2024 DFRAAs (Dangerous Folk Rock Appeal Awards, fka “Of the Year”)

ALBUMS

1. Nobody Loves You More — Kim Deal
   A decade in the making, the first solo record (not counting an album’s worth of solo singles released back in 2013) by the Pixies / Breeders icon delivers in spades. Sonically adventurous while still sounding exactly like you’d expect and want a Kim Deal record to sound like. Quoting Paste Magazine (who ranked this way too low at 43 IMHO): “And then there is her voice—still a fusion of charm, attitude, a choir of angels and fine-grit sandpaper, just as it has been all along.”
2. The Past Is Still Alive — Hurray for the Riff Raff
   Combining their early album folkiness with the autobiographical messages from more recent output, The Past Is Still Alive epitomizes dangerous folk rock appeal. Like the Kim Deal album, it’s exactly what we’ve come to expect from Alynda Segarra. Bonus points from me for the title and how it weaves its way into a few different songs.
3. Roll It Out — The Deslondes
   So much talent in one band, and the records keep getting better and better. That’s the beauty of a supergroup: We showed up to the party via Sam Doores, but stuck around for Riley & Dan & JJ and welcomed new guy Howe with open arms. “Greater than the sum of its parts” may be cliche, but here it’s the whole truth and a ringing endorsement. Deslondes might be Cajun for Voltron.
4. Bandcamp 52 Fridays — Shawn Smith
   Not exactly an album, but I need somewhere to commemorate the 35 posthumous archival songs released on Bandcamp this year of a planned 52 spanning all of Shawn Smith’s musical projects. Some of these were previously released on the old Skeleton Keys compilations¹, but many were new to me. A whole lot of gems from the dearly departed great I miss the most. (Bonus: Since it didn’t start until May, more are coming in 2025!)
5. L.A. Times — Travis
   Easily my favorite Travis record since The Man Who. Continuing the inadvertent theme percolating above, these new songs sound both freshly different yet clearly sound like Travis songs if that makes any sense.
6. Natural Magick — Kula Shaker
   Easily my favorite Kula Shaker record since, well, 2022‘s very good comeback record. Thankfully they ditched the mildly annoying skits between songs with a solid set of groovy, glammy, just plain fun rock songs wearing their psychadelic influences on their sleeves. It is a little top-heavy, but also might be one of my favorite four-song stretches to open any album in recent memory.
7. The Fear of Standing Still — American Aquarium
8. Valley of Abandoned Songs — The Felice Brothers
   I live-tweeted my first listens for both of these, so I’ll let me past self do the talking below.²

A first impression song by song review of the new @USAquarium album THE FEAR OF STANDING STILL to prime the streaming pump in support of live, original, independent music. (I also bought it, of course.) ????

— JLC (@lbdg) July 26, 2024

First impression review of VALLEY OF ABANDONED SONGS, the new record by @felicebrothers as soon as it goes live. (Streaming now, but buying also, as always.)

— JLC (@lbdg) June 28, 2024

SONGS

1. “Mercury on Parade” — The Deslondes
2. “idontwannapaymytaxes” — Kula Shaker
3. “The Living Thing” — Monsters of Folk
4. “Missionary” — Jack White
5. “A Paradigm Never Talked About In Song” — Hunter James
6. “Nobody Dies from Weed” — Hayes & The Heathens
7. “Damn What a Beautiful Man” — Painted Shield
8. “Time Makes Fools of Us All” — Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats
9. “Sweet Talk” — Iron & Wine
10. “Livid” — Wilco

