It is that time of the year again and while it is true that some of my all time favorite artists like Jason Isbell, Dave Rawlings and Ryan Adams released undeniably brilliant records this year, I’d like to take the time to explore those records that moved me in a way I can’t really describe…heavily, fully, completely?…and you may not have dove into as head on as I did and been totally engulfed by their grit, beauty and intensity.

Records that may not (or a few that will) be gracing bigger name publications lists and deserve your attention. Like, meaning “go buy them all right now”.

I don’t necessarily feel the need to apologize for exclusions from this list (or maybe I do) and while I listened to a countless number of records this year these are the 17 that I couldn’t stop listening to over and over again. The kind of songs that simply do not leave your consciousness after you have heard them. They stick. They have staying power and leave a mark on you that is impossible to erase. Records that even though they were released in February of the year I still spin constantly or those released later in the year I will inevitably continue to play and enjoy for the next 10. The kinds of records that do exactly what music is supposed to do: heal, inspire, evoke and force you to feel something.

Here is my list of those records. Now go buy some music and support some artists…

Billy Strings “Turmoil and Tinfoil” – William Apostol (aka Billy Strings) has been toted as one of the finest young players in roots music today and witnessing him set his frets on fire for even a moment, without the use of an accelerant aside from his fingers, is evidence enough. What Turmoil has made even more evident is that he is a multi-layered artist, and not just an awe-inspiring player but one of the strongest voices of his time and a songwriter coming into his own and blossoming in an important way. What this record provided was a little something for everyone. Be you a metal head who is willing to take a chance on an acoustic arrangement displayed in the extended jams of ‘Meet Me at the Creek’, a bluegrass purist who’s knees will get weak with tunes like ‘These Memories of You’ and the trad. fiddle tune mash-up ‘Salty Sheep’ or if you are looking for something deeper in your lyrics, tracks like ‘Dealing Despair’ are a surefire way to feed your urge for music and words that take on social issues in modern society with heart and emotion that cascades from the album. Can’t wait to see what is next from this gent.

 

 

Jake Klar “Until the Wildfire Becomes Paradise” – There is an ache. No, perhaps an itch that I often times cannot reach to scratch. Klar’s latest release scratches the sh*t out of that itch and soothes all the while. There are hints of rock n’ roll splattered all over the album, but the singer-songwriter comes from that writer frame of mind. Drums and electric guitars and strained, emotion-steeped vocals sprawling across a slew of landscapes deeply hued in verby violets and grungy blues. Thats where Klar’s vibe has always lied a bit for me. In years past, with a Travis style picking and Justin Townes Earle-esque timbre to his voice, he keeps the blues in this record but its more swampy and with an indie rock feel in places, but when it comes down to it, its just damn good music with a whole lot of feeling.

 

  
Christopher Paul Stelling “Itinerant Arias” – In a thematic sense, a lot of the records that became my favorites this year I didn’t allow to wash over me enough at the time they were released. Stelling is an artist that no matter where the place, no matter what the time or the context in which you are witnessing him and his songs, he will stop you in your tracks and overcome you with his art. At first “Arias” seemed like a similar follow up to his last release (that record was on my favorites of 2015 list, so that isn’t a bad thing), but then I really dug into his words and the manner in which he is truly engrained and enflamed in the words of these songs. CPS managed to put into songs what so many of us were feeling this year and that to me is a truly extraordinary thing.

 

 Aurora Birch “Brightness” – Brightness seems like a fitting title for Birch’s record. It gleams with vibrancy and light but is dreamlike and melancholy. Pensive and poetic. Emily Moran manages to blend and mingle the feelings of rock n’ roll badass attitude with thoughtful, inter-looking lyrics in a way that is both beautiful and contemplative. Through layers of strings, guitars and drums her voice manages to soar above it all with a weight that hangs heavy and rests on your shoulders, making you feel the gravity of it and her songs, but leaving you pleasantly blissful.
 

