Shooflypie

I decided today that I did want to put some effort into more 2016 wrap-up posts after all. My music thoughts will be in two parts - this list of my 20 favorite albums and a post that accompanies my best-of playlist that will go up on Spotify. I normally do just a top ten list, but I've listened to so much good music this year that I wanted to expand the list. I love music and I want to share that love; hopefully, my few words on each might encourage you to check some of them out... 1. Drive-By Truckers/American Band - I've been a fan of the DBTs for over a decade, so a new album is a no-brainer. This one, however, is their strongest since Brighter Than Creation's Dark in 2008. I think they were energized by the political writing they did for this album, responding to the seemingly endless shootings of African Americans and other gun violence with some powerful songs like "What It Means" and "Ramon Casiano." Not every song is political; Mike Cooley gi...

I mentioned about a month ago that I was unsure whether I wanted to go forward with the Sunday Shuffle on a regular basis or not. I've had the idea of the Sunday Sculpt in my head for many months, but I wasn't sure if it was something I really wanted to commit to. Well, I can at least try it out and see if I like it. So, here we are. What is the Sunday Sculpt? It's a way for me to include music by artists that I mostly have on CD. Obviously, I can't shuffle massive amounts of albums, as would be the case for, say, Springsteen or Tom Petty. I still don't want to ignore all this music I love. I also like creating playlists, but I haven't really put one together in a while. The Sunday Sculpt is a way to combine those two desires. I'll come up with a spontaneous playlist for one artist (or maybe based around a theme at some point) and instead of putting play counts and last played information, I'll write a few words about why I chose the song or what have ...

I haven't done one of these posts since the end of October back at the previous blog. This one covers the end of March and beginning of April only, or else it would be quite long (sorry, Built to Spill). Buffalo Tom/Let Me Come Over - I got this from eMusic quite a while back and only listened to it a few times. I decided to dig it up and give it a listen recently and promptly wondered what had taken me so long. This is the type of music I just eat up - melodic rock with lyrics you want to listen to. This album is from 1992, which also begs the question as to why I haven't been a fan for 20 years. Still, better late than never, right? Standout songs for me include "Taillights Fade," "Stymied," and "Frozen Lake." Drive-By Truckers/Go-Go Boots - I had a ticket to go see the DBTs in early March, which was the early stages of their tour behind this record. However, I'd been very ill the weekend before and was still having issues with my back and ...