Good evening, and welcome to Mixed Bag, and this is George Grahams. In the hour that we have, it’s something that we have been doing now for a long time, the annual Graham Awards for 2025. <<>>
This is the fiftieth and final edition of the Graham Awards. We started doing these little tongue-in-cheek awards ceremonies back in 1976, thus making this the 50th, and as many of you may have heard, I am taking retirement at the end of this week, after 53 years with WVIA, and 51 ½ years of the daily Mixed Bag program. The defunding of public broadcasting, my own having just turned 75, and radio being a rather different medium that it was, makes this a good time to agree to retire. I am planning to work on an on-line achive for the Homegrown Music series, and I am also exploring having more of an on-line presence. By the way, my website, georgegraham.com will remain active, and you can follow me on social media on BlueSky at george-graham.bsky.social.
So this week on Mixed Bag, we’re looking back in a rather abbreviated way at the last 51 years. But right now, let’s turn our attention to this year, 2025. Later on in this hour, we’ll have my annual list of musical obituaries, which I have had to edit down because there were so many of them.
Except for some oligarchs, grifters and fascists, I’ll think many of you will probably agree with me that 2025 has not been a very good year. But the music kept flowing, although I have to say, there seemed to be fewer albums that really excited me than in some previous years.
In past Graham Awards segments, I would produce these elaborate, often satirical or snarky comments about the pop music world as it was. But as I have often observed, in recent years, the commercial pop music world seems like a completely different universe than the music we have featured on Mixed Bag. One of my criteria is that, in looking from a 50-year perspective, I think music should have staying power, and not be a fad that will be an embarrassment a couple of years from now. And from the standpoint of a curmudgeon like myself, a lot of the music on the charts today does fall into that category. I think it has a lot to do with the way many people are experiencing music, not purchasing it to hold in a collection, but streaming it, in an ephemeral way, often with a video that in my opinion, can distract from the music.
The technology has also democratized music in a way, which is a double-edge sword. Anyone can now put out their own music independently, and have as much reach as the major record labels. But the gatekeepers of those record labels are not there, and lot of really bad music is getting out. So as I have often said in the past, the process of filtering the music for the gems out of the tide of “slop,” as the popular term goes, is more tedious. In my retirement, I won’t miss all the bad, amateurish music to wade through, but I’ll really going to miss having the chance to share the gems that I have found with you.
In any case, it’s time for my top 10 for 2025. Some years, there is a clear ranking , but this year, I’m going to read them in alphabetical order.
We’ll start with Alison Brown and Steve Martin’s Safe Sensible and Sane, two first rate banjo players – comedian Steve Martin is no slouch on the 5-string – do a fun bluegrass flavored album. <<>>
Next in alphabetical orderd one that just came out, and which I quickly fell in love with. It’s by the Mexican singer-singwriter Silvana Estrada, called Vendrán Suaves Lluvias, which is a Spanish translation of a line from a 1918 Sara Teasdale poem, “There Will Come Soft Rains.” It’s mostly in Spanish, but beautifully melodic even if you don’t understand the words. <<>>
John McCutcheon, Field of Stars. I think that John McCutcheon is probably our greatest living folksinger, and very prolific, nearing 40 albums. Once again, he can make his point, and often be poignant.
Monkey House: Crashbox. This Canadian band carries on the Steely Dan tradition of sophisticated, jazzy songs with impeccable production.
Maria Muldaur: One Hour Mama – The Blues of Victoria Spivey. With a 60-plus year career, Maria Muldaur is in fine form with a sometimes whimsical album of old-time blues songs, nicely performed, with Ms. Muldaur;’s vocals sounding as good as ever.
The Nunnery: Ascending. This is an album that brilliantly takes advantage of some technology that has been around for a while, the electronic looping device. Wisconsinite Sarah Elstran creates some very engaging music, mostly with just her voice and hand percussion instruments.
The Outernet: The Light and the Fury. A great set of often high-intensity and impressive fusion and art rock, led by an Australian keyboard player.
Roomful of Blues: Steppin’ Out. This large blues band with horns formed in the 1960s, and are still at it with evolving personnel. For the first time they have a female lead vocalist, and they again serve up classic swing-oriented blues.
Southern Avenue: Family. This is literally a family band with three sisters from Memphis and the Israeli-born husband of one of them. They do an infectious and soulful blend of blues and Gospel influence.
And finally on the alphabetical list, Will Stratton, and his album Points of Origin. Will Stratton is an Upstate New York based singer-songwriter who definitely shows his influence by the late Nick Drake. This new album from him revolves around the California fires of the previous year.
And there you have it, the fiftieth, and final edition of the Graham Awards on WVIA. I’ll be posting the awards on my website at georgegraham.com. Later on, we’ll have another long-running tradition, the annual music obituaries.
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