TRAVELS with  the SOUTHWEST DUDE
  • Welcome to the West
  • Blog and Trip Reviews
  • Travel Archives
  • Contact Me
  • Music & Literature
  • Defense of the West

Blog and Trip Reviews

Top Albums and Songs of 2018

12/16/2018

4 Comments

 
Picture
“Music is a language that doesn’t speak in particular words. It speaks in emotions, and if it’s in the bones, it’s in the bones.” ― Keith Richards

Music is in my bones.  Throughout my life two things - always - have given me solace. First- my children. Second - music.  Regardless of the sadness and tragedy and injustice of life I have always been saved by my kids and my songs.  This year, of course, was no exception. 

If you follow my blog you know I'm a Roots/Americana fan. Americana is hard to specifically define - Wikipedia describes it as, "Americana is an amalgam of American music formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the musical ethos of the United States, specifically those sounds that are merged from folk, country, blues, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, gospel, and other external influences".  Fair enough. I''ll just say this - the sound of Americana resonates deeply in me and is, "in my bones".

While the following list is the albums I purchased this year and reflect that Americana emphasis I am, in general, a fan of all music with the notable exception of popular "Country Music" and "Contemporary Pop" which I find  abominable and superficial and useless (not that I have strong opinions or anything).  

The following is a list of the albums I purchased this year listed by release date. Please note, because I am a supporter of musical artists I do not stream music but, in order to acknowledge the musicians with my wallet, I purchase each album.  I do, admittedly, often use YouTube to preview music that I may want to purchase.  Also, I am constantly updating my older music and that is not reflected here (my classic Blues catalog expanded exponentially this year!). 

OK - enough introduction. Here's the NEW music that I considered for my Top 10 list:
  1. Ruby Boots- Don't Talk About It
  2. First Aid Kit - Ruins
  3. Jeff Rosenstock - POST-
  4. Ryan Bingham - Ryan Bingham Live 
  5. Tracy Grammer - Low Tide
  6. I'm With Her - Overland
  7. Sunny War - Under the Sun
  8. Calexico - The Thread That Keeps Us
  9. Courtney Barnett- Tell Me How You Really Feel
  10. Brandi Carlile - By The Way, I Forgive You
  11. Caleb Caudle - Crushed Coins 
  12. Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats - Tearing At The Seams
  13. Courtney Marie Andrews - May Your Kindness Remain
  14. Don Flemons - Black Cowboys
  15. Lindsay Lou & The Flatbellys - Southland
  16. Mipso- Edges Run
  17. John Prine - Tree of Forgiveness
  18. The Record Company - Life To Fix
  19. Florence & The Machine - High As Hope
  20. Lake Street Dive - Free Yourself Up
  21. Ry Cooder - The Prodigal Son
  22. American Aquarium - Things Change
  23. Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore - Downey to Lubbock
  24. Jayhawks - Back Roads and Abandoned Motels
  25. Amanda Shires - To the Sunset
  26. Marianne Faithfull - Negative Capability 
  27. Amos Lee- My New Moon
  28. Alejandro Escovedo - The Crossing 
  29. Steph Jenkins - End to End
  30. Elvis Costello - Look Now
  31. John Hiatt - Eclipse Sessions
  32. The Interrupters - Fight the Good Fight
  33. Bad Jacket- Back Again
  34. Amy Helm - This Too Shall Light
  35. Various Artists - Muscle Shoals: Small Town, Big Sounds
  36. Joe Strummer - Joe Strummer 101
  37. Robbie Fulks & Linda Gail - Wild! Wild! Wild!
  38. Becky Warren -Undesirable
  39. Brother Brothers - Some People I Know
  40. Jason Isbell - Live from the Ryman
  41. Rosanne Cash - She Remembers Everything
  42. The War and Treaty -Healing Tide
  43. Chuck Prophet - Bobby Fuller Died For Your Sins

The List


I'll also list the music that I played most often in 2018 but here are my choices for the Best of 2018. Ranking is a pain and wrong for a lot of reasons - all of the albums above are good - the following simply resonated most deeply for me on a personal level.
  1. Brother Brothers - Some People I Know - this will probably not make any critics lists, since it is a bit obscure and new,  but it is powerful and hits me right in the heart with songs that feel like like they're written for me. 
  2. John Prine - Tree of Forgiveness
  3. Dave Alvin & Jimmie Dale Gilmore -Downey to Lubbock
  4. Ry Cooder - The Prodigal Son
  5. Elvis Costello - Look Now 
  6. The Jayhawks - Back Roads and Abandoned Motels 
  7. Calexico - The Thread That Keeps Us
  8. Nathaniel Rateliff - Tearing At The Seams 
  9. Rosanne Cash - She Remembers Everything
  10. Alejandro Escovedo - The Crossing
I'd have included the Joe Strummer collection but it doesn't really qualify as "new music". In addition, a new album that is coming out next year by Mandolin Orange looks like it will be fantastic but I can't include it yet  - I've downloaded 2 of the early release songs that are magnificent - (Check out Golden Embers!). 

