An eventful year in so many ways, and on a personal level this was just one: reaching 50 but not really feeling a whole lot different than the way I felt about things thirty years ago, other than the aches and pains of age.
Music is the motivating factor now just as it was back then, with the majority of the best stuff these days coming out of the indie sector. Most of the major label stuff works to a different agenda with some notable exceptions.
There s been a lot of good music around this year but to make things a little easier here I ve chosen ten albums that are readily available in your local record emporiums, plus ten others that are warmly recommended but will need a little digging out. OK, here are some of the albums that did it for me: Johnny Cash Solitary Man, Alison Moorer The Harest Part, Jimmie Dale Gilmore One Endless Night, Emmylou Harris Red Dirt Girl, Steve Earle Transc endental Blues, John Hiatt Crossing Muddy Waters, Ryan Adams Heartbreaker, Calexico Hot Rail, Dwight Yoakam Tomorrow s Sounds Today, and Kasey Chambers The Captain.
Now some of the less readily available albums: Jessie Dayton Tall Texas Tales, The Hangdogs Beware Of The Dog, Doug Sham The Return Of Wayne Douglas, Ted Roddy Tear Time, Paul Burch Blue Notes, The Friends Of Dean Martinez A Place In The Sun, Audrey The Fallen, The Thompson Brothers Band The Late, Late, Late Show, Tim Carroll Not For Sale and Jason Ringenberg Pocketful Of Soul.
My other writing output, the hardcore/alt.country fanzine Lonesome Highway is slowly going from strength to strength, with a night in the Vicar St. offshoot, The Shelter, coming up soon we hope. As DJs we supported a diverse range of artists like Wayne Hancock, Hank Williams III, Steve Earle and The Del McCoury Band and Gillian Welch, and that was both fun and illuminating. Country music at the moment has been tarnished by the so-called Hot New Country phase that Nashville has latched onto. While it has undoubtably produced some big artists in the form of Garth Brooks, Shania Twain, Faith Hill, Tim McGraw and their like, a problem arises when the industry s preference for the chosen few, limits the options open to more rewarding and maverick talents. In short, when the music loses touch with its roots, it s not just certain artists but also the listening public who lose out. This process is happening throughout all genres in the music industry, with the result that the internet has become a very necessary source of information and purchase. The message is: don t just accept what s being fed to you. If you want better go out and find it. Like the truth, good music is out there.
Happy hunting and Happy New Year.