever Hank Sr. name-drop that also mentions his first wife Audrey. Some have interesting contrast like "plenty of fish in the sea...only one of me" and best of all, the title hook of "I'm everything she is and everything she ain't.” Can we have more of this in 2023?


15. "What He Didn't Do" by Carly Pearce

Carly Pearce hasn't missed once for me, while her ex-husband Michael Ray has exactly one song I like. But her ex did inspire a rather clever, incisive song about a breakup. We've got the stage set with the usual "if you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all" and admission that there are two sides in play. It all gives context to a neatly summarized list of things one would expect out of a relationship. By framing it this way, Carly doesn't seem bitter or judgmental, just matter-of-fact and even subversive. And it doesn't stop at the list, as we get further great lines like "Imma take the high road, even though we both know I could run him out of this town / That's just dirty laundry, I don't need to wear the truth.” Carly has a clean-cut delivery and the production is crisp but still stays out of her way, helping to make this sick burn really land.



14. "Fall in Love" by Bailey Zimmerman

This one works in part because of what it doesn't do. There's no petty misogyny or pleas for sympathy, and he's not too sulky or angry; we just get detailed scenes with the right amount of melodrama, building up to a great hook of "you don't wanna fall in love.” The verses tell us a lot about what both of them are doing now that they're no longer together. I especially like the detail of him meeting her mom at the store and asking about her, only for her to take his side too ("tried to go convincing you not to settle down with him"). I could see where his voice might not be for everyone (there are times when he sounds like if Morgan Wallen could stay in key without Auto-Tune). But between that rough vocal and the production -- surprisingly uncompressed, with actual bass and drums -- the result feels considerably more real than I expected from a guy who got popular through TikTok.


13. "wait in the truck" by HARDY and Lainey Wilson

Oh hey, it's the first song I've liked from either artist. Maybe the secret was HARDY finally turning off his caps lock. It's been a while since we've had a good murder ballad on radio, and this one hits all the right notes. Both vocalists give credible performances (which on HARDY's part, is saying something) that portray a man's willingness for revenge -- namely, to murder another man who is committing abuse while also protecting the abused woman. There's an almost sinister tone to the morally gray protagonist, balanced with a few well-placed lines from the victim's POV. Even the production stays out of the way (which on Joey Moi's part, is REALLY saying something), keeping the surroundings spare and moody. As often as HARDY has vacillated between decent and awful, he was bound to find "great" eventually and I'm glad he did.


12. "Damn Strait" by Scotty McCreery

I wanted to like Scotty McCreery from the beginning, but his forced aw-shucks demeanor always made him seem like a southern-fried Alfred E. Neuman to me. But between the goatee and some stronger song choices, he's finally won me over. His best radio release yet takes the shopworn trope of "make a song largely out of references to song titles" and actually comes up with something original by leaning into a pun for good measure. (I can tell Trent Tomlinson wrote this.) The songs chosen -- I especially like that more modern ones like "I Hate Everything" and "Give It Away" got worked in -- show a knowledge of Strait's material that goes deeper than average, as well as a knack for wordplay ("But do I wish I could get her back? Damn Strait") that slot seamlessly into the radio-centric narrative and an appropriately neo-trad sound. Is this Scotty's best radio single to date? Damn straight.


11. "Doin' This" by Luke Combs

For his last few singles, Luke Combs has been the musical equivalent of cranberry juice cocktail: heavily watered down, but still with just enough flavor left to remind me of the stronger taste it used to be. His first good radio single since "Even Though I'm Leaving" maxes out the humble everyman nature that has kept me from dismissing him entirely. The concept is interesting on its own, being an answer to an interview question many musicians have been asked: "what would you do if you weren't doin' this?" His answer may not be surprising -- he'd still be singing and playing music just for the fun of it. But if you were to take any mainstream artist in Nashville and convince me he's not in it for the money, Luke Combs would probably be one of the first I'd buy it from. And between his gruff yet intense delivery and that clever hook of "I'd still be doin' this if I wasn't doin' this,” I believe him.



