Showing posts with label Best of 2022. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Best of 2022. Show all posts
Dec 19, 2022
Dec 16, 2022
Zach Bryan, Pantera, Spiritual Cramp: Robert Dean's 2022 Wrap-Up
By Robert Dean
This year felt like a blur – still. The post-COVID timeline, plus things going on in life, have become this miasma where everything kind of happens. There are no “AH-HA” moments of clarity, at least not for me. One of those small breakthroughs this year was finding Zach Bryan.
I didn’t hear about him through the hype train, but he randomly popped up on a Turnpike Troubadours playlist on Spotify. Immediately, I was transfixed by “Oklahoma Smokeshow” and have been hooked on his music since. He’s probably my most significant find of 2022, with Spiritual Cramp being my number two. Spiritual Cramp is a fun, dancey punk band that feels like The Clash at a kegger. Highly suggest you give them a spin. They’re capable of doing great things where bands like Riverboat Gamblers usually play.
It was a bummer we lost Every Time I Die, but happy Tom Delonge is back in Blink 182. Matt Skiba is Alkaline Trio – full stop. The death of Taylor Hawkins sucked, but the outpouring of love and respect was an extraordinary moment to watch. Botch is back, and now, we wait for Coalesce or Fugazi. And the “Pantera” reunion sucks.
Have a good rest of 2022, and I hope for all of us, 2023 is better.
Dec 15, 2022
Farce the Music's Top 25 Albums of 2022
*Note - list by Trailer only. We may bring back the staff vote next year.
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1. Kaitlin Butts - What Else Can She Do
Achingly real, passionately delivered, What Else Can She Do is short in length, but long on heart. From the broken relationship of “It Won’t Always Be This Way” to the familial sorrows of “Blood,” Kaitlin’s voice is a warm hand holding ours as we walk through a bleak landscape of addiction, bad jobs, and lost dreams. Despite that dour description, it’s somehow an uplifting journey.
The future is now as 49 Winchester delivers on all the buzz with this boozy, honky tonk banger. There are party tunes that don’t make you feel pandered to and tearjerkers that aren’t paint by number. I started to list the standouts, but realized that most of Fortune Favors the Bold's 10 songs fit the bill.
Mixing Red Dirt, pop punk, and other influences, Vandoliers have quickly become one of my favorite bands. Their ear-pleasing, danceable music sounds like nothing and everything you’ve heard before. A well oiled live act, they bring that vibrant sound to their records better than most, and this album’s no exception. More than most bands in the “scene,” Vandoliers sound like they ought to have big hits… somewhere, somehow.
Sprawling, weird, messy, endearing. From the title to the run time to the occasional vocal idiosyncrasies, Dragon can be a beast to get into for the musically unadventurous, but it’s well worth your time. Equal parts folk, country, and indie rock, the album is an epic listen that somehow leaves you wanting more. The melodies are the heart, and the lyrics are the soul - sometimes abstract, sometimes hilariously to the point.
This is an album you could put on at a party and not a soul would complain, despite nobody having any idea who’s singing. There’s the fun Brad Paisley-esque humor of “10 Feet of Regret,” the soulful barroom sadness of “Strangers,” the welcoming mid-tempo swagger of “Kentucky Deluxe,” and everything in between you could ask for. It’s a songwriter’s record, in the Nashville sense of that description, but it’s as big in message as it is in wordplay.
Sounding as mystical and eternal as the Appalachian mountains, Ian has another winner with River Fools. It’s timeless stuff, digging into your soul with Noe’s Dylan-with-vocal-lessons delivery and setting the hook with the lived-in stories. There’s an undeniable magnetism in this music that’s both hospitable and intimidating at once. Ian’s a force of nature.
