Kentuckyseven

Vi har grävt. Vi har svettats. Vi har läst. Vi har lyssnat. Listan är här! Årets 7 bästa plattor föll som fallna hjältar i våra nävar. Tack till alla som gjort musiken. Ni som plockat upp gitarren, hanterat pianot och stämt fiolen. Keep on Truckin’ ••• Jonas & Magnus, Kentuckyseven Podcast.

1. Chris Stapleton – From a Room: Volume 1

Mannen från Lexington, Kentucky har gjort årets absolut bästa skiva. Rösten når stjärnorna och bottnar i underjorden. Här finns bluesstomp, skäggrock och gråtballader. Country och Americana i heligt förbund. Allt vackert producerat av Dave Cobb (who else) och med Chris fru Morgane Stapleton ständigt i rummet. Mr Stapleton har bara börjat sitt triumftåg – vi är glada att åka med på färden nedför floden.

2. Benjamin Folke Thomas – Copenhagen

Majornas finest, Benjamin Folke Thomas, har bytt London mot GBG och skapat ett mästerverk över 10 låtar. 29-åringens tredje studioalbum lyser som en självklar stjärna. En stor skiva som vi lyssnat sönder 2017. Rösten har en tyngd som självaste Johnny Cash och mannen i svart ler luttrat i sin himmel när han knastrar igång Copenhagen-plattan.

3. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – The Nashville Sound

Alabamagrabben Jason Isbell och hans 400 Unit med frun Amanda Shires har dominerat 2017. Plattan testar gränser för vad Americana ska stå för. Vi älskar Jason Isbell för evigt och lyssna på White Mans World eller If We Were Vampires så förstår du varför. Så låter en av världens bästa låtskrivare.

4. Lukas Nelson & the Promise of the Real – Lukas Nelson & the POTR

Lukas Nelson har kompat Neil Young i många år och släppte 2017 en fullständigt underbar skiva. Kärlekssången Georgia, öppningsspåret Set Me Down On a Cloud och svänget i Die Alone visar en bredd inom folkrocken som får oss att gråta. Och ja, visst är det Willie Nelsons son!

5. Caroline Spence – Spades & Roses

Årets vackraste skiva kommer från Caroline Spence, från Charlottesville, Virginia. Vi tappar andan när hon påminner oss om Emmylou Harris och klassiska toner i sin egen sagolika tappning. En platta som växer som en änglakör för varje lyssning.

6. Gold Star – Big Blue

7. The Oh Sees – Orc

Thee oh Sees från San Francisco knäckte oss fullständigt med sommarens livespelning. De dubbla trummisarna bankar igång en tidlös energi. Vi river Kentuckykontoret och sliter av oss truckerkepsen. Psykadeliskt ös!

…

7 close calls! 7 plattor som vi också dyrkade 2017:

••• Ryan Adams – Prisoner

Mannen från North Carolina har gjort det igen. Vi älskar karl’n.

••• Tyler Childers – Purgatory

Kentuckydebutant producerad av Sturgill Simpson. Grymt bra.

••• David Ramirez – We´re Not Going Anywhere

En äkta Kentuckysevenfavorit. Americana-country-soul-de-lux.

••• Jon and Roy – The Road Ahead is Golden

Folkbandet från Kanada gjorde en av årets mest groovy plattor.

••• Hurray for the Riff Raff – The Navigator

Alynda Segarra knäckte oss 2017. Årets mäktigaste artist. Power!

••• Leif Vollebekk – Twin Solitude

Vancouver Time, Telluride, Elegy. Sköra, vackra låtar på pärlband.

••• Seabuckthorn – Turns

Instrumental magi. Andy Cartwrights 12-strängsdrömmar FTW.

• Genius Ryan Adams covers Taylor Swifts album 1989 from beginning to end. It’s a Nebraska-kind-of-mood and an altogether fantastic trip you have to take. It’s no wigs and no costumes.

Try the ever emotional Out Of The Woods.

What Way Out West is really about? Down to the bone? Here’s the Kentuckyseven Experience. Buckle up.

Giant and their boots-cover-LP. The porcelain toilet of the press centre. To dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free. Warm sun, cold beer. The search for Jason Isbell. Walking down Linnégatan in the rain. The drugs. The girls. The greatest song on Appetite for destruction.

