My Top 19 Albums of 2019 (Part 2)

Here's a few more to keep us going...

12. Todd Snider - Cash Cabin Sessions Volume 3

Retreating to Johnny's old Cabin is a classic back-to-basics move for the king of witty, cynical Americana.

Top Track - Talkin' Reality Television Blues

Well, come gather 'round and I'll sing you a song

About a crazy old world that was coming along

'Til one day some fool made the decision

To turn on the television...

...then a show called "The Apprentice" came on and pretty soon

An old man with a comb-over had sold us the moon

And we stayed tuned in, now here we are

Reality killed by a reality star

11. The Lemonheads - Varshons II

The laziest man in rock (TM) finds his way into a recording studio for the first time in ten years and churns out another effortless & eclectic set of covers that prove he's still got it... he just doesn't use it that often.

Top Track: Magnet

Apparently the vinyl comes with a banana-scented scratch n sniff sleeve...

10. Midland - Let It Roll

Peerless* bar band country rock, the kind of record they don't make anymore.

(*Among the current country rock crowd.)

Top Track is Mr. Lonely, but I featured that very recently, so here's Every Song's A Drinkin' Song.

You don't have to wait on Hank if you want to raise your glass

You don't have to wait on Cash if you're just here to get trashed

You don't have to wait on Nelson if you're trying to raise some hell, son

You don't have to wait on Cline if you just want some more wine

9. Mattiel - Satis Factory

Gotta hand this one to Rigid Digit; I wouldn't have discovered it without him raving about it.

Dusty Springfield, Debbie Harry, Amy Winehouse, Aretha Franklin, Patti Smith, Chrissie Hynde, Diana Ross, Nico, Courtney Barnett... you can hear them all in this record, yet every track is distinctly Mattiel. Quite an accomplishment.

And it's the expectation, making or breaking, giving me a heart attack

And in twenty years time will it all be mine

Or will I wish that I could take it all back?

(This tune even steals a bit of a Wrecking Ball era Springsteen.)