{"id":210,"date":"2024-01-14T20:19:01","date_gmt":"2024-01-14T20:19:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jgourlay.com\/?p=210"},"modified":"2024-01-15T17:41:06","modified_gmt":"2024-01-15T17:41:06","slug":"best-old-music-of-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jgourlay.com\/?p=210","title":{"rendered":"Best Old Music of 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Time has marched on from year-end review season. I did think, briefly, to write a top-ten post but soon realized that I no longer really know what’s new, old, re-issued, re-hashed, re-recorded. Spotify says my top two artists are Alejandro Escovedo and Jean Sibelius. Only one is alive and neither had new music in 2023. (Though Alejandro<\/a> has a new album for 2024.) <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following new music, as opposed to just “music”, was a pandemic pastime. One where I felt a close, personal relationship to someone like Anders Osborne<\/a> via his weekly online concerts and my need to constantly purchase signed vinyl and merch from the man. (Friends, I walked past his home in New Orleans in summer ’23, noted its existence, and then walked on — I’m a lazy stalker.) One yearned for connection 2020-2022 and one wanted that connection to be alive, new, vibrant. A nice aspect of 2023 was that I was able to go right to the source and experience that connection first-hand. Yay, life. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

My first concert after ankle surgery in Dec. ’22, with boot and crutches, was the sublime Amy LaVere (with equally sublime Will Sexton):<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Amy LaVere<\/a> at Carol’s Pub, February 2023<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

I don’t have any “best of” 2023s to list, but I have a few moments to note:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strangest Musical Experience of 2023<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Male menopause (I assume) means that all men who have not yet listened to Led Zeppelin will go through a phase<\/em>. I mean, Kashmir<\/a>??!?!? The hair! The screeching! The guitar-godness of it. I finally get it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Music that was Better than Expected<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paul Simon and the Temptations did not, in the year 2023, need to put out any music at all. I had a mystical time riding my bike along the Fox River and listening to Simon’s Seven Psalms<\/a> in June. I had a blast at the Temptations concert. The new song (written by and featuring one S. Robinson) “Is it Gonna Be Yes or No?<\/a>” sat comfortably with the classics. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Temptations at the Chicago theater in Oct. ’23. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Best Re-issue of an Album I never heard of before…<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s gotta be All That<\/a>! (The album is called “Eponymous Debut”)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Davis Rogan with a re-united All That at Tipitina’s in New Orleans, June ’23. (Yes, I got the signed vinyl.)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Most Postponed Listening Experience<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s a long story, but after three years of holding tickets we finally got to see Crowded House in May ’23 (though not in Ireland as originally planned). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Best Kool-Aid Man Tattoo<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Riley Downing of the Deslondes<\/a>. (Also, the Deslondes are the best.) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Best Musical Book Tour<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mark Guarino’s book Country and Midwestern<\/a> tracks the history of country music in Chicago. Each stop on his tour featured music from or inspired by musicians in the book. To name a few: Special Consensus, Don Stiernberg, the Texas Rubies, Robbie Fulks, Jon Langford, Mark Dvorak, Dennis Leise, Danny Black<\/strong>, the Lawrence Peters Outfit,<\/strong> and Bonnie Koloc. <\/strong>Long live The Blacks! (Danny Black did an amazing set at The Hideout.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Least Surprising Washboard Fire<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I mean, if ever a washboard was going to be set ablaze and swung around, it would be on stage with Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band<\/a>. They’re just that hot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Rev. Peyton’s Big Damn Band at Fitzgerald’s (Berwyn!) in Dec. ’23<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Biggest Musical Impact<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nothing hit as close to home as Kristin Gourlay with Lovehouse at the Fitzgerald’s sidebar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Kristin Gourlay getting her Waylon Jennings on at Fitzgerald’s with Lovehouse. <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Time has marched on from year-end review season. I did think, briefly, to write a top-ten post but soon realized that I no longer really know what’s new, old, re-issued, re-hashed, re-recorded. Spotify says my top two artists are Alejandro Escovedo and Jean Sibelius. Only one is alive and neither had new music in 2023. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":215,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,3],"tags":[136,129,137,133,135,114,130,138,131,132,134],"class_list":["post-210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film-and-other-media","category-lists","tag-all-that","tag-amy-lavere","tag-big-damn-band","tag-danny-black","tag-davis-rogan","tag-deslondes","tag-kristin-gourlay","tag-lovehouse","tag-mark-guarino","tag-riley-downing","tag-temptations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgourlay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgourlay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgourlay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgourlay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgourlay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=210"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/jgourlay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":225,"href":"https:\/\/jgourlay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/210\/revisions\/225"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgourlay.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgourlay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgourlay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgourlay.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}