{"id":47899,"date":"2020-12-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/features\/2020-the-power-of-music\/"},"modified":"2026-07-04T11:20:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-04T11:20:17","slug":"2020-the-power-of-music","status":"publish","type":"feature","link":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/features\/2020-the-power-of-music\/","title":{"rendered":"2020: The Power Of Music"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the middle of a year that redefined the term \u201crolling disaster,\u201d the world\u2019s musical artists came through in a big way. Yes, by and large 2020 suuuuuuuucked\u2014but the music didn\u2019t. To the contrary, a number of artists stepped up to deliver some of their most pointed and poignant work ever, a testament to the power of music to engage and inspire, and the power of artists to transmute human experience into stories rich with meaning and resonance. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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Context Matters Award<\/b><\/p>\n

The Chicks \u2013 Gaslighter<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

This long-awaited, somewhat uneven return might not make my top five albums of the year, but in \u201cGaslighter\u201d and \u201cMarch March,\u201d The Chicks came through with two of the most relevant and resonant anthems of summer 2020.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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Unplugged and On Fire Award<\/b><\/p>\n

Ben Bostick \u2013 Among The Faceless Crowd
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Bostick\u2019s first two full-lengths were full of storming honky-tonk rockers. Here he dials the volume down, leans into his songwriting craft, and delivers a tremendous song-cycle about struggle and deceit and the price everyone pays when our dreams outstrip our ability to achieve them.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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The Waiting Was<\/i> The Hardest Part Award<\/b><\/p>\n

Tom Petty \u2013 Wildflowers & All The Rest<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Rumored for years and delayed by disagreements among Petty\u2019s surviving family, this expanded edition of his classic 1994 solo album Wildflowers<\/i> reveals at long last the full, expansive range of the songwriting and recording he did for what was originally imagined as a double album. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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I\u2019m A Believer Award<\/b><\/p>\n

Lilly Hiatt \u2013 Walking Proof<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not easy being a second-generation singer-songwriter; for every Rufus Wainwright, there\u2019s a Julian Lennon. Lilly Hiatt, daughter of renowned songsmith John, won both respect and affection with this collection of \u201csmart, witty, big-hearted songs.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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All The Redemption I Can Offer Award<\/b><\/p>\n

Bruce Springsteen \u2013 Letter to You<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Fans have waited decades for The Boss to revisit the widescreen cinematic sound he created on albums like Born To Run<\/i>. Here he deploys the full E Street Band in support of a set of powerfully rendered songs that stare Father Time in the face and never flinch.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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Truth Bomb Award<\/b> <\/p>\n

Lucinda Williams \u2013 Good Souls Better Angels<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cFerocious\u201d is the adjective that leaps to mind each time I\u2019ve been called on to describe the darkly potent latest from one of America\u2019s greatest living songwriters, featuring the nuclear-tipped cruise missile known as \u201cMan Without A Soul.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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Comfort Food for the Soul Award<\/b><\/p>\n

Semisonic \u2013 You\u2019re Not Alone<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Semisonic never broke up, they just took time off to do other things\u2014a book, a band or two, and a ton of songwriting for others\u2014for the better part of two decades before reconvening for a five-song EP that finds them picking up right where they left off. It\u2019s another set of charming, hooky, insightful tunes full of indie-rock flair and pulsing positivity.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

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Indies of the Year Award<\/b><\/p>\n

Last Charge Of The Light Horse \u2013 The Sand Reckoner<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Musical craftsman extraordinaire Jean-Paul Vest returned this year with a fresh take on the brooding, artfully-rendered singer-songwriter fare that has made his group\/vehicle Last Charge Of The Light Horse one of my favorite acts of this century. Alternately rocking and dreamy, intense and beguiling, The Sand Reckoner<\/i> takes the measure of the artistic impulse and illustrates how it enriches the lives of both artist and audience.<\/p>\n

Becky Warren \u2013 The Sick Season<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re going through hell, keep going\u201d said Winston Churchill, maybe, unless it was someone else. In any case, Becky Warren followed the advice through and out the other side of a 16-month battle with depression that sparked the first set of genuinely autobiographical songs from an artist more known for her striking, vibrant portraits of others. It turns out her feisty-smart barroom rock and roll hits just as hard, maybe even harder, when she turns the camera on herself.<\/p>\n

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Album of the Year<\/b><\/p>\n

Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit \u2013 Reunions<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Jason Isbell\u2019s 2013 album Southeastern<\/i> marked a turning point for the Alabama singer-songwriter-guitarist, the moment where his craft and his heart became fully engaged with one another. The two albums that followed featured flashes of that same sort of white-hot creative fire, while only intermittently scaling the same heights of emotional resonance. And then came Reunions<\/i>, in which Isbell again throws open the door to his closet of anxieties to deliver a set of songs whose powerful impact is matched only by their silvery beauty.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

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Honorable Mention<\/b>
(in alphabetical order)<\/p>\n

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AC\/DC \u2013 Power Up<\/i>
Not long after the band appeared to be coming apart at the seams, AC\/DC reassembled to deliver an album\u2019s worth of vintage riffage.<\/p>\n

Andrew Adkins \u2013 The Echoist<\/u><\/i><\/a>
\u201cAdkins appears equally at home with Nashville country-rock, Philly soul, Muscle Shoals rhythm and blues, and reality-warping electric psychedelia.\u201d<\/p>\n

Big Big Train \u2013 Summer\u2019s Lease<\/i><\/a>
The first Big Big Train collection, a two-disc offering for the Japanese market, features several unreleased tracks among its two full discs of proggy greatness.<\/p>\n

Ultan Conlon \u2013 There\u2019s A Waltz<\/i><\/a>
\u201c\u2026feels like just the album we need, a thoughtful, unhurried meditation on solitude and connection, love and loss, endowed with a warmth and authenticity that can\u2019t be faked or synthesized.\u201d<\/p>\n

Drive-By Truckers \u2013 The Unraveling<\/i><\/a> \/ The New OK<\/i><\/a>
If you\u2019re still on the fence about the state of America in 2020, Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley have a few thoughts to share on this raw and merciless pair of albums.<\/p>\n

Eric Hutchinson — Class Of ’98<\/i><\/a>
Answering the musical question, what if you re-set Fast Times at Ridgemont High<\/i> in 1998 and asked Fountains Of Wayne to do the soundtrack?<\/p>\n

The Jayhawks \u2013 XOXO<\/i><\/a>
This album\u2014featuring all four Jayhawks writing and singing\u2014is unlikely to bowl you over, but its rumpled majesty promises to further polish the group\u2019s legend.<\/p>\n

Kansas \u2013 The Absence Of Presence<\/i><\/a>
Infusing a long-lived band with new blood is always risky, but less so when you add a keyboardist-songwriter-harmony vocalist of the caliber of Tom Brislin (Yes, Spiraling).<\/p>\n

Paul Melancon \u2013 The Get Gos Action Hour<\/i><\/a>
My affinity for power-pop, concept albums, and manic-depressive smart-alecks pretty much guaranteed I would enjoy stepping through the looking glass into the imagination of Paul Melancon.<\/p>\n

Gilbert Neal \u2013 Mistakes Of Memory<\/i><\/a>
If Frank Zappa, Leonard Cohen, and Lin-Manuel Miranda made a rock opera about life in 21st century America, it would probably sound nothing like this, other than being equally smart and cool.<\/p>\n

Pretenders \u2013 Hate For Sale<\/i>
Chrissie Hynde seems to be living her best life in her 60s, delivering yet another strong album, this time under the Pretenders banner, with co-founder Martin Chambers back in the fold.<\/p>\n

The Sideshow Tragedy \u2013 After The Fall<\/i><\/a>
The Texas guitar-drums duo returns with another album of raw, visceral blues-rock that makes the Black Keys sound like Josie & The Pussycats.<\/p>\n

Chris Stapleton \u2013 Starting Over<\/i>
Can this guy write a bad song? The world can keep wondering a little longer.<\/p>\n

Sadler Vaden \u2013 Anybody Out There?<\/i><\/a>
Jason Isbell\u2019s ace guitarist steps up to the mic and delivers an explosion of sun-drenched, hook-filled \u201970s rock.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In the middle of a year that redefined the term \u201crolling disaster,\u201d the world\u2019s musical artists came through in a big way. Yes, by and large 2020 suuuuuuuucked\u2014but the music didn\u2019t. To the contrary, a number of artists stepped up to deliver some of their most pointed and poignant work ever, a testament to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":48623,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"feature_type":[5609],"class_list":["post-47899","feature","type-feature","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","feature_type-best-of"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature\/47899","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/feature"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/48623"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"feature_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature_type?post=47899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}