by Sheldon Birnie
End of the year is here, which means it’s time Best of 2013 List Season. Stylus will be posting our contributors’ Best Ofs here in the coming weeks, but I figured I’d get a jump and share with you some of my favourite tunes from the Hillbilly Highway this past year.
Will the list be groundbreaking? Probably not! Does it really matter what 5 Tunes I dug the most this past year? Well, maybe a little bit… to me! Does anybody really care? Probably not! But — most importantly — will it be fun? Yes, I think it will! So, without any further ado, here’s 5 Beauty Tunes I Come Across on the Hillbilly Highway in the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand and Thirteen, y’all.
Dawes – Hey Lover
Here we have a hilarious love tune from Dawes, who at times can come across as overly earnest (in an endearing way, of course). This one is straight up hilarious. “Blue and white racing striped pick-up truck” has got to be my single favourite line of the year. The rest of Stories Don’t End is pretty dang decent, too, but this one just makes me smile every time. The Blake Mills original is pretty snazzy, too.
The Deep Dark Woods – 18th of December
From their amazing new album, Jubilee, here’s a rollicking heartbreaker that sees these Saskatoon fellas at the top of their game. The video, too, is a dark beauty of a dust-up, complete with car chases, guns, and some hanky-panky. Let’s hope the DDWs make a stop through Winnipeg in 2014.
Those Darlins – In The Wilderness
Those Darlins’ lastest album finally finds the band in the artistic space they’ve been working towards for a few years now; a place that was only hinted at on 2011’s Screws Get Loose. “In the Wilderness” displays that confidence as songwriters and performers to a T. The Nashville based band are recording a live album on Friday in their hometown, which I truly hope can capture the intensity these guys and gals bring to the stage. Fingers are crossed they’ll finally make it back to Winnipeg, the rock n roll lovin’ town we call home, which inspired a 7″ from the group in the summer of 2012.
Jason Isbell – Traveling Alone
I didn’t spend near enough time with Southeastern, Jason Isbell’s latest, this year, and I don’t really have a good excuse as to why that is. I got my fingers crossed that the good Mr. Claus will drop the LP down my faux chimney here next Wednesday. If not, I guess I’ll have to cash in the mountain of empties I’ve got in my back porch and pick it up myself. “Traveling Alone” was the lead off single, and a beautiful example of Isbell’s songwriting, and the great arrangements, that put Southeastern at the top of American Songwriter’s Year End List.
Jonny Fritz – Goodbye Summer
Topping my list here is the inimitable Jonny Fritz, whose album Dad Country also tops my Top 10 List of the year. Ever since hearing this tune back in Austin in March, I’ve had it in my head more often than any other jam. Fritz is a gifted songwriter and an incredible performer. His peculiarities might be lost to mainstream country listeners, but that’s just too damn bad for them. I love this tune, and the video’s pretty dang fun, to boot.