The Year 2023 in Music

Continuing with our year in review, Matt Lynn Digital invites you to look back at the last year in reviews of books, movies, music and television. We look at these with individual categories, one per day through Sunday. Today we share music reviews offered by Matt Lynn Digital in 2023.

(Cover art for the Weathervanes album by Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit).

Beginning with our most recent review with a guest review of the Weathervanes album by Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, as reviewed by friend of the blog Cobra. The 2023 album presented alternative country-rock that mixed in with roots rock and southern rock to entertain their fans. Our review of the Rick Rubin book The Creative Act: A Way of Being also represented 2023 with a top notch look into how creativity works in music production and other fields as well.

(Cover art for the 2011 Tedeschi Trucks Band album Revelator).

The 2011 release of the album Revelator by the Tedeschi Trucks Band offers the first of two albums from the 2010s in our annual review. Offering a taste of American traditional rock, blues rock and roots rock from a guitar virtuoso opens an album that I can and do listen to over and over again. The 2010 A Christmas Cornucopia album by Annie Lennox also presented a more contemporary music mix.

(The biopic Walk the Line depicted aspects of the lives of Johnny Cash and June Carter).

The movie Walk the Line (2005) provided a mostly autobiographical portrayal of the musical life of country musician Johnny Cash and his second wife, June Carter. Music from both performers were featured throughout the movie, which offered a compelling movie experience of the respective lives of the couple up to the point of their marriage.

(Cover art for the R.L. Burnside album Mr. Wizard).

A modern sound for the delta blues comes to us with the 1997 album Mr. Wizard by R.L. Burnside. The music tends to more of a jam format than some of Burnside‘s earlier work with influences on musicians making music into the current day.

(Cover art for the Van Halen album OU812).

The 1988 album OU812 (Oh, you ate one too!) by Van Halen incorporates the most hard rock or pop metal sound for the three albums we reviewed for the 1980s. Both the 1986 album The Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby and the Range and the 1985 No Jacket Required album by Phil Collins delve more into the so-called adult contemporary genre with a focus on message and sound this still hit for a somewhat different audience.

(Cover art for the Christopher Cross album Christopher Cross).

We’ve taken the 1970s decade seriously with a review of nine separate albums. The self-titled 1979 album Christopher Cross by Christopher Cross continues the adult contemporary appeal before the 1974 soft rock appeal of the Jackson Browne album Late for the Sky. Second Helping by Lynyrd Skynyrd gave 1974 a more southern rock or boogie rock sound with their second album.

(Cover art for the Dr. John album In the Right Place).

The 1973 Dr. John funk and piano blues album In the Right Place gives way to the more progressive rock sounds of Pink Floyd‘s 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon and Yes‘ 1972 album Fragile.

(Cover art for the Chuck Mangione Quartet album Alive!).

The contemporary jazz and easy listening album Alive! by Chuck Mangione Quartet from 1972 introduces the final three albums with a largely instrumental sound. The soft rock album Teaser and the Firecat by Cat Stevens stands next to the blues rock, hard rock and heavy metal sound of Led Zeppelin IV by Led Zeppelin for the music of 1971.

(Cover art for the Miles Davis album Sketches of Spain).

Jazz and rock and roll provide our 2023 soundtrack for the 1960s. Holiday music for 1968 leads us to Christmas Album by Herb Alpert & Tijuana Brass. The seventh album for The Beatles gave us the rock and roll in the form of 1966’s Revolver. The John Coltrane album Giant Steps and the album Sketches of Spain by Miles Davis round out 1960 with jazz performances that warm our heart.

Matt Lynn Digital appreciates your continued interest in the content we offer. Should you have albums that you’d like us to review, please be sure to let us know.

Matt – Friday, December 29, 2023

Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon and Ginnifer Goodwin in the James Mangold movie ‘Walk the Line’

Biopic movies have had a place in cinema since I began taking movies serious enough to rank movies. Country musician Johnny Cash received such treatment based in part on his autobiographies Man in Black: His Own Story in His Own Words of 1975 and Cash: The Autobiography, with Patrick Carr, of 1997 plus. Walk the Line (2005) received that plus deeper treatment with additional screenwriting from Gill Dennis and director James Mangold. Friend of the Matt Lynn Digital blog Cobra listed Walk the Line at #16 on his listing of top 20 movies as recently as 2018.

