Here's what I liked best of the new music this year. Some kid me about my musical taste being older than me. The average age of the artists featured below is 56. Norah Jones sort of spoils it. Take out "foreverly" and the average jumps to 64.
Love Has Come for You - Steve Martin and Edie Brickell (Rounder) - Having only known Brickell from her hit of, yikes, 25 years ago, her vocals and lyrics were a captivating surprise. Being used to following Steve Martin on the talk show circuit, I couldn't help to keep running into this special duo. Her lilting drawl set against Martin's expert banjo picking makes you feel so good you almost don't realize all the songs involve some type of heartache. The forgotten love, the friend waiting to be seen as something more and the old saw about a man finding a baby in a suitcase that had been thrown from a train. I now think of her as way more than Mrs. Paul Simon #3. On "Letterman," Dave asked, "Does Garfunkel ever come by?" Brickell answered, "If he does, it's not when I'm there."
New - Paul McCartney (MPL/Concord) - "New" is your required dose of Macca, to be administered every 4-6 years. I'm not sure if there's anything edgy modern or revelatory to warrant all the critical hooha, positive and welcome as it is. It hit me as more of a sequel to 2005's "Chaos & Creation in the Backyard." Well-written tunes punched with inventive production. I think McCartney's at his best with producers who let him do his thing, but not fall into self-indulgence. Many of the songs, including the title track, are bright, catchy pop. That said, it's amazing how arresting it is to hear him presented with just guitar and vocals, as he is on "Early Days" and "Hosanna." This is the first album where his voice is showing his age, but it's aged well.
Quality Street - Nick Lowe (Yep Roc) - When you've remade yourself as an old-fashioned crooner, albeit with rockabilly tendencies, a Christmas album may have been inevitable. Lowe presents a mix of original, traditional and cover tunes. The highlight for me is "Christmas at the Airport," which finds Lowe eking out holiday cheer while snowed in and then abandoned at the terminal. That's the cheekiest it gets. Most of the album is done without winks, sometimes even with solemnity. "I Was Born in Bethlehem" tells the Christmas story from the point of view of a reflective Jesus - "Where my sweet mother/meek and mild/and herself only a child/gave her best/then took her rest." Anyone else covering Roger Miller's "Old Toy Trains" would either load up on schmaltz or corn. Lowe makes it a heartwarming ballad. Overall, the album's a smooth sleigh ride that, while I have it on CD, begs for a turntable.
foreverly - Billy Joe Armstrong + Norah Jones (Reprise) - I haven't read up too much on this, but for some reason the guy from Green Day and Norah Jones found out their voices harmonize really well. So well that they decided to remake the Everly Brothers' 1958 album "Songs Our Daddy Taught Us," one of the earliest mainstream efforts to showcase what we now call American roots music. The result is supremely satisfying, not just from their vocal blend but the timeless sound of the session players. I have to admit I was hoping for at least one track where they would have the Everlys (still alive and singing) guest. I guess the album's a hit, as the NFM label as issued "Songs That Daddy Taught Us: The Original Foreverly Recordings and More" which combines the Everlys' "Songs" and a greatest hits package.