Some new discoveries, some old favorites. Here are the albums that got stuck on my personal playlist in May. No particular order, I just added each one to the list as I listened to it for the umpteenth time.
• Molly Tuttle, Crooked Tree (4/1) - Alison Krauss and Union Station found the magic formula to take bluegrass music to the highest reaches of both country and pop music charts. Molly's excellent new record mines similar territory. Her superb band, Golden Highway, is a touch more traditional bluegrass sounding than Union Station, but any song on Crooked Tree could conceivably find similar success should the general public be given an opportunity to embrace her radio-friendly sound. Molly doesn't have a singing voice as distinctive as Alison (who does?), but her vocals are plainspoken and lovely. Her songs flow as naturally as Alison's from full bluegrass breakdown to pop, but don't shy away from the spooky blues roots of old-time mountain music. She brings a few heavy-hitter guests on board, too, like the wonderful Margo Price and bluegrass' flavor of the month, Billy Strings. "Side Saddle," a funny, uplifting duet with the one and only Gillian Welch makes me hope for a full album collaboration.
EARWORM: "Side Saddle" - A great song with a great message for women making their way in a male-centric world.
• Wet Leg (4/8) - The biggest indie buzz-band of 2022, the music world was waiting for the debut from these two smart and precocious British women. The teaser single, "Chaise Longue," was a smash hit on more than one continent. They're quirky in surprising and unexpected ways, but the band can slam into the songs like a hard rock hammer when they're not bouncing around out in left field - think early B-52s meets Pearl Jam. "I Don't Want to Go Out" is extremely satisfying in the way it glides from heavy rocker to lighters-raised power ballad and back again. "Wet Dream" is as salacious as its title, and really sassy and funny. And, of course, "Chaise Longue" is the perfect, maddeningly insistent, pop-rock single of the year, so far. I'm sure I'm older than their intended demographic, but I don't care. Wet Leg is a ton o' fun.
EARWORM: "Chaise Longue" - Because if you haven't heard it, you need to. Then go listen to the rest.
• Bonnie Raitt, Just Like That… (4/22) - Bonnie's wonderful new record finds her at 72, living the life. Her critical and commercial reputation remains rock solid, leaving her free to make records and play live shows when she feels inspired to do so, with musicians who inspire her. On the album's second track "Something's Got a Hold of My Heart," she sings "I know just what I want to do and when I want to do it..." and I don't doubt her for a second. Just Like That... isn't the feisty blues rock of her youth, it's deeper and more personal than that. Look beyond the album's soft, yacht-rock sound, and you'll hear Bonnie in marvelous voice, age having applied an appealing rich patina. Her new lyrics are incisive and plainspoken, much like the blues heroes who inspired her way back when. And she can still cut loose on her guitar with the best of them, better than most when she puts a slide on her finger.
EARWORM: "Love So Strong" - Bonnie's moving tribute to Toots Hibbert, a reggae legend who didn't survive the pandemic.
• Rolling Stones – El Mocambo 1977 (5/13) – A no-brainer, right? The Stones' infamous surprise gig in front of 300 fans in a Toronto club. We got our first tease of the recording on Side 3 of the otherwise ignorable Love You Live, but here's the full setlist, at last. The club was small and sweaty, the band's on stage and it's one of those nights. What strikes me now is how fantastic the old cover songs are, the band still obviously in love with the music that first inspired them.
EARWORM: "Around and Around" - The boys are definitely having some fun playing their favorite oldies. Keith always loves a chance to play some Chuck.
• Eli "Paperboy" Reed, Down Every Road (4/29) – Yep, I agree, this shouldn't work. Reed's the son of a music critic from Massachusetts. Dad gave him full access to his record collection, and young Eli discovered the blues, rhythm & blues, country blues, and soul. His albums and live shows are full-blown, horn-powered, gritty soul revues. On Down Every Road you hear some Otis, some Ray, and a big helping of sweet Philly soul on the ballads. But at the heart of the record are Merle's songs. That this record works so splendidly speaks to the universal truths he reached time and again in his songwriting.
EARWORM: "Teach Me to Forget" - You'll wonder if Merle actually wrote this to be a killer R&B ballad.
• Warren Zevon (1976) - I went to pull this one out of the stacks and throw it on the turntable a couple weeks ago and realized I didn't own a copy. A quick trip to the record store rectified that mistake, and it's rarely left the rotation since. The darkest, funniest renegade of the 70s L.A. singer/songwriters, this isn't technically Warren's debut album but many fans, like me, consider it to be. His real debut, 1969's Wanted Dead or Alive, was a misguided, utterly forgettable attempt by a record label to make him a pop idol, complete with black leather costumes. His first name wasn't even on the cover, it was released as "Zevon," part of the failed image-making.
Seven years later came Warren Zevon, one of the truly great records of that whole L.A. scene. Linda Ronstadt mined this album heavily for her own, she had huge hits with "Hasten Down the Wind," "Carmelita," and "Poor Poor Pitiful Me," basically bankrolling Warren's early career. An album that included those gems and still had room for "Frank and Jesse James," "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead," and the magnificent "Desperados Under the Eaves" should have been a monster hit. Thankfully, Warren would only have to wait one more record for the world to know his name.
EARWORM: "Desperados Under the Eaves" - A prime example of Warren's trademark combination of sweeping melody with a hint of menace.
• Charles Mingus, Trio (1957) - There's a complex musical conversation happening here that I just can't get enough of. Mingus is far more well known as a composer and arranger of big band jazz music, the intricate interplay of many musicians grounded by his fluid, adventurous bass playing. Small combo recordings, like Trio, are too rare in his catalog. Danny Richmond provides perfectly solid drumming throughout the session, but it's the remarkable give and take between Mingus' standup bass and Hampton Hawes' swinging, effervescent piano that steals the show. They hold hands, they butt heads, they argue, and they harmonize, sometimes all within the same tune. It's thrilling stuff.
EARWORM: "Summertime" - Mingus and Hawes take George Gershwin to a place he wouldn't have expected.
• Neil Diamond, Beautiful Noise (1976) - Another title that made this list via my LP collection. I found a pristine original copy of Beautiful Noise a few months ago, and have been stuck on it ever since. This one would have made an April best-of list, too, it just won't go away. Neil and the Band's Robbie Robertson are a combo I didn't see coming back in the day. I'm not entirely sure how they hooked up. I do know they were Malibu neighbors at the time, maybe they shared a few beers and talked music over the backyard grill. The general consensus in the music press at the time was that Neil was looking for a way to boost his credibility with the rapidly growing rock audience, which was leaving him behind, and there may be some truth to that. But I have to believe Robbie was blown away by the batch of songs he was given to produce, some of the finest of Neil's career. Robbie gave the songs settings that were richer and more surprising than any previous producer and Neil sang over them like a boss. Beautiful Noise was a huge hit, and is now considered a peak of both men's catalogs. Unfortunately, this was Neil's last great album, creatively speaking. He would take a turn for the less adventurous from here and sell a shit ton of soft-rock albums I never listen to.
EARWORM: "Dry Your Eyes" - The song Neil knocked out of the park in The Last Waltz.
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