Another songwriter’s record, Single Wide Dreamer isn’t afraid to get silly and grimy, like the seedier side of Kacey Musgraves’ trailer park. Drawing from influences like Prine and Roger Miller, and backed by some of Nashville’s finest, Raitiere sings with a conversational tone, a knowing wink, and a hinted at darkness. Hilarious and comfortably cynical, Single Wide Dreamer is a nimble look into the mind of one of Nashville’s best ‘unknown’ writers.
Those harmonies. That’s all you need really, but then there’s the expert musicianship and resonant songs to go along with those spine chilling vocals, and The Wilder Blue have a true gem of an album. The bouncy 70s vibe laden “Feelin’ the Miles” is the standout for me, but there’s not a clunker in the bunch. These guys deserve a shot in the upper pantheon of Americana, and one of these days they’ll get it.
Bursting with country soul, Feel Like Going Home will take you from church to the blues dive with a stop at the country store along the way. Feel Like Going Home sounds like the best parts of 70s AM radio (when they played all genres on the same stations) put together on one record. Miko sings wonderfully, the band kicks ass, and the songs are thrillingly moving. Memphis, the Delta, Nashville, New Orleans, Muscle Shoals - Feel Like Going Home finds its heart at the midpoint of these legendary music towns.
To these ears, the prettiest album released this year, Oh to Be That Free sounds blissful and even wistful, but there’s plenty of depth to be had here. “Chasing Days” documents Anne’s move toward settled independence after a chaotic childhood. “Mountains and Mesas” seeks solace in a darkening world. Michaela’s writing reveals complex emotion with simple words, often bringing to mind Robert Frost’s conversational tone that hides meaning in plain sight. It’s a beautiful album with so much more to offer in repeated listens.
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12. Joshua Hedley - Neon Blue
13. Wade Bowen - Somewhere Between the Secret and the Truth
14. Arlo McKinley - This Mess We’re In
Honorable Mentions: Zach Bryan - American Heartbreak, The Sheepdogs - Outta Sight, Jason Scott & The High Heat - Castle Rock, Pusha T - It’s Almost Dry, Hailey Whitters - Raised, Drew Kennedy - Marathon, American Aquarium - Chicamacomico, Whiskey Myers - Tornillo, The Cactus Blossoms - One Day, Sunny Sweeney - Married Alone, Randy Rogers Band - Homecoming, Emily Nenni - On the Ranch, Charley Crockett - The Man From Waco, Kendell Marvel - Come on Sunshine, Red Clay Strays - Moment of Truth, Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway - Crooked Tree, John Calvin Abney - Tourist.
Dec 9, 2022
Nov 25, 2022
Top Albums Every Year of Our Existence
It's almost Year-End List season, (The 2022 albums list should be ready around mid December) so it's time for a recap of which albums topped our lists in past years.
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No links, no summaries, no pretty album covers, just lists.
Who knows?
Maybe you'll see something you've been forgetting to check out.
