Burn Your Hits: Scott Lawson

“Borderline” by Lucius: It was so nice to hear Lucius come out with one of the best albums of the year after so many years tossing magic dust over other artists’ songs.

“That’s Gonna Leave a Mark” by Molly Tuttle: I’m a sucker for bluegrass artists who put out a pop song. Here, Palo Alto High School’s finest does her best impression of a lab-grown hybrid of Taylor Swift and Mary Chapin Carpenter.

“Ankles” by Lucy Dacus: It’s easy to be torn. Do we want boygenius to stick to boygenius albums or do we want to revel in each of the extraordinary members separately putting out beautiful songs? How about this and “Sugar in the Tank” by Julien Baker (and TORRES) in the same year. Umm. Yup.

“My Love for You Is a Straight Line” by Ken Yates: Yates’s Total Cinema is probably my favorite album of the year. It has a bunch of great songs, each one simply crafted, softspoken, and utterly heartfelt.

“What’s Fair” by Blondshell: Ever since Jen Trynin’s debut album 31 years ago, I’ve been searching for the next Jen Trynin—something rocking but melodic, anthemic but intimate. Blondshell is pretty close.

“I Remember When I Used to Love You” by Paul Zinnard: This sad sad song reminds me so much of those great Stax ballads of the 60s. Gorgeous.

“Zelda” by TOLEDO: Something about this song reminds me of the long-disbanded San Francisco band, The Court and Spark—even more than the band that Scott Hirsch and MC Taylor are now in, Hiss Golden Messenger. “When He Comes Around” is another good song by this band this year.

“Sugar in the Tank” by Julien Baker (and TORRES): As intimate as a bedtime prayer, as sweeping as a Technicolor epic.

“Armies of the Lord” by The Mountain Goats: I feel so fortunate that John Darnielle and company apparently followed me to Durham, NC, where I’ve been able to see them at the small venue, Cat’s Cradle. This song is everything you expect and want from them.

“People Watching” by Sam Fender: What can I say? This song makes me feel good.

“May I Never” by Hayes Carll: This is a remarkable country gospel number. It could have been written by Stephen Foster.

“Last Night I Held Your Hand” by Somebody’s Child: OK, this guy has definitely listened to a couple of The National records, but he’s taken most of the best parts and made them his own. Good record.

“Keep to Me” by Julia Barfield: Beautiful, personal, quiet song. Also check out her song, “Altavista, VA.”

“Astronaut in a Submarine” by The Whiskey Talking: This song is the new single by my band, from our album, Little Questions, which comes out in March 2026. It features Jeff Franca, from Thievery Corporation, on drums, Frank Orrall, from Poi Dog Pondering, on percussion, my daughter, Bryn, on backing vocals, and was produced by multi-Grammy-nominee, Mikael “Count” Eldridge.

Saturday, December 24, 2022

GL.22.06: Scott Lawson

100 SONGS: Aaron Bergstrom

GL.22.01: Ilana Bergstrom

GL.22.02: Isabel Vermaak

GL.22.03: Dionicio Solano

GL.22.04: Tony Schoenberg

GL.22.05: Curt Trnka

GL.22.06: SCOTT LAWSON

GL.22.07: Remko Van Knippenberg

GL.22.08: Megan Swidler

GL.22.09: Jem Stirling

GL.22.10: Russell Abdo

GL.22.11: Erik Kristjanson

GL.22.12: Marisa Plaice

GL.22.13: Lukas Brooks

GL.22.14: Quan Nguyen

GL.22.15: Max Einstein

***

Scott Lawson’s Best of 2022

Happy holidays, y’all!!! Having been lost in the wilderness, I’m now back in the fold and offering my first list in a few years. Sharp-eyed listeners will note the number of North Carolina artists on this list. This is explained by my wife and I having bought a house in Durham last year. Great music (and basketball) town. Come visit!

Nilufer Yanya, “midnight sun”

An insinuating slow-burn whisper of a song.

Yumi Zouma, “In The Eyes of Our Love”

Best artist from New Zealand since Flight of the Conchords.*

Caroline Polachek, “Billions”

That backing vocal stab is ridiculously infectious.

Little Quirks, “The Rain”

This song feels like really good aerial footage of a pine forest.

Men I Trust, “Billy Toppy”

I could play this song on repeat all day and never tire of it.

Madison Cunningham, “Hospital”

Every time this song comes on, my wife says “I hate Sheryl Crow.”

Alvvays, “Easy on Your Own”

Hypothesis: Juliana Hatfield is the most influential artist of the last forty years. Discuss.

