top five picks
(with videos linked).

 


1. John Legend- "Everybody Knows." Evolver (2007)

This guy is the master of smooth. He's got a Nat King Cole easy-going posture, but taps his foot to an entirely modern set of rhythm 'n' blues beats. Legend's ballads sing of profound love. But unlike most artists these days, he keeps it honest. He doesn't fear to address ideas like devotion, duty, and earnest manhood--all seldom-articulated in the 21st Century America. Most of the reviews I've seen aren't too fond of Legend's Evolver, yet none of them really touch on the central theme that defines each track: Love calls each man to be a little better than he was before, and the road isn't easy.


2. Avett Brothers- "St. Josephs." The Second Gleam (2009).


They’ve howled at the moon, screamed at love lost and wept by the river. If the Avett Brothers aren’t busy blasting away bad memories with hard acoustics and wild screams, they’re singing softly at the grave where they buried them. This is one of their more recent songs, belted out while suspended from a gondola.


5. Band name- "Song." Album (2009).

Descriptions here...