In a city that boasts a huge number of talented singer-songwriters, Noel McKay stands tall among artists who are taking the music of forebears like Guy Clark into the future. McKay’s 2024 album You Only Live Always is indeed futuristic, and he writes about the loneliness of working in outer space on what might be the record’s most arresting track, “Interstellar Rescue Service.” If you’ve been wishing for a synthesis of Guy Clark and Jim Webb — Texas-to-Tennessee songcraft imbued with pop sensibility — “Interstellar Rescue Service” might be what you’re looking for. The rest of the album — check out the ruefully funny “An Old Cowboy in Spain” — is progressive traditionalism at its most literary and compelling.
Best Singer-Songwriter
Noel McKay
Noel McKay
