While 2016 was a hard year, there was a lot of really great music. I have curated a list of what I consider to be the best tracks of the year, but there only a few albums that I enjoy in their entirety. As I listen to these artists, I realize that what I appreciate most about each of them is that they each come firmly established within a genre (country, R&B, Rock, folk, pop, and hip hop), and each of them transcends it to claim a unique voice and style. I’m attracted to that uniqueness, as well as a profundity in lyrics and musical expression. Here are the albums of 2016 that I can’t get enough of, all wonderful from start to finish:

Tedeschi Trucks Band – Let Me Get By

I’ve been listening to tracks from this album since they started releasing them late last year. The entire album was released in January, and it has really been my soundtrack for 2016. Perhaps this music has helped me get through the huge cultural losses of 2016 (Tedeschi Trucks has a connection to David Bowie through their bassist, Tim Lefebvre), and they played Bowie’s Oh You Pretty Things). I love this album. One of my favorite tracks is the song Just as Strange, which, in concert, Derek Trucks will open with a riff from the George Harrison song Within you and Without you, and it’s just beautiful.

Sturgill Simpson – A Sailor’s Guide to Earth

This album has so much going on. It’s fascinating to listen to. It has one nautical theme that threads throughout, and it’s a father’s attempt to welcome his first child to the world and pass on some wisdom. Thank goodness he chose to share it with the rest of us. I love that Sturgill Simpson insists on being his own person, defined by no music genre, though solidly based in country music. His cover of Nirvana’s In Bloom has the twang of a pedal steel guitar to establish that this is his interpretation of the grunge rock classic. It’s one of those covers that sounds so different, yet recognizable because it’s so familiar. He makes it his own while paying homage and respect to the original.

Solange – Seat at the Table

This album is a positive and empowering message, with lyrics that acknowledge personal struggle, ultimately delivering a prescription of self love and self care. There is strength and gentleness with layers of harmony that on tracks like Cranes in the Sky are almost cacophonous, but stay together in beautiful melody. There are interludes between some of the tracks, with voices talking about black pride, and each one is artfully woven into the songs on either side. Other albums have attempted this, with the effect of feeling like an interruption. Here the interludes flow and feel seemless from track to track. The artful weaving of the positive messages of the lyrics, the stories of the interludes, and the beautiful harmonies is what makes the album cohesive and a pleasure to hear from beginning to end.

Neco Case, kd lang, Laura Veirs – case/lang/veirs

As a long-time fan of both kd lang and Nico Case, I was anxiously awaiting the release of this album, and it didn’t disappoint. I’m not familiar with Laura Veirs music, but I’m very glad she joined the others for this unlikely collaboration. I was delightfully surprised when I heard about them coming together for this. I love each of their voices, but they are so different, both in voice quality and the style of music. Each singer has a chance to shine, taking turns singing lead while the other two back them up. I never would have put them together, but it really works.

Margo Price – Midwest Farmer’s Daughter 

This album is classic country music, and it has deservedly received a lot of critical acclaim. With songs about being hard up, hard drinking, and doing hard time, all sung with the strength of a survivor, these songs are a collection of stories that will make you laugh or say “hell, yes!” Many are comparing her to Loretta Lynn, and that influence is certainly present. But while steeped in the country tradition, Price has her own style. This being her debut album, I look forward to her future projects.

Sia – This is Acting

Sia is arguably the greatest current pop singer/song writer. While there are a few pop artists that I enjoy listening to, few would ever make my top ten albums list. Sia is the exception to that rule. I have been a fan since the first time I heard her with the closing song of the Six Feet Under series finale. Since then she has had numerous pop hits of her own, as well as penning songs for other artists. For a pop singer, Sia is deep and emotional, simultaneously able to capture life’s hardships and celebrations, sometimes in the same song. This is Acting has so may good songs! And it seems to me it is such an appropriate album for 2016, with lyrics that address loss, challenges, and resistance to negativity. In the song Reaper, she defiantly addresses death, saying “Don’t come for me today, I’m feeling good, let me savour it.” 2016 was a hard year, yet we persevere knowing we have more to do in this life.

Fantastic Negrito – The Last Days of Oakland

This album may have a special place in my heart because I spent my young adulthood in Oakland, CA.. He successfully captures so much of Oakland’s spirit, and the reality of what makes it simultaneously a wonderful and challenging place to live. The music is gritty and funky, and he artfully weaves into the music the voices of its denizens. I love his story, too. In 2015, he was the winner of NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert competition, and though he’s been making music for some time this is what put him on the map. After years of personal struggle, this album is his rising from the ashes. I hope to hear more from him.

