Be sure to "Like" Ear to the Ground on Facebook!
For your holiday shopping: The Drift - A Novel by Joe Wolfe-Mazeres Available at Amazon.com (Kindle edition also available)
I took an unexpected day off yesterday to fight off a winter cold - hopefully sucessfully... And busy end of week and weekend ahead.
Guess what! It is time for the 2018 Earie Awards. Looking back, I believe this is year 4 of the semi-prestigious awards. For those new to the E2TG fold, The Earies (tagline: The Earies: they sound kind of odd, but they really aren't) began as a way to recap the great music featured on E2TG over the last year. I don't do Top Ten (or more or less) lists. I'm not opposed to the concept, but I know I would obsess forever about what to include and what to leave off. So, I opted for giving out a bunch of awards.
The award names are arbitrary and sometimes silly, but the sentiment behind them is sincere. E2TG could not exist without the amazing music that comes my way every day. The music I feature ends up being a fraction of that submitted, and those that become "E2TG favorites" are a fragment of that fragment.
This year, I am trying something new- out of necessity. As I have been receiving and featuring more and more music, it became harder for me to keep up with it all. One way, I dealt with that in 2018 is to create Spotify Playlists for each month highlighting some of the music featured that month. See the bottom of this post for links to the Spotify Playlists.
To kick things off, today's special "Earier" shuffle comes from the January 2018 E2TG playlist. Enjoy!
"Old New Straitsville Blues" by Tim Easton
Since the Americana Music Association is thus far sleeping on Kevn Kinney's modest proposal, I am co-opting the idea for this year's first Earie Award. Tim Easton is one of East Nashville's favorites. His 2018 release, Paco and the Melodic Polaroids, is a stripped down take on some of his great songs. Easton spend much of this year away from East Nashville, and so I am awarding him the first ever E2TG Peter Case Award for Traveling Troubadours.
"Pariah Stomp" by Broken Guru
Not accidentally, I receive a lot of roots, blues, and Americanaish music. And I love the music I get from those genres, and it makes it all the sweeter when I get some good old fashioned hard indie rock music as a contrast. So, I am pleased to award long-time E2TG favorites Broken Guru with the Contrasting Sounds Award for 2018. This track is from their album Violets Exposed to Radiation - which found the New York band at the top of their game.
"Honey for My Soul" by Christine Rosander
Overall, 2018 at E2TG was notable for the increased number of hard rock, industrial, and heavy electronic music over past years. And all of that is awesome, which makes the beautiful songs - all the more special as an other contrast. So, I award Christine Rosander the More Contrasting Sounds Award for 2018. This is a gorgeous song from her album Been a Long Time - which we have been featuring all year.
"Wait for Me" (Bosveld cover) by Pat Power
Pat Power won the E2TG Band of the Year (Golden Earie) two years ago as part of Valued Customer. He is one of the most talented and creative individuals I have ever met. In January 2018, he released Ontario Gothic Vol. 1 - an album that paid tribute to some of the great songwriters from Canada's most populous province. This cover is a song by a band that E2TG has featured - Bosveld. I am giving Pat Power the Local Support Earie Award for his support of his local music scene.
"I've Got Friends Everywhere" by Maynard and the Musties
One cool thing about doing E2TG is that every once in awhile, I will write about a band and then years later get to meet and get to know them. Such is the case with Maynard and the Musties. The long-time Brooklyn band came to my attention via Couch by Couchwest. Then, the Maynard of Maynard and the Musties moved from New York back to Middle Tennessee where he grew up and I got to meet him. This song, from the album Nashville Magic, is a favorite of mine. The Friends Everywhere Earie Award goes to Maynard and the Musties. Partially because of this song, but mostly because - Maynard's Musties (a rotating cast) often seems to be made up of friends of mine.
"Fill Me Up" by Amilia K. Spicer
I got to meet Amilia K. Spicer during Americana Fest this year. So, now is a good time to point out that E2TG features music over time. So, the January playlist is music we played in January. I say all that because Wow and Flutter - Spicer's latest album came out in April of 2017. She probably won an Earie last year - at least I hope she did, but in E2TG's universe that does not have any impact on 2018. So, we featured the album again in January, and I am giving her an Earie. I'm not sure what to call it. Making a "Spice" joke about her name seems too easy. Co-opting her album name - well, there is a 50-50 chance I did that last year. So, since she has hung around the E2TG playlist much longer than her D.C. namesake - I'm giving her the Real Spicer Award for 2018.
"The Cold Hard Truth" by Charlie Smyth
The Way I Feel - the new solo album by Charlie Smyth (formerly of Western Shore) was not out in January when we featured this song. It is out now. I first met Smyth at a Tim Carroll Friday Happy Hour show back in 2014. The Western Short earned their place in E2TG lore by playing the first "unofficial" E2TG event. His wife and former bandmate Kalee Smyth is getting ready to release her solo album. You can here her vocals on this track. But, The Way I Feel is mostly all about Charlie Smyth - his great songs and his unique vocals phrasing. I'm giving him the Buddy's Man Award. (Buddy is the Smyth's cat - immortalized in song and in a No Depression photo that I submitted).
"Duplex Blues" by Big Shoes
Lot's of word play here. Big Shoes is a band featuring some of the amazing side musicians who make Nashville home. Their album is called Step On It! The band's origins are as a Little Feat tribute band, and their name pays homage to that great band. With, Step On It! The band stepped out from their origins to make a great album of mostly original music. I'm awarding them the, "Filling those Shoes" award for 2018."Lailly and Abdullah" by Rayvon Pettis
At the end of 2018, I named Rayvon Pettis the E2TG Artist of the Year award. He is one of only six people to win this award. His album Dying Light came out right at the end of 2018, and so, it was still being featured deep into 2018. This year, he played one of our E2TG Residency shows in June. This incredibly moving song is a favorite of mine. I am looking forward to seeing him tomorrow night at the CD Release show for the debut release by his backing band, The Big Dumb. So, for 2018, I am giving Rayvon the Pride of Fort Payne Award.
"Mister Sun Sister Moon" by Sounding Arrow
Another holdover from 2017, Sounding Arrow is the project of Scott Kinnebrew of Truth and Salvage Co. The album is called Loving is Breathing. Truth and Salvage Co. are reuniting for some shows later this month including one at Basement East here in Nashville. I am awarding Sounding Arrow the "Sound of Breath" Earie Award.
VIDEO PLAYLIST
I am continuing to work on my Spotify playlists for E2TG. So far, I have completed nine - January - October 2018. These are meant to be a cross-section of music I featured during those months - not necessarily music released in those months. If you are interested, you can check out the playlists (links below) and follow my personal profile to find out when new playlists are created.
JUST ADDED! October 2018 Playlist!
E2TG January 2018
E2TG February 2018
E2TG March 2018
E2TG April 2018
E2TG May 2018
E2TG June 2018
E2TG July 2018
E2TG August 2018
E2TG September 2018
E2TG October 2018 (NEW!)
E2TG November 2018 (Coming Soon!)
No comments:
Post a Comment