———
2021
1. Morgan Wade - Reckless
2. Charles Wesley Godwin - How the Mighty Fall
3. James McMurtry - The Horses and the Hounds
4. Sierra Ferrell - Long Time Coming
5. Mike & The Moonpies - One to Grow On
6. Brandi Carlile - In These Silent Days
7. Billy Strings - Renewal
8. Jesse Daniel - Beyond These Walls
9. Sturgill Simpson - The Ballad of Dood & Juanita
10. Emily Scott Robinson - American Siren
11. Margo Cilker - Pohorylle
12. The Steel Woods - All of Your Stones
13. Jason Boland and the Stragglers - The Light Saw Me
14. Olivia Rodrigo - Sour
15. Mac Leaphart - Music City
16. Mastodon - Hushed and Grim
17. John R. Miller - Depreciated
18. TK & The Holy Know Nothings - The Incredible Heat Machine
19. Langhorne Slim - Strawberry Mansion
20. Cole Chaney - Mercy
2020
1. American Aquarium - Lamentations
2. The Wilder Blue - Hill Country
3. Tennessee Jet - The Country
4. Zephaniah Ohora - Listening to the Music
5. Chris Stapleton - Starting Over
6. Ward Davis - Black Cats & Crows
7. Ruthie Collins - Cold Comfort
8. Futurebirds - Teamwork
9. Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - Reunions
10. Tami Neilson - Chickaboom!
11. Sturgill Simpson - Cuttin’ Grass Vol. I
12. Run the Jewels - RTJ4
13. Waylon Payne - Blue Eyes, The Harlot…
14. Arlo McKinley - Die Midwestern
15. Jaime Wyatt - Neon Cross
16. Ashley McBryde - Never Will
17. Jesse Daniel - Rollin’ On
18. Margo Price - That’s How Rumors Get Started
19. Elizabeth Cook - Aftermath
20. Kathleen Edwards - Total Freedom
2019
1. Vandoliers - Forever
2. Ian Noe - Between the Country
3. Tyler Childers - Country Squire
4. Charles Wesley Godwin - Seneca
5. Mike & The Moonpies - Cheap Silver & Solid Country Gold
6. Kelsey Waldon - White Noise / White Lines
7. Jade Bird - s/t
8. Jason Hawk Harris - Love and the Dark
9. Dalton Domino - Songs From the Exile
10. Whiskey Myers - s/t
11. Molly Tuttle - When You’re Ready
12. Cody Jinks - The Wanting
13. Sturgill Simpson - Sound and Fury
14. Black Pumas - s/t
15. The Highwomen - s/t
16. Caroline Spence - Mint Condition
17. Emily Scott Robinson - Traveling Mercies
18. (Tie) Tom Russell - October in the Railroad Earth
18. (Tie) Left Lane Cruiser - Shake and Bake
20. Hayes Carll - What It Is
2018
1. Lucero - Among the Ghosts
2. Jamie Lin Wilson - Jumping Over Rocks
3. Brandi Carlile - By the Way, I Forgive You
4. Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour
5. Cody Jinks - Lifers
6. Joshua Hedley - Mr. Jukebox
7. American Aquarium - Things Change
8. Ruston Kelly - Dying Star
9. Whitey Morgan & the .78s - Hard Times & White Lines
10. Dallas Moore - Mr. Honky Tonk
11. Shooter Jennings - Shooter
12. Sarah Shook & the Disarmers - Years
13. Brent Cobb - Providence Canyon
14. Ashley McBryde - Girl Going Nowhere
15. Caleb Caudle - Crushed Coins
16. John Prine - The Tree of Forgiveness
17. Great Peacock - Gran Pavo Real
18. Blackberry Smoke - Find a Light
19. Sleep - The Sciences
20. High on Fire - Electric Messiah
2017
1. Tyler Childers - Purgatory
2. Turnpike Troubadours - A Long Way From Your Heart
3. Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - The Nashville Sound
4. Colter Wall - s/t
5. Chris Stapleton - From A Room, Vol. 2
6. Gregg Allman - Southern Blood
7. Jason Eady - s/t
8. John Moreland - Big Bad Luv
9. Shinyribs - I Got Your Medicine
10. Travis Meadows - First Cigarette
11. The Steel Woods - Straw in the Wind
12. J.D. McPherson - Undivided Heart & Soul
13. Chris Stapleton - From A Room, Vol. 1
14. Zephaniah OHora - This Highway
15. Steve Earle - So You Wannabe An Outlaw
16. Lee Ann Womack - The Lonely, The Lonesome and The Gone
17. Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires - Youth Detention
