One of the quiet pleasures of (finally) putting 2012 to bed is mop-up duty. All year, I tried to keep a running list of albums released by Texas-based or Texas-related performers that I enjoyed listening to. Sunday night, I tallied them up.
For some reason, besides that we’ve already handled the year in Houston albums, this list is heavily weighted toward Austin artists. I suspect this is not because Austin is still the state capital of all things Texas music (sorry, Houston) or because I used to live there and still keep pretty close tabs. It’s because, except for a couple, all of these people played a show somewhere in Houston in 2012. Sometimes several.
San Antonio, so prolific recently (Hacienda, Krayolas, Girl In a Coma, Pinata Protest), must have had an off year. It’ll be back. And from what I can tell, apart from metal bands (Power Trip, Wo Fat), bigger indie names (Sarah Jaffe, Centro-Matic), and the odd rapper, North Texas artists tend to shun Houston like the city emanates a somewhat unpleasant, sulfurous odor. (Wait a sec…) But if you’re interested, have a look at the Dallas Observer‘s “The 15 Best North Texas Releases of 2012,” and then ask Mind Spiders and Pinkish Black if it would kill them to come play Rudz or Fitz sometime. We don’t bite.
Texas Hippie Coalition, Peacemaker Lewd, rude, tattooed album by a band from Sherman, of all places, that rocks as possibly hard as it can rock without actually becoming metal — as delicate a feat as Peacemaker is indelicate.
Uncle Lucius, And You Are Me The Austin quartet pours a whole lotta R&B and soul into songs that would otherwise still make them a better-than-average jam band.
Crooks, The Rain Will Come Crooks’ rakish honky-tonk is a little more Hank Williams III than Hank Williams Sr., dusted with banjo and the conjunto accordion of none other than Flaco Jimenez. “My First Gun” even goes full-on mariachi.
Pat Green, Songs We Wish We’d Written Vol. 2 As on 2001 Cory Morrow collaboration Songs We Wish We’d Written, Pat Green’s tastes run a little more eclectic than a lot of people might assume: Collective Soul’s “The World I Know,” Shelby Lynne’s “Jesus On a Greyhound.” Elsewhere, although no one should be surprised to hear Green cover Joe Ely and Tom Petty, they might be surprised to hear the zeal he puts into them.
David Ramirez, Apologies Soulful Austin singer-songwriter spills his guts, ticking off too many cigarettes and far too many regrets while a tasteful steel guitar does the actual weeping. Ryan Adams couldn’t have done any better.
Akina Adderley & the Vintage Playboys, Say Yes As positive as its title, Say Yes brooks no bad thoughts in its relentlessly punchy blend of jazz, rock, funk and R&B. Still, the album is nothing compared to the wallop Adderly & the Vintage Playboys pack live.
Alejandro Escovedo, Big Station Bruce Springsteen knows, but even people in Texas tend to forget just how much musical DNA Alejandro Escovedo shares with the Boss. Big Station is yet another reminder, a passionate album that is both defiant and inspirational.
Shearwater, Animal Life Stately, immaculate album from Jonathan Meiburg’s Austin crew bridges the gap between –gasp! — indie-rock and classical hymns. Exquisite and haunting.
Robert Glasper Experiment, Black Radio/Black Radio Remixed HSPVA-educated pianist Glasper is one of the top names in New York’s jazz scene, friends with the biggest players in neo-soul and conscious hip-hop, and called in a bunch of favors to make a record that could not deserve its two R&B Grammy nominations more.
Ryan Bingham, Tomorrowland What Oscar? Bingham continues the trajectory of “Depression” from 2010’s Junky Star, with densely tracked guitars, elephant-stomp drums and a faint Eastern flavor. The Jimmy Page influence is sometimes painfully obvious, as minor a sin as there could ever be.
Jesse Dayton, Jesse Sings Kinky After Dayton portrayed Kinky Friedman in the 2011 play Becoming Kinky, an album of Friedman tunes was a no-brainer. One that slipped so effortlessly into the skin of the cigar-chomping country singer/political gadfly perhaps wasn’t. Jesse for Governor?
Lyle Lovett, Release Me Classy as ever, Lovett ends his 25-year-plus relationship with Lost Highway/Curb Records, using the old Ray Price weeper as the title track (a k.d. lang duet here). Otherwise, he cleans out the vaults with Sara Watkins and Kat Edmonson duets, as well as Chuck Berry and Townes Van Zandt covers. A fitting capstone to a distinguished career with the one Nashville label that truly understands country music — so what next, Lyle?
Kat Edmonson, Way Down Low Second full-length by helium-voiced Austin chanteuse; a fetching suite of tunes that strikes a feather-light balance between classic pop, jazz and swing.
Bart Crow Band, Dandelion Shiny set of Texas country-rock that will scratch the itch of anyone who thinks Eli Young Band has gone a little bit too emo.
Gary Clark, Jr., Blak & Blu Years of incubating in Austin clubs led to much anticipation for Clark’s coming-out party, teased by 2011’s Bright Lights EP. Blak & Blu delivers with an eye-popping array of blues-related looks that make the past come alive, from frenetic boogie-woogie to psychedelic soul. My favorite Texas album of 2012, probably my favorite album of the year, period.
TEXAS REISSUES OF THE YEAR
Old 97’s, Too Far to Care Omnivore Recordings Dallas’ favorite insurgent country boys tack on some demos to make a double-disc set out of their album that swung for the fences — and would have knocked it out of the park if the music business hadn’t moved those fences at that very moment.
Flatlanders, The Odessa Tapes New West Records Before the legend or even really the band, Joe Ely, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Butch Hancock headed south of hometown Lubbock already armed with many songs — “Dallas,” “Down In My Hometown,” “One Road More” — that would soon make the Flatlanders legendary.
Doug Sahm, The Return of Wayne Douglas Steady Boy Records On his final album, Sir Doug revisits his the honky-tonks of his childhood with a set of songs that sounds fully aware of his dawning twilight years. Still, he died too soon — nine months before Wayne Douglas was even released.
Moving Sidewalks, The Complete Collection Rockbeat Records Billy Gibbons’ pre-ZZ Top, 13th Floor Elevators-influenced fuzz-rockers get the loving reissue treatment by Rockbeat Records, which tacks on assorted 45s and whatnot to the Sidewalks’ 1968 LP Flash, and wisely issues this expanded set in both CD and LP formats.
Radney Foster, Del Rio TX 1959 Devil’s River Records Rather than reissuing Del Rio, Radney Foster re-recorded it, live in the studio, adding a warm polish to a record that — thanks to the likes of “Just Call Me Lonesome” and “Nobody Wins” — became a cornerstone of what we call “Texas country” today.
