Jim's 2024 Playlist
For the past six years I have made a playlist of new music I discovered or older music I have rediscovered during that year. Sometimes it’s music recommended to me by friends, or streaming while driving, exercising or working. I typically stream WERS Radio which you can find on almost all platforms. WERS is a Boston college music station run by Emerson College where most of the DJs are students. At 75 years old, it’s one of the oldest college radio stations in the US. I like it because it mixes new music from the younger generation with music from my generation a.k.a. 1970-2000. I think their longevity reflects this diverse demographic. This past year I’ve also started streaming Austin City Limits Radio whose music has some overlap with WERS but with a country tinge that reflects the eclectic Austin Texas music scene, which I love. Finally, I have 12 Sirius XM stations on my car radios that include Ozzy’s Boneyard (hard classic rock), First Wave (80’s New Wave), The Spectrum (kind of similar to the WERS playlist), Real Jazz, Bluegrass Junction and Outlaw Country (country with a rock n roll sensibility). In short, my life is immersed in music whether I am working, skiing, cooking or driving. I imagine heaven as listening to, playing with, and partying with the musical greats all day, every day. Is that too much to ask for?
As a musician, I appreciate and learn from others who practice the craft. Like most art forms, music is derivative of the work of others. All current pop musicians stand on the shoulders of the early American blues, jazz and country legends like Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Duke Ellington, Django Rheinhart and Jimmie Rodgers. Rock and Roll immortals like the Beatles, The Rolling Stones and Eric Clapton started out playing covers of the great American bluesmen. I just read a great WSJ review of ‘Before Elvis’ Review: At the Root of Rock ’n’ Roll, a book by Eddie Dean, that describes how a teenage Elvis hung out at bawdy black blues clubs in the 1950’s and learned his craft from the likes of Junior Parker and Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, who’s song “Hound Dog” Elvis made famous. I bought this book after reading the review.
Songwriters are inspired by, and borrow from, others to create something new and original. There are nearly infinite ways to recombine the standard 1-4-5 blues pentatonic scale, with different time signatures and arrangements to create new songs that have ancient and familiar elements audiences can relate to. That’s kind of how hit songs are made.
My own songwriting mimics the way I cook. A little of this and a little of that, maybe some re-purposed leftovers, a well-stocked spice rack, and lots of tasting along the way. One of my favorite shows of all time is Daryl’s House. It debuted in 2007 as a web show which featured Daryl Hall from the 1970’s supergroup Hall & Oates, performing with his band and various guest artists at his home in Millerton, New York. The show was on TV starting in 2011 but now it is online only. Click through this Daryl’s House link to his YouTube site to subscribe. Most shows include a segment in which Hall and his guest artist prepare food from different cuisines for everyone to eat. The food comes from local restaurants and the chefs guide Hall and his guests through the preparation of the food. Food and music. Two of my favorite things. Here’s a link to an episode a couple of years ago with Daryl’s guest Al Stewart performing his hit, Year of the Cat.
Highlights 2024 Playlist
Now that I’ve shared some of my music confessions, it’s time for the highlights from the 146 songs in Jim’s 2024 Playlist which you can listen to by clicking this link on Spotify.
Maggie Rose
Maggie Rose (aka Margaret Rose Durante) is the niece of our dear friend Kip. I remember meeting her at a backyard birthday party for one of our kids birthdays many years ago. Maggie had just stepped up from performing in a Wash DC cover band, to Nashville to pursue a career as a singer-songwriter. In 2024, she released her 4th album, No One Gets Out Alive, which has been nominated for a Grammy as Best Album of the Year. She is a great songwriter with an incredible voice. I went to see her show in Annapolis, MD over the summer and it was awesome. Here’s a link to her hit song, No One Gets Out Alive.
Hozier
Andrew John Hozier-Byrne (born 17 March 1990), known professionally as Hozier, is an Irish musician. His music primarily draws from folk, soul and blues, often using religious and literary themes and taking political stances. His debut single, "Take Me to Church" (2013), became a rock radio hit in the U.S., peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified multi-platinum in several countries. Take Me to Church" was nominated for a Grammy in 2013 and his new single, “Too Sweet”, made my 2024 playlist. It’s a hypnotic musical groove backing an awesome poetic juxtaposition where he celebrates the beauty and moral compass of his lover but confesses that his vices make her “too sweet”, for him.