 Twisted Pine (self titled) – Its not really fair to be an instrumentally acrobatic bluegrass leaning band in this day and age as people immediately draw comparisons to Punch Brothers. The folks of Twisted Pine are all incredibly gifted musicians and Dan Bui is a beast of a mandolinist, but thats where the comparison should end. The band’s self titled release was a mix of their traditional influences with everything from jazzy showtune flair ala there friends and contemporaries Lake Street Dive, to the catchiness and warm harmoniies and melodic masterfulness of the Beatles thrown into a cast that molds and output that is far greater output than the sum of its parts (and thats saying quite a bit, because all the individual pieces are pretty damn fantastic on their own). Oh yeah…also the fiddle and mandolin solos. Those too.

 

 Emily Mure “Worth” – Emily Mure’s latest managed to break my heart and fill it completely at the same time. While I have been a big fan of Mure’s original music and her choice cover release for a while now, it is on ‘Worth’ that her songwriting and her voice have managed to surpass previous releases and shine completely. Stirring and passionate with a subdued confidence in her delivery of each verse, its a collection of songs that is equally as breath-taking as it is forceful.

 

 Molly Tuttle “Rise” – Virtuosity is something often dovetailed with the name Molly Tuttle. Rightfully so. The guitarist and songwriter has long been a staple in the roots music community as one of the finest pickers around and a recent nod from IBMA as Guitar Player of the Year just further cements her as such. On ‘Rise’ there is evidence of that accolade, but also a tenderness that puts a different aesthetic on display. Sure there’s explosive and impressive guitar runs, but there is subtle and refined nature to how Tuttle has managed to balance it with her voice. That voice drifting from incredible deep warmth to the high and lonesome, effortlessly sifting out of her. There is beauty in brilliance and Molly proves it on this (all too short, we want more!) collection of songs.

 

 

The Low Cards (self titled) – Songwriter Dan Baker had long been one of my favorites. His deadpan and straightforward style of writing grabbed me from the moment I heard the opening lines of the tune “This Ain’t My Home” I was hooked. When he disappeared from the local community for a bit I was discouraged…then he came back full force with the trio that is The Low Cards and completely shook me. The band’s recent release has made them one of Providence’s most promising and forceful bands. Tight grooves, overdriven ripping solos and Baker’s writing all meld together to form, for lack of better words, music that “simply put, this shit rocks” (per our eloquent single review of the single “Suffer”). Seriously, pick this one up and play it til you can’t rock any harder.

 

 

Colter Wall  (self titled) – I find it sinful that I didn’t find this record until later on in the year when it was released back in March, but I am surely f*cking hearing it load and clear now. Colter Wall just has one of those voices. The type of voice that when you hear it, you swear will echo through eternity and elicit a certain nostalgia for when Cash and Townes were slinging tunes and leaving their mark on the world. A simpler time when all you needed was a guitar and some cutting words in a storied song to get your point across. I think we are coming back to a time like that in recent years and Wall is sure to be a definitive voice in that resurgence. These songs resonate and prove that with a slow picked acoustic and the truth, you can move mountains and shake the earth.

 

 Dori Freeman “Letters Never Read” – Dori Freeman is an artist that has, for a while now, been on my periphery. When her 2017 release made it to my inbox I didn’t give it the proper time it deserved for a number of weeks, until I finally spent about 2 hours driving in the car with it and immediately hated myself for not doing so sooner. Her voice is angelic and pure, but tempered with the words of her songs that may not be quite as heavenly. I think its that vulnerability that draws you in close enough to really digest Freeman’s words and songs. After listening once, twice and an uncountable number of times I was glad I allowed myself to be drawn in and enjoy her unique blending of tradition with sparse sophistication and grace. Its damn well worth the time…and in many ways reminiscent of the next artist on this list.

 

 Kayla Schureman “Kiss the Ground” : Schureman’s debut may have been a long time coming but it was damn well worth the wait. While this (and the following 7 albums) landed on my best first half of the year list it is still one of the albums released in 2017 that I spin the most. The spacey, dreamy Laurel Canyon vibe. Crinkled brown paper and tobacco smokiness of Kayla’s voice and the introspection that lines her lyric notebooks and makes their way into the words of the songs. “Kiss the Ground” is on my 2017 list of favorite records, but also one of my favorites of all time.

