Best of 2024 (So Far)

The first time you hear Ladybird you might say you hear Uncle Tupelo. The second time, maybe you hear Drive-By Truckers. A third listen may get you to John Prine, and so on. While that’s intentional according to songwriter Pete McDermott, it’s not the sonics that make Amy Come On Home one of the year’s best albums, it’s the songs. Ten tracks absolutely overflowing with wit and emotional wallop take the listener on a journey through a Midwestern South that can only exist in song. And as redneck as it is sophisticated as the whole affair is, the biggest triumph of Amy Come On Home is its kindness to its characters. At the end of the day, the characters who inhabit Ladybird’s songs may be down on their luck, but they are still looking for some kind of good life with full knowledge of all the dumb and hilarious mistakes they’re gonna make along the way. That cuts deep in the same way classics like Being There or Decoration Day do, which is, by any measure a remarkable achievement for any band, never mind one that is just getting started. - Kevin

Kevin Hill

Discologist

7.15.2024