Here are my picks for the Top 19 folk-rooted or
folk-branched albums of 2019. As in past years, I started with the list of
hundreds of albums that landed on my desk over the past year and narrowed it
down to a short list of about 30. I’ve been over the short list several times
over the past couple of weeks and came up with several similar – not identical
– Top 19 lists. As I’m about to take a break from blogging until January,
today’s list is the final one. The order might have been slightly different,
and there are several other worthy albums that might have been included, had
one of the other lists represented the final choice.
1. Leonard Cohen – Thanks for the Dance (Columbia/Legacy). When
Leonard Cohen died less than three weeks after You Want It Darker
was released in 2016, it was assumed that it was his final work. That album was
produced by Adam Cohen, Leonard’s son, himself an accomplished
singer-songwriter. As we now know, rough sketches for more songs – essentially
Leonard reciting or gently singing his song-poems – were recorded during those
sessions. Near the end of his life, Cohen the father tasked Cohen the son with
completing the songs. The result is Thanks for the Dance, yet another
Leonard Cohen masterwork of nine song-poems, seven of which have musical
settings composed or co-composed by Adam.
2. Tom Russell – October in the Railroad Earth (Frontera Records). On several albums
over the past two decades, Tom Russell has dedicated himself to brilliant
explorations of lost or
dimly remembered aspects of American culture. Tom continues that exploration on
October in the Railroad Earth, an album Tom describes as “Jack
Kerouac meets Johnny Cash in Bakersfield.” From the title song,
inspired by the life and writings of Kerouac, through life-on-the-road songs, a
corrido based on the death of a Mexican cowboy in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West
Show, and a poignant true-story song about brothers who went off to war in the
Middle East and didn’t really make it home even though they did come home,
these songs continue to reinforce my long-held opinion that Tom is the finest
songwriter of my generation.
3. SONiA disappear fear – By My
Silence (Disappear Records). By My Silence by
SONiA disappear fear (Sonia Rutstein) was inspired by such issues as the
growing waves of antisemitism witnessed in Europe and North America in recent
years and anger over the oppression of refugees and political dissidents. In in
“Who I Am,” Sonia, a lesbian, seems to be in dialogues with her
mother and with God about her sexuality. Her stunningly beautiful version of
“Hatikvah,” sung as a prayer-like meditation, reflects on the feelings of hope
at the heart of the Israeli national anthem, and her version of Leonard Cohen’s
“Hallelujah,” is one of the best I’ve heard.
4. Susan Werner – NOLA: Susan Werner Goes to New Orleans (Sleeve
Dog). New Orleans is one of my favorite music cities and on NOLA: Susan
Werner Goes to New Orleans, Susan
Werner captures the essence of the
city through a set of original songs that reference the city’s history, its
music and its food – all performed in arrangements that pay homage to NOLA’s
traditional jazz. She caps the set with a jazzy interpretation of the
traditional “House of the Rising Sun.”
5. John McCutcheon –
To Everyone in All the World: A
Celebration of Pete Seeger (Appalsongs). John McCutcheon – who has surely been one of our finest
folksingers for decades now – was deeply inspired by Pete Seeger, whom
he describes as “a beacon, a mentor, a friend, a musical partner” to him. On To Everyone in all the World: A Celebration
of Pete Seeger, John offers a loving and masterful tribute to Pete,
released to celebrate the centennial year of his birth, with 15 songs from his
repertoire (12 of them written or co-written by Pete), performed in many
different styles, many of them featuring stellar guest collaborators.
6. Rhiannon
Giddens with Francesco Turrisi – There
is No Other (Nonesuch). On There is No Other, Rhiannon Giddens collaborates
with multi-instrumentalist Francesco Turrisi on a deep, intense and inspiring set of songs from
or inspired by various musical traditions that serve to validate the humanity
in all of us. The sounds of Francesco’s instruments – which
often suggest European or Middle Eastern influences – blend beautifully with
Rhiannon’s voice, banjo and strings.
7. Shelley
Posen – Ontario Moon
(Well Done Music). Shelley Posen is well known throughout the folk music world as a member of Finest Kind, a mostly-retired Ottawa
vocal trio known for its glorious harmonies, and as a versatile singer and
songwriter whose work touches many genres. Ontario Moon, his
fifth solo album, features a dozen songs uniquely arranged with musicians specifically recruited for the song in
question.
8. Archie Fisher & Garnet Rogers – The Best Times After All: live (Snow Goose Songs). Archie Fisher,
one of Scotland’s finest folksingers, and Garnet Rogers, one of
Canada’s, have collaborated often over the past three decades. On The Best Times After All: live, recorded during four concerts in Ontario
in 2018 (including the one I attended in Ottawa), the pair trade songs and,
occasionally, verses, and back each other on original songs, folk songs, and
songs drawn from several other contemporary writers. Together, Archie and
Garnet bring out the best in each other.
9. Our Native
Daughters – Songs of Our Native
Daughters (Smithsonian Folkways). Our Native Daughters is a
collective of four superb African American singers, songwriters and
instrumentalists including Rhiannon Giddens and Leyla McCalla,
both veterans of the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Allison Russell,
who grew up in Montreal and is known for her work with Po’ Girl and Birds
of Chicago, and Amythyst Kiah. Singing and playing in various
combinations, the four run through a program of mostly original songs inspired
by African American history, particularly the history of African American
women, as well as personal struggles and triumphs.
