Favorite Albums of 2024: Third Quarter Report

 As usual, there are no summaries or reviews, just covers and titles.

1. Futurebirds - Easy Company

2. Red Clay Strays - Made by These Moments

3. Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood

4. Johnny Blue Skies - Passage Du Desir

5. The Droptines - s/t

6. 49 Winchester - Leavin’ This Holler

7. Sierra Ferrell - Trail of Flowers

8. John Moreland - Visitor

9. Kaitlin Butts - Roadrunner!

10. Pony Bradshaw - Thus Spoke the Fool

11. American Aquarium - The Fear of Standing Still

12. Shane Smith & The Saints - Norther

13. Taylor Hunnicutt - Alabama Sound

14. Jonathan Peyton - Nothing Here’s The Same

15. Zach Top - Cold Beer & Country Music

16. MJ Lenderman - Manning Fireworks

17. Billy Strings - Highway Prayers

18. Silverada - s/t

19. Mindy Smith - Quiet Town

20. Charley Crockett - $10 Cowboy

Stolen Memes: Sammy Kershaw, John Moreland, Garth Brooks

From Think I'll Just Stay Here and Meme

From Vinyl Ranch

From Tyler Chill Dumps

From Old School Country Memes

Favorite Albums of 2024: First Half Report

The top 4 remains unchanged from the first quarter report, but there are big shakeups down the list.

1. The Droptines - s/t

2. Waxahatchee - Tigers Blood

3. Jonathan Peyton - Nothing Here’s The Same

4. Sierra Ferrell - Trail of Flowers

5. John Moreland - Visitor

6. Shane Smith & The Saints - Norther

7. Taylor Hunnicutt - Alabama Sound

8. Josh Meloy - Where You Came From

9. Zach Top - Cold Beer & Country Music

10. Sarah Jarosz - Polaroid Lovers

11-20

11. Blackberry Smoke - Be Right Here

12. Wyatt Flores - Half Life

13. Kelsey Waldon - There’s Always a Song

14. Swamp Dogg - Blackgrass

15. Jesse Daniel - Countin’ the Miles

16. Old Heavy Hands - Small Fires

17. Taylor McCall - Mellow War

18. Kimmi Bitter - Old School

19. Red Shahan - Loose Funky Texas Junky

20. Lost Dog Street Band - Survived

- - - - - - -

More 2024 releases I really like:

Willi Carlisle - Critterland

The Secret Sisters - Mind, Man, Medicine

The Mavericks - Moon & Stars

Adeem the Artist - Anniversary 

Rob Leines - Headcase

Bronwyn Keith-Hynes - I Built a World

Blaine Bailey - Home

The Black Crowes - Happiness Bastards

Stephanie Lambring - Good Mother

Amigo the Devil - Yours Until the War is Over

Cody Jinks - Change the Game

Emily Nenni - Drive & Cry

The Avett Brothers - s/t

Charley Crockett - $10 Cowboy

Pearl Jam - Dark Matter

Katie Pruitt - Mantras

Kacey Musgraves - Deeper Well

The Montvales - Born Strangers

Lizzie No - Halfsies

Ellis Bullard - Honky Tonk Ain’t Noise Pollution

Mery Steel - She’s Back!

Willie Nelson - The Border

JJ Grey & Mofro - Olustee

Kim Richey - Every New Beginning

Sam Morrow - On the Ride Here

Jordan Lee King - By and By

Casper McWade - Something for the Pain

and there are many many more, Rich :)

New Video / John Moreland / "Gentle Violence"

A Masterpiece

 Check out Isaac Denton's awesome art. (his is the one at the top :))

Top 10 Ways to Become an Americana Singer

-------

10. Have a moderately popular rock, hardcore, or punk band in your 20s then turn 30

09. Move to East Nashville; stop bathing

08. Stand in front of mirror and say “I ain’t no part of nothin’”

07. Quit heroin

06. Be the offspring of a country music or folk legend

05. Be born named Colt, Colter, Cody, or Zach

04. Drink the water in Kentucky, apparently

03. Be either a hater of all political views or an outspoken lefty, there is no in-between

02. Be a Townes Van Zandt fan who majored in poetry and knows how to play a few chords; get fired from your job at one of the following: train depot / co-op / ranch / hardware store / horse farm.

01. Get face and/or neck and/or knuckle tattoos

New Video / John Moreland / "Generational Dust"

New Blood: Andrew Jobin

By Robert Dean

Down here in Austin, Texas, we might be well on our way to becoming the Live Comedy Capital of the World or the Tech Everything Capital of the World, but we're still a music town. Every night of the week, you can hear a raucous new voice in the clubs, on the street corners, or strumming away in the corner of a bar.

One of those new voices is Andrew Jobin, who's just released his first solo EP, Bon Accord. Bon Accord is a collection of songs that spring from the same fertile musical soil as artists like John Moreland with its foot-stomping old school phrasing one piece like "Joan Love" but then lends itself to an emotional holler; with a track like, "Eden." Jobin leans into something I never expected on these tracks; his voice and phrasing don't remind me of contemporary singers, but more in the realm of singers like Woody Guthrie, especially the Singing Brakeman, Jimmie Rodgers. Whether or not those influence the record or Jobin, what matters is that he's not trying to play house and trying to sound like anything that's not authentic to himself.

Check out Andrew Jobin's new record, Bon Accord, and go to one of his shows if you're in Austin. As this city is getting more expensive every day, it's good to see we've still got a few honest to god guitar pickers kicking around. 

Dirt Road Anthem 2?

Trailer's 23 Favorite Albums of the Decade

23 Favorite Albums of the Decade (2010-2019)

I meant to post this at the end of last year with blurbs and whatnot, but it did not happen. 

1. Jason Isbell - Southeastern

2. Lori McKenna - The Bird and the Rifle

3. Tyler Childers - Purgatory

4. The Damn Quails - Down the Hatch

5. Father John Misty - I Love You Honeybear

6. John Moreland - In the Throes

7. The National - Trouble Will Find Me

8. Turnpike Troubadours - Diamonds & Gasoline

9. Jamey Johnson - The Guitar Song

10. Brandy Clark - 12 Stories

11. Run the Jewels - RTJ

12. James McMurtry - Complicated Game

13. The War on Drugs - Lost in the Dream

14. Kendrick Lamar - good Kid, M.A.A.D. City

15. Turnpike Troubadours - Goodbye Normal Street

16. Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds in Country Music

17. Jamie Lin Wilson - Jumping Over Rocks

18. Run the Jewels - RTJ2

19. Lydia Loveless - Somewhere Else

20. Chris Stapleton - Traveler

21. Cody Jinks - Adobe Sessions

22. Ashley McBryde - Girl Going Nowhere

23. Pallbearer - Foundations of Burden

-------

Honorable Mentions: Sturgill Simpson - High Top Mountain, Kacey Musgraves - Same Trailer Different Park, Cody Jinks - I’m Not the Devil, Turnpike Troubadours - A Long Way From Your Heart, Kellie Pickler - 100 Proof, Mike & The Moonpies - Cheap Silver, Turnpike Troubadours -s/t, Miranda Lambert - The Weight of These Wings, Ruston Kelly - Dying Star, Brandi Carlile - By the Way I Forgive You, Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor’s Guide, Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires - There is a Bomb in Gilead, Charlie Robison - Beautiful Day, Lucero - Among the Ghosts, Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial, Gojira - Magma, Colter Wall -s/t.