Abraham Alexander, “Stay”

This is a nearly perfect song (why doesn’t he go to the high note on the third “stay”?).

Watchhouse, “New Star—Duo Version”

If you put a gun to my head, I’d have to say that Watchhouse is currently my favorite band (wise choice changing their name from “Mandolin Orange,” which was just plain stupid).

Kate Rhudy, “Ships in the Night”

You can’t be sad when Kate Rhudy is singing her sad songs.

The Mountain Goats, “Make You Suffer”

It’s hard to pick one song from Bleed Out, but this one (recorded in Durham) has the two key elements of a great TMG song: obsession and (at-least-implicit) violence.

Bill Callahan, “Coyotes”

Perhaps the most complicated simple song of all time.

Tyler Childers, “Angel Band—Hallelujah Version”

I believe.

S.G. Goodman, “Teeth Marks”

Breakup songs have come a long way since The Partridge Family.

Jake Xerxes Fussell, “Frolic”

Yes, Durham has people with names like Xerxes.

Leyla McCalla, “Dodinin”

I feel a spirit possession coming on.

Calexico, “Harness The Wind”

Arguably, every Calexico song is essentially the same song. I love that song.

PLAINS (Waxahatchee and Jess Williamson), “I Walked with You A Ways”

I cannot explain my excitement that this album (recorded in Durham) is even better than I would have imagined an album by these two would be.

First Aid Kit, “Out of My Head”

Let’s get Adele out of the house and take her to the disco.

Mary Gauthier, “Fall Apart World”

Since 1999, Mary Gauthier has been a better Lucinda Williams than Lucinda Williams has been (someone tell me why Lucinda stopped writing beautiful poetry and went with teenagedly sexual nursery rhymes instead).

Courtney Marie Andrews, “Satellite”

Her solo albums are a much better use of her talents than singing backing vocals for Jimmy Eat World.

Bonny Light Horseman, “California”

This particular song may resonate with me because, for part of the year, I’m now seeing California from afar.

The House of Love, “Light of the Morning”

Although Guy Chadwick is the only original member still present, the new album feels like old times.

Carson McHone, “Still Life”

Ceci n’est pas une pipe.

Tommy McLain, “No Tomorrows Now”

Arguably the best swamp-pop record released by an octogenarian this year.

Erin Rae (feat. Kevin Morby), “Can’t See Stars”

She actually grew up in Nashville. Who knew that was possible?

River Whyless, “Michigan Cherry”

This band is one of many reasons to go to Asheville, NC.

Secret Emchy Society, “Down to the River”

Best queer country band in Oakland.

Aoife O’Donovan, “B61”

I love LOVE her voice.

Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway, “Crooked Tree”

Like my wife, Molly Tuttle went to Palo Alto High School. But of course you knew that based on the banjos.

Government Cheese, “Younger Than I Was”

There’s nothing I could possibly say that could explain this song or affect your experience of it.

The War on Drugs (w/Lucius), “I Don’t Live Here Anymore”

When I heard that Roxy Music was releasing a new album in 2022, my first reaction was “I thought they already had.”

Phoebe Bridgers, “So Much Wine”

How fortunate are we that Elliott Smith was reincarnated as this woman?

Panda Bear, Sonic Boom “Edge of the Edge”

Hidden track from Pet Sounds.

The Beths, “Expert in a Dying Field”

Best artist from New Zealand since Yumi Zouma.*

Soccer Mommy, “Shotgun”

I love everything she does, and this song rocks. Someone should, however, tell her that shotguns don’t have bullets.

Angel Olsen, “All The Good Times”

Kill me, pedal steel, kill me dead.

Anais Mitchell, “Bright Star”

Although we, sadly, lost Nanci Griffith, Anais Mitchell channels her perfectly.

Wilco, “Falling Apart (Right Now)”

Be still my heart! Twenty-one new “country” songs by Wilco. Now I’m on the edge of my seat for Summerteeth version 2.0.

Big Thief, “Certainty”

She is one of a kind.

Sobs, “Air Guitar”

See above re Juliana Hatfield.

Beach Bunny, “Entropy”

This song really holds together.

Sunflower Bean, “Moment in the Sun”

I don’t need money. I don’t need to be cool.

Elvis Costello & The Imposters, “Magnificent Hurt”

I always knew he had a second Get Happy in him.

Freedy Johnston (w/Aimee Mann), Darlin’

Can’t a guy re-live his 1990s every once in a goddamn while?

Jamestown Revival, “Young Man”

Make mine sepia-toned, thank you.

