Bentley’s Bandstand: Favorite Albums of 2025: (second half)
Rodney Crowell, AIRLINE HIGHWAY. There is something about artists like Rodney Crowell that shares such a powerful sound from note one that there is never any question they’ve hit it out of the park. Again. It’s been that way forever with the best music. The song starts and the monkey nerve is hit. This recent album by Rodney Crowell is a sure-fire winner. Chalk up another Texan who has made the Lone Star state mighty proud in the music department. Yet another musical Texan has looked into the abyss and found the kind of belief that is abundance. Full speed ahead.
Lonnie Holley, TONKY. There are moments in life where the skies break in two, words cease to make sense and there are hopes for the world to return to making sense. That is definitely not happening now, and likely not to start anytime soon. The old saying has returned: “God gave Noah the rainbow sign. No more water the fire next time.” Lonnie Holley is a largely unknown entity right now, but that is not likely to stay that way forever. He is a mind who can use words to rewire the universe, and at the same give belief that whatever is in front of mankind, do not fear the future. There is no way to totally understand it, and maybe the unknown are moving into place to turn the unknown into the known. And though it’s unlikely a new mass of true believers of Lonnie Holley will rise up and give humanity new hope, stranger things have happened. Hopefully such miracles will rise again. And beauty from another world will lower itself onto this world here, and we will all rise up and find the promised land.
Jim Keller, END OF THE WORLD. Rock & roll isn’t the easiest thing to age at. Some may say it’s a young man’s sport, but that’s where the strength comes in. It’s a sound that all can achieve, if the magic of self-satisfaction is real. Jim Keller is a man beyond time, at the same time he’s a full-on grown-up. Keller’s been playing music since his teenage years, and in the early 1980s was a member of the Tommy Tutone band, and co-wrote their 1981 smasheroo hit “867-5309/Jenny.” And lived to tell about those experiences. And also able to return now with the kind of original songs that live in a time of their own. Keller has the voice to knock back an audience a few feet when the job calls for it. His most recent album is a full-on keeper, capable of competing with anything released in 2025. Not an easy feat by any means this far down the line. Listen and believe.
Lukas Nelson, AMERICAN ROMANCE. It’s no ride in the park when a singer-songwriter steps into the same ring where their father built a mountaintop of history, but that’s exactly what this young man has done. And while it’s taken a few tries to get to hit the winners’s circle, that’s where Lukas Nelson has arrived now. He is not only writing and singing like his life depends on it, but there is such a strength and warmth on every song here it’s clear a new hero has arrived. For good. There’s poetry in these songs, all through them, and here’s another forever arrival. It wasn’t a surety to happen, but now that it has the world of modern music is so much stronger for it. The eyes of Texas shine again. And if a new theme song is needed for today’s confusion, try on “Disappearing Light.” It fits perfectly.
Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard: WORKIN’ MAN: WILLIE SINGS MERLE. There is something that happened with country music mostly starting in the 1960s that gave the United States a new chance to try and get to the next level. The steel-eyed sensibility of singers like Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson found a way to weld truths to sweetness and show Americans how their tough-working hands and their sweet-beating hearts could be put together and make a fascinating whole. Over and over again the original songs these two shared with the world were like a medicine to be fully human. Now that Haggard has left the building it’s up to Nelson to take the unbending goods of classic songwriting and make sure a human voice still stands up for graciousness. Hearing it still happen seems like we are living in stellar time, and if that’s what we have then that’s what we’ll take. Straight on home.
Brad Meldhau, RIDE INTO THE SUN. For several decades, this man–who started seriously young–has been a jazz magician. Seriously. He can walk into the ring of a challenging style of music and turn it into something of his very own. And, yes, he’s done it again. Focusing on the music of Elliot Smith, a titan of modern originality who could not take the pressure of modern life to its future, Meldau has stood up to the challenge of living in an imperfect world and making it through the battles. These songs are a wide range of beauty and never less than breathtaking. It must be said, there is genius at work here and no reason to hide from it. Mr. Meldau is one of this century’s sonic warriors and someone we can hopefully count on taking us to the next level of musical beauty. Pray for him.
