Favorite Albums of 2019 (Balto edition)
By Erik did his music roundup yesterday, beating me to the punch and probably stealing all the good discussion. So it goes. Here are 40ish albums I really liked this year. Unlike my favorite fiction list, it’s required that these be released this year. There’s a bit of overlap with Erik, but not much. It was a good and diverse year for music.
By popular request, here is a link to the below songs (one of my favorite tracks from each of my favorite records) in Spotify form:
Yola — Walk Through Fire
Hiss Golden Messenger — Terms of Surrender
Humbird — Pharmakon
Bon Iver — i,i
Lizzo — ‘Cuz I Love You
Brittany Howard — Jaime
Joan Shelley — Like the River Loves the Sea
Big K.R.I.T. — K.R.I.T. IZ HERE
Tyler Childers — Country Squire
The Paranoid Style — A Goddamn Impossible Way of Life
Little Brother — May the Lord Watch
Justin Peter Kinkel-Schuster — Take Heart, Take Care
Shane Leonard — Strange Forms
Carsie Blanton — Buck Up
Rapsody — Eve
J.S. Ondara — Tales of America
The Highwomen — The Highwomen
Coyote Brother — Coyote Brother
Jamila Woods — LEGACY! LEGACY!
Jake Xerxes Fussell — Out of Sight
Field Report — How We Tell It Now and Under Glass EPs
Anna Tivel — The Question
Jenny Lewis — On the Line
Missy Elliot — Iconology EP
Lula Wiles — What Will We Do
Our Native Daughters — Our Native Daughters
Black Pumas — Black Pumas
Charlie Parr — Charlie Parr
Carly Rae Jepsen – Dedicated
Maren Moris — GIRL
The National — I Am Easy to Find
Tanya Tucker — While I’m Livin’
Madison Cunningham – Who Are You Now
Mike and the Moonpies — Cheap Silver and Solid Country Gold
Big Thief — Two Hands
Molly Tuttle — When You’re Ready
Big Thief — U.F.O.F.
Mavis Staples — We Get By
Bruce Springsteen — Western Stars
Kelsey Waldon – White Noise/White Lines
Luther Dickinson and the Sisters of the Strawberry Moon – Solstice
William Tyler — Goes West
Jade Bird — Jade Bird