And So It Begins
A look backwards….forward march! Some reflection on 2023’s high and low-lights. Anticipation for what 2024 holds in store.
Howdy! Joe here.
Welcome to 2024 at Today I Heard. Big steps forward were taken this past year. The total posts nearly doubled 2022. Now most of that was clumped into just two months. September and December were high profile months. Aside from the backlog series and end of year content, most of the other months were the standard two posts per month. I like the fortnightly model. It gives me time to think things through and write without pressure. However, I also enjoyed amping up myself and having a month or two of a more intense flurry of content. We will see what the upcoming year holds.
I want to welcome the recent influx of new subscribers! Thanks for welcoming TIH to your inboxes. Prior to starting off the new year, it behooves us to look back to see what is being built on. I am going to highlight the five best performing posts, five worst performing posts, and my five favorite posts of the past year with a couple sentences of commentary apiece. Additionally, we will take a look at some upcoming music, get the juices flowing, get excited, and I’ll tease a couple ideas that I’m working on for the year. Think of this as an introduction to 2024.
I’m looking forward to openening up the floor to subscribers. Please comment with stuff that you are looking forward to. Or stuff that was your favorite from the past year. If you wish to respond via email (today I heard blog @ gmail. com) that is wonderful as well. I am planning an upcoming letter to the editor article featuring responses to a variety of pieces that have occurred over the last six months or so. If you wish to send something in, please do so before February 15th. Thank you for joining the community. Hope you enjoy.
Upcoming albums I'm excited for:
Full on hype for Shane Smith and The Saints. They haven’t released in a while, but they did put out a single in 2022 that was my favorite song of the year. The post-Yellowstone hype has been fantastic and entirely deserved. I’m very excited to see what comes next.
Cautiously optimistic for Randall King. I have loved everything Randall King has put out so far in his career. However, they tell me the pre-release singles have not been great. Personally have not chosen to listen to them. I prefer waiting for the album. I am nervous that perhaps the producer change will lead to a subpar product. Still very excited, but a little bit nervous
Hoping for a comeback from Cody Jinks. Cody Jinks has been doing this for a while. Now that we have sufficient distance with the 2010s, it is clear he was one of the defining artists of that timespan. Albeit more narrowly tied to particularly niche sub-genres than some of the other artists that come to mind. He had a string of iconic hits that really left their stamp on those years. I personally have a number of his songs that resonated deeply with me and when turned on, immediately summon memories of that particular era. Since the pandemic, nothing he has put out has managed to achieve that lofty status. I’m hopeful that he can bring it back. Maybe he was stretched a bit thin. Four albums in three albums is a lot for anyone.
Excited about what The Pistol Annies has up their sleeves. Why the rumored nostalgia trip? It does just so happen to be the case that the individual members of the Pistol Annies are not having the greatest moments in their solo careers. Speculatively I would say that’s why they’re willing to band back together for another round. (Editer Joe here, I guess it’s only been two years since they put out a record. In 2021, they put out a holiday record, but realistically that doesn’t count. Aside from that, they released in 2018 and before that 2013. It has essentially been a decade with only one real album. I think the point still stands.) However, I’d also take a different look at the situation. Miranda Lambert has embraced her desire to not just be a creator, but also to make opportunities available for other people. Her being on the management ground floor of the new Big Loud Texas division aligns with this sense of vision. It seems reasonable that making another Pistol Annies record is very much part of that. Their prior work was excellent. I see no reason why this wouldn’t be good. Assuming this actually is gonna happen, I think it could be one of the best albums of those that have been announced so far.
With the lull in music releases, I've going back to some of my recent favorites. I've found myself enjoying more mellow and relaxed listening. It fits the season. Brent Cobb for instance. Wilder Blue. I've revisited some folk favorites. Ken Yates (specifically Quiet Talkers, although Cerulean is incredible. It’s just too groovy for the desired mellow vibes). Jamestown Revival. (I don’t think I ever wrote about this, but there were a handful of folk albums, one of them by Jamestown Revival that really grabbed my attention over the last couple years. Wanted to feature them, but they were no longer topically relevant and it slipped through the cracks.)