The apartment in Kullavik Centrum where it all started. The side burns of Woody-Kim. Sturgill Simpson, the ruler of our kingdom. The tears. The bus rides. The search for Jack White. The pitch dark Father John Misty chatting away. Grey Goose served by Rocky Balboa. A sweaty small stage of Pustervik.

Photo: Olof RIngmar

Photo: Olle Kirchmeier

The uncertain uniformity. The Tallest Man On Earth Olof Lundh. The afternoon talks about producer Dave Cobb. The Canadian Fireball’s. The search for Ray LaMontagne. The intense smell of urine. The ducks of the lake. Late nite work in a deserted pressroom. Pizza at midnight, then Burgers at four.

Photo: Jonas Löfvendahl

The eternal beauty of Emmylou Harris. The bond of a 30 year-old friendship. Making money of gunslinging ponchos with Zlatan and The Epic Split. Talks of Vince Neil. Reunions. The next year, the WOW-decade. The missing of dead friends. The search for Ryan Adams.

1. Joe Purdy – Eagle Rock Fire

• Joe Purdy made the best album of 2014, no doubt in our mind. His talking blues wanders the tender streets of Townes van Zandt, Bob Dylan and Kris Kristofferson. The LA-mans 12th album over 8 years shows he’s on top of his game. Listening to this record, we remember what music is all about; why Kentuckyseven is still around. A humbling experience – thanks Joe.

2. Broken Twin – May

• Sometimes music gets deep under your skin, into your gut. Broken Twin, the wonderful Danish 25 year-old songwriter Majke Voss Romme, does exactly that. It’s a lo-fi wholeness, an important piece of haunting art, back to basics. A divine debut record to really care about.

3. Gary Clark JR – Live

• This blues rocking Texas guitar man got the balls to release a double disc live album. And man, he delivers. 15 songs that create a six-string thunder, a raw edged monster of a record. Gary Clark Jr is building his house brick by brick as a modern day travelling blues man. We’re forever in his yard.

4. Eli Rhodes – Running Out Of Jesus

• Nashville-singer/songwriter Eli Rhodes debut EP had us from the get-go. Five songs that are easy-going yet troublesome, tales that sum up the emotions of a young man. He got the swift air of greatness about him, a clean-cut record that made our everyday life a bit more wonderful.

5. Horse Thief – Fear in Bliss

The Oklahoma band that totally swept us of our feet this year. The album Fear in Bliss was released in April and has been spinning ever since. This is the sound that will keep us listening to music. There is hope for the future. For all lovers of Band of Horses, The Magic Numbers or My Morning Jacket… This is for you. This is the next generation.

6. I’m Kingfisher – Avian

Thomas Johnsson, the Swedish genius that released one of 2010’s absolute greatest album came back with nothing less than a masterpiece, once again. The Swedish melancholy mixed with tunes that are so in tune with the now that it is almost frightening. And mr Johnsson’s voice is probably the only one that can accompany that. An album that only needs a larger audience.

7. Strand of Oaks – Heal

Just when you thought that you found the cure. This album came back with an itch. I love the way it keeps changing and growing. Synthezisers join classic guitars, and everything just blends in a magical harmony. Timothy Showalter has created something that leaves no one unaffected. This year we really felt the love. And we will go on loving.

#CloseCalls – 7 Great Albums We Also Absolutely Adored 2014

• Noah Gundersen – Ledges

• Jamestown Revival – Utah

• Josh Nolan – Fair City Lights

• The War On Drugs – Lost In The Dream

• Hurray for the Riff Raff – Small Town Heroes

• Sturgill Simpson – Metamodern Sounds in Country Music

• Ryan Adams – Ryan Adams

Check out our old hero Ryan Adams, who turned his genius songwriting into new tune Gimme Something Good. A full-lenght album is bound this fall, this being his first release since the sweet Ashes & Fire from 2011.

The song is a real treat, oozing Tom Petty and the raw natural-born American roots heritage. Play it loud and preferably in the car, alone at night, heading nowhere. Gotta love this one.

Ryan Adams always got a place in our heart. Now the man is back.