2019 was populated with a lot of old favorites making great music. My albums of the year list is a testament to that. It was also a great year for new artists making their marks and getting noticed. It was hard to narrow the list down to 50 songs this time out, but I think I finally settled on a list and order with which I’m happy.

I don’t usually include covers in my best-of recaps, but this year I ended up with two. One, an oft-covered old tune redone by my friends Odetta Hartman, Oliver Ignatius, and Camelia Hartman. The other came out very recently as a viny-only release and then digitally a week or two later. Jenny Lewis covering Bob Dylan’s “Standing In The Doorway” is just too good not to get featured here.

 

50. “Standing In The Doorway” by Jenny Lewis (Bob Dylan cover)

49. “Baby” by T-Rextasy

48. “Guarding The Gates” by Lauryn Hill (from the film Queen & Slim)

47. “F The NRA” by The Coathangers

46. “Uniform On” by The Lonely Island

45. “Night Running” by Cage The Elephant ft Beck

44. “Pretty” by Terror jr.

43. “Too Many Teardrops Away” by Christopher The Conquered

42. “SHI” by Dan Rico

41. “Fucking Crazy” by Robert Ellis

40. “What? Help!” by The Philistines ft Mates Of State

39. “Tonight You Belong To Me” by The Hartman Sisters and Oliver Ignatius (originally by Billy Rose and Lee David)

38. “End Of World Party” by HAELOS

37. “Appalachian Nightmare” by Justin Townes Earle

36. “Bad Vibes” by K. Flay

35. “The Third Degree” by Honeyblood

34. “Filter Out The Noise” by Molehill

33. “Old Black Magic” by Josh Ritter

32. “Pumpkin” by The Regrettes

31. “Dylan Thomas” by Better Oblivion Community Center

30. “A Thousand Years From Now” by Fort Frances

29. “Find A Way” by Benny Bassett

28. “Seawater Well” by The Roalde Dahls

27. “Don’t Know Better” by The O’Mys

26. “Chatroom” by Charly Bliss

25. “RACECAR” by Deaton Chris Anthony ft Clairo

24. “The Chosen Ones” by Derek Nelson

23. “Red Bull & Hennessy” by Jenny Lewis

22. “Giannis” by Freddie Gibbs & Madlib ft Anderson.PaaK

21. “Vaporiza” by Jidenna

20. “Holy Water” by Anjulie ft Natalia Lafourcade

19. “We Were Lucky” by Wilco

18. “Then There Were Two” by Mark Ronson ft Anderson PaaK

17. “Aviso Amor” by Nik Freitas

16. “Endgame” by Angel Olsen

15. “I Wanna Leave America” by Illiterate Light

14. “Lights Go Out” by Golden Bloom

13. “Norman Fucking Rockwell” by Lana Del Rey

12. “When He’s Done” by Tei Shi

11. “BASQUIAT” by Jamila Woods

10. “Rare Thing” by Frances Quinlan (Hop Along)

9. “Feel Something” by Clairo

8. “home with you” by FKA Twigs

7. “Am I Doing It Right?” by Alex Lahey

6. “Tough On Myself” by King Princess

5. “I’m Comin’ Out” by Shovels & Rope

4. “Poor Blind Birds” by The Felice Brothers

3. “All Some Kind Of Dream” by Josh Ritter

2. “Cuz I Love You” by Lizzo

NUMBER 1

“I Wanna Be Your Girlfriend” by Ezra Furman