Top music-related moments of the past year

ALBANY — During this time of the year, when everyone is reflecting on the events of the past 12 months, you can hardly turn on the TV or pick up a magazine or newspaper without coming across several “best of the year” lists.

Just a cursory glance, and you’ll find everything from the top movies or TV shows to the top celebrity outfits and scandals.

Always one to be a bit reflective, I figured I’d get in the game as well and offer my take on a wild and wonderful year.

Since I’m a music nut, I kicked around the idea of coming up with a list of my favorite singles or albums of the year, but that seemed a little boring. Plus, I’m not certain I paid enough attention to the world of pop music to really be able to offer anything particularly exciting or original.

Instead, I’ve taken a different tact and settled on offering a list of my top personal music and music-related experiences of 2014.

Becoming a Believer at the Briar Patch: The highlight (at least for me) of this year’s Briar Patch Music Festival just down the road in Damascus this summer, was catching the killer set of soulful blues/rock served up by the Florida-based group Thomas Wynn & the Believers. The band was, as my father-in-law is fond of saying, “tighter than Dick’s hatband” and tons of fun to boot. While the music alone was enough to warrant inclusion on this list, the real gem was the intimate setting of the event, which gave me the opportunity to shoot the breeze with Thomas before he and the Believers took the stage, and then get some merch and a big old hug from Thomas’ sister Olivia, who didn’t seem the least bit wary despite having just left everything her powerful voice could muster on the stage. Just that hug was well worth the almost hour-long ride through the country to get to the Patch.

Enjoying what seemed almost like a private concert at Big Pine: I’ve already shared my overall feelings about the first-ever Big Pine Music Festival, but it bears noting that without a doubt the highlight of the weekend was the insanely good performance of the husband/wife duo Shovels & Rope. Each alternated between guitar, drums and keyboard as they unspooled a tapestry of fiery blues, soul and country. It was all I could do to keep my jaw off the field I was standing in. Since far too few attended the two-day festival, when Michael Trent and Cary Ann Hearst took the stage Saturday night, it ended up seeming like they were playing for just me and a few of my close friends. It’s a shame, too, because their set was worthy of a packed stadium, and they played like they were in one. Big Pine was many things, but mainly it was the catalyst for bringing the A-list talent of Shovels & Rope to SOWEGA fans.

Getting the “scoop” on a local legend’s homecoming: Few things got the locals as excited this year as the return of home-grown hero Phillip Phillips, who rolled into Albany to headline local charity Mission:Change’s inaugural Music=Change fundraising event this summer. The former “American Idol” winner did his neighbors proud as he tore through an impressive set on a severely hot August night. As much as I enjoyed Phillips’ show, the highlight for me was getting the opportunity to sit down with him for a one-on-one during which we talked about making music, the nerves of playing in front of his hometown supporters and what I might hear on the young star’s iPod. Over the course of 15 minutes, Phillips was able to convey the genuine love he has for music and the fact that, despite intense fame, he’s still just a laidback dude from Southwest Georgia who loves a good tune. As an added bonus, the smile hardly left my face for a week upon realizing I was the only media member who was granted access to the star, thanks, I must say, to his doting sister LaDonna Urick, who, despite my nagging text messages, hooked up an old friend. It was a great night all around, most importantly for the fact that the event raised important funds and awareness for what the organization does to help area citizens.

Dog Head unleashes “Abomination:” Say what you will about Albany’s music scene, but be forewarned that one segment of the population is more than happy to let you know it’s alive and kicking. Perhaps no fan base is as fiercely loyal as the group that worships at the altar of heavy metal, and never was this more apparent than the night Albany’s Dog Head celebrated the release of their newest album with a metal smorgasbord at the Oglethorpe Lounge. As soon as I rolled into the parking lot of the downtown watering hole/music venue, I knew it was going to be an epic night as throngs of long-haired and shaved headed headbangers milled around outside in tattered jeans, leather pants and T-shirts, waiting for the festivities to begin. While each of the night’s opening bands certainly did its part to whip the crowd into a frenzy, the real magic came when the band of the hour proved it had the chops to make Dog Head a force to be reckoned with in the metal world.

Getting a shout-out from my peeps in UBL as they rocked the Albany Christmas Parade: Being able to stroll down Pine Avenue, snapping pictures of the annual Albany Christmas Parade, is always a good time. If I wasn’t in the holiday mood by the time I got downtown Dec. 6, there was no doubt I was feeling festive after seeing the 80-something parade entrants that braved the rainy weather to spread some holiday cheer. Of all the great-looking floats, however, none was as cool as the flatbed featuring one of Albany’s best bands, Unbreakable Bloodline. UBL seized the opportunity to share their upbeat, exciting mix of rock, hip-hop, funk and soul with the citizens of Albany and did themselves and their hometown proud. Even cooler for me, though, was getting a shout-out from Vernon, O’she and Jay as I joined the throng of folks dancing beside the rolling stage to snap what turned out to be some of the best float pictures I’ve ever managed. Talk about Jingle Bell Rock.

Drifting down a stream of memories as Pink Floyd proved the river is indeed endless: Along with Led Zeppelin and the Beatles, Pink Floyd has been and always will be one of my all-time favorite bands. So, needless to say, I was absolutely thrilled when the band dropped its first album of new music since 1994’s “Division Bell.” While the release of the record was clearly one of the new musical highlights of the year, for me the most impactful thing about the “Endless River” was the spark it gave me to take a trip down memory lane with the group’s entire discography as the soundtrack. As with a lot of my all-time favorites whose every note and lyric is forever etched in my brain, the Floyd don’t get played in as heavy a rotation as they once did. In my quest to uncover new music, I just don’t get around to listening to the classics as much. This fall, however, I went back to the beginning of that endless river and was delighted to float down memory lane.

They threw me down in the Lazaretto: I can say with near certainty that in my world, the best, or at least most popular, album of 2014 was Jack White’s “Lazaretto.” I say this not because Jack White proved yet again he’s one of the most talented musicians in the business, but because no record got the McEwen clan as pumped up on a regular basis as White’s second solo effort. Whether it be Milla and Tay chiming along in near perfect harmony to “Temporary Ground,” or Bear making sure everybody knew his “veins are blue and connect and every single bone in his brain is electric,” no trip to the store, to school or out of town during the majority of 2014 was complete without our friend Mr. White.

Sharing the love of all things music in the Herald’s Friday JAM: Since I first got a taste of it when I was 15 years old at Westover High School, I knew I wanted to write for a newspaper, and the ultimate dream was to one day write about the chief passion of my life — music. That dream came true this year when the powers that be gave Carlton Fletcher and me the green light to devote a page of The Herald each week to all things musical. There’s been a few rough patches since we kicked off the JAM where we’ve had so much going on it was hard to get all the extra copy produced, but by and large doing album reviews, previewing concerts, digging into juicy features about national and local artists, and sharing my thoughts about why music is so important to me has been the highlight of an incredible year working at The Albany Herald. Based on the feedback we’ve gotten from the community, the JAM will rock on in 2015, and I for one can’t wait to share the “scene-and-heard” in the coming months.