Music
(and Podcasts)
Year in Review - 2024
The List
(new to me in 2024)
2024 was a prolific year for finding new music.
Where do I even start? My musical journey in 2024 feels like a blur and there’s no one artist I can easily point to that dominated my listening. It all started with Chappell Roan, listening incessantly to The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess, months before she truly blew up courtesy of my girlfriend’s great taste in pop music. TikTok was a huge source of musical discovery, cueing me into Stephen Wilson Jr in January and dozens of songs throughout the year. I had a phase of watching live concerts on YouTube, something I feel like I haven’t done since I was a teenager and absolutely want to do more of in 2025; the image of John Rzeznik in the rain has lived large in my head for most of the year. Concerts were aplenty and I feel so fortunate to have seen so many artists I’m only just discovering play live so soon. I was far more clinical in tracking my monthly music listening habits, even working on a new “Music Monthly” website feature.
In so many ways, 2024 felt like a refreshing reminder of just how much great music is out there to be discovered. I surprised myself in how many new songs I could pick up in a month (63 was the record) and I want to improve how I track what I want to go back to. I crossed genres from the smooth R&B of Luther Vandross to the hillbilly strumming of 49 Winchester.
Spotify Highlights
I’m convinced my “Liked Songs” playlist is littered with artists just waiting for their moment in the sun, an obsession waiting to happen. I’ve made it a habit to go back to songs I couldn’t get out of my head once upon a time, exploring their artist’s fuller catalogue, but it’s a hit or miss affair. So much of the time what inspires an infatuation with one song doesn’t translate to an artist’s other work; when it does…
… you get wonderful surprises like Charley Crockett. Spotify tells me that I first added “I’m Just a Clown” to my playlist in July of 2022, so it would take me almost 2 years for the full Crockett obsession to bloom. His lonesome cowboy against the world shtick, snappy country twang, and seemingly endless barrel of songs (15 albums since 2015!) all quickly worked their charm on me.
Concerts
ALICE PHOEBE LOU
April 10, 2024
Showbox - Seattle, WA
Charley Crockett
June 27, 2024
Chateau St. Michelle - Seattle, WA
Rose Betts
September 13, 2024
Barboza - Seattle, WA
FRUIT BATS
May 18, 2024
The Crocodile - Seattle, WA
Kings of Leon
August 29, 2024
Climate Pledge Arena - Seattle, WA
Royel Otis
October 21, 2024
The Moore - Seattle, WA
Blind Pilot
November 29, 2024
Liberty Theater - Astoria, OR
Sierra Ferrell
August 11, 2024
Woodland Park Zoo - Seattle, WA
Orville Peck
September 25, 2024
Chateau St. Michelle - Seattle, WA
John Craigie
November 22, 2024
The Neptune - Seattle, WA
Stephen Wilson Jr.
May 21, 2024
High Dive - Seattle, WA
Conan O’Brien Must Podcast
Another year older, another year… well if not wiser than certainly entertained. Conan’s podcast “Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend” is now in its sixth year, and I’ve been listening since the beginning. Having listened to this podcast for so many years now, I find myself going back time and again to the episodes that make me laugh the hardest, and even manage to dispense some wisdom from time to time.
Here I’ve curated some of my all-time favorite episodes from the Conan podcast:
Favorite New Artists of 2024
Stephen Wilson Jr.
Genre: Country / Rock
Sierra Ferrell
Genre: Country
I first caught notice of Stephen Wilson Jr. on TikTok (as is happening more often these days), and was immediately taken with his unique guitar and his ability to play it. Then I stumbled across his duet with Hailey Whitters, one of my favorite artists of 2021, and I was fully in. His style is a “grungy country”, which is not a tandem I would have thought of before hearing his music. Beyond loving his music, I really connected with an interview I read (featured right). Looking forward to seeing him live in May.
Chappell Roan
Genre: Pop
Genre: Folk
Among the countless things my girlfriend has excellent taste in, music is one, and I owe her big time for tuning me into Chappell’s recent rise to pop stardom. Chappell’s beats are SO catchy and her story so deeply heartfelt in her lyrics. I’m bopping to songs and experiences that I do not relate to, and yet, there’s a certain universality to her music and her emotions.
Sierra was one of those artists whose music I had come across in the past, but who I’d never really paid attention to as an artist until this year. TikTok was again a big influence, exposing me to her live performances and the incredible timbre of her voice.
Charley Crockett
There’s so much to love about Charley’s music, and for me it was definitely his voice that at first caught my ear. But listening to him more and more, and realizing that Bluesy influence, I’m realizing it’s a genre I don’t have a lot of exposure to, but always seem to love when I hear it. I love when artists incorporate multiple influences and genres into their work, and although it was the country influence that initially put Charley on my radar, it will be the blues sounds that sticks with me.
Bella White
Genre: Country / Folk
I first heard Bella White when she opened for John Craigie at a concert I went to last November. Her voice was instantly memorable, and the performance was impressively intimate above the din of a noisy crowd. But it was the fact that her sound nestled into my subconscious over the resulting few months, appearing in my dreams (truly!), and popping into my head spontaneously. I finally gave her albums a listen and was not disappointed!
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Royel Otis
Genre: Alternative Rock
Like many others, I discovered Royel Otis through TikTok. Specifically, their astounding covers of Sophie Ellis-Bextor’s disco-pop classic Murder on the Dancefloor and the Cranberries’ song Linger. It was a gateway into their own music, which has very much established its own legacy in my listening habits this year. It’s an album that feels like a cohesive album, and yet every song stands on its own merits. Seeing them live has only increased my love for this group.
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Midland
Genre: Country
I was late to the party on Midland, having listened to them in past years but only this year really falling in love with this group from Texas. It was my mom that first sent me “Cheating Songs”, which was constantly getting stuck in my head. After collaborations with Jon Pardi and Orville Peck, it’s no surprise that they ended up back in my rotation, and this time I was all in! Some of my favorite jams of the year, up or down tempo.
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Playlists
Monthly
My Top Songs of 2024