You know you're bright as the morning, as soft as the rain
Pretty as a vine, as sweet as a grape
If you can sit in a barrel, maybe I'll wait
Until that day
I'd rather take my whiskey neat
My coffee black and my bed at three
You're too sweet for me
You're too sweet for me
It might be my favorite new song in 2024 and was, not surprisingly, the #1 song as voted by WERS listeners. It’s a crime that this song hasn’t been nominated for Grammy this year.
Goose
Goose is an American jam band that hails from Wilton, CT. They’ve been around since 2014 but really broke through in 2022 with their third album, Dripfield. Their blend of trippy melodies channels the greatest of all jam bands, The Grateful Dead. I was introduced to them by my Park City ski buddy and USAFA classmate Colin. Goose is one a few artists with multiple songs on my 2024 playlist, with Dripfield and Hungersite.
X
X is a seminal American Punk band that formed in Los Angeles in the late 1970s who quickly became a favorite of mine when I discovered them in 1982. They wrapped their politically charged lyrics in a hard driving but melodic style that was unique even among their early punk brethren. I’ve added them because I saw them in July with my good friend Dave (who’s married to Kip), at the Wilbur Theatre in Boston. Although I’ve seen their lead singer and guitar/bass player John Doe a few times solo, I’d never seen the X band live. They had all their original members, including Exene Cervenka, DJ Bonebreak, and Billy Zoom and this was probably my last chance because, let’s face it, the rockers of my generation are getting old and starting to move on to that last gig in the sky. Here’s one of my X faves from 1983, New World.
Joe Walsh
Speaking of elderly Rock & Roll legends, Kati and I saw the Eagles with Steely Dan last March at the Miami Hard Rock Casino. Now that I’m kind of retired, one of my goals is to see as many rock legends as possible that I haven’t seen yet and the Eagles were one of them. With Vince Gill joining the original members Don Henley, Timothy B. Schmidt and Joe Walsh, they sounded fantastic. Although I had seen them before, Steely Dan was great too. I heard the Joe Walsh song, Indian Summer, this past summer and at first I thought it was a Pink Floyd tune. It reminded me how great Joe really is. As far as the Eagles go, there was no better choice than Hotel California for my 2024 Playlist.
The Black Keys
These guys are really one of my new favorite bands. They’ve been around for more than 20 years but their music is as fresh and compelling as when they started. Heavy and infectious guitar riffs with great lyrics are their trademark and their 12th album released in 2024, Ohio Players, doesn’t disappoint. Another one of the bands with multiple appearances on my playlist, here’s Beautiful People from the new album and Go from their “Let’s Rock” album five years ago.
Vampire Weekend
These New York guys have been around since 2008 which is much older than I thought they were when I first heard them a couple of years ago. I thought their name was very odd and I thought their music was kind of “whiny” for my taste. But in 2024 they released a single that really intrigued me. According to the band, Capricorn, is a haunting elegy that depicts the "aching, unavoidable melancholy of growing old and discovering that adults feel just as powerless as kids do." As Gen Xers, I imagine that they are starting to feel the effects of aging. Welcome to the club boys! When I first heard the song last spring on WERS, I thought it was the about the lamentations of an aging vampire:
Capricorn, the year that you were born
Finished fast and the next one wasn't yours
Too old for dyin' young, too young to live alone
Sifting through centuries for moments of your own
Given the band name, I thought this was a fascinating and reasonable interpretation. I know what the band says, but I like my interpretation better. Probably no surprise that I’m going to see the new remake of Nosferatu this weekend.
The Black Watch
I am blessed to have a diverse group of friends from my two college experiences at the US Air Force Academy and Syracuse University. One of my AF squadron mates in 1978 was Steve Martin and he had the best record collection I had ever seen chocked full of music I had never heard in 1978, but love now. From The Clash, B52s, Talking Heads, the list of artists that Steve introduced to me is long. In keeping with tradition, in 2024 I re-connected with Stu, another USAFA classmate, that introduced me to music I had never heard that I like. Black Watch is one of those bands, which ironically is part of Stu’s Hypnotic Bridge record label. Stu is a musical historian and I love the song Myrmidon, which reminds me of the early 1970s solo material of Syd Barrett, the founder of super group Pink Floyd (one of my top 5 all-time bands), Syd was kicked out of the band because of his worsening mental illness and replaced with David Gilmour. The rest, as they say, is history. Thanks Stu and look forward you joining me and the boys (and the wives of course) in Turkey in June.