SHOWS

1. The Pink Stones (12³ times at 7 venues!) — 3/13-3/18 & 10/17-10/20/24
   I’ll spare y’all the play by play and group these 2 blocks together as if they were one show. I did a deep dive into the 8 SXSW shows already, and enjoyed their triumphant October return with a 3-night Sagebrush residency + secret show at Sam’s Town Point capper.
2. Soul Coughing at Roadrunner in Boston — 9/29/24
   They said it would never happen, but I’m certainly glad it did. I still get giddy remembering the True Dreams > Collapse > Misinformed triumphant triumvirate mid-set.
3. Benji Hughes at Bourgie Nights in Wilmington, NC — 9/28/24
   My first in-person Benji Hughes live show in 8 years, plus first in his home state and first since L Extreme was released. Still as magically great as the first time.
4. The Nude Party at Sam’s Town Point (live album recording!) — 5/6-5/8/24
   Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. “They’re playing multiple nights. Let’s just go to the first one…” Those worst laid plans always tend to spiral on me. Despite a nearly identical setlist each night, I had a blast with the sweaty honky-tonk singalong. Did my best to scream my usual “Never!” at the end of “Chevrolet Van” each night, but unfortunately didn’t hear it on the live record.⁴
5. American Aquarium at Radio East — 12/7/24
   On a cold and rainy night at an unfamiliar venue I ended up going solo to this show. American Aquarium kept me warm with a mostly blistering set. BJ made it feel worthwhile when he said “These are the kinds of shows that separate the true fans from the casual ones.” And he didn’t even know I skipped the third night of the Wilco residency for it!⁵
6. Wilco at The Moody Theater — 12/5 & 12/6/24
   The shows formerly known as Winderlude hit the road, advertised as “no repeats across nights” vs. the typically implied low likelihood of repeats on one of Wilco’s multi-night stands. Would’ve run the table if not for the American Aquarium conflict (more on that above and below…), but still a heck of a time by on of the few bands who could pull this sort of thing off.⁶
7. Weezer/Flaming Lips/Dinosaur Jr. at Moody Center — 9/27/24
   Already covered in detail (actually, sorta twice), but I can’t wait to see Blue live one more time for the 50th anniversary…
8. The Record Company at Antone’s — 1/17/24
   When the only thing I miss about LA comes to visit it’s always a heck of a time. This was a rollicking set, heavy on the first and fourth records with an old school “Tallahassee Lassie” cover to close things out like just like in the independent good ol’ days.
9. Sam Doores at Sagebrush — 5/10/24
   Since this year’s theme was seeing the same band multiple times, I should technically extend this one to the 6 times I saw The Deslondes as a group (4 with Pink Stones, 2 separately) plus 2 Riley Downing solo sets & 2 Sam Doores solo sets for an even 10 on the year.⁷ Of course every gig was great, but citing Sam’s solo gig here due to it being my wife’s favorite of the bunch, our first time seeing someone on the small side stage at Sagebrush, and because he sound checked with “Clay Pigeons.”
10. America at The Moody Theater — 8/31/24
    In which I met the guy who wrote “A Horse With No Name”
11. Fingerpistol at The ABGB — 12/29/24
    Last but not least starts with a flashback. In December of 2016 we went to a holiday songwriter swap at The ABGB. Musicians rotated through playing 1-2 songs each open mic style. It freezing out and relatively empty—probably a single digit number of non-performing patrons present. One song stood out with a chorus that went “with your two dollar words and your fifty cent mouth, nobody here has any idea what you’re talking about.” I couldn’t remember the name of the group, but recalled the lyrics often. Periodically I’d search the internet to track it down but always came up empty — until I finally found it this summer! Saw they were playing Sunday Best at The ABGB and heard it live again early in the second set. Fitting end to a fabulous musical year.

CONFLICTS

New category this year! With all the concerts I attend you think this would happen more frequently, but 2024 certainly made up for lost time on being double booked and needing to make a difficult choice on who to see (and/or brave the double header…) with great frequency.⁸

Evan Dando vs. Quantum Leap Finale: February 20th
Winner: The Quantum Leap season finale, which unfortunately became the series finale (damn you, NBC!) This was a no brainer being my favorite show, and I took guidance from Evan himself when he sang “What if something’s on tv and it’s never shown again?”

Sabrina Ellis vs. Kelsey Wilson: March 13th
Winner: Sabrina for duration, but I went to both. Best way to resolve a concert conflict? When they are conveniently at the same venue, one on the outside stage and the other inside. Can’t go wrong with the two best vocalists in Austin. I give a slight nod to Sabrina, but when someone else (not me) shared the sentiment with congratulations for their Best Vocalist win at the Austin Music Awards, the reply was “I’m honored, but how can anyone think that with Kelsey Wilson literally singing outside right now?”