Friday, December 25, 2020

GLW.20.11: Scott Lawson

100 SONGS: Aaron Bergstrom

GLW.20.01: Ilana Bergstrom

GLW.20.02: Curt Trnka

GLW.20.03: Remko Van Knippenberg

GLW.20.04: Jem Woodward

GLW.20.05: Erik Kristjanson

GLW.20.06: Marisa Plaice

GLW.20.07: Russell Abdo

GLW.20.08: Garrett Bukunt

GLW.20.09: Megan Swidler

GLW.20.10: Garrett Tillman

GLW.20.11: SCOTT LAWSON

GLW.20.12: Carl Anderson

GLW.20.13: Ryan Joyce

GLW.20.14: Nick Leddy

GLW.20.15: Desa Warner

***

Scott Lawson’s Best Albums of 2020

2020 was - somewhat against type - a pretty great year for music. Part of that has to be that, motionless in our Covid stymy, each of us was forced to spend a lot of time inside ourselves. As a result, it has necessarily been the most introspective and reflective year of any of our lifetimes. The combination of boredom and shitless fear will do that. Oh, and Trump.

As always, my listening habits tended this year toward women. There’s no question that there were dozens of great albums by male artists this year, including by Jason Isbell, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, Olafur Arnalds, Perfume Genius, Thundercat, Jake Blount, Tame Impala, Andy Schauf, Ben Glover, Bill Frisell, Brian Fallon, Bruce Hornsby, Caleb Caudle, Chatham County Line, Chuck Prophet, Clem Snide, Dan Penn, Hayes Carll, Kruangbin, Marcus King, Matt Pond PA, Matt Rollings, Nada Surf, Nathaniel Rateliff, Paul Kelly, and Peter Himmelman, but it was the female artists who really shined. So, if you’ll forgive me, I’m limiting my list to a group of women who, along with my wife and daughters, made this horrible year bearable.

As is my wont, my list includes the best albums, rather than the best tracks, and they are presented in no particular order. The track referenced in each case is meant to be reflective of the album as a whole.

Soccer Mommy - Color Theory

Track: “Circle The Drain”

Sarah Jarosz - World on the Ground

Track: “Johnny”

Phoebe Bridgers - Punisher

Track: “Kyoto”

Fiona Apple - Fetch the Bolt Cutters

Track: “Cosmonauts”

Waxahatchee - Saint Cloud

Track: “Can’t Do Much”

I love rock and roll Waxy, but this year she came my way, toward Americana, and I couldn’t be happier.

Kathleen Edwards - Total Freedom

Track: “Glenfern”

In which one of my favorite singer-songwriters obliquely explains why she decided to give up the music world more than a decade ago in favor of running a coffee shop in Hamilton, Ontario.

Mary Lattimore - Silver Ladders

Track: “Pine Trees”

That rarest of rarities: non-precious harp music.

Adrianne Lenker - songs

Track: “zombie girl”

Big Thief’s singer and songwriter explores more personal and somber themes - if you can imagine that - in this case, sleep paralysis, like, you know, most songs.

Ashley Ray - Pauline

Track: “Lawrence, Kansas”

Tenille Townes - The Lemonade Stand

Track: “The Most Beautiful Things”

Samantha Crain - High Horse (one of three EPs she released this year)

Track: “An Echo”

In which Roy Orbison is a woman.

Buscabulla - Regresa

Track: “El Aprieto”

Taylor Swift - folklore

Track: “august”

Combining Taylor Swift with The National? Be still my heart.

Katie Pruitt - Expectations

Track: “Expectations”

Lianne La Havas - Lianne La Havas

Track: “Can’t Fight”

HAIM - Women in Music Pt. III

Track: “Gasoline”

Cindy Cashdollar - Waltz for Abilene

Track: “Waltz for Abilene”

Anyone who, like me, plays, or has tried to play, dobro and pedal steel worships Cindy Cashdollar.

Elizabeth Cook - Aftermath

Track: “When She Comes”

The Innocence Mission - See You Tomorrow

Track: “Movie”

In which The Innocence Mission travels from 1989 to rescue 2020.

Jenny O. - New Truth

Track: “Even If I Tried”

Lily Hiatt - Walking Proof

Track: “Some Kind of Drug”

I can make a good argument for this being the album of the year.

Lori McKenna - The Balladeer

Track: “The Dream”

Lydia Loveless - Daughter

Track: “Love Is Not Enough”

Margaret Glaspy - Devotion

Track: “So Wrong It’s Right”

The Go-Go’s - Got the Beat

Track: “Club Zero”

Jane Wiedlin is a great pop songwriter.