I'm not really doing the "Grampies" anymore like I used to, as it simply requires too much time and energy to be constantly tracking the new music coming out, giving it a fair and adequate listen, and then trying to figure out how to categorize everything by genre, to say nothing yet of determining my favorites. After this past year, concluding the second decade of the twenty-first century, I posted the Final Countdown and resolved henceforth to focus on a far more limited number of favorite artists.
Even so, there were lots of great albums released this year by those artists I already know and love, and I've been tracking and enjoying all of that for its own sake. As this Year of Our Lord 2021 is drawing to a close, I'm not anticipating that there will be any more new albums coming out between now and January 2022 (although I could be caught by surprise, as I have been a time or two in the past). So, rather than waiting until I'm up to my eyeballs in the Christmas Season to compile a list of my favorite albums of the year, I've done so in a low-key way this evening.
My favorite new releases of 2021, hands down, were my new baby grands: Belteshazzar Stuckwisch (19 April), Evelyn Sams (29 April), Jerome Harrison (28 November), and Henrietta Stuckwisch (1 December). But as for new music albums, here are some lists of those that caught my attention and brought joy and gladness to my year:
My Top Twenty Favorite Albums of 2021:
Joe Bonamassa - Time Clocks
Mammoth WVH - Mammoth WVH
Mat Kearney - January Flower
NF - Clouds (The Mixtape)
Tremonti - Marching in Time
Cody Jinks - Mercy / None the Wiser (Caned by Nod)
Demon Hunter - Songs of Death and Resurrection
Inglorious - We Will Ride / Heroine
Myles Kennedy - The Ides of March
NeedToBreathe - Into the Mystery
Black Veil Brides - The Phantom Tomorrow
Accept - Too Mean to Die
Daughtry - Dearly Beloved
Cody Johnson - Human: The Double Album
The Steel Woods - All of Your Stones
Volbeat - Servant of the Mind
Foo Fighters - Medicine at Midnight
Santana - Blessings and Miracles
Dream Theater - A View from the Top of the World
Twenty-One More Favorite Albums of 2021:
Iron Maiden - Senjutsu
Watchhouse - Watchhouse
Brandi Carlile - In These Silent Days
Lady A - What a Song Can Do
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raise the Roof
John Mayer - Sob Rock
Smith/Kotzen - Smith/Kotzen
Switchfoot - Interrobang
Kacey Musgraves - Star-Crossed
Keuning - A Mild Case of Everything
Night Ranger - ATBPO
The Black Keys - Delta Kream
Sunstorm - Afterlife
Joel Hoekstra’s 13 - Running Games
Travis Tritt - Set in Stone
Passenger - Songs for the Drunk and Broken Hearted
Metalite - A Virtual World
Parker Millsap - Be Here Instead
OneRepublic - Human
The Neal Morse Band - Innocence & Danger
Imagine Dragons - Mercury - Act 1
And 20+22 Albums from ‘21 to Grow On in ‘22:
Black Label Society - Doom Crew Inc.
KK’s Priest - Sermons of the Sinner
Temperance - Diamanti
Flatland Cavalry - Welcome to Countryland
Zac Brown Band - The Comeback
George Lynch - Seamless
Sammy Hagar & The Circle - Lockdown 2020
Dori Freeman - Ten Thousand Roses
ABBA - Voyage
Blackberry Smoke - You Hear Georgia
Heavy Water - Red Brick City
Steve Lukather - I Found the Sun Again
The Doobie Brothers - Liberté
Liquid Tension Experiment - LTE3
Thunder - All the Right Noises
Kings of Leon - When You See Yourself
Mayday Parade - What It Means to Fall Apart
Gus G - Quantum Leap
Jimmy Barnes - Flesh and Blood
Beast in Black - Dark Connection
Joanne Shaw Taylor - The Blues Album
Ally Venable - Heart of Fire
Gary Hughes - Waterside / Decades
Voodoo Circle - Locked & Loaded
Damon Johnson & The Get Ready - Battle Lessons
Eclipse - Wired
The Night Flight Orchestra - Aeeromantic II
Trivium - In the Court of the Dragon
Times of Grace - Songs of Loss and Separation
Peter Frampton Band - Peter Frampton Forgets the Words
Sirenia - Riddles, Ruins & Revelations
Twenty-One Pilots - Scaled and Icy
Greta Van Fleet - The Battle at Garden’s Gate
Kristian Bush - Troubadour
Sturgill Simpson - The Ballad of Dood & Juanita
Wolfmother - Rock Out
Nancy Wilson - You and Me
Toby Keith - Peso in My Pocket
Trace Adkins - The Way I Wanna Go
Adele - 30
Lilly Hiatt - Lately
The Dead Daisies - Holy Ground
My Twenty-One Favorite Album Covers of 2021:
A View from the Top of the World (Dream Theater)
Time Clocks (Joe Bonamassa)
Seamless (George Lynch)
Innocence & Danger (The Neal Morse Band)
Songs of Death and Resurrection (Demon Hunter)
We Will Ride (Inglorious)
In the Court of the Dragon (Trivium)
All the Right Noises (Thunder)