Lana Del Rey
Another artist I heard first on WERS and is one of the artists I share with my daughter’s playlist. Lana Del Ray, as well as other artists on my playlist, paid her dues over a long period of time before she really started to take off. Her voice and fashion are throwbacks to the mellifluous lady crooners of my father’s generation. Here’s Radio from her 2012 album “Born To Die - The Paradise Edition.”
Lord Huron
Lord Huron was formed in Los Angeles in 2012 but had really broken through the last couple years. Like Lana Del Rey, their style deeply borrows from the past by blending contemporary indie-folk with nostalgic influences which gives their music a timeless quality, that feels like a wish-list band with Roy Orbison, Fleetwood Mac, and Nick Drake. The name Lord Huron was inspired by Lake Huron, one of the Great Lakes in Michigan, where frontman Ben Schneider spent much of his childhood. For me, the band name reminds me of the naughty Lord Huron in Game of Thrones. They also have multiple appearances on my 2024 Playlist. Here’s Long Lost.
Pixies
Hailing from my boyhood home state of Massachusetts, these guys exploded on the Boston music scene in 1986 and quickly attained national acclaim. Not many love songs with this outfit, but lots of punk-infused guitar driven clever lyrics around obscure subject matter. Probably their most famous song, “Here Comes Your Man”, is about the WW2 atomic bombing of Hiroshima. I saw these guys at the infamous and defunct Rathskeller in Boston back in the heyday. They broke up a number of years ago but reformed in 2024 with a great new single, “You’re so Impatient.”
Suki Waterhouse
Alice Suki Waterhouse is a fast-rising millennial who started her career at 16 as a major label fashion model for Burberry, Tommy Hilfiger, Hugo Boss, and Ferragamo. She is also an actress having appeared in a bunch of movies I’ve never seen, except for the 2023 series Daisy Jones and the Six, where she plays the keyboard player in a fictional early 70s pop band loosely based on Fleetwood Mac. I recommend it. She released her first music in 2017 and her second album, Memoir of a Sparklemuffin, was released in 2024 and contains the hit single, OMG. She toured with Taylor Swift last year and is a multi-talented artist that made my 2024 playlist.
Beabadoobee
What a great band name from Beatrice Kristi Ilejay Laus, a 24-year-old British Filipina singer/songwriter who I discovered last year. Hypnotic vocals and easy listening lounge music. Here’s the 2024 single, Take a Bite.
Greta Van Fleet
Another millennial band that started out in 2012 in Michigan (what was it about that year in Michigan?). These boys must have had their parents’ Led Zeppelin albums on the turntable 24-7. If you’re like me and never got to see Zep live, you are begging them to get together again. Until that happens, Greta Van Fleet serves as a worthy substitute. Their singer is a fantastic version of Robert Plant. Here’s Highway Tune.
Kacey Musgraves
I heard Kacey Musgraves for the first time on the Sirius XMs “Outlaw Country” station driving somewhere six years ago. The song was Slow Burn, and it was a beautiful Texas elegy that shook me to my roots and made my 2018 playlist. Since then, her songcraft and fame has only grown so that now she is now a popular crossover artist. Her 2024 album, Deeper Well, included this beautiful memorial to her friend and legendary singer-songwriter John Prine, who passed last year. Here’s Cardinal.
Jim Fini
Last but not least, I will gratuitously include one of my own tunes that I wrote this summer after having watched 2017 The NatGeo Genius series a second time. Season 1 was Albert Einstein and Season 2 was Picasso played by Antonio Banderas and they are simply fantastic. Like Einstein, Picasso was a true genius as well as a flawed human who struggled with his relationships and public image. The chorus from my song kind of sums it up:
A world-famous genius is a license to kill.
He can make reality bend to his will.
Everybody wants to see it all right through his eyes.
Just fake it til you make it, let’s give it a try.
I will have a future post reviewing Genius Season 2: Picasso, but here’s my musical review of Picasso on my Strange Coalition Soundcloud site.
That’s it. Now I can officially put 2024 in my rearview mirror. I’ll be collecting new songs so I can post my 2025 list for your listening enjoyment next year. In the meantime, keep on rocking, cooking and travelling friends.