(From left, Reese Witherspoon as June Carter and Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash in the James Mangold movie Walk the Line).

The movie itself begins with scenes of family life for the Johnny Cash from 1944 in Dyess, Arkansas. We meet Johnny Cash‘s mother Carrie, his abusive father Ray, and his brother Jack. Robert Patrick, Shelby Lynne, Lucas Till and Ridge Canipe portrayed Ray, Carrie, Jack and Johnny at this point of the movie, with tragedy befalling Jack and Ray severely resenting Johnny for it. Joaquin Phoenix would go on to portray Johnny Cash as an adult.

(Ginnifer Goodwin as Vivian Cash in the James Mangold movie Walk the Line).

It’s 1950 when Johnny Cash joins the U.S. Air Force. Cash takes a liking to writing songs while stationed in West Germany, developing Folsom Prison Blues before returning to the United States when discharged in 1954. Cash would marry his first wife, Vivian Cash as portrayed by Ginnifer Goodwin, before the couple moved to Memphis, Tennessee. Vivian inspired Cash‘s first hit song I Walk the Line.

(From left, Larry Bagby as Marshall Grant, Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash and Dan John Miller as Luther Perkins in the Larry Mangold movie Walk the Line).

The absence of success as a door-to-door salesman as a means of supporting his family, in part, led Cash to seek an audition with a small band for Sam Phillips, the owner of Sun Records. While Cash, Luther Perkins and Marshall Grant first aimed to play gospel music, it was Folsom Prison Blues that won the trio a contract and financial success. Among others, the three would begin touring with Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins, as portrayed respectively by Waylon Payne, Tyler Hilton and John Holiday. Dallas Roberts portrayed Sam Phillips.

(From left, Robert Patrick as Ray Cash and Shelby Lynne as Carrie Cash in the Larry Mangold movie Walk the Line).

The touring introduces Johnny Cash to June Carter, as portrayed by Reese Witherspoon. The influence Carter has on Johnny Cash is a source of friction for Vivian Cash. Feelings of love develop between the pair, though attempts from Johnny to initiate a romantic relationship with June are initially rebuffed. A large portion of the film is dedicated to this dynamic, the children between the separate marriages for the pair, and the familial drama that remains between Ray and Johnny Cash. The eventual intimacy, drug and alcohol overuse by Johnny, an eventful Thanksgiving on that path, and a dynamic journey to ultimately get there provides depth to the personal story that is told by Walk the Line.

(From left, director James Mangold, actor Joaquin Phoenix and actress Reese Witherspoon in the James Mangold movie Walk the Line).

Walk the Line is well crafted entertainment with a strong underlying narrative. The drama is true to the music style of June Carter and Johnny Cash, with feelings of love and social norms of the larger society factoring into the tale. Learning more about the music and the biography of the early part of Cash’s family and career was worthy of my time, too. I rate Walk the Line as directed by James Mangold at 4.0-stars on a scale of one-to-five.

Matt – Wednesday, September 20, 2023

Sheryl Crow and the self-titled album ‘Sheryl Crow’

On Tuesday, September 24th, 1996, singer / songwriter Sheryl Crow‘s second studio album, named Sheryl Crow, was released. The album offers a mixture of styles including Adult Alternative Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock and American Trad Rock. The album feels as relevant today as it did when released 26-years ago this week.

(Shown is the album cover for Sheryl Crow‘s second studio album, named Sheryl Crow).

As quoted by Songfacts here, Sheryl Crow described Maybe Angels “as “an extraterrestrial yarn that finds Kurt Cobain joining John Lennon in heaven’s winged choir.”” The opening song from Crow‘s second studio album feels a bit trippy lyrically and musically, with the production choices backing this up.

