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Music Saved Me in 2022
The Best Albums of My Year
Pierce McIntyre issues many challenges, as does Paul Combs, and I can’t respond to them all — though I want to, I want to — but I cannot pass up a chance to weigh in on a year’s worth of great music. I think it’s been such a strong year, with comebacks and genre shifts for so many of my favorite artists, and welcome to some new-to-me ones, too.
What I’m loving most these days are the voices who are taking over what we are still calling Country Music. So many adjectives to use for this style, many of them taking up slots near the late 50’s on your Sirius-XM dial. For me, though, the ones that I live and die for are those who sound fresh and old. That might not make sense to all of you, but picture me as a boy sitting in front of the TV while Loretta Lynn or Buck Owens plays.
I can’t take my eyes off them, though I’m mildly scolded by parents who prefer sultry Sinatra or friends who skip to newer beats. What I’m hearing and seeing, though, are storytellers helping me feel free and not so alone as they smile and brandish guitars and pedal steels, singing me home or to sleep.
So no wonder that my favorites are those who are doing the same now. I’m a fairly urbane man in his 60’s and yet when this first group of my favorites plays, it’s Saturday afternoon again, and my soul is caught…
