Music & More

Photo courtesy of EMI/Black 47 To celebrate the band's 30th anniversary, Black 47 have released a superb tribute featuring seven guest artists who each recorded their choice of Black 47 song. Just one problem, leader Larry Kirwan disbanded Black 47 five years ago after they celebrated their 25th anniversary as a band. They had recorded a final album and gone out on a highly successful farewell tour with the last show broadcast live on the radio.  Fast forward to 2021. Even as a long term listener to Kirwan's Sirius XM radio program Celtic Crush, After Hours came as a bit of a surprise. Kirwan recently played the Screaming Orphans' version of "Sleep Tight in New York City," and while I was tracking that down I made the happy discovery of After Hours . When I asked Kirwan about the genesis of the briliant concept and execution, he replied: "The concept came from Pete Walsh of The Gobshites and Jon Birgé of Valley Entertainment. I merely suggested some of the...

  Photo courtesy of the artist On the surface, few artists would seem more antithetical to the image of Frank Sinatra than Willie Nelson. We'll skip the revelations about his voice not giving away his age and I'll just point out that he knows his way around a standard; he's written a few in his long, storied career. I'll rely on the Wikipedia to tell you that this is Willie's 71st solo studio album. That means that the number doesn't include groups that he was in, live albums, best of, etc. When you think about it, that number is truly staggering. That's Life is Nelson's second Sinatra tribute, his first being My Way (2018), and he's quite good at it. On  That's Life, we have fairly simple arrangements led primarily by piano, ably played by arranger Matt Rollings, and some exquisite steel guitar by Paul Franklin. The rest of the musicians are too numerous to name here, but there are plenty of gorgeous strings and saxes (among other instruments...

Photo courtesy of EvaCassidy.com If you've listened to Eva Cassidy, you probably know the beautiful artistry that she brought to her music. In the nearly two decades since the world became aware of her career, that was tragically shortened by cancer, it seems like everything that she had recorded has been released.  Acoustic is a twenty song collection of tunes that Cassidy recorded that consist for the most part of just voice and acoustic guitar. It was first released digitally in 2017. When I discovered it on Spotify then, I went looking for information about it and found none. Listening to it these last few years, I've been impressed with several things. These recordings pretty much represent the core of Cassidy's repertoire. Even though we may be used to hearing some of this material produced in different ways, the artistry and her singing style shines clearly on these tracks.  If I didn't know differently, this set sounds like it was all recorded in one afternoon....

Photo courtesy of Brian Auger Welcome, greetings, and thank you for stopping here to read my choices for the best music of 2020. You don't need another article about how weird a year we all had. I will say, however, that for the working musician it was mostly tough going. Those who earn their living on the road were reduced to the occasional live stream. That said, the psychology of the situation resulted in as many, if not more, album releases than your typical year.  This list is purely based on my preferences. There is no algorithm or other gatekeeper and the result is unlike any other such list that you may see, read, or hear from any other source.  So, welcome to my unique take on 2020.  I hope this time next year finds you happy, healthy, safe and vaccinated. I wish you peace for 2021. Album of the Year:  Brian Auger  – Introspection Brian Auger's epic career as a musician, composer, singer, producer, keyboard master, and band leader has now stretched into...