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

R.L. Burnside and the album ‘Mr. Wizard’

Guitarist R.L. Burnside of Oxford, Mississippi became known to me when he became popular with musicians I enjoyed from the 1990s and beyond. Among one of my favorite albums put out during this period was Mr. Wizard, first released March 11th, 1997. The album exemplifies multiple blues forms performed by a master of the artform.

(The front of the album Mr. Wizard by R.L. Burnside, which was released originally on March 11th, 1997).

Over the Hill opens Mr. Wizard with a strong slide guitar that simply won’t quit. The song makes a strong statement for self-determination and perseverance in the face of significant obstacles laid at his feet.

Alice Mae brings an upbeat jam about protecting the love of his lady friend, Alice Mae. After lyrically declaring reasons that he loves his woman in this song, Burnside declares his readiness to kill in defense of maintaining his love. The clarity of the jam and the message are clear and strong.

Georgia Women brings a jam about lusting after women in Georgia, referencing rumors Burnside‘s heard to the distinct sweet love he’s experienced with Alice Mae. That the man is looking to experience intimacy, a subject returned to after his lady has left him in the song Highway 7 later on the album.

With Snake Drive, R.L. Burnside works the blues formula with innuendo, letting his baby ride with the journey’s destination, Snake Drive, providing the anatomical reference for how the joyride in play.

(The back of the Mr. Wizard album by R.L. Burnside, which was released originally on March 11th, 1997).

Rollin’ and Tumblin’ tells the story of cheating in love. Burnside tells us that getting caught leads to heartache and loss with the burden of responsibility to boot. While the song doesn’t address his lady’s pain, we hear the singer’s pain in this jam.

Out on the Road reflects as classic a blues construction as exists on the Mr. Wizard. The point of view for Burnside on this is distrusting the motives of his romantic love interest. Aiming to find her before she cheats, the singer suffers indignities while losing sleep overnight investigating places his woman might be.

In returning to another jam about being on the road, Highway 7 offers the tale of Burnside‘s lady having left him. He hits the road bound for Georgia with a fierce appetite for intimacy that the lyrics tell us cannot be satisfied.

Tribute to Fred is a straight-up instrumental jam in the eighth slot of nine songs on the Mr. Wizard album. Musically, this song sits quite well among the others presented on this album.

You Gotta Move slides us on our way out for the album with an African American spiritual. Mississippi Fred McDowell of Rossville, Tennessee recorded the song as slide guitar country blues piece in the mid-1960s, which Burnside makes his own following the McDowell song presented here.

(From left, drummer Cedric Burnside and his guitar playing grandfather, R.L. Burnside).

Musicians contributing to this album included Judah Bauer of Appleton, Wisconsin, Kenny Brown of Selma, Alabama, Cedric Burnside of Memphis, Tennessee, Russell Simins of Queens, New York City, New York and Jon Spencer of Cleveland, Ohio.

Matt – Saturday, March 11, 2023