Bob Schneider vs. The Deslondes: March 15th
Winner: Bob Schneider. SXSW conflicts shouldn’t really count (even though I’ve listed two of them here), but since I already had a bunch of Deslondes under my belt and yet to come seeing Bob at ABGB with some friends just made sense.

Weezer vs. M. Ward: September 27th
Winner: Weezer. Confession: If it wasn’t the Blue Album in full I definitely would’ve chosen M. Ward over a regular Weezer show.

Benji Hughes vs. Joe Castiglione: September 28/29th
Winner: Benji Hughes. This one was both a no brainer and a painful one. Obviously I’m picking my favorite artist of all time, but missing out on honoring the Red Sox broadcaster whose voice I’ve probably heard more than any other in my life was tough. Technically I could’ve taken an early flight to fit this in before Soul Coughing, but the weekend was already a whirlwind so I opted out.⁹

James vs. Soul Coughing vs: September 29th
Winner: Soul Coughing. It was never going to happen again while James keeps on keepin’ on. (Technically I could also put Joe Castig here since it was the actual day, but instead I’ll just ibid it.)¹⁰

Mason Jennings vs. Soul Asylum vs. The Pink Stones: October 17th
Winner: Both! The rare double header, though I did miss the first hour of the Pink Stones so I guess Mason technically won.

Wilco vs. American Aquarium: December 7th
Winner: American Aquarium. Since I saw Wilco the previous two nights it made sense to share the love for live, original, independent music. Based on the weather I initially wished I picked the alternative (and briefly considered catching the first Wilco set before the set-times made it impractical), but all’s well that ends well.

Hayes & The Heathens vs. Metallica: December 13th
Winner: Hayes & The Heathens — who probably should’ve earned at least an honorable mention on the top shows list for a fun Xmas show including fantastic renditions of “Merry Christmas Baby,” “LA Freeway,” “Miss Ohio,” and a face-melting electric “KMAG YOYO.” (The Metallica show was also in LA and part of my wife’s work holiday party, so since I wasn’t invited this isn’t actually a conflict but whatever.)

(Realizing I should have put this section before SHOWS to avoid spoilers, but I don’t feel like rearranging it. Happy new year!)

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FOOTNOTES

1. I only bought 2 of the 7 volumes when Skeleton Keys first surfaced in 2011, mainly for the long lost “So The Heart Can See” unreleased solo album. After Shawn Smith died I wished I’d bought them all, so these new releases were a pleasant surprise of a second chance. ↩︎
2. I might regret this if/when X/Twitter shuts down, but at least it will be a good excuse to hear these records back to back again. ↩︎
3. Technically 11.5 times; I missed the first half of the first Sagebrush show due to a conflict with Mason Jennings playing Antone’s the same night. (If thirteen is a baker’s dozen, what would eleven and a half be?) ↩︎
4. Fun side-story: Hung out with a guy on night three who wanted a spot not directly next to the speaker where his friends were situated, so he joined me close-ish but outside of the invisible sound line. At the encore break we talked about my books and I gave him an L Extreme card as I left to summon a rideshare home. Two minutes later he and his roommate come running out of the venue and find me on the bleachers. He showed her the card and she said “oh, I read that the other day” Long story short, she works at Emo’s and ended up with the copy I left backstage for Caroline Rose after her May 1 gig. She gave it to J Boog when he saw her reading it backstage and wanted a new book to read. ↩︎
5. American Aquarium is named after a Wilco lyric, adding more layers here. ↩︎
6. These were my 21st & 22nd Wilco shows! For fun, I made up a setlist for an imaginary fourth night assuming a similar format of mellower first set, heavier second set and still no repeats. ↩︎
7. If we’re being ultra specific, the best single show of the year was a tie between the Pink Stones opening for Deslondes at The White Horse on 3/14 and the encore of the same at Sam’s Town Point on 10/20. ↩︎
8. I suppose the uptick in multi-night stands and traveling to other cities this year raised the odds on this happening. ↩︎
9. I did hear his final innings on the radio from Jon Mack’s house while eating a Town Spa pizza though… ↩︎
10. Ibid ↩︎