Five Musical Favorites From 2017

[erik]

It may have been an atrocity in terms of the political and social world, but it wasn't quite that way in terms of music. Here's what I hope are five examples of proof of that:

Stitch Of The World--Tift Merritt: How does this woman do it?! Her eighth solo album (but first since 2013) is another perfect mix of her own singer/songwriter perspective and the old-school country-rock of Linda and Emmylou.


The Post (soundtrack)--John Williams: The master of film scoring comes up with another good one, this one to Steven Spielberg's hugely topical political drama (a must-see film, if ever there was one)


Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 21 & 23--Simone Dinenrstein (piano); Havana Lyceum Orchestra/Jose Antonio Mendez Padron (conductor) : Tift's partner on their 2013 album Night collaborates with a Cuban (yes, Cuban!) youth orchestra for this recording of Mozart's two most popular piano concertos.


All American Made--Margo Price: The second album for the Illinois-born, East Nashville-based honky-tonk C&W renegade has a little bit of social commentary ("Pay Gap") and Southern-style soul ("A Little Pain") to satisfy pretty much anyone who wants to believe that Miranda Lambert is not the be-all, end-all of women in country music.


Copland: Symphony No. 3 + Three Latin American Sketches--Detroit Symphony Orchestra/Leonard Slatkin: What is arguably the Great American Symphony by the "Dean of American Composers" is combined interestingly with the not-heard-every-other-day Latin American Sketches, with Motown's orchestra and one of our greatest conductors.


There's plenty more, but these will do for a start (IMHO).

[fabtastique]

Dec 31, 2017 21:29:34 GMT -5 erik said:

It may have been an atrocity in terms of the political and social world, but it wasn't quite that way in terms of music. Here's what I hope are five examples of proof of that:

Stitch Of The World--Tift Merritt: How does this woman do it?! Her eighth solo album (but first since 2013) is another perfect mix of her own singer/songwriter perspective and the old-school country-rock of Linda and Emmylou.


The Post (soundtrack)--John Williams: The master of film scoring comes up with another good one, this one to Steven Spielberg's hugely topical political drama (a must-see film, if ever there was one)


Mozart: Piano Concertos Nos. 21 & 23--Simone Dinenrstein (piano); Havana Lyceum Orchestra/Jose Antonio Mendez Padron (conductor) : Tift's partner on their 2013 album Night collaborates with a Cuban (yes, Cuban!) youth orchestra for this recording of Mozart's two most popular piano concertos.


All American Made--Margo Price: The second album for the Illinois-born, East Nashville-based honky-tonk C&W renegade has a little bit of social commentary ("Pay Gap") and Southern-style soul ("A Little Pain") to satisfy pretty much anyone who wants to believe that Miranda Lambert is not the be-all, end-all of women in country music.


Copland: Symphony No. 3 + Three Latin American Sketches--Detroit Symphony Orchestra/Leonard Slatkin: What is arguably the Great American Symphony by the "Dean of American Composers" is combined interestingly with the not-heard-every-other-day Latin American Sketches, with Motown's orchestra and one of our greatest conductors.


There's plenty more, but these will do for a start (IMHO).

Eclectic mix !

[fabtastique]

I’m struggling to find new stuff I like at the moment, so any suggestions are welcome.

Tift is always great though.

[cymru56]

There are a number of albums I loved last year but the two artists new to me who really impressed were Courtney Marie Andrews (who I had the pleasure of meeting) and Dori Freeman

[erik]

Definitely the ones by Courtney and Dori (Dori's album, for the record, is titled Letters Never Read). And while you wouldn't know it on country radio, the womenfolk produced some of the greatest music of last year, including:

Freedom Highway--Rhiannon Giddens
Felony Blues--Jaime Wyatt
Windy City--Alison Krauss
Puxico--Natalie Hemby

...and many others.