Best of 2008-Music

Here we go, at last copious liner notes for my annual Best of mix. As always if you aren't on the list feel free to use it as a template.





"Hey (I Love You)" Michael Franti & Spearhead




I discovered this on a Paste magazine sampler and was immediately charmed by it's infectious groove. I think it's a true measure of a song's dancibility when you have not one, but two, dances for it-one for the car and one for home. (And to the man in the blue SUV who gave me the thumbs up, thanks. So happy I could amuse you.)





"Tight Tee Shirt" Benji Hughes


From his "A Love Extreme" record. I'm not sure what John Coltrane would think of the title homage but I sure liked this one. Every song sounds different in a fun, genre blending way (witness the hard rock guitar solo of this one). It amuses me too that "TTS" would emerge as my fave since I clearly remember flipping the CD over when it was given to me and immediately seizing on that title. Guess my gut knew even before the first listen.


"Abel" The National


Technically this was a 2007 release but I didn't hear it till 2008. I have become facinated by The National, especially with their inscrutable lyrics (why, oh why is the empire fake? Won't someone please tell me?) but I picked "Abel" not for that-you can hardly make out any lyrics in this one-but for its rabbit hole nature. You plunge in and emerge rumpled but exhilerated on the other side.



"Magick" Ryan Adams and the Cardinals




My musical love affair with Ryan Adams continued in 2008 with the release of "Cardinalogy". Yes, it was basically "Easy Tiger Part II" but since I liked that one that was okay with me. Several of the songs- "Fix It", "Easy On Yourself"-can easily stand with his poignant, bittersweet best but I went with the big dumb rocker instead. "Magick" (what's with the Alistar Crowley spelling anyway?) actually sounds like a missing track from "Rock n' Roll" to me, like it could have come after "Luminol". That's my theory anyway and if I get the chance when I see him in March (for the seventh time!) I'll ask him.



"Old White Lincoln" The Gaslight Anthem




My friend Jeanne gave me this disc describing them as a band always influenced by Springsteen who finally threw up their collective hands at trying to sound different and went with it. It makes a fast, fun listen for sure though I hear as much Southside Johnny as the Boss. They've got songs about cars and girls, true, but there's also a great tribute to Miles Davis, whose praises don't normally ring out on the dark streets of Jersey.



"Bad Liver and a Broken Heart" Hayes Carll




Carll's record "Trouble in Mind" was one of the best all around releases of 2008. There's not a bad song on it, even the novelty one, "She Left Me For Jesus", has enough bite to be more than simply a one note laugh. I got to see him in December which was a pure pleasure. He's very funny and puts on a really good show. My only disappointment was the performance of this song which was stripped down into an almost unrecognizable version of itself. Yeah, hearing songs differently is one of the benefits of live music but to take away the electric guitar and drums from this one seemed almost criminal.

"Real Love" Lucinda Williams

Lucinda's "Little Honey" is a fun, raucous rawk record. Yeah, there's a few that tug at the heartstrings ("Tears of Joy") but there's also a few that seem like ghosts of songs past ("Little Rock Star" seems like "Drunken Angel 2008" to me). Most people cite "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" as her zenith but I say it was "Sweet Old World". "Little Honey" doesn't reach or aim so high but it's sweet all the same.

"Unsleeping Eye" The Band of Heathens

This band was a freebie find that I really enjoyed in 08 even though I think they should devote serious thought to dropping the "The" from their name. It sounds kinda crazy but their rollicking good time sound reminds me of a southern fried Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show (not to be confused with the later disco Dr Hook).

"If You Should Ever Fall on Hard Times" The Iguanas

The Iguana's 2008 release is, as usual, a mix of rock and Latin. Sometimes I like a rock song the best, sometimes Latin. This time it was this one. I hear they are great live and I swear that I will not miss an opportunity to see them. Several have come and gone but no more!

"Map to Where You Are" The Watson Twins

A couple of Louisville girls who came to my attention when they backed Jenny Lewis on her "Rabbit Fur Coat" record. Now on their first solo record they spread their wings. They do a killer cover of The Cure's "Just Like Heaven" but I like this one, though it's true I like any songs about maps. Put this one back to back with Sarah Harmer's "Aglow" for a unrequited, map twofer.

