My Country Music Critics ballot for 2013
I was thinking of leaving the albums category blank, since I didn't give it the attention it needed, and Ashley and Kacey would have done fine without my vote. But Sturgill deserved the shout-out. (Not that any category got the attention it needed. And I’m already second-guessing what I wrote about Sturgill Simpson’s bitterness; not that the bitterness isn’t glaringly evident, but I don’t know if I did right by its complexity. Simpson’s in an interesting fight with his pain (I mean both senses of “with”). Trigger at Saving Country Music thinks “The World Is Mean” is about acceptance and moving forward. I’m not sure about that. But I am a bit worried about not having been fair. But who said life was fair?)
TOP TEN COUNTRY SINGLES OF 2013:
1. 2YOON - "24/7"
2. Miranda Lambert - "Mama's Broken Heart"
3. Kacey Musgraves - "Blowin' Smoke"
4. The Civil Wars - "The One That Got Away"
5. Luke Bryan - "That's My Kind Of Night"
6. Sturgill Simpson - "Life Ain't Fair And The World Is Mean"
7. Cassadee Pope - "Wasting All These Tears"
8. Chris Stapleton - "What Are You Listening To?"
9. Taylor Swift - "22"
10. Gwen Sebastian - "Suitcase"
TOP TEN COUNTRY ALBUMS OF 2013:
1. Sturgill Simpson - High Top Mountain
2. Ashley Monroe - Like A Rose
3. Kacey Musgraves - Same Trailer Different Park
COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST MALE VOCALISTS OF 2013:
1. Toby Keith
2. Luke Bryan
3. Dean Brody
COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST FEMALE VOCALISTS OF 2013:
1. Miranda Lambert
2. Kacey Musgraves
3. Ashley Monroe
COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST SONGWRITERS OF 2013:
1. Shane McAnally
2. Ashley Monroe
3. Kacey Musgraves
COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST DUOS, TRIOS OR GROUPS OF 2013:
1. Lady Antebellum
2. The Band Perry
COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST NEW ACTS OF 2013:
1. Kacey Musgraves
COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST OVERALL ACTS OF 2013:
1. Sturgill Simpson
2. Ashley Monroe
3. Kacey Musgraves
COMMENTS:
Sturgill Simpson could rename himself Grumpy Stodgill, so resolved is he to be left-behind and to resent it. So the album works way better as music than as music criticism, but I'm sure Grumpy'll take that tradeoff. Hard, bitter, immovable.
Korean duo 2YOON's "24/7" isn't country so much as it's a visit to a country theme park (that's exactly how it's portrayed in the video). But as a lark rather than a lived-in world it manages to be more alive and rousing than a year's full of defensive, redneck partying, maybe because it isn't burdened with having to represent the vitality of an American South that is still determined to feel defeated.
Women have been going musically berserk in response to broken hearts since well before Frankie plugged Albert (not to mention Johnny) and Miss Otis sent her regrets. And Kacey's "Merry Go Round" references Malvina Reynolds' "Little Boxes" (1962), and it could have footnoted Ray Davies' "Well Respected Man" (1965) as well, for adoring the girl next door while dyin' to get at her. But there is a twist of feminism and newness coming from the McAnally-Musgraves-Lambert-Monroe clique, as they frame these old tropes as a breaking out rather than a breaking down. This isn't all that new either - Martina McBride and Shawn Colvin were lighting up the sky in rebellion a decade before Miranda struck her match with "Kerosene." But if people keep claiming a newness, this could lead to their creating some genuine newness. The experience isn't new but the response to it can be.
(I didn't vote for reissues or live acts, and obviously I didn't fill in all the spots for albums, groups, and new acts. And my one vote in that last category was questionable (Kacey's been releasing stuff for years), but Geoff said we could count as a newbie anyone whose first album on a major (or a major indie) was in 2013.)
TOP TEN COUNTRY SINGLES OF 2013:
1. 2YOON - "24/7"
2. Miranda Lambert - "Mama's Broken Heart"
3. Kacey Musgraves - "Blowin' Smoke"
4. The Civil Wars - "The One That Got Away"
5. Luke Bryan - "That's My Kind Of Night"
Click to view6. Sturgill Simpson - "Life Ain't Fair And The World Is Mean"
7. Cassadee Pope - "Wasting All These Tears"
8. Chris Stapleton - "What Are You Listening To?"
9. Taylor Swift - "22"
10. Gwen Sebastian - "Suitcase"
TOP TEN COUNTRY ALBUMS OF 2013:
1. Sturgill Simpson - High Top Mountain
2. Ashley Monroe - Like A Rose
3. Kacey Musgraves - Same Trailer Different Park
COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST MALE VOCALISTS OF 2013:
1. Toby Keith
2. Luke Bryan
3. Dean Brody
COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST FEMALE VOCALISTS OF 2013:
1. Miranda Lambert
2. Kacey Musgraves
3. Ashley Monroe
COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST SONGWRITERS OF 2013:
1. Shane McAnally
2. Ashley Monroe
3. Kacey Musgraves
COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST DUOS, TRIOS OR GROUPS OF 2013:
1. Lady Antebellum
2. The Band Perry
COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST NEW ACTS OF 2013:
1. Kacey Musgraves
COUNTRY MUSIC'S THREE BEST OVERALL ACTS OF 2013:
1. Sturgill Simpson
2. Ashley Monroe
3. Kacey Musgraves
COMMENTS:
Sturgill Simpson could rename himself Grumpy Stodgill, so resolved is he to be left-behind and to resent it. So the album works way better as music than as music criticism, but I'm sure Grumpy'll take that tradeoff. Hard, bitter, immovable.
Korean duo 2YOON's "24/7" isn't country so much as it's a visit to a country theme park (that's exactly how it's portrayed in the video). But as a lark rather than a lived-in world it manages to be more alive and rousing than a year's full of defensive, redneck partying, maybe because it isn't burdened with having to represent the vitality of an American South that is still determined to feel defeated.
Women have been going musically berserk in response to broken hearts since well before Frankie plugged Albert (not to mention Johnny) and Miss Otis sent her regrets. And Kacey's "Merry Go Round" references Malvina Reynolds' "Little Boxes" (1962), and it could have footnoted Ray Davies' "Well Respected Man" (1965) as well, for adoring the girl next door while dyin' to get at her. But there is a twist of feminism and newness coming from the McAnally-Musgraves-Lambert-Monroe clique, as they frame these old tropes as a breaking out rather than a breaking down. This isn't all that new either - Martina McBride and Shawn Colvin were lighting up the sky in rebellion a decade before Miranda struck her match with "Kerosene." But if people keep claiming a newness, this could lead to their creating some genuine newness. The experience isn't new but the response to it can be.
(I didn't vote for reissues or live acts, and obviously I didn't fill in all the spots for albums, groups, and new acts. And my one vote in that last category was questionable (Kacey's been releasing stuff for years), but Geoff said we could count as a newbie anyone whose first album on a major (or a major indie) was in 2013.)