The best music of 2018? Here are my favorites and the reasons I like them.
It was a year where warhorse veterans gave us their best music in ages, where genre-defying acts sounded splendid by simply sounding like themselves and where women made as much noise as the guys.
Here is a critic’s pick look back at the finest pop and pop-related recordings of 2018.
John Prine “The Tree of Forgiveness”
On his first album of new music in 13 years, Prine becomes a pokerfaced Mark Twain. His songs, in equal measure, are joyous (“When I Get to Heaven”), devastating (“Summer’s End”), whimsical (“Egg and Daughter Nite”) and sardonic (“Lonesome Friends of Science”) with a delivery that sounds like the sagely whisper of a grandfather as wily as he is worldly. “The Tree of Forgiveness” is the return of an American original.
Ry Cooder “The Prodigal Son”
After a string of albums highlighting activist urges that muted his musical strengths, Cooder digs into vintage spirituals, as well as originals that could pass for them. At times, the music is sleekly serene, as in the doo-wop solace of the redemptive “Straight Street.” In other instances, he plugs in, feels the spirit and lets things rip, as on the uproarious title track to “The Prodigal Son.” An astonishing return to form by a master song stylist.
Brandi Carlile “By the Way, I Forgive You”
Where do you start with this one? With the voice possessing enough drama, range and clarity to make Adele blush? The production by Americana chieftains Dave Cobb and Shooter Jennings? The arrangements by the great Paul Buckmaster, who died at age 71 before “By the Way” was released? Extraordinary songs such as “Sugartooth,” a merciful condolence to a drug-addled suicide? The combined strengths are pretty much atomic.
Kacey Musgraves “Golden Hour”
At first listen, “Golden Hour” is a pure pop work from Musgraves, a singer whose country roots have long been too devout for corporate Nashville to fully accept. Yet even as its music embraces dance-floor cool, as on “High Horse” and especially “Space Cowboy” (“You can have your space, cowboy”), the songs’ kiss-off storylines scream country tradition. Country radio, unsurprisingly, was left scratching its head.
Richard Thompson “13 Rivers”
Few artists have amassed a more consistently engaging song catalog as Thompson. Add “13 Rivers” to the list. It accelerates into full electric form through a series of restlessly elegant works emphasizing the efficient charge of his touring trio and, above all, the immediacy and stamina of his guitarwork. Ghosts of Thompson’s Brit-folk heritage still appear, but “13 Rivers” is a piledriving song gallery of the here and now.
Neko Case “Hell-On”
“My voice is straight garroting wire,” sings Case on an album literally forged out of fire — specifically the flames that burned her Vermont farmhouse to the ground. But through elements of vintage girl-group pop, blasts of twang and reverb and a voice and vision full of weary rage, “Hell On” peels back the years to revisit infernos of the past, the ones less obvious than the ones that claimed her home — the ones that still glow and singe.
Bettye LaVette “Things Have Changed”
There has never been a Bob Dylan tribute like “Things Have Changed.” Then again, few singers have approached his music with such insight and invention as soul empress LaVette. Nothing on this record is what you would expect, from the early ‘70s funk revision of “Political World” to a bayou-drenched (and dance floor friendly) take on “The Times They Are-A-Changin.” LaVette makes each song vital, urgent and her own.
The Wood Brothers “One Drop of Truth”
The 10th album by The Wood Brothers favors rootsy clarity over stylistic change. It is a celebration of the blues, soul, gospel and elemental rock ‘n’ roll mix the trio has forged into a single sound full of back porch harmonizing, gritty woodshed grooves and an almost carnival-esque sense of spiritualism. “One Drop of Truth” is the sound of a band taking stock of itself and appraising its strengths before reinforcing them.
I’m With Her “See You Around”
I’m With Her is the female folk alliance of Aoife O’Donovan, Sarah Jarosz and Sara Watkins. So confident is their creative bond that they take on the 12 songs from “See You Around” without any outside performance help or songwriting assistance, save for a cover of Gillian Welch’s previously unreleased “Hundred Years.” The resulting music is understandably sisterly, with siren-like harmonies and stories of dark melancholy.
The Jayhawks “Back Roads and Abandoned Motels”
Who could have imagined at this point in its career, after considerable splintering and reuniting, the Jayhawks would be making some of its finest music? On “Back Roads and Abandoned Motels,” leader Gary Louris turns democratic by giving bandmates Karen Grotberg and Tim O’Reagan turns at lead vocals and offering wistful new songs like “Carry You to Safety.” An album of assured but understated folk-pop beauty.
This story was originally published December 20, 2018 at 9:17 AM.