This April, Ron Sexsmith will release his 16th studio album, Hermitage. The Canadian singer-songwriter has been putting out new music at a pretty good clip for 30 years now.
I joined the bandwagon 19 years ago, when an online group of Elvis Costello fans steered me to his 2001 album Blue Boy. I fell hard for that record, and as often happens with introductory albums, it remains one of my favorites of his.
Here’s an interesting track from Brad Paisley’s 2013 album Wheelhouse. It’s a modern-day gospel song by a man who is a regular churchgoer himself, but it’s told from the perspective of a non-believer.
Paisley spends the song’s first four verses mocking “those crazy Christians” for their devotion, but then has to give them credit for their commitment to caring for people they’ve never even met.
I really fought the urge to rank Disney’s Moana as my #1 film of the 2010s. I tried every other film in my top five at this position. The rational part of my brain told me I couldn’t call a movie in which the third lead is a chicken the best of the decade.
But ultimately the decision came down to one thing. If I were asked to create a list of my ten favorite movies of all time, I would put Moana on it. I would consider the other titles on this list, maybe even include one or two of them depending on my mood, but Moana would definitely be there. And therefore it’s here.
My second favorite film by my favorite filmmakers had to be near the top of this list, right?
The Coen Brothers had an excellent decade, starting with True Grit in 2010 and culminating with 2016’s Hail, Caesar! and 2018’s The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (which appeared earlier on this list, putting them next to Greta Gerwig as the only directors to show up twice).
But their bona fide masterpiece of the 2010’s was Inside Llewyn Davis, a melancholy ode to a struggling folk singer in early-60s Greenwich Village.
Greta Gerwig is one of two directors to land two films on my Top 20 of the Decade (both in the Top 10, no less). Even more impressive, these are her first two movies. Only one other film on this list (Jordan Peele’s Get Out) was a directorial debut.
I can make an argument that Little Women is a superior technical achievement, given its large cast, multiple locations and dual timeline structure, but Gerwig’s Lady Bird is an even more emotionally resonant work.
Meet Me In Montauk 