18. Hellbound Glory - Pinball
19. Lillie Mae - Forever and Then Some
20. Margo Price - All American Made
2016
1. Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth
2. Cody Jinks - I'm Not the Devil
3. Lori McKenna - The Bird and the Rifle
4. Brent Cobb - Shine On Rainy Day
5. Austin Lucas - Between the Moon and the Midwest
6. Justin Wells - Dawn in the Distance
7. Flatland Cavalry - Humble Folks
8. Drive-by Truckers - American Band
9. Blackberry Smoke - Like an Arrow
10. Caleb Caudle - Carolina Ghost
11. A Tribe Called Quest - We Got it From Here…
12. (tie) Jeff Shepherd & the Jailhouse Poets - s/t
12. (tie) The Sword - Low Country
14. Luke Bell - s/t
15. Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial
16. Brandy Clark - Big Day in a Small Town
17. Elizabeth Cook - Exodus of Venus
18. Rodney Parker & 50 Peso Reward - Bomber Heights
19. Arliss Nancy - Greater Divides
20. Quaker City Night Hawks - El Astronauta
2015
(2015 was the first year we did a staff-voted list)
1. Turnpike Troubadours - s/t
2. James McMurtry - Complicated Game
3. Jason Isbell - Something More Than Free
4. Chris Stapleton - Traveller
5. Whitey Morgan - Sonic Ranch
6. American Aquarium - Wolves
7. The Yawpers - American Man
8. Ray Wylie Hubbard - The Ruffian's Misfortune
9. John Moreland - High on Tulsa Heat
10. Jonathan Tyler - Holy Smokes
11. Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear (tie)
William Clark Green - Ringling Road (tie)
Jason Boland and the Stragglers - Squelch (tie)
2014
1. Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds in Country Music
2. The War on Drugs - Lost In the Dream
3. Adam Faucett - Blind Water Finds Blind Water
4. Hiss Golden Messenger - Lateness of Dancers
5. Old 97's - Most Messed Up
6. Lydia Loveless - Somewhere Else
7. Run the Jewels - RTJ2
8. Kelsey Waldon - The Goldmine
9. Pallbearer - Foundations of Burden
10. Lee Ann Womack - The Way I'm Livin'
11. Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires - Dereconstructed
12. Stoney Larue - Aviator
13. Tami Neilson - Dynamite!
14. Cory Branan - The No-Hit Wonder
15. Fire Mountain - All Dies Down
16. St. Paul and the Broken Bones - Half the City
17. Don Williams - Reflections
18. Matt Woods - With Love From Brushy Mountain
19. Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives - Saturday Night/Sunday Morning
20. Jimbo Mathus - Dark Night of the Soul
2013
1. John Moreland - In the Throes
2. Jason Isbell - Southeastern
3. Sturgill Simpson - High Top Mountain
4. Arliss Nancy - Wild American Runners
5. Drew Kennedy - Wide Listener
6. Run the Jewels - RTJ
7. Brandy Clark - 12 Stories
8. Austin Lucas - Stay Reckless
9. Fifth on the Floor - Ashes and Angels
10. Ashley Monroe - Like a Rose
11. The National - Trouble Will Find Me
12. Kacey Musgraves - Same Trailer, Different Park
13. Shooter Jennings - The Other Life
14. Queens of the Stone Age - …Like Clockwork
15. Ha Ha Tonka - Lessons
16. Son Volt - Honky Tonk
17. Guy Clark - My Favorite Picture of You
18. Possessed by Paul James - There Will Be Nights When I'm Lonely
19. Vince Gill and Paul Franklin - Bakersfield
20. Todd Farrell Jr. and the Dirty Birds - All Our Heroes Live in Vans
2012
1. Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires - There is a Bomb in Gilead
2. Marty Stuart - Nashville, Vol. 1 Tear The Woodpile Down
3. Chris Knight - Little Victories
4. The Pollies - Where the Lies Begin
5. Turnpike Troubadours - Goodbye Normal Street
6. The Departed - Adventus
7. Dwight Yoakam - 3 Pears
8. Uncle Lucius - And You Are Me
9. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, M.A.A.D. City
10. The Trishas - High, Wide and Handsome
11. John D. Hale Band - More Than I Can Handle
12. Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music
13. Lindi Ortega - Cigarettes & Truckstops
14. Shooter Jennings - Family Man
15. Alabama Shakes - Boys & Girls
16. Arliss Nancy - Simple Machines
17. Darrell Scott - Long Ride Home
18. Jason Eady - AM Country Heaven
19. Matt King - Apples and Orphans
20. Lucero - Women and Work
2011
1. The Damn Quails - Down the Hatch
2. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Here We Rest
3. Hellbound Glory - Damaged Goods
4. Hayes Carll - KMAG YOYO
5. Jimbo Mathus - Confederate Buddha
6. Cary Anne Hearst - Lions and Lambs
7. Butch Walker and the Black Widows - The Spade
8. The Black Keys - El Camino
9. Adele - 21
10. Ponderosa - Moonlight Revival
11. Austin Lucas - A New Home, In the Old World
12. Kasey Anderson and the Honkies - Heart of a Dog
13. Stoney Larue - Velvet
14. Drew Kennedy - Fresh Water in the Salton Sea
15. Ryan Adams - Ashes and Fire
16. Pistol Annies - Hell on Heels
17. Wilco - The Whole Love
18. Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears - Scandalous
19. Mastodon - The Hunter
20. Will Hoge - Number Seven
2010
1. Jamey Johnson - The Guitar Song
2. Cee-Lo Green - The Lady Killer
3. Two Cow Garage - Sweet Saint Me
4. Austin Collins & The Rainbirds - Wrong Control
5. Big Boi - Sir Luscious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty
6. Joe Pug - Messenger
7. Trampled by Turtles - Palomino
8. Kasey Anderson - Nowhere Nights
9. Rodney Hayden - Tavern of Poets
10. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - I Learned the Hard Way
11. Paul Thorn - Pimps and Preachers
12. Truth & Salvage Co. - s/t
13. Dirty Sweet - American Spiritual
14. The Black Crowes - Croweology
15. Band of Horses - Infinite Arms
16. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis
17. Randy Houser - They Call Me Cadillac
18. Hellbound Glory - Old Highs and New Lows
19. The Black Keys - Brothers
20. Drive-by Truckers - The Big To-Do
2009
1. Charlie Robison - Beautiful Day
2. Ben Nichols - Last Pale Light in the West
3. Buddy and Julie Miller - Written in Chalk
4. Magnolia Electric Company - Josephine
5. Lucero - 1372 Overton Park
6. BettySoo - Heat Sin Water Skin
7. Wrinkle Neck Mules - Let the Lead Fly
8. Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels
9. Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Tell 'em What Your Name Is
10. Drew Kennedy - An Audio Guide to Cross Country Travel
11. The Black Crowes - Before the Frost...Until the Freeze
12. Justin Townes Earle - Midnight at the Movies
13. Son Volt - American Central Dust
14. The Devil Makes Three - Do Wrong Right
15. Slaid Cleaves - Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away
16. Joshua James - Build Me This
17. Switchfoot - Hello Hurricane
18. Miranda Lambert - Revolution
19. Krizz Kaliko - Genius
20. Mastodon - Crack the Skye
2008
1. Drive-by Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
2. Jamey Johnson - That Lonesome Song
3. Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson - Rattlin' Bones
4. Kathleen Edwards - Asking For Flowers
5. Hayes Carll - Trouble in Mind
6. Sun Kil Moon - April
7. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
8. The Felice Brothers - s/t
9. Two Cow Garage - Speaking in Cursive
10. Fleet Foxes - s/t
11. NQ Arbuckle - XOK
12. Blitzen Trapper - Furr
13. Chris Knight - Heart of Stone
14. Metallica - Death Magnetic
15. Reckless Kelly - Bulletproof
16. The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
17. Justin Townes Earle - The Good Life
18. Bruce Robison - The New World
19. The Steeldrivers - s/t
20. Drag The River - You Can't Live This Way
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