I had this all ready to go and never published it.  Better late than never.

I’m not really sure why I’m making this list again this year, except it is a lot of fun for me, as weird as that sounds, and I get to listen to lots of great music with purpose.  I narrow down songs from thousands to hundreds, then to two hundred, then one hundred and finally fifty.  This task is not easy, and mostly involves a lot of feeling, like if one track hits harder, or gets stuck longer, but I also like to think that I apply some loosely made up rubric inside my own head.  Sorta like if you are a legend you get one more point, if you are making a statement another, etc etc. Aside from all that though, I get to listen to songs over and over and create a relationship with them like we used to do, remember that?  Listening to your new favorite songs over and over again, partially because you had to (the world wide web hadn’t been gifted to us yet, with it’s entire catalog of every song ever), but also because you wanted to, you were in love.  Of all things, most of all this years list is about love, I narrowed it down to the essential tracks of the year that I felt in love with.

So this is MY list.  Of course the biggest (and admittedly best) songs of the year were Billie Eilish’s Bad Guy, Lizzo’s Truth Hurts and Lil Nas X’s Old Town Road, but they don’t belong here. This year’s list did have a flair for the quirky and country,… and made lots of room for baddies.

Thanks for playing, come again.

50. Cactus Blossoms-Got a Lotta Love

49. Fruit Bats-The Bottom of It

48. Big Thief-UFOF

47. Steve Moon-New Moon

46. Doug Tuttle-I’ll Throw It All Away

45. Grace Ives-Mirror

44. Walker Lukens-Baby

43. Boz Metzdorf-Sails Across the Sea

42.Danny Brown-Best Life

41. Flying Lotus-Black Balloons Reprise

40. Vincent Neil Emerson-25 & Wastin’ Time

39. Cass McCombs-Confidence Man

I can only assume this song is about tRump.  Nevertheless I love the laid back groove and hushed, almost secretive, poetic lyrics.

38. Marc Lanegan-Playing Nero

37. Dope Lemon-Salt and Pepper

36.Bill Callahan-If You Could Touch Her At All

35. Local Natives-When Am I Gonna Lose You

34. Karl Blau-Twilight

33. Night Beats-(Am I) Just Wasting Time

32. Cut Worms-How It Can Be

31. Brockhampton-Boy BYE

Also one of the most amusing video’s of the year.

30. Injury Reserve-Jailbreak the Tesla

29. Bon Iver-Hey MA

28. People Under the Stairs-Hard

27. Jim James, Teddy Abrams and the Louisville Orchestra-Back to the End of the World

26. Cate le Bon-Home to You

25. Tyler the Creator-New Magic Wand

24. Mac Demarco-On the Square

23. Kindness-Hard To Believe

22. Whitney-Giving Up

21. Lyrics Born and Cutso-Hit Number One

20. Izzy Bizu-Lights On

19. Beast Coast-It Ain’t Easy

18. Nubian Twist-Jungle Run

17. Sam Cohen-I Can’t Lose

16. Big K.R.I.T.-Energy

15. Wyclef-Baba

14. Steve Lacy-Playground

13. Brittany Howard-Stay High

12. Gang Starr-Bad Name

11. Sudan Archives-Confessions

10. Richard Hawley-My Little Treasures

9. Drug Dealer-Fools

8. Jamila Woods-BETTY

7. Andrew Bird-Bloodless

6. James Blake-Mile High

5. Nas-Jarreau of Rap (Skatt Attack)

4. Foxygen-Face the Facts

3. Purple Mountains-Snow is Falling in Manhattan

2. Madlib & Freddie Gibbs-Crime Pays

1. Emily King-Teach You

There is just something so special about this song.  I don’t know if it’s the mandolin casually skipping in after the verse or just the overall feel, that is entirely contemporary yet completely timeless.  Such a lovely and vibrant song, so full of life and love, and that is why it’s my favorite of the year.  It just stuck with me til the end.