2007 Revisited

TAKE ME OUT TO HEAR THE BANDJulie Lee (Self-released)Lee had a good year with a pair of Alison Krauss cuts, but she also made a thoroughly pleasing set of swinging old-time pop. Sassing and sweet-talking lovers and friends with a fluttery, brassy elegance, Lee savors the quirks and perks of relationships on tracks such as “My Old Friend” and “Before You Came Along,” all sweetened by the womanly lift of close harmonies, muted horns and jazzy banjo ukulele.

THE RINGING BELLDerek Webb (INO)Webb made a solid, politically inflected pop record this year, complete with a visceral black, white and red graphic novel illustrating the lyrics. He pulls no punches on the throat-scraping blues of “A Savior on Capitol Hill,” taking swipes at the malicious interweaving of religious and political rhetoric. But he wasn’t only in a political headspace on this one—there are a few endearing love songs too.

ROOM TO GROWAdrienne Young (AddieBelle)Metaphors of growth and greenery are appropriate for Young, and not just because she’s donating part of the proceeds of her third album to sustainable agriculture. It’s also about expanding outward and upward from the roots. Here she further refines her already melodic approach to folk-pop and taps into the rawer edge of her supple voice. It’s Young’s first album produced without the help of Will Kimbrough, and she relies a little less on the traditional instrumentation used in the past, but there are still some nice spare moments, like the nostalgic, fiddle-sweetened ballad “River and a Dirt Road.”

DEAD LANGUAGEK.S. Rhoads (Alex the Great Recordings)Rhoads has the unique ability to blend emotional sensitivity, darkly meditative philosophizing and swaggering, hip-hop-influenced vocal phrasing and grooves. It all starts with “Dark Hotel”: Rhoads’ singing sounds close and intimate even as he glides and pushes against the drums’ lazy syncopation, while the strings pipe in with cursive, foreboding patterns. “The Bayonet and the Cigarette” wields a double-edged sword—squalling bottleneck guitar and barbed, sung-spoken observations about war, poverty and religion.

FRESH PAIR OF EYESBrooke Waggoner (Self-released)Fresh Pair of Eyes isn’t actually a full-length but a six-song EP. But Waggoner’s brief set of baroque, richly orchestrated piano pop is fetching enough to deserve a mention. On a song like “Wonder-Dummied,” her nimble, ornate playing leads a mini-rock-orchestra through quick and varied movements, from her gentle, pensive solo chording and heavy-hearted exhales to an almost Morricone-esque Western gallop. Not all pianists who’ve solidified their playing style classically could resist overplaying as she does.

—JEWLY HIGHT

FIVE RECORDS MADE IN NASHVILLE THAT DON’T SOUND LIKE NASHVILLE

Although Nashville’s music scene is too varied to be pinned down to a specific style or sound, some Music City-recorded efforts breathe the city and others don’t. Here are five Nashville records that illustrate the power of an artist’s or producer’s individual vision, not an overbearing sense of place—which isn’t to say that we’re not proud they were done in our city.

SONG OF AMERICAVarious Artists (31 Tigers/Split Rock)Song of America, producers Ed Pettersen and David Macias’ attempt to encapsulate 500 years of this country’s history in 50 songs, serves as an all-purpose, all-ages fakebook for indie people. Devendra Banhart does superbly by “Little Boxes,” Malvina Reynolds’ look at post-Levittown America, and Andy Bey sings “Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?” like a depressed lounge lizard with a smoking piano-driven trio. Not every performance is inspired, but the selections add up to a nuanced account of this country’s march toward the light. And it sounds clear as a bell, thanks to the ministrations of former Motown engineer Bob Olhsson, who co-produced.

I AM THE MANSimone White (Honest Jon’s)“The American War” might be 2007’s loopiest protest song, unless it’s White’s “Great Imperialist State,” where she sings, “I’m a spoiled child of the great imperialist state / Cannot kill my meat nor grow the food upon my plate.” I Am the Man wobbles with lachrymose trombones on the cover of Goffin and King’s “I Didn’t Have Any Summer Romance.” Hawaii native White makes summer pop with a melancholy undertow, as on “Mary Jane,” a tale of self-invention featuring an indelible, haunting melody. Mark Nevers produced with his usual tact.