On to the retrospective part of things
Top Five Viewed
The top three were the three most recent pieces published and not much explanation is required. It reached the highest amount of subscribers and end of year content always does well. Many of you reading this may have first been introduced to TIH because of these pieces.
The Last Of Us- Indie Reviews
The remaining two most read pieces:
Hardy’s The Mockingbird and The Crow review- This was my first piece that really spread beyond the subscriber base. It was linked in the description as inspiration for a YouTube video and that spread the post more than anything up until that point. Obviously still pretty small numbers, but it was the first taste of success. I think what made it stand out was that it was timed well, right around peak buzziness. More importantly, it shined a light on a contentious and divisive issue; was this a good album? Did the themes land? What was Hardy even trying to say? I'm proud to say that I brought a perspective to the conversation that wasn't really addressed anywhere else I saw it talked about. On the eve of writing this post, Hardy released a perplexing rap rock song that somehow is supposed to reflect his identity as a country boy even though it sounds more like some weird country remix of Macklemore song. Just adds to the sense of confusion surrounding the artist formerly known as Michael Hardy.
Guess Who - This was tremendous fun. It came together very quickly. The interactive nature of the post seems to have resonated with readers. I received great feedback about it. In my mid-year State Of The Blog post, I remarked about how I felt a sense of lightheartedness was missing. This was my attempt to try and bring that back. I’m glad it worked.
Top Five Favorite (excluding any of the aforementioned in the popular category)
Assumptions- Look, we live in a world with far more music being released then anyone has the time to listen to. Because of that, as was discussed in this piece, humans take shortcuts to cut through the thicket. Even someone who chooses to review music as a hobby takes these shortcuts. Part of my mission this year was, after a sluggish first few months, to take the reins and actively pursue new releases more so than I did in the past. Reviewing and posting them became part of that mission. I had to break some assumptions and was often pleasantly surprised to see that the shorthand I used to wave off projects was not in fact accurate but actually enjoyable. It provided we, and I hope the audience, with a lesson.
The Four Horsemen- I don’t think there was anything remarkable about my analysis of the projects discussed on this post (Turnpike, Godwin, Stuart, Panhandlers), but I think they were presented in a context which worked really well. Using the medium of a current release to reflect on career and growth is something that we tend to do subconsciously when we listen to an album, and most review based content does not reflect that as strongly as it should. I directly put these new releases into comparison and contrast with the immediately previous album, it added resonance and context beyond the more straightforward reviews that I was doing at the time. I think it especially fits these records because of the intense artistry displayed in these projects. Of all of the reviews I did this year, this probably was my favorite framing.
I, Algorithm- This was one of the more experimental pieces. Although some cultural discussion comes up as a means of thinking about music, which is often the chosen medium to process culture and lifestyle, I rarely write something so targeted towards the specific moment. I’m not a technology writer by any stretch. I was inspired by some reading of fellow music substack bloggers to put together assorted thoughts on artificial intelligence in regard to music consumption. Looking back on it now, it does seem to have held up over these past few months which is not easy, given the rapidly developing space of artificial intelligence. It seems well received, and that is encouraging because it pushes me to try more experimental ideas in my writing
He's Gone Country- There were a number of pieces this year that took a long time to come together. This one took a very long time, perhaps the longest at more than a month of on and off prep. I think the work paid off and resulted in bringing a sense of perspective to the table that was unique. Analyzing French country music through the lens of Japanese fashion is probably a first.
Russell: Kirk or Dickerson- Lastly, far and away the project that I thought most deeply about. I was nervous about this I was aiming for an analysis of certain country subgenres via a sociopolitical cultural lens that borrowed heavily from the political philosophy of Russell Kirk. I don’t even know why this idea struck me. Inspiration is funny sometimes. Honestly, the first thing I knew about it was the title, which started off as a joke. But as I thought it through, I realized that the nature and attitude underlying these seemingly only slightly differing sub genres was in fact quite distinct. This was a realization that not many had remarked on. Furthermore, these splits weren’t merely skin deep, but they in fact touched on deep philosophical ideas about how one relates to a culture, society, the past etc. Over the span of at least a month, these ideas were worked on, and edited furiously, trying to bring some clearance to these scattered ideas that I had. It came together in a way which I was really proud of and engendered some feedback, thankfully all positive. It even led our first letter to the editor post , which was a big milestone.
