Basic Folk: Cindy & Lizzie’s Best of 2024
Hi let’s get to these best of lists! The rule for making these lists is that there are no rules. We make ’em as long as we want with as many different types of sounds that we want. Enjoy!
BEST OF 2024: Cindy Howes, host of Basic Folk
Where did you find the tunes this year? Sadly for me at this stage in my life it’s EMAIL D: (SAD TROMBONE)…. I have hundreds of emails in my inbox that I go through weekly from publicists, radio promoters, independent artists, etc. Although EXTREMELY necessary, it’s not my preferred method for finding “the tunes.” Instead, I’d rather have my insides light up watching an unknown artist perform on stage for the first time: this year for me it was NEW DANGERFIELD. I love hearing music in a good weird TV show or movie: Janet Planet gave me Bob Carpenter this year. Another good hit for me in “tune finding” is when a good pal sends a suggestion along; thanks to lizzie no for sending Olivia Ellen Lloyd my way this year. And of course, my first “tune-finding” love, radio; there are too many to name from John Richards at KEXP. I have a few new year’s resolutions: less sweets, learn enough guitar for the campfire, write down my feelings…. I’m going to add “find more tunes offline.” If you see me in the wild, do me a favor and hold me to it. If I missed anything on my list, let me know.
Want my playlist on Tidal? HERE.
Album of the year: Lizzie No, Halfsies
Creepy historical song of the year: Rachel Sumner, Radium Girls (Curie Eleison)
BEST OF 2024: Lizzie No, co-host of Basic Folk
Dear Basic Folk Community,
I am so happy to be writing to you from my kitchen in Nashville, where I have been dancing to my End-of-Year playlist all week.
The songs on my playlist accompanied me through the highs and the heartbreaks of 2024. I experienced career highwater marks singing “All In Good Time” all over Europe with the phenomenal Iron and Wine. Lainey Wilson’s “Hang Tight Honey” and GloRilla’s “TGIF” helped me shake off the bullshit and keep going when being away from home for months at a time didn’t feel particularly glamorous. I connected with my inner child listening to Kane Brown’s “Backseat Driver,” Kacey Musgraves’ “The Architect,” and “Play God And Destroy The World,” Amythyst Kiah’s scorching duet with S.G. Goodman.
Releases from my favorite new(ish) folk(ish) artists Lutalo, Ken Pomeroy, Liv Greene, and Sima Cunningham reminded me to believe in the future of roots music. Miranda Lambert’s unbroken decade-long streak as Most Consistently Good Mainstream Country Artist provided a rare feeling of certainty in a world of chaos. When everyday American injustice got me down I found folk heroes to root for in BigXthaPlug’s “The Largest” and Kaïa Kater’s “Fédon.”
I hope you like the playlist. I hope that the dancing-inclined amongst you enjoy the healthy mix of bangers and bops, and in a few cases, slick transitions FROM bangers TO bops (see: “Gift Horse” into “Up All Night.”) I hope 2025 brings to each of us good health and a Shaboozey-Sierra Ferrell collab. I hope D*nald Tr^mp slips on a banana peel in the middle of Midtown traffic and is at least maimed.
Whether you heard one episode or every episode in 2024, I am very grateful for you!
Thanks for listening.
XOLN