10. "Handle on You" by Parker McCollum

Parker McCollum's first two mainstream hits didn't do anything for me, due mainly to his extremely whiny voice on them. However, his third charted single goes down much smoother. There's a laid-back Texas country vibe that reminds me of early Randy Rogers Band, and a great reminder of what the steel guitar sounds like. I also like the hopefulness of how he's finally gotten over drinking her away ("after all this back and forth, a fifth won't do"), but that's far from the only brilliant line here. Add to that list the equally sharp "I tell myself that I should quit, but I don't listen to drunks,” not to mention a subtle nod to "I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink" that pays off the Merle Haggard name-drop earlier in the song, and the results are a damn good country song all around. I'm glad he's finally gotten a handle on his artistry.


9. "One More Night" by Miko Marks & the Resurrectors

Especially considering she's from my family's hometown of Flint, how has Miko Marks been off my radar until the past few months? Her lyrical tour of the more upbeat sectors of Southern music culture -- New Orleans jazz, Memphis R&B, Muscle Shoals soul -- is wrapped up in a musical package that encompasses all of them. The production swings and bops in all the right places (love that slide guitar!), and Marks' vocal is a torchy belt backed by some gospel-tinged harmonies. Everything about this song just sounds so cool in all the right ways. I can see why this is the kind of sound she'd want to be hanging around with for "one more night" because honestly, with the passion she's showing here, I'd want a lot more of this too.


8, "'Til You Can't" by Cody Johnson

"If you got a dream, chase it 'cause a dream can't chase you back.” Brilliant observation. While it's easy to feel catharsis in hearing someone recall the opportunities they missed (which is why Kathy Mattea's "Standing Knee Deep in a River (Dying of Thirst)" hits me so hard), Cody takes a more upbeat approach by pointing out that a lot of opportunities still exist. I only got to see my grandfather once before he died in '93, and I'm glad I did. My stepdad is slowly losing himself to early-onset Alzheimer's, and I'm glad I can still do anything at all with him. By latching onto specific details in a similar fashion -- in particular, I like the verse about fixing up a car -- Cody Johnson and the writers find that sense of realism and accessibility that makes those emotions connect. And of course, that it sounds so country and heartwarming doesn't hurt, either.


7. "The Man from Waco" by Charley Crockett

How does Charley Crockett release like, 90 songs a year that all slap? Maybe it's because he draws from so many influences and just owns all of them. Sure, its Western flavored murder ballad plot line may bring to mind "El Paso" (one of the best country songs of all time), but if you're warranting comparisons to Marty Robbins then I'd say you're doing it right. The production here is more sinister with that big spaghetti Western guitar sound I love so much, a deep minor-key melody, and Crockett's smooth commanding baritone. It's very economical lyrically, telling its entire story in four short verses, but there's still more than enough to fill things out. And that ending line "A moment of burning anger can curse the living through the days" adds a cautionary note for extra drama. Like most of Charley Crockett's material, this one exudes too much coolness for me to ignore.


6. "Bonfire at Tina's" by Ashley McBryde with Brandy Clark, Caylee Hammack, and Pillbox Patti

Ashley McBryde doing an album inspired by Dennis Linde (my favorite songwriter) is the kind of stuff I live for. In the same songwriting universe that brought us such character sketches as "Queen of My Double Wide Trailer,” "Bubba Shot the Jukebox,” and "Goodbye Earl,” you're sure to find the same "small town women" sung about here. Sure, they don't always get along, but between the cheating lazy husbands and misbehaving stepchildren, they're able to air out all their dirty laundry together and find solidarity as "bitches that are sick of taking it.” I'd like to imagine that at least some of their husbands' possessions are in that bonfire. Maybe a stick doll effigy of one of them. Whatever the case, this is something that totally feels like it would happen in real life, and all present sing the hell out of it.