Bottom Five Viewed
A Down Home Super Bowl Show- Thought I could piggy back on the general internet hype for the Super Bowl, but the piece took a drop too long to come together. Missed that window.
Whitsitt Chapel Review- I thought perhaps a Jelly Roll fan would discover it and pass it around that intense fan world. It didn't happen. My guess is it got lost amongst the Backlog posts in September. If I'm being honest, I dashed off that post pretty quickly and didn’t have enough to say that made it worth a dedicated post. There’s a lot that I didn’t touch on or could’ve at least done a better job.
A Whole Lot Of Lot- Not really sure what happened here. The backlog in December performed pretty well. This piece just did half the numbers of all the others. I don’t think this is some sort of tomato-gate phenomenon that the female music dedicated post did the worst numbers. I think it was just the victim of being one of seven or eight posts put out in a few weeks and it was inevitable a couple of them slipped through the cracks. Pushing out excessive amounts of content often can lead to a quick spike in views, but also easily means that some posts will just not reach everyone and get lost in the massive amount of content.
Shot Glass vs.- This was a great piece imo. I’m bummed it didn’t do better. It was earlier in the year, so the audience was lower. Also, it featured an artist without the buzziest fan base. I think it was the first point during the year that the theme of dissecting neo traditional or neo vintage music came to the forefront. It ended up being one of the most discussed themes on the blog all year long. I tried to link it to the Hardy review that took place previously and perhaps it would’ve done better if I would’ve tried to present it just on its own. I was nervous about having a dedicated post for a project that came out the previous year. On one hand, it would be unusual. On the other hand, if there was a good idea to be brought out of it, it should’ve been able to stand on its own.
Vibes Matter- Sometimes things work. Sometimes not. I liked this piece and thought it had something to say. It was slightly experimental, so perhaps it didn't land with audiences. This was just me stretching myself to see if I could take the eye towards country music analyzing that I had developed and try and see if it worked on other genres. I think it did to some degree, but clearly not what the audience preferred.
Any big takeaways from these? Not really. Each one of the weaker performing posts has its own story. I do think that it demonstrated the downside of experimenting with writing. Some of the far out ideas work. Others don’t. I think my aim going forward is to continue trying to bring a different angle to the conversation. I cared too much about trying to time the zeitgeist on some of the reviews and posts. Maybe there’s a marginal benefit to be had. I don’t think it should be an aim.
A hint of what is to come.
And now a look forward for the blog specifically. Here are a few of the ideas that I am currently working on. Not all of these will come to fruition, but you never know.
A post that is mainly dedicated to focusing on production. A special light is shined on the work of one producer that over the last twenty years has really left an impact. Without giving away too many details, I think his particular stamp tells us a great deal about nature of music and art when filtered through a commercial lens. No, this is not about Dave Cobb.
This is an idea I have been chewing about for a while and I’m not entirely sure there’s enough meat to be able to write something about it. Recently, I found myself more able to analyze film, which is an area that I claim no amateur expertise in, and I thought that perhaps this journey of analyzing and thinking deeply about music has led to benefits in other areas. The specific moment of realization and how it occurred was interesting and notable. If there’s enough there to talk about, I’d like to try.
I also found a draft that I have no recollection of writing and I only have the introduction, so honestly I don’t know if I can resuscitate whatever thought process I had at the time. The two things that were written about in this two paragraph intro was about Jon Bernthal’s The Punisher and Willie Nelson. There are a couple other bits and pieces that slightly illuminate what I was thinking at that time so there’s some hope to be had. I’ll leave y’all to try and puzzle over what on earth the connection there would be. It’s more fun that way.
Thanks for reading,
Joe