10. Bob Dylan – Travelin’
Thru: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 15, 1967-1969 (Columbia/Legacy).
This three-CD set documents music recorded by Bob Dylan in Nashville
between 1967 and ’69 and includes outtakes and alternate versions from John
Wesley Harding – still one of my favorite Dylan albums – and Nashville
Skyline, as well as the complete sessions with Johnny Cash (which takes up
all of the second CD and part of the third), the audio from Dylan’s appearance
on the Johnny Cash TV show, and four songs recorded with bluegrass banjo legend
Earl Scruggs.
11. Ian & Sylvia – The Lost Tapes (Stony Plain). Ian
Tyson had a weekly
TV show in Canada from 1970 until 1975 and Sylvia Tyson was on
the show often. Recently, Sylvia rediscovered a trove of live tapes from that
era and worked with producer Danny Greenspoon to assemble The Lost
Tapes, a wonderful two-CD collection. The first CD is mostly Ian
& Sylvia classics and the second includes their versions of songs drawn
from various country, folk and blues sources. This album is a nice
reminder of the historic importance of Ian & Sylvia to folk music and to
the emergence of country rock.
12. Lisa Gutkin, Aaron
Halva & Company – Indecent:
Original Broadway Cast Recording (Yellow Sound Label). Central to the
Broadway production of “Indecent” is the musical score created by violinist Lisa Gutkin, well known in klezmer music
circles as a member of the Klezmatics,
and accordionist-pianist Aaron Halva.
While a few of the pieces in the score are familiar, most of the numbers
were composed by Lisa and Aaron specifically for the show. You don’t
really have to know the plot of the play to appreciate this music. Whether
instrumentals featuring the band or songs with vocals by the production’s
actors, the music will appeal to anyone who loves traditional klezmer or
Yiddish theatre music.
13. Daniel Kahn with
Vanya Zhuk – Bulat Blues (Oriente
Musik). On Bulat Blues, singer Daniel Kahn, who is well known on
the klezmer scene as leader of Daniel Kahn & The Painted Bird, collaborates
with Russian seven-string guitarist Vanya Zhuk on Daniel’s translations
of songs written by Bulat Okudzhava, whose songs “come from his
experiences as a soldier, pacifist, poet and novelist of the Second World War.”
I was not previously familiar with Okudzhava so this album was one of my great
revelations of the year.
14. Aviva Chernick – La
Serena (Aviva Chernick) Singing primarily in the Judeo-Spanish
language Ladino, but also in Hebrew and, briefly, in English, Toronto-based
singer Aviva Chernick’s new album, La Serena, is an exquisite
exploration of Sephardic songs. The CD booklet includes English-language
translations of each of the song so that the meaning of the lyrics enhances the
music and the enthralling sound of Aviva’s voice.
15. Durham County Poets – Hand
Me Down Blues (Durham County Poets). The Durham County Poets, based
in the Chateauguay Valley south of Montreal, whose music I’ve enjoyed since
their first album, keep getting better and better. On Hand Me Down Blues,
they zone in on the blues and, mixing original material with some excellent
covers, have recorded one of the finest blues albums of the year.
16. Michael Jerome Browne – That’s Where It’s At (Borealis). On That’s Where It’s At, Michael
Jerome Browne, one of Canada’s finest and most versatile acoustic blues
artists – actually a master of many traditional roots styles – mostly turns his
attention to the soul side of R&B, with some original material (co-written
with B.A. Markus) and well-chosen covers from the likes of Stevie Wonder and
Sam Cooke. It’s a stripped-down production with Michael on guitars,
harmonica and banjo, and drummer John McColgan on five songs and
cameos by vocalists Harrison Kennedy, Eric
Bibb
and Roxanne Potvin.
17. Michael Peter Smith – Fifteen
Songs from Moby Dick (Michael Peter Smith). This is a fascinating project
from Michael Peter Smith, whose songs include such classics as “The
Dutchman” and “Spoon River.” Taking words directly from Herman Melville’s “Moby
Dick,” Michael has crafted 15 songs, each of which stands on its own merits but
which flow together to create a narrative of sorts.
18. Bruce Cockburn – Crowing Ignites (True North) Instrumentals have always been an
important component of Bruce Cockburn’s music and not for the first time
he’s released a masterful album
of original compositions for acoustic guitar drawing stylistically from gospel,
blues, Celtic and other folk and roots forms. There is a meditative, spiritual
feel to several of the pieces.
19. Windborne – Recollections/Revolutions (Wand’ring Feet) Windborne’s
two-CD set, Recollections/Revolutions, is a lovely collection of traditional
and contemporary folk songs arranged in four-part harmonies with many of the
songs performed a cappella and many of them reflecting on issues of social
justice. The first CD, apparently, was originally released in 2015, but it was
new to me.
I will be featuring songs from each of these
albums when I host the Saturday Morning program on CKCU on Saturday, January 4,
7-10 am. (The program will also be available 24/7 for on-demand streaming after
it airs.)
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–Mike Regenstreif