Courtney Marie Andrews – Honest Life

At 27, this woman sings like an old soul. Her voice and songwriting reflect wisdom beyond her years. The album opens with Rookie Dreaming, and her voice soars with richness and strength with emotional expression. A review on NPR posits that “Somehow, between being born in Arizona in 1990 and moving to Washington in 2011, singer, songwriter and guitarist Courtney Marie Andrews seems to have spent time in early-’70s Laurel Canyon.” While I don’t like to compare musicians to each other, I can’t help but hear Joni Mitchell there. The music is more straight-forward folk/country, and the lyrics are intelligent, conveying feeling and story. Sometimes music has to grow on me, I need to hear it a few times before I can say that I like it. The first time I heard this album I knew it would be one of my favorites of 2016.

Of the many things I have been reading and hearing recently, the topics of race and class stand out. I was pleased to find many very good pieces that I have been mulling over and sharing with others.

The Stuff You Missed In History Class podcast dedicated two fascinating episodes on the history of redlining in the United States. The show astutely illustrates how early twentieth century policies on real estate and housing were overtly and unapologetically discriminatory against blacks. The two episodes show how these policies and now illegal practices have consequences that are still with us today.

The excellent podcast Decode DC did an episode about the late Senator Daniel Patrick Moinihan’s study in 1965 on poverty in the United States, which has, for better or worse, created a commonly held belief that poverty is caused by dysfunctional family and culture, and as a result the conversation essentially ignores the legacy of slavery.

Today I listened to the Philadelphia Free Library Author Events Podcast featuring an interview with Ta-Nehisi Coates about his life and his new book, Between the World and Me. Coates provides a tangible illustration of the damage done by the history of racist and classist policies in American institutions. For hundreds of years, for multiple generations, an entire class of people has been exploited, and effectively blocked from social and economic advancement.

I appreciate the widening interest and scholarship on this aspect of American life. I am hopeful that the information and insight coming to light will continue to advance the conversation on race, and help us all have a clearer understanding of our relationship and responsibility to work to change institutionalized racism and unjust policies.

Other recommended listening and reading:

• Slavery Did Not Die Honestly – The Atlantic (I am becoming a huge fan of this publication)
• Beyond ‘Aunt Jemima’: A Taste Of African-American Culinary Heritage – NPR, The Salt blog
• Behind The Founding Foodie, A French-Trained Chef Bound By Slavery – NPR, The Salt blog
• The White Man in That Photo – Films for Action blog

I am a music geek. I used to write a music review column for my college newspaper, and I have always listened to popular music with a discerning ear. I don’t claim to be a purist or an expert. I like what I like, and some times LOVE, and I’m driven to obsession at times to listen unceasingly to a new favorite album, or an old one, and to find out every little thing about its production and composition. But I haven’t acted like it in the last decade or so. I’ve been more of a dabbler, just turning on the radio and occasionally tuning in to my favorite music critics.

Spotify has inspired me to listen critically and intentionally again. My New Year’s resolution last year was to listen to music more intentionally again, and I have done that. It has been very enjoyable. As a result, I have created numerous playlists, and I have become more aware of new music.

So, I am making annual lists on Spotify, composed of the albums I am checking out, and the songs that I like best. I’m rather proud of my lists for 2014 and 2015. I’m particularly proud of my list for the current decade. There is a lot of good music out there!

In particular, the following are so far my favorites for 2015. I’m pretty sure these will stay in my top ten, as I cannot stop listening to them:

• The Firewatcher’s Daughter – Brandi Carlisle What can I say? I love Brandi’s voice. And she’s a beautiful lyricist.
• How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful – Florence and the Machine I love the drama and passion of Flo. I would make an exception to my no-stadium-shows rule if I could see her live. Not sure if I can make an exception to the exorbitantly priced tickets, but you get my meaning.
• The Weather Below – Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds This is just good music. Bluesy rock.
• Freedom & Surrender – LIzz Wright I was so excited about this album’s release that I was counting down the days. She hasn’t had a new album in years, and I’m so glad that she found another label to record with. Listening to Lizz Wright makes me feel like I’ve gone to church.
• Stuff Like That There – Yo La Tengo Georgia Hubley’s voice reminds me of Nico on her tracks with the Velvet Underground. I enjoy the unusual covers and their new songs.
• Ones and Sixes – Low This band is a new discovery for me. How did I not know about them for the last 20-odd years? They are amazing, and now I’m obsessed with catching up with their previous 14 albums. Beautiful, slow, mellow, a little brooding, sometimes rocking.

There are more albums I’m considering for my top ten or top twenty. There are still three months left of the year, so I look forward to having more to say in January!