Ok - now - here are the new songs I've listened to the most this year:
  1. Summer's End - John Prine
  2. Everbody Knows - Jayhawks
  3. Goodbye Ol' Silver - Brother Brothers
  4. Don't Talk About It - Ruby Boots 
  5. Unwanted Number - Elvis Costello
  6. People Change - Mipso
  7. Billy the Kid and Geronimo - Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore
  8. I'd Rather Go Blind - Grace Potter (from Muscle Shoals)
  9. You Must Unload - Ry Cooder
  10. Flores y Tamales - Calexico
  11. You Worry Me - Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats
  12. Hunger - Florence & The Machine
  13. Every Time I Hear That Song - Brandi Carlile
  14. 8 Gods of Harlem - Rosanne Cash
  15. She's Kerosene - The Interrupters
  16. Hey Mama - Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats
  17. 9/10 - Jeff Rosenstock 
  18. Something More Than Free - Jason Isbell (Live)
  19. Daffodil Days - Tracy Grammer 
  20. The World is On Fire - American Aquarium
  21. Outlaw For You - Alejandro Escovedo
  22. Healing Tide - The War and Treaty 
  23. Bad Year for Rock and Roll - ​Chuck Prophet
  24. Texas Easy Street - Don Flemons
  25. Go There Alone - Lindsay Lou and the Flatbellys

Ok! I've made my list.  Agree? Disagree? Want to share some great music that I haven't listed (or maybe even heard)? Leave a comment.  Better yet - make your own list! 

4 Comments
Tanya Faberson link
12/17/2018 04:17:16 am

I love seeing music lists like this. While most of the music I listen to has been out for years (I rarely buy brand new music, being a creature of habit in a lot of ways), I've always thought you can learn a lot about a person by the music they listen to. I should probably make a list sometime, too. If anything, I'll probably learn something about myself :)

Reply
Jeff link
12/20/2018 06:23:57 am

Hey Tanya - great to hear from you my friend. Yes, in truth I'm not sure who might actually care about my choices (or taste for that matter) but it was an enjoyable exercise for me. Thanks for checking it out and I'd enjoy seeing your list!

Reply
Joseph Smith link
12/17/2018 08:37:03 am

Now that you've built this list I'm gonna have to go exploring. Alex turned me on to First Aid Kit a while back and I bought Lion's Roar from Bandcamp where I get much of my off-center music now. You may like Emily Baker, I think she'd fit in well with those listed above.

Reply
Jeff
12/20/2018 06:25:58 am

Joe, thanks! I will check out Emily Baker. Love getting recommendations and I'll check out more Bandcamp this year.

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Subscribe to our mailing list

    * indicates required

    The Point?

    This will mostly be a journal of my travels. I may include other items that interest me. Feel free to join in.