Grant Lee Phillips, IN THE HOUR OF DUST. Back to when the early days of Grant Lee Buffalo were first sprouting, those with their ears and hearts to the ground knew bandleader Grant Lee Phillips was going to greatness. It was all there at the band’s very start. And now that Grant Lee Phillips is solo, there is a wonder of joy in just how fine a songwriter he has become. And the way Phillips travels various countries shining his light throughout the stops becomes a radiance of deep beauty. Every single time.
Boz Scaggs, DETOUR. Here’s a man who has been a uniquely moving singer since he first hit American airwaves with the Steve Miller Band in 1968. From there it’s been straight to the top of the class no matter what style Scaggs is taking on. It’s okay to call the man’s new album in the jazz range, but then again, why not just call it Scaggs’ own sound and let it go from there. Starting with an Irma Thomas classic track and building to a Claire Fischer-Frankie Laine beauty, it’s easy to declare this is an American hero who always brings the goods home. Boz Scaggs sings like no one else, and has the distinct touch of soul music, jazz and blues when needed to take his fans on a high-stepping parade to the promised land, and never misses delivering what this music is movingly about. It’s all here.
Mavis Staples, SAD AND BEAUTIFUL WORLD. When it comes to gospel music, there are no two-ways about it. It starts in the part of the heart where a holy treasure gives truth and strength to the believer. There can be levels of divinity there to supply solace to the listener, but there needs to be a level of truth to hold onto and take the ride to the other side. Mavis Staples has been one of the truthful people of faith walking that world for 70 years, since starting her childhood working with father Pops Staples. She has never wavered, and seen such a wide swath of music and life that it must be overwhelming when the parade marches back in front of her mind. Early shows with Bob Dylan in the 1960s run hand in hand with concerts with Sam Cooke and all the other glorious soul singers of that era. What is so incredible about Mavis Staples is that she always keeps her composure for who she is serving–the Lord–and never lets the human level of music take a higher stand. This woman is there for the Lord. Her new album is right there with just that belief, and there is no doubt Staples has levels of joy and wonder that few others have achieved. This new album is at the very top of any recordings of her life, and the way she makes sure to give honor to the highest beliefs is something to never forget. Glory be always.
Lucinda Williams, WORLD’s GONE WRONG. If anyone is going to deliver the news that the world is tilting upside down, and it might be getting too late to turn it right side up, this Southern woman is the one to dispatch the goods. But in some ways, Lucinda Willians has delivered that news before, and we made it back to run another race. And it can sure be a perilous trip. Lucinda Williams knows how to write permanent songs to make us realize we have to pull things together now, and it can’t wait for much longer. Her level of songwriting amazement is something to cherish, and hold onto tight. It might not be fair to expect Williams to save the day regularly, but better to stick with someone who knows what they’re doing. She’s a savior.
Reissue of the Year
Top Jimmy & the Rhythm Pigs, PIGUS DRUNKUS MAXIMUS. While it’s true this is a reissue album, in many ways it feels and sounds like a brand new feat. There is such a wide-open blow-mind velocity to every note and beat on the 11 songs it almost hits the register of magic. Vocalist Top Jimmy was someone from another world, one where he made the rules and did exactly what he wanted day in and day out. The man amassed a band that very few other aggregations of those days in the early 1980s could reach their velocity, or maintain that energy of jet engines. And while this album did indeed come out in the first half of that decade, it disappeared so quick that very few minds from that era can remember it. And for those the world gets a new pass at finding it and living with something that surely will not come again. Top Jimmy has moved onto the next plateau, and there is very little chance many of the Rhythm Pigs will be chasing fame out on the 2026 highways and biways. It’s time to bang the gong and celebrate that ability now to hear one of the truly unbeatable releases of the 1980s and shake some action whenever the mood takes over. Do the do.
Bentley’s Bandstand: Favorite Albums of 2025: (second half)