"Orange Blossoms" JJ Grey and Mofro

A fun, Southern rock record I got to know on my many trips back and forth from Michigan to Kentucky. They have a polished sound that's still a little rough around the edges, I like that.

"Rattlin Bones" Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson

It should be no surprise that these two harmonize so well together, they are married after all, but I find their combined voices especially pleasing. Hers is so distinctive and his is so warm, it's totally the two great tastes that taste great together thing. The whole record is a good one, a return to form for her I'd say after the disappointment that was "Carnival". (I relistened to that one and yeah, it still stinks.)

"Broken" Tift Merritt

"All Good Things" The Weepies

One of the many CDs I learned every groove on the 6 hour drive between Michigan and Kentucky. It's a tribute to how much I like this song that I picked it was when one of the other choices was one called "Antarctica" (one of my passions). I like the use of the different meanings of 'all good things' especially.

"Sentimental Heart" She & Him

Paste's record of the year for 2008 and one of my faves too. I never tire of the vocal fireworks in this one.

"Prettiest Tree on the Mountain" Ben Sollee

This Louisville boy, perhaps more well known for his work with Bela Fleck and Abigail Washburn in the Sparrow Quartet, came out with his first solo record in 2008. Sollee is so earnest, nearly guileless, it seems mean to mock his sometimes doggedly simplistic lyrics (see "A Few Honest Words" or his cover of "A Change is Gonna Come") so I'll simply say I liked this one best. The line "I thought I could change the world/if I just held you high enough/Truth is, I couldn't hold you up at all" is one of the best, most honestly naked, about relationship and personal failure I've yet heard and I go "oh Ben" with my hand over my heart every time I hear it.

"Lone Pine Hill" Justin Townes Earle

When I saw him live JTE said this one is about a juvenile delinquint which I didn't get before. I like the historical aspect and I love, love, love the lines "well, I never known a man who owned another/and I ain't never owned nothing of my own/so after 4 long years/I just can't tell what the hell I'm fighting for". Though it's a historical song, its echoes of another, more recent war, I believe are intentional and give this song even more weight.

"Ruby and Carlos" James McMurtry

Here it is, my song of the year. It was tough to pick one, it was even tough to pick just one from James. Though "Just Us Kids" was not as consistant and approachable as "Childish Things" the great songs from it were just that-great. But in the end, the bittersweet story of "Ruby and Carlos" won out. I love that it was recorded when James obviously had a cold and that that was the version they used (when you produce yourself I guess you can make those kind of calls). Every clogged word and whistling breath just adds to the story for me so much so when I heard it live when James was well the difference was startling. It also has that great, if frustrating, missed connection aspect where you hope, with this listen, Carlos won't leave or at least that he'll wake up enough to answer the land line (of course Ruby would use the land line) but, sadly, it ends the same every time. I've said it before and I'll say it till the end, McMurtry gets the most ink for the topical, protest songs but it's the love songs where he really shines and hardly ever brighter than this one.

"Alicia Ross" Kathleen Edwards

I wrote about my obsession with this song earlier in the year and at the end it still gives me chills. The image of "then he laid me in his garden/for years I'd watched him tend" is so poignant and creepily tender. It's a fine tribute, the kind every victim deserves and one of Kathleen's best.

"The 5th Race" Willy Vlautin

If you're a fan of Richmond Fontaine or his novels you know Willy can capture the hardscrabble. His characters don't ever have it easy and their struggles are the stick to you kind. But if you were wondering if Willy could bring the funny, if that was in his bag of tricks, "The 5th Race" is your answer. I was driving and laughing uproariously when I first listened. I immediately decided all my friends had to hear this so we could all work 'stewardess party' into our vernacular immediately. And Willy's delivery of the word "Hawaii" is hysterical. I was so glad this CD arrived when it did as I was worried about the total downer dismount of the Best of CD but then Willy comes along to leave them laughing-who would have thought?