    Categories

    All
    Abilene
    Adobe
    Aguirre Spring CG
    Ajo
    Ajo Mountain Drive
    Akaka Falls
    Alabama
    Alamogordo
    Aldo Leopold
    Alejandro Escovedo
    Alturas
    Amarillo
    Amboy Crater
    Amtrak
    Ancestral Puebloans
    Anne Frank
    Ansel Adams
    Anza Borrego State Park
    Arches NP
    Arizona
    Arkansas River
    Atascadero
    Aunt Lisa
    Autumn
    Awe
    AZ
    Backyard
    Badwater Basin
    Baltimore
    Bandelier National Monument
    Barry Goldwater Range
    Baseball
    Baseball Hall Of Fame
    Bassam Guard Station
    Bates Ranch
    Beartooth Highway
    Beck
    Bent's Old Fort
    Bernie Sanders
    Big Bend NP
    Big Sur
    Bill Dickson
    Birthday Party
    Bisbee
    Black Canyon Of The Gunnison NP
    BLM
    Blues Foundation
    Blues Hall Of Fame
    Bob Dylan
    Bob Dylan Center
    Bog Springs CG
    Bonita Well
    Borax
    Boulder Basin
    Broadway
    Bruce Springsteen
    Buffalo
    Burro Creek CG
    CA
    Cabeza Prieta
    Cacti
    Calexico
    California
    California League
    California Zephyr
    Canyon De Chelly
    Canyonlands NP
    Capitol Reef NP
    Carl Sagan
    Carrizo Plain
    Cascades-mountains
    Casita
    Caspers-wilderness-park
    Cathead
    Cayucos
    Cedar-breaks
    Central-coast
    Central-coast
    Cerro-alto-campground
    Cesar-chavez
    Charles-bowden
    Chicago
    Chicago River
    Chicago Union Station
    Chihuahua-desert
    Chihuly Garden
    China Alley
    Chiriaco Summit
    Chiricahua National Monument
    Chisos Basin CG
    Chisos Mountains
    Chris LaTray
    Christiane Wolf
    Citifield
    City Of New Orleans
    Clark Dry Lake
    Clarksdale
    Clayton Kershaw
    Cleveland
    CO
    Coast Starlight
    Cochise Stronghold
    Colonel Allensworth State Park
    Colorado
    Colorado Desert
    Colorado Plateau
    Columbia Gorge
    Cooperstown
    Coral Pink Sand Dunes State Park
    Coronavirus
    Corpus Christi
    COVID-19
    Crescent
    Cubs
    Dad
    Dave Alvin
    Death Valley
    Dell
    Delta Blues Museum
    Denver
    Desert Training Center
    Devil's Golf Course
    Devil's Tower
    Dodgers
    Dome Rock
    Dorothea Lange
    Dragoon Mountains
    Drive-By Truckers
    Durango
    Eastern Sierra
    Education
    Edward Abbey
    Eisenhower Library
    Election 2016
    Elfin Forest
    Elton John
    Elvis Costello
    Empire Builder
    Environmentalism
    Eric Flaherty
    Eric Temple
    Everett Ruess
    Fargo
    Fauna
    Favorite Photos
    Finley
    Fishing
    Flathead-lake
    Flora
    Fog
    Four-corners
    Four-corners
    Fremont-peak
    Fullerton
    Furnace-creek
    Gasworks-park
    Gates Bar.B.Q.
    Gaviota
    Gaviota State Beach
    George-patton
    Georgia
    Giant-sequoia-national-monument
    Glacier-np
    Glaucoma
    Goblin-valley-state-park
    Goffs-schoolhouse
    Grammy Museum
    Grand-canyon
    Grandchildren
    Grandkids
    Grand-teton-national-park
    Grants
    Great-basin-national-park
    Guadalupe-mountains-np
    Guitar
    Gunnison-river
    Gunnison-river
    Gurf Morlix
    Half-dome
    Half Moon Bay
    Happy-isles
    Harris-beach
    Hawaii
    Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park
    High-sierra
    Highway-1
    Highway-101
    Highway-190
    Highway-395
    Highway-41
    Highway-99
    Highways
    Hilo
    Holbrook
    Hole-in-the-wall-campground
    Holidays
    Home
    Homolovi
    Hovenweep-national-monument
    Hubbard Family
    Idaho
    Illinois
    Immigration
    Inland-empire-66ers
    Insight LA
    Interstate 15
    Interstate 5
    Island Of Hawai'i
    Jack
    Jack Kerouac
    Jack Loeffler
    Jackson Hole
    Jacob Lake
    Jalama Beach
    Jedediah Smith Redwoods
    Joaquin
    Johnny Cash
    John Prine
    John Steinbeck
    Jon Dee Graham
    Jon Kabat-Zinn
    Jordan
    Joseph Wood Krutch
    Joshua Tree NP
    Journal
    Jr.
    Kansas City
    Kansas City Royals
    Kara
    Kartchner Caverns
    Kauffman Stadium
    Kennedy
    Kern National Wildlife Refuge
    Kevin
    Kingman
    Kirk Creek
    Klamath Falls
    Kodachrome State Park
    KS
    Laguna Beach
    La Junta
    Lake Arrowhead
    Lake Elsinore Storm
    Lake Pleasant
    Lake Shore Limited
    Lancaster JetHawks
    La Posada
    La Purisima Mission
    Las Cruces
    Lassen Volcanic National Park
    Las Vegas
    LA Union Station
    La Veta Pass
    Lee Anne
    Lilly
    Limekiln State Park
    Lisa Law
    Little Blair Valley
    Little House Customs
    Little Painted Desert
    Lizard
    Lizard Head Pass
    Liz Kylin
    Lori Carey
    Lorraine Motel
    Los Angeles Dodgers
    Los Osos
    Luis Urrea
    Lupe
    Madera
    Madera Canyon