5. "Whiskey Sour" by Kane Brown

I swear I'm not doing this just to piss off Trailer (or to appease Kevin John Coyne, for that matter); I really did find Kane Brown grew on me immensely over the past year-plus. And this was the turning point: the moment Kane did a song that I'm sure even the "but Kane isn't country" crowd would say is country as hell. This guy thought he had her, but she turned into the oft-lamented "one that got away.” Kane fills us in on all the details of how this proposal went south, and he's now drowning his sorrows at the bar ("How can I get over if the love was never ours?" is a great line). While this wasn't a single, it qualifies for my list due to it having made the charts. If it ends up being a single in 2023 anyway, then I would seriously consider putting it on next year's list too -- because in the year that Kane finally won me over, this is his best song to date.

 

4. "Son of a Sinner" by Jelly Roll

Jelly Roll is a sympathetic figure: a "reformed drug dealer and active alcoholic" (to quote his own Twitter bio) who is clearly trying to right himself. Some of his hip-hop releases that I sampled fall into one of my favorite variants of that genre, where the artist just lays all their struggles on the line. So it's no surprise that his first outing as a country singer is in the same vein -- a man who's clearly dealing with substance abuse, a fixation on the past, and even a crisis of faith. With his rough-edged voice, lush production, and direct lyricism ("I'm only one drink away from the Devil"), he finds the perfect balance of realism and accessibility. And judging from the reactions to this song on social media, it's clear he's found a lot more "sons of sinners" who connected with this song.


 

3. "Here Tonight" by Banditos

"Live for today 'cause you're here tonight,” promises this unique bartender-giving-advice song. And that advice is delivered in a sassy, energetic tone by Banditos lead vocalist Mary Beth Richardson to a group of bar patrons as disparate as this song's instrument choices (baritone saxophone, güiro, banjo, Hammond organ, and what I swear is a toy piano). Between the extremely "real" feel to the lyrics and the way the production enhances the mood, this is easily one of the most interesting and fun journeys into the mind that I've had this year. And of course, a few well-placed name-drops of the lesser-known George Jones songs don't hurt, either.


2. "Made for Me" by Chapel Hart

In the wake of Chapel Hart's appearance on AGT, it's easy to forget they actually had songs sent out to radio too. Although one of their earlier recordings, it fits perfectly with their career arc. The buzz was already present before then, but Chapel Hart found a way to drastically increase their profile. Though they didn't win, they still got far more eyes on them than ever before. And that passion and drive to chase that (neon) rainbow is evident in this song's autobiographical lyrics. We learn the name of their town, previous jobs they held, and the fun times they had in small-town Mississippi before aiming their sights on the big time. And as is expected, they wrap it all up in a harmonious, tuneful package. This is probably the best song about yearning for musical stardom since "Baby Girl,” and it's made all the better by its subtext.



1. "Middle of a Heart" by Adeem the Artist

The narrator's story is a common arc that I've seen even here in the North: learning to hunt, falling in love, and going off to war. But it's that last verse -- where the narrator is so horrified by the atrocities of war as to commit suicide -- that Adeem goes where others fear. I've obviously never been in combat myself, nor do I know anyone who has, so it's hard for me to fathom the atrocities that can be seen on the battlefield or the ensuing PTSD. According to The Bluegrass Situation, Adeem wrote this song about someone they knew personally and described as "a richly problematic man who I loved deeply.” But even without knowing that, I know this song hits me hard every time, thanks in no small part to Adeem's sharp, sympathetic songcraft. I don't think any war-themed song has hit my emotions with that much force since "Travelin' Soldier.”

 

(Honorable mentions: "She Had Me at Heads Carolina,” "Joy of My Life,” "Out in the Middle,” "Going to Hell")

 

BEST NON-SINGLES OR OTHER SONGS

Note: Unlike previous years, where I only include singles or songs that charted in order to keep the list focused, I felt there was enough non-single content this year for an appendix. This is by no means exhaustive; just a selection of additional songs this year that I felt were strong enough to be worthy of a review.


