A year in review: the best albums of 2023
Editor’s Note: Since August 2012, Garret K. Woodward has held the position of arts and entertainment editor for The Smoky Mountain News. In December 2018, he also became a contributing writer for Rolling Stone.
Below are a handful of excerpts from his RS travels this year covering some of the best albums of 2023. Support live music. Support independent artists.
Todd Snider — “Crank It, We’re Doomed”
At 57, [singer-songwriter Todd] Snider has always harbored an old-soul heart in his relationships with others, but earlier this [year] he looked more deeply into his own past and unearthed “Crank It, We’re Doomed” — an album Snider initially recorded in 2007 and shelved. Sixteen years later, it’s finally seeing the light of day.
“[Crank It, We’re Doomed] was a real pivotal point. I was probably doing my best stuff and [producer] Eric [McConnell] was on top of it,” Snider said. “He was just trying to find what I tried to call ‘my sound,’ which I hadn’t done — [it was] maybe the best time for [my] music, but I just sort of flamed out.”
Within “Crank It, We’re Doomed,” there’s a genuine, intrinsic sense of “nothing’s the same, everything’s the same.” Sure, the tunes were recorded in 2007, but the topics hold water almost two decades later — an upcoming presidential election of dire consequence, war raging in the Middle East, a rising epidemic of school bullying and violence.
“‘All the news just repeats itself’ — that’s what John Prine said,” Snider said.
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Lindsay Lou — “Queen of Time”
Lou, an artist who has been deftly weaving bluegrass into ethereal, indie-folk explorations since moving to Nashville from Michigan in 2015, has been through the ringer. While gearing up for her new album, the exquisite “Queen of Time,” she faced what she describes as a period of “radical transformation.” Lou got divorced, discovered the concept of the “divine feminine,” and lost her north star, her maternal grandmother.
“When you don’t embrace [sadness] and sit with it — acknowledge it, ask it what it wants to teach you, ask it how it’s a part of you — then you’re never going to climb out,” Lou said.
You can hear Lou’s transformation on “Queen of Time,” a confident 11-song document that combines Americana, folk, indie-soul, and Lou’s brand of progressive bluegrass. That broad musical pedigree is what’s made her such an easy collaborator with marquee names, including Billy Strings, Sam Bush, Sierra Ferrell, Jerry Douglas, Molly Tuttle, Greensky Bluegrass, Peter Rowan, and Leftover Salmon.
“Like Bob Dylan says, ‘I contain multitudes,’” Lou grinned.
Hiss Golden Messenger — “Jump for Joy”
“I’ve struggled with depression for forever and it came to a head,” said [Hiss front man] MC Taylor. “I was confused, and I’m still confused. But you’re aware of the confusion: do I grow despondent because I’m confused, or do I kind of celebrate it?”
Taylor chose the latter with Hiss’s new album “Jump for Joy,” a whirlwind ride of rock and folk elements that is both playful and bouncy, with a lightness of spirit radiating throughout tracks like “Shinbone,” “The Wondering,” and “Nu-Grape.”
“People have often told me how they feel this sense of hope from a lot of the songs on my records,” Taylor said. “I’ve always tried to foreground vulnerability in my work, because I always felt this connection between showing that, talking about that, and the way people respond to it. I know the way I respond to vulnerability in art is really powerful. I value vulnerability in art way more than I value chops or anything like that.”
Gov’t Mule — “Peace…Like a River”
“Peace…Like a River” [is] an undulating sonic landscape blending elements of rock, blues, soul, funk and folk — all signature ingredients at the heart of what has made the band, and [guitarist Warren] Haynes himself, one of the torchbearers of eclectic rock music. Wrangling an array of A-list musical talent like Billy F. Gibbons, Ivan Neville, and guitar phenom Celisse, Haynes crafted an album that doubles as a meditative journey along the river of life.
But it’s also a celebration of Mule itself, which is nearing 30 years as a band since Haynes and late bassist Allen Woody formed the group in 1994 as something to do when the duo wasn’t playing with the Allmans.
“It’s strange that a band formed as a side project to another major band has had this kind of longevity,” Haynes said. “Our intent was to make one album.”
Devon Allman & Donovan Frankenreiter — “Rollers”
Situated at the crossroads of Interstate 81/77, the Millwald Theatre is in Wytheville, Virginia. Sitting in the basement of the newly reopened historic theatre, it isn’t lost on Allman and Frankenreiter how — even this far into their respective careers — they’re still discovering new things in the depths of America.
“Last night, we played Clarksburg, West Virginia,” Allman said. “And small-town America still exists, this old coal-mining town from back in the day. It was this place we wouldn’t normally get to see, and the show was so much fun. Sometimes those smaller shows are the best.”
Before embarking on the “See It All Tour,” Allman and Frankenreiter hit the studio and put together a six-song EP. It was a “see what happens and let the tapes roll” kind of thing. The project is aptly titled Rollers because, according to Allman, “the songs weren’t rockers, they were rollers.”
Onstage, the sound and spectacle is bright, fiery and inspired. The undulating tone weaves seamlessly between numerous avenues of rock music — indie, surf, garage, Southern, psychedelic — with other textures of jazz fusion and funk added for good measure.
“Everything is so fresh [onstage],” Frankenreiter said. “We’re all in it for a purpose. Everybody gets why we’re here and it’s been refreshing every night.”