    Malheur Wildlife Refuge
    Manzanar
    Margo Dodd Park
    Martin Luther King
    Marty
    Mary Austin
    Massachusetts
    Maynard Dixon
    McGee Creek
    Meditation
    Memphis
    Merced River
    Meredith
    Mesa Verde
    Mesquite Springs
    Mexico
    Michael A. Singer
    Michael Gish
    Mindfulness
    Mississippi
    Mississippi Blues Trail
    Mississippi Delta
    Mississippi River
    Missouri River
    Mitchell Caverns
    MO
    Moab
    Modesto Nuts
    Mogollon Rim
    Mojave Desert
    Mojave National Preserve
    Mojave Trails National Monument
    Mom
    Monarch Butterflies
    Montana
    Monterey Bay
    Montrose
    Monument Valley
    Mormons
    Morro Bay
    Moynihan Train Hall
    MS
    Muddy Waters
    Museum Of Flight
    Music
    National Civil Rights Museum
    National Monuments
    National Parks
    National Park Service
    National WWII Museum
    Nature
    Navajo Nation
    Navajo NM
    Negro Leagues Museum
    Neil Young
    Nevada
    New Hampshire
    New Jersey
    New Mexico
    New Orleans
    New York City
    NM
    North Beach Campground
    North Rim
    NPS
    NY Mets
    Oak Creek Canyon
    Ocotillo
    October
    OK
    Old Faithful
    Oliver Lee Memorial State Park
    Olympic National Park
    Omar Bradley
    Oregon
    Oregon Coast
    Organ Mountains
    Organ Pipe NM
    Ortega Highway
    Pacific Ocean
    Padre Island
    Pagosa Springs
    Painted Desert
    Painted Rock Petroglyph
    Palo Alto Battlefield
    Palo Duro Canyon
    Pch
    Peg-leg-smith
    Petrified Forest National Park
    Petroglyphs
    Photography
    Pictograph Trail
    Pier
    Pinnacles NP
    Pismo Beach
    Pixley National Wildlife Refuge
    PJ Finn
    Placentia
    Plaskett Creek
    Point Mugu
    Politics
    Portland
    Poughkeepsie
    Pozo Nuevo
    Prescott
    Pueblo
    Puerto Blanco Road
    Quaking Aspen Campground
    Quitobaquito Springs
    Railroad-tracks
    Rancho-cucamonga-quakes
    Rancho-guadalupe-dunes-preserve
    Rattlesnake
    Ray Wylie Hubbard
    Red-rock-canyon
    Redwoods-np
    Refugio-state-beach
    Reno
    Retirement
    Rim-of-the-world
    Rio-grande
    Rio-grande-del-norte
    Rocky Ford Cemetery
    Rocky Mountains
    Roger Stolle
    Route-66
    Route 66 Museum
    R. Scott Jones
    Running-springs
    Ry-cooder
    SABR
    Sacramento
    Saguaro National Park
    Salida
    Sam-harris
    San Antonio
    San Antonio Riverwalk
    San-bernardino-mountains
    San-clemente
    Sand-county-almanac
    San-jacinto
    San-jose-giants
    San-juan-mountains
    San-onofre
    Santa-barbara
    Santa-fe
    Santa Ynez Mountains
    Santiam-creek
    Scott-hays
    Seattle
    September
    Sequoia-np
    ShackUp Inn
    Shower
    Sierra Nevada
    Silver-jack-reservoir
    Skyscrapers
    Solo-traveling
    Sonoran Desert
    Southern-california
    Southern-sierra
    Southwest Chief
    Spider-rock
    Spirituality
    Spring-training
    Stax Recording Studio
    St. Cloud
    Steinbeck Country
    Steve
    Stockton-ports
    Sunset
    Sunsets
    Superstition Mountains
    Susquehanna River
    Sycamore-canyon
    Taos
    Tarantula
    Terry-tempest-williams
    Texas
    Tex-Mex
    The-band
    The-beatles
    The Central Valley
    The Clash
    The Gourds
    Thornhill Broome Beach
    Ticks
    Tim
    Times Square
    Tit Rock
    Todd Miller
    Tom Seaver
    Tom Thrash
    Top Albums
    Topics
    Top Photos
    Tracy Schultze
    Trail Of 100 Giants
    Trains
    Travel Trailer
    Trudy Goodman
    Tule Creek
    Tulsa
    Tunica
    Twitter
    TX
    Ubehebe Crater
    UFW
    United States Border Patrol
    Upper Pines Campground
    Utah
    Utica
    Valley Of Fire
    Vernal
    Victoria Mine
    Victorville
    Vin Scully
    Virginia
    Virginia City
    Visalia Rawhide
    Wakeeny
    Walnut Canyon National Monument
    Washington
    White Sands
    Wildflowers
    Wildlife
    Willamette River
    William Eastlake
    William Hubbard
    Winslow
    Woody Guthrie
    Woody Guthrie Center
    Wrigley Field
    Wyoming
    Year End Review
    Yellowstone National Park
    Yosemite National Park
    Zabriskie Point
    Zion
    Zion National Park

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    July 2021
    April 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    October 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    August 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    October 2014
    September 2014

    RSS Feed

All content (C) Jeff Hubbard. No re-use without express written permission
  • Welcome to the West
  • Blog and Trip Reviews
  • Travel Archives
  • Contact Me
  • Music & Literature
  • Defense of the West