Dion - "I Got Nothin'" featuring Van Morrison & Joe Louis Walker - Offic...

  

As we head into the last months of 2020 and look back at the year in music, several of the year’s best releases were from artists who reached their commercial peak decades ago. And while they may not sell millions of records anymore, many have put out the year’s best music. Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen produced widely heralded new music in 2020. But one artist whose career dates back to the early years of rock-and-roll made one of  2020s very best recordings. Dion DiMucci, the Wanderer himself, released Blues with Friends (KTBA) a collaboration with many top blues and rock musicians including Springsteen, Jeff Beck, Sonny Landreth, Van Morrison, Billy Gibbons (Z.Z. Top), Brian Setzer, and many more. 

When an artist releases an album full of guest stars, it’s often an attempt to add commercial appeal and move some units. It can lead to a mishmash of songs that don’t add up to a cohesive recording. That is not the case with Blues with Friends. 

Dion co-wrote every song here and the results reveal a songwriter who perhaps hasn’t gotten the credit he deserves. Produced by blues guitar slinger Joe Bonamassa, this record has been in regular rotation since its release in June. There are traditional sounding blues numbers here along with a couple of gorgeous ballads, notably “Can’t Start Over Again” with Jeff Beck adding an appropriate bluesy lead guitar. In addition, Dion who always stood out from the crowd for his gifted voice sounds fantastic in this set.

Van Morrison, an old friend, lends a vocal to “I Got Nothin’” and sounds right at home trading verses with Dion while Joe Louis Walker provides lead guitar. Paul Simon, fellow New Yorker, adds harmonies to “Song For Sam Cooke (Here in America), a definite highlight. 

Dion’s career has included his initial success as a leader of Dion and the Belmonts, dozens of solo hits in the early 1960s including “Runaround Sue,” and “The Wanderer.” After the British invasion changed the landscape of popular music, he struggled to find his place in a changing marketplace. He revived his career in 1968 with “Abraham, Martin and John.” He released several albums of singer/songwriter material but never regained commercial success. 

Recent years have seen the release of several blues based recordings, but he has reached new heights with “Blues with Friends.”

Best Recordings of 2020 - Jamie Wyatt Neon Cross

 

As 2020 mercifully staggers to an end, it’s time to decide the best releases of the last year. Marred by a global pandemic and the loss of several musical icons, including Jerry Jeff Walker, Billy Joe Shaver and John Prine, great music continued to be released by emerging artists. I listened to Jamie Wyatt’s Neon Cross (New West), constantly since its release on May 29. Never heard of her? Neither had I prior to this release. Produced by Shooter Jennings, son of Outlaw country music legend, Waylon Jennings, this is her second full length recording and it’s stunning.

It’s dominated by Wyatt’s unique voice and a healthy dose of pedal steel guitar. At times this is reminiscent of Tammy Wynette and old school "heart on your sleeve" country music. The quality Wyatt’s singing and songwriting sets it apart and rises above the rest.

Despite being her first release for New West records, she doesn’t play it safe. The up tempo title song would have made a great opening track, instead she opens with the gorgeous ballad, "Sweet Mess.” That’s followed by the intense and galloping beat of the title cut. Every song here is memorable and includes a duet with producer Jennings’ mother, Jessi Colter on “Just a Woman."

Great country music has always included an element of pain and struggle, and Jamie Wyatt bares it all. Addiction and even jail time are further evidence she has paid her dues. The rasp and pain in her voice makes it plain she that has lived these songs. Listen to the moaning pedal steel guitar that accompanies the heartbreakingly desperate plea in “Mercy.” Like any survivor, there is plenty of hope and even humor sprinkled through the eleven songs on Neon Cross.

Shooter Jennings does an excellent job of directing the songs and adding his vocal to “Hurt So Bad.” This a recording that will be remembered as one of 2020’s musical high points.[

Best Recordings of 2020: Arlo McKinley - Die Midwestern

 

Everyone loves an underdog. So the chances of a 40 year old singer/songwriter from Cincinnati releasing one of the best recordings of 2020 should be a cause for celebration. Most musicians have given up any hope of a career in music at 40. Fortunately, Arlo McKinley persevered and became the last artist signed by John Prine to his Oh Boy label prior to his death. Die Midwestern is one of the finest collection of songs in 2020. If McKinley was around in the 1980s, he would fit right in with mainstream rock-and-roll artists like Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Tom Petty or Bob Seger. 

“Bag of Pills” has rightfully garnered attention as one of the standout tracks and was the song            that     convinced Prine to sign him. Selling pills so he can afford to take his girl out drinking is not the type of song you're going hear on commercial radio. This is old school, meat and potatoes music. These are not songs about driving a pickup to the beach. These are familiar subjects: love lost and found, pain and redemption, and the need to pick and leave in the hope of better things. But throughout is an underlying sense of hope and a search for something better. Die Midwestern immediately places Arlo McKinney among the more gifted songwriters on the Americana scene.