A Change Would Do You Good charted eighth in the United Kingdom and nineteenth in the United States. Written by Crow of Kennett, Missouri, guitarist Jeff Trott of San Mateo, California, and drummer Brian MacLeod of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, the song conveys several loosely related yet lightly presented changes in life that can be made to improve the experience of life. Musically, the song feels playful.

(A Change Would Do You Good was written in New Orleans, Louisiana).

Home offers the song of heartbreak in a marriage that simply is not working. There’s an absence of fulfillment with dreams deferred and pain for both spouses. Musically, the song drifts into ballad with the instrumental sensibilities leaning toward a country influence.

(Home was the last single from the Sheryl Crow self-titled album. The single was released on October 6th, 1997).

Sweet Rosalyn brings more of a funk influence to romance just out of reach. The lyrical twist of a priest aiming to proselytize the musical object of the song, Rosalyn, strikes me as unexpected and a bit amusing. The message I hear is aim for better, fuller love.

If It Makes You Happy charted ninth in the United Kingdom and tenth in the United States. As mentioned here, “[t]his song describes a person who seems depressed or upset no matter what happens…This won the Grammy award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.” While sung at higher pitch with more acoustical energy than Home, the song emotionally hits me from a satisfyingly similar place to the third song from the self-titled album.

(If It Makes You Happy was the first song released from Sheryl Crow‘s studio album named Sheryl Crow).

Redemption Day opens with an intriguing reverberating acoustic sound that includes interesting percussion that I really appreciate. Crow‘s performance, as mentioned here, was “as a politicized song about national redemption.” Johnny Cash would cover the song as something “about personal redemption.”

Hard to Make a Stand charted twenty-second in the United Kingdom. In offering an uplifting sonic feeling like A Change Would Do You Good, the song almost responds to the feedback that change might help. As mentioned here, Hard to Make a Stand “seems to look at the world through the eyes of a person trying to make sense of this world. It mixes the morbid with a strange sense of hope. Plenty of black humor to go around, as well.”

(The third single released from Sheryl Crow‘s second studio album, Sheryl Crow, was Hard to Make a Stand).

Everyday is a Winding Road opens with refreshingly light bongos. The optimism about feeling closer to fine in a world that doesn’t necessarily make sense charted twelfth in the United Kingdom and eleventh in the United States. The perspective offered here called this song a “bit of fortune cookie wisdom.”

(Everyday Is a Winding Road was the second song released in support of the Sheryl Crow album, Sheryl Crow).

Placing my finger on the musical influence for Love is a Good Thing proved a little bit of a stretch, though the choice of organ and then synthesizer / keyboard really impressed me. An interesting note, mentioned here, was that Walmart banned this song over a provocative lyric included in the song. “The store refused to carry the album unless [Sheryl Crow] changed the lyric. Crow refused.”

Oh Marie calls attention to another girl lost in one-night stands and reputation makers. The singer’s perspective questions how this could bring happiness, despite wishing Marie best. To me, I am also hearing Crow question for herself what love is, though tackling that question with answers about what love is not.

The musical introduction for Superstar interests me as much as the message the song, if not more. Crow offers the notion with Superstar another bite of the romantic apple in noting that a celebrity romance has its appeal, though the brilliance at the beginning wears off. The question again feels like “what is love?” A step further, it feels like “what can make love sustainable after the infatuation melts away?”

The Book offers a musically mournful sound and message that interests me so much. The idea of a singer / songwriter becoming the public telling of a romantic experience both signals a violation of trust and a betrayal. My feeling is that Sheryl Crow credibly offers those painful feelings for the betrayal is notably one direction, as in there aren’t details of Crow‘s partners in the music Crow presents.

That Ordinary Morning opens with Sheryl Crow singing in a throaty, high key with a nightclub echo and musical accompaniment reminiscent of a confession is striking. The lyrics coupled with deliberate drums and piano speak knowingly of an experience where Crow woke first and moved on. The lyrics feel to me like a mixture of convincing the singer and us that the previous night’s intimacy was passionate, deliberate and now, done and behind. That this song is placed besides the songs that preceded it, and ends the album, speaks strongly to a message of love, pride, dignity and a still continuing search for love.

Matt – Saturday, September 24, 2022