Human (OneRepublic)
Mammoth WVH (Mammoth WVH)
A Virtual World (Metalite)
NIRATIAS (Chevelle)
Diamanti (Temperance)
Aeromantic II (The Night Flight Orchestra)
Senjutsu (Iron Maiden)
The Phantom Tomorrow (Black Veil Brides)
Riddles, Ruins & Revelations (Sirenia)
Too Mean to Die (Accept)
Afterlife (Sunstorm)
Escape of the Phoenix (Evergrey)
Blessings and Miracles (Santana)
Eighty-Four Favorite Songs of 2021:
“The Heart That Never Waits” (Joe Bonamassa - Time Clocks)
“The Loyal Kind” (Joe Bonamassa - Time Clocks)
“Time Clocks” (Joe Bonamassa - Time Clocks)
“Notches” (Joe Bonamassa - Time Clocks)
“Circles” (Mammoth WVH - Mammoth WVH)
“Distance” (Mammoth WVH - Mammoth WVH)
“Clouds” (NF - Clouds: The Mixtape)
“Paid My Dues” (NF - Clouds: The Mixtape)“Story” (NF - Clouds: The Mixtape)
“Lost” (NF & Hopsin - Clouds: The Mixtape)“Just Like You” (NF - Clouds: The Mixtape)
“I Will Fail You” (Demon Hunter - Songs of Death and Resurrection)
“The Heart of a Graveyard” (Demon Hunter - Songs of Death and Resurrection)
“Crazyland” (Eric Church - Heart)
“Stick That in Your Country Song” (Eric Church - Heart)
“Russian Roulette” (Eric Church - Heart)
“Through My Ray-Bans” (Eric Church - &)
“Doing Life with Me” (Eric Church - &)
“Break It Kind of Guy” (Eric Church - Soul)
“Bright Side Girl” (Eric Church - Soul)“Hell of a View” (Eric Church - Soul)
“All it Cost Me Was Everything” (Cody Jinks - Mercy)“How It Works” (Cody Jinks - Mercy)
“Mercy” (Cody Jinks - Mercy)
“Dying Trying” (Caned by Nod - None the Wiser)
“Briefcase” (Walker Hayes & Lori McKenna - Country Stuff)
“'Til You Can't” (Cody Johnson - Human: The Double Album)“I Always Wanted To” (Cody Johnson - Human: The Double Album)
“By Your Grace” (Cody Johnson - Human: The Double Album)
“God Bless the Boy: Cori’s Song” (Cody Johnson - Human: The Double Album)
“I Wanna Remember” (NeedToBreathe & Carrie Underwood - Into the Mystery)
“Chances” (NeedToBreathe - Into the Mystery)
“What I'm Here For” (NeedToBreathe - Into the Mystery)“They Don’t Make ‘Em Like That No More” (Travis Tritt - Set in Stone)
“Smoke in a Bar” (Travis Tritt - Set in Stone)
“In Between” (Parker Millsap - Be Here Instead)
“The Best Is Yet to Come” (Accept - Too Mean to Die)
“No Ones Master” (Accept - Too Mean to Die)
“No Time for Toxic People” (Imagine Dragons - Mercury: Act 1)
“Wake Me When It’s Over” (Myles Kennedy - The Ides of March)
“The Ides of March” (Myles Kennedy - The Ides of March)“Love Hurts” (Jimmy Barnes & Jane Barnes - Flesh and Blood)
“Happy Birthday America” (Toby Keith - Peso in My Pocket)
“Move” (Santana, Rob Thomas, American Authors - Blessings and Miracles)
“Joy” (Santana & Chris Stapleton - Blessings and Miracles)
“All of Your Stones” (The Steel Woods - All of Your Stones)
“Pontiac” (Mat Kearney - January Flower)“Grand Canyon” (Mat Kearney - January Flower)
“Anywhere With You” (Mat Kearney - January Flower)“Workin’ on This Love” (Lady A - What a Song Can Do)
“Worship What I Hate” (Lady A - What a Song Can Do)
“What a Song Can Do” (Lady A - What a Song Can Do)
“Let That Be Us” (Tremonti - Marching in Time)
“Marching in Time” (Tremonti - Marching in Time)
"Better Days" (The Doobie Brothers - Liberté)
"Just Can't Do This Alone" (The Doobie Brothers - Liberté)"Cry for Help" (Daughtry - Dearly Beloved)
"Asylum" (Daughtry - Dearly Beloved)
“Where We Call Home” (Wade Bowen - Where Phones Don’t Work)
“Be You” (Wade Bowen - Where Phones Don’t Work)
“Little Things” (ABBA - Voyage)
“I Can Be That Woman” (ABBA - Voyage)
“Hookup Scene” (Kacey Musgraves - Star-Crossed)"Lose Somebody" (OneRepublic & Kygo - Human)
"Bring Me to Life" (Inglorious & Jeff Scott Soto - Heroine)
“Time After Time” (Inglorious - Heroine)
"We Will Ride" (Inglorious - We Will Ride)
"Shotgun Blues" (Volbeat - Servant of the Mind)
"Dagen Før" (Volbeat - Servant of the Mind)
“Simple Things” (Elton John & Brandi Carlile - The Lockdown Sessions)
“Nothing Else Matters” (Miley Cyrus, Elton John, et al. - The Lockdown Sessions)
“Stubborn Pride” (Zac Brown Band & Marcus King - The Comeback)
“Endless Running Out of Time” (The Secret Sisters - Quicksand EP)
“Sinners, Saints and Fools” (Brandi Carlile - In These Silent Days)
“Some People” (Smith/Kotzen - Smith/Kotzen)
“Brothers of the Road” (KK’s Priest - Sermons of the Sinner)
“Belly of the Beast” (Watchhouse - Watchhouse)
"Troubadour" (Kristian Bush - Troubadour)
“Last Train Home” (John Mayer - Sob Rock)
“Careful Girl” (Trace Adkins - The Way I Wanna Go)“Live It Lonely” (Trace Adkins - The Way I Wanna Go)
“Empty Chair” (Trace Adkins - The Way I Wanna Go)
No comments:
Post a Comment