Amythyst Kiah--Wary + Strange (Rounder): In recent years, my picks for album of the year are the ones that surprise me the most, and Amythyst Kiah's Wary + Strange is that and more--it's my #1 of '21. The Tennessean follows the Songs of Our Native Daughters collaboration with Rhinnon Giddens with a batch of songs that cut deeply. Marketed as country or folk, Kiah identifies as queer and dedicates Wary + Strange to their mother, who died by suicide (detailed in the song "Wild Turkey"). Moving musically from breezy to rockish and biting, Kiah sings, "I pick up the banjo and they sneer at me" in "Black Myself," one of several personal stories that ultimately becomes a hard-won triumph.
Carsie Blanton--Love & Rage (So Ferocious): Blanton has been making records since 2005--she's beyond charming while not afraid to strike down anything unjust in her way. Inspired by Nina Simone, John Prine and her own spirit, you're not going to find this combination of humor, sex and politics anywhere else. Check out YouTube for her outrageous cover of Justin Bieber's "Love Yourself" and her own "We're All F*%*d, Let's All F@*&," an indictment of Election Night 2016.
Jackson Browne--Downhill from Everywhere (Inside Recordings): Browne lost a good chunk of his audience when he veered political in the 1980s, yet he has always balanced those concerns with insightful lyrics about the search for everyday meaning and connections of the heart. His first release in seven years, all but two songs are new. The title track of Downhill from Everywhere is remarkable: furious rhythms, commentary on the erosion of society ("downhill from the sponsors and the camera crews"), call and response singing and Greg Leisz's superb guitar. The older pieces are a re-recording of "The Dreamer," Browne's 2017 song about DACA hopefuls, while his duet with Leslie Mendelson, "A Human Touch," was first heard in the 2019 film 5B. "A Human Touch" is absolutely lovely and tempers the album's more ambitious side.
Tony Bennett & Lady Gaga--Love for Sale (Columbia/Interscope): They're a great team and that gal can sing. The downside of this project is that Bennett and Gaga each get solo shots--just like they did on 2014's Cheek to Cheek--when it's the interplay that gives Love for Sale its most special moments. Tony is the one who chose to record all Cole Porter songs and he got it right. The greatest American songwriter ever? When you're talking standards, Porter was probably just that.
Liz Phair--Soberish (Chrysalis): Not bad but not what I was wishing for. The songs have a certain flair with hook-filled harmonic moments yet they're limited by percussion that seems like an afterthought. Everything works on the moody "Soul Sucker," though; it's an especially fine track.
Tower of Power--50 Years of Funk & Soul, Live at Fox Theater, Oakland, CA (Mack Avenue): Recorded on an up night in 2018, the band is kickin' throughout: dazzling horns meet the rhythm section of Marc Wageniner (bass) and drummer David Garabaldi (who played on Sly & the Family Stone's many treasures), and they're tight, tight, tight. Lenny Pickett, who sang on "So Very Hard to Go" and the band's most recognizable songs, is in the ensemble playing saxophone; lead vocalist Ray Greene emotes wonderfully throughout (he joined TOP late in 2013). There are two James Brown medleys and just about every Tower of Power classic except "Only So Much Oil In the Ground"; including that would have made the album more timely.
Neil Young with Crazy Horse--Way Down In the Rust Bucket (Reprise): There's one weird and revealing element to this long live set that makes it unique: the band, gearing up for their upcoming Ragged Glory 1990 tour in Santa Cruz, CA, is both relaxed and intense at the same time. It's a delicate, then roaring combination, from Young and Frank Sampedro's guitar textures on "Love and Only Love" to Neil's vulnerable singing on the epic "Cortez the Killer." Young has issued a ton of previously unreleased live material of late but you don't want to miss this.
The Willie Nelson Family (Legacy): A spare and wonderful set, with gospel tunes and updated takes on some of Willie's classics (he'll be 89 in April and his voice is still fairly sound, to paraphrase the singer). Sister Bobbie plays lovely piano throughout and Willie's son Lukas adds an stirring version of George Harrison's "All Things Must Pass." (Sad note: Bobbie Nelson passed at 91, the day after this posted.)
Sue Foley--Pinky's Blues (Stony Plain): Her raucous followup to 2018's The Ice Queen, singer-guitarist Foley plays and sings with snap--not to mention deep blues feeling. Her voice is what you'd characterize as small, yet she uses it with savvy, whether it's tough on Angela Strehli's "Two Bit Texas Town" or absolutely dreamy on "Think It Over." There's also a welcome revival of Frankie Lee Sims' 1957 "She Likes to Boogie Real Low" (she simply titles it "Boogie Real Low") with Foley playing guitar lines where some of us might add a risque vocal phrase when singing along. In the last few years, Foley has found major rejuvenation.
Chuck Berry--Live from Blueberry Hill (Dualtone): A ragged and right live set that's too short (30 minutes) and still totally uplifting. Chuck is between 79 and 80 years old on these dates, recorded July 2005 to January 2006. (Inspiring? Hey, McCartney is doing it now...starting a 2022 tour at 79, which will take him to age 80.) Joined again by Johnnie Johnson on piano and others, Live from Blueberry Hill collects mostly well-known sweet berries that incorporate fresh arrangements and pacing, while Berry's update of his "Rock and Roll Music" is nothing short of glorious:
Some people said rock and roll would fade
Been forty years since that remark was made
We're here to show that it's alive and well
In all America, ringing like a bell!