 

 Caroline Spence “Spades and Roses” : That voice. The first thing that hit me when I began to dig into Spence’s S&R. Then I listened deeper and found a writer who was putting themselves all out there. Spouting truths and hard to speak stories that, perhaps, up until this record remained embedded in the songwriter’s heart for only her to dwell upon. Well, I am damn glad she decided to share. There is beauty in the heartwrenching nature of her words and the way she has decided to present them is equally as moving. It takes a lot of heart and bravery to open up and really let your soul out in song and in the case of Spence’s “Spades & Roses” it pays off in…well, spades.

 

 

John Moreland “Big Bad Luv” : Moreland’s 2015 release landed on a multitude of best of lists (ours included). Where High on the Tulsa Heat unearthed “those difficult feelings in a way that creates beauty from torment and his gritty but endearing vocal is the perfect vessel for it”, BBL continues in a similar vein only amps up the rock n’roll a bit more. Moreland’s latest cements him as one of the most honest and heartfelt writers in the community today. His songs simply speak on a different level than most writer’s are able to conjure up. There is certainly an attitude injected into the delivery of these songs but Moreland’s signature gritty growl and earnest hard-earned stories of heartbreak and heartache are still center stage.

 

 Clever Girls “Loose Tooth” : To those who think Rock n’ Roll is dead, Burlington-based Clever Girls have one thing to say to you: “fuck off”. The EP from the trio knocked me on my ass when  it first showed up in my inbox. The first time I met badass front woman and guitar slayer Diane Jean (and for a long time after) I didn’t even realize she was a musician as well as a music love.  I was missing out. A bit garage punk rock with hints of indie and grunge on the side and lyrics that punch your directly in the gut this little 5 track EP hit me hard in a very big way. Word on the street is new music is on the horizon, keep and eye open and an ear peeled…or something. Rawk.

 

 

Ben Cosgrove “Salt” : I’ll be honest, instrumental music isn’t typically my forte, but Ben Cosgrove’s tunes manage to speak to me in a way that most songs without words aren’t typically able to do. They are transportive in some way…I have no idea how he does it, but damn he does. The latest from the seemingly always-on-the-road musician speak to the fact that he is always on the road. Each song taking cue from some place he has been and the feelings that related to a difficult time that was representative of that place. I mean, heavy stuff and it shows. Another, perhaps somewhat silly but in my eyes representative of this juxtaposition of deep introspection is each song title is a single word, while the songs themselves are so much more intense and heavy than a single word can properly define. Cosgrove’s performances live, and on this collection, are brilliant, mesmerizing works.

 

 

The Suitcase Junket “Pile Driver” : Matt Lorenz seems to defy logic and the modern capabilities of the human body with his performances as The Suitcase Junket. He doesn’t just use all 4 appendages of his body to create sound…he uses both his heel and his toes on each foot to create sound in addition to his guitar playing, singing and throat singing in place of where a guitar solo might fall. Pile Driver adapts a bit more of a bluesy meets 50s rock feel to it than prior releases and its welcomed with open arms. The Chuck Berry-esque “Jackie” and grooving romper’s like “Swamp Chicken’ could wake the dead and get them on their feet dancing.

 

 Ron Gallo “Heavy Meta” : Ron Gallo is sick of your shit and isn’t afraid to let you know that he is. “Heavy Meta” tackles everything from the insecurity that comes with trying to be an artist and true to yourself to the modern day obsession with modern day conveniences. Sonically the band has come to be known for their live performances, full of energy (and often times lacking a shirt) its difficult to not be moved by the pure and unadulterated vivacity that Gallo and crew seem to have in undying abundance. Where so many other artists and their words focus keenly on the “me” and relationships gone awry or some sort of sadness, Gallo tackles the general state of the human psyche in many ways, a societal assault on what we find important. Be it living live’s through ours (and other peoples) Instagram accounts or following some template of how society tells us to live. School, Marry, Kids, Die. Its real. For that, Ron, we thank you.