6. "Suspicious Minds" by Morgan Wade

I swear, it's impossible to mess this song up. It's my favorite Elvis Presley song, and Dwight Yoakam turbocharged the hell out of it with his cover version on the Honeymoon in Vegas soundtrack to make it my favorite song of his too. Morgan Wade takes a different approach that I can only describe as "if Cheryl Crow sang lead for Electric Light Orchestra" and makes it work in a way that description alone does not do justice. Between the drums and the vocoder, there are a lot of production tricks sure to set off "not country" alarms, but the evergreen lyrics about a dysfunctional relationship keep it grounded. Now why hasn't she sent another single out to radio yet?

 

5. "Barbed Wire Boys" by Trout Fishing in America

Why no, this isn't just me trying to draw more eyes to my "Top 20 Trout Fishing in America Songs (That Aren't Children's Songs)" list (which was actually a Top 21 because I suck at copy editing). Even if I hadn't made that list, this song would be here regardless. I've loved Trout since the late 90s, and their 2022 album Safe Haven shows they haven't lost a step. As I said in the aforementioned list, it's easy to think of men -- especially "salt of the earth" types -- as not having any vulnerability whatsoever lest our society perceive them as "weak.” But Susan Werner saw that hidden depth in her original lyrics, and by actually having a male artist sing it, these lyrics feel all the more introspective. And honestly, I'd believe it just as much from these guys if I didn't already know they were responsible for songs as lighthearted as "My Hair Had a Party Last Night.”


 

4. "You Can Have Him Jolene" by Chapel Hart

This actually was a single last year, but it charted this year. And best of all, I got WATZ to play it. As I said in the singles entries, Chapel Hart seized an unconventional opportunity to get a bigger platform for their music this year -- in a way I honestly did not expect but am all the happier for having seen it happen. They already had me with "I Will Follow,” but their first song to actually chart proves it was no fluke. Sassy and hard-edged, they turn the evergreen "Jolene" on its head by telling the titular Jolene "when you think that he's in love, he'll surely leave, like he did me.” This song kicks ass in a completely different way than "I Will Follow" did, and that's ultimately its greatest asset: it proves they have range as well as talent.

 

3. "Southern Curls" by Julie Williams

This was also a single last year, and had I known about it then, it seriously would have had a shot at the top 3. I don't want my view on this song to go unnoticed, especially not after I finally found my way to a Black Opry show earlier this year (hi, Holly) and heard Julie Williams perform it live. Even as a kid, I wondered why so few Black artists (especially women) seemed to exist in country music. And the current climate of the genre has only made me all the more aware. It's a sad truth that far too many people in the world are "looked down on before [they]'re even born" simply because of who they are. Julie Williams tells of her struggles, yet offers a ray of hope through optimistic lines such as "I know that I glow, and so do you.”


2. "Carolina" by Adeem the Artist

"Some of us have childhoods that aren't poems on sight / But darlin', you're doin' alright.” So ends the first track on Adeem the Artist's White Trash Revelry. We learn a lot about their life in every richly detailed lyric, especially in the references to their "runaway" mother who withstood abuse from her parents. And while so many of these details are so different from mine, it's the sympathy emanating from every lyric -- finding one's identity (something I, a person on the autism spectrum, deal with constantly even before gender identity comes into the picture), coming to terms with life changes that didn't go your way (like the four jobs I went through this past year), and making the best of what you do have (the job I finally got by year's end that stuck). I honestly could have put nearly any song in this spot, but "Carolina" gets the slot because of that extra bit of personal connection.



1. "You'll Never Leave Harlan Alive" by Chris Stapleton and Patty Loveless

And you thought country music was dead? Well, take one of the most traditional mainstream artists out there, and match him with a '90s country icon. Have them both perform the best goddamn lyric Darrell Scott ever wrote -- you know, that haunting downer about the hardscrabble life in a Kentucky coal mining town? That one that like, six other artists have sung? Between Stapleton's bluesy growl, Patty Loveless' mature twang that I swear hasn't changed a day since "Blame It on Your Heart,” and a little harmony help from Chris' wife, the vocal arrangement is divine. The playing is professional yet never overpowering; I will literally never tire of the sound of a Dobro. I've rarely felt a song as much as I did when this performance aired. Every ingredient involved made it magical to listen to. In short, this was the best musical moment of 2022.


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