2021 Music List

Last year around this time I posted a couple of the songs that made it into my playlist for youtube music’s-spotify wrapped clone playlist. I said I would do it again if they did. Which they do technically have the playlist for some users… but mine hasn’t been populated yet. I am able to go to the page where it should be, but nothing is there besides a message saying “Nothing to see here”. I’m not sure if this is me being impatient, or if I’m just not going to get one this year. I believe I had watch history turned off on youtube for a while, so that may have had something to do with it according to other users.

Oh well, I know pretty well what I listened to and they don’t give the same sort of statistics that Spotify does anyway, so I’m just going to give you 20 songs/albums that I like and listened to a lot this year. This isn’t really in a particular order, but the ones that come first on the list are the ones that I think of first, so take from that what you will. These also aren’t albums/songs that came out this year, just the ones I listened to a bunch.

1. Live at the Austin Outhouse - Blaze Foley. Overall a REALLY good album. Can’t recommend it enough.
2. And It’s Still Alright - Nathaniel Rateliff. I haven’t listened to the album in its entirety, but the song that shares the name is outstanding, very sad and dramatic (in a good way). I think he wrote it after his friend passed away.
3. Broken Window Serenade - Whiskey Meyers. One of my mom’s favorites. I can sorta play this on guitar too. Follows a guy who likes a girl who has an amphetamine addiction.
4. Sellout - Koe Wetzel. “Outcast”, “Drunk Driving” and “SideChick” are some of my favorites.
5. It Gets The Worst At Night - Lucero. You can kind of see I like sad music, this one reminds me of early summer a lot.
6. In Memory Of Loss (Deluxe Edition) - Nathaniel Rateliff. I’ve been listening to this one a lot recently, I’ve listened to most of it a few times. “Once In A Great While”, “Shroud” and “You Should’ve Seen The Other Guy” are my 3 favorites.
7. Quiet, Heavy Dreams - Zach Bryan. This is a really good short EP for anyone wanting to get into Zach Bryan. Favorite song is probably “Traveling man”.
8. Gribblecore - Jeff Squires. I think this was only released a few weeks ago, but this is the funniest thing I’ve heard. Super easy listening, especially if you love King Of the Hill.
9. Broken Hearts & Dirty Windows: Songs of John Prine, Vol. 2 - Various Artists. I don’t think I’ve listened to the first volume all the way through, but I like John Prine’s originals better anyway (except for Unwed Fathers, Deer Tick’s version is my favorite song ever). This was really good, definitely a good tribute. Favorite song is probably Tyler Childer’s cover of “Yes I Guess They Oughta Name A Drink After You” and Sturgill Simpson’s “Paradise”.
10. I Don’t Mind - Sturgill Simpson. Another sad one, but so good. Sturgill is pretty varied in the kind of music he makes, really good artist. I had already liked one of his songs, but Post Malone covered “You Can Have The Crown” and I did a deep dive on him.
11. Die Midwestern - Arlo McKinley. I’m not sure if this is something I actually listened to totally in 2021, but I come back to it a lot so I’m going to count it. “She’s always around” is one of the most “old-country” sounding songs that I have heard in a while. “Bag of Pills” is also fantastic.
12. Elisabeth - Zach Bryan. Both this and DeAnn have some real bangers on them. This one has my favorite Zach Bryan song though, which is “Messed up Kid”. I’ve been listening to DeAnn a little bit more recently though, I think my favorite from that album is “Godspeed”.
13. Weymouth - Fade Away. I’m a little biased on this one because I work with the drummer, but this a really good song from this year. Definitely a band to keep an eye out for.
14. Acolyte - Slaughter Beach, Dog. I only found this one about a week ago, but I’ve listened to it around 30 times. Sorta slow in lyrics, but fast in music, it’s weird. I really enjoy it.
15. Dublin Blues - Guy Clark. This guy is really underrated. This song is super fantastic. He unfortunately passed away in 2016.
16. Somewhere Along The Way - Dawes. I originally found Dawes on accident, not realizing the lead singer was one of the guys from Middle Brother, but I’m so glad I did. This one is sorta sad, but catchy and I’ll probably have it in my head the rest of the night too.
17. Pitchin’ Fits - Drayton Farley. I found this guy on TikTok originally I think. “Stoic Faces” is a good one off the same album, but it doesn’t have the punch this one does.
18. Mercury in Retrograde - Sturgill Simpson. If some of his other stuff didn’t prove how out there he is, and how versatile too, this one probably will. Super catchy.
19. Drunk Again - William Clark Green. This is a fun one to sing in the car at max volume.
20. Hotel in Minsk - jonatan leandoer96. One of the most ethereal feeling songs in my collection, I listened to this probably 30 times on repeat for about a week.

If I get my playlist back from youtube, I’ll come back and do another post about it to update it. If not, then I’ll just do something similar to this next year. I’ll be doing a recap on my resolutions from this year in the next few days too, so keep an eye out for that.