2018: Our Opinions (Bloodshot Artists Edition)

Another calendar year is just about in the books, so it's time to look back on our highlights and milestones of the year, as well as look back on the art, music, literature, food, and other things that helped us escape, cope, and march forward. And maybe point out some of the shitty things we didn't like about this year, too. Balance is integral to this fleeting life.

Thank you to these brave Bloodshot artists for turning the tables and being critics for once. 

Robbie Fulks

Favorite show you played in 2018: Rockygrass: getting to pick with Michael Daves, hang with Tim O’Brien, sing with Sam Bush, kvetch with Darol Anger, etc.

Favorite show you saw in 2018: I went to two shows, Peter Wolf and Liz Phair, and really liked both. (Of the two, I pick Peter for my blow-job queen.)

Favorite song of 2018: "Jay Gould's Daughter," also several Dallas Frazier songs

Favorite 2018 album: Missed ‘em all!

Favorite 2018 TV or web series: Missed ‘em!

Favorite book you read in 2018: Educated by Tara Westover

Favorite online video of 2018: Triumph’s showdown with Ted Cruz

Favorite thing from the past that you finally got around to in 2018: I decided to check in on Cheers. I’d seen a lot of them before, when they were originally broadcast, but I wanted to see if they were as strong as they seemed at the time. I found out a couple things. First, that, though they weren’t large, there were evident peaks and troughs in the scripts, according to who wrote them. Sam Simon and Heide Perlman (Rhea’s sister), for instance, wrote excellent episodes. Second, that Nicholas Colasanto was an terrific actor, standing out even among a terrific cast. Third, that, yes, it was an unusually strong series—though the first season, which was naturally a little more experimental and ended on an emotional and unforgettable two-part episode, was probably my favorite. Finally, if you’re in the middle of Montana without strong wifi and you hook into your cellphone’s emergency wifi to watch Cheers on your laptop, 4 episodes will cost you $200 and make your wife really angry—which is a little like a Cheers plotline in itself.

Best thing you ate in 2018: A little pie with cheese filling and minted peas at a bar near the Tyne Bridge in Newcastle whose name I can’t find online

Best thing you drank in 2018: The Heaven’s Door bourbon generously supplied by the Writers Museum in Chicago

Best new place you visited in 2018: Tromso Norway

Best bad decision you made in 2018: At my age, every bad decision is decidedly bad. So I don’t know. I spent a little money on a nice microphone I didn’t need (Telefunken M80), but it really wasn’t much money….a pathetic reply.

Favorite new trend of 2018: I just love when people are forced by twitter mobs to apologize for an opinion they had

Least favorite trend of 2018: The middle of my body making it harder for me to bend over

Top personal victory of 2018: Getting my last kid to move out of my house

Use an SAT word to describe 2018: Lastkiderrific!

What are you most looking forward to in 2019? More of the same—collaborating with people I admire. Brian Yorkey, the Cobb brothers, Jenny Scheinman, Matt Flinner, Duke Levine, Alex Hall, Linda Gail Lewis, Redd Volkaert, Brennen Leigh, and if I really tried to include everyone this list would go on 6 times that length. Watching Universal horror movies with my grandson. Maybe I’ll tackle an area or two in which my knowledge or skills are terribly deficient: auto mechanics, guns, meditation, marine agriculture.

2019 New Year Resolution and % chance of success: Learning to play the guitar better, and based on the chaotic trendline of the past, I don’t know how to calculate the odds.

Scott H. Biram

Jason Hawk Harris

Favorite show you played in 2018: The Troubadour, Los Angeles, CA. August 29th

Favorite show you saw in 2018: Perfume Genius at El Rey in Los Angeles

Favorite song of 2018: Too many to name a favorite

Favorite 2018 album: Stranger in the Alps by Phoebe Bridgers.  I’m a sucker for the sad stuff.

Favorite 2018 TV or web series: Patriot. Not the movie with Mel Gibson, the show on Amazon Prime. It’s like if Wes Anderson and Homeland had a baby.

Favorite book you read in 2018: Shalimar the Clown by Salman Rushdie

Favorite thing from the past that you finally got around to in 2018: All of Judee Sill’s records

Best new place you visited in 2018: Alberta, Canada

Favorite new trend of 2018: Holding sex offenders responsible

Least favorite trend of 2018: Not holding sex offenders responsible

Use an SAT word to describe 2018: incendiary 

What are you most looking forward to in 2019? Releasing a record I’ve been working on for 2 years.

2019 New Year Resolution and % chance of success: To run a half marathon. I’m putting my odds at 100% because you gotta believe, man.

Vandoliers

Favorite show you played in 2018: Our first-ever Yard Dog party at SXSW is up there for sure, but it's probably our first annual Thanksgiving Eve show at our favorite hometown club, Three Links. We hadn't headlined our own club show in Dallas in over a year, and hadn't gotten to play Links in maybe two years. The place was packed with lots of familiar faces, shouting every word to every song—a feeling that never gets old.

Favorite show you saw in 2018: It's a three-way tie between Marty Stuart, Marty Stuart and Marty Stuart. Watching him is like going to school and church at the same time. Behind that would be The Nude Party's Americanafest set at Third Man—nonstop smiles all around; Low Cut Connie in Dallas, who performs like there are thousands of people at the venue even on empty Monday nights; and Sam Morrow, who we saw several times, always delivers.

Favorite song of 2018: The Nude Party's "Chevrolet Van" is a super relatable anthem for the poor touring musician, reminding us why we keep piling into the van night after night. And Sarah Shook's "New Ways to Fail" has a chorus that's undeniable. Cuss words are fun!

Favorite 2018 album: Sam Morrow's Concrete and Mud

Favorite 2018 TV or web series: Bert Kreischer's Secret Time special on Netflix. We've listened to all The Machine's specials many, many times.

Favorite book you read in 2018: The Hepatitis Bathtub and Other Stories by Fat Mike—book on tape version, listened to in the van (twice) of course.

Favorite online video of 2018: Probably something from the Drunkpeopledoingthings account.

Favorite thing from the past that you finally got around to in 2018: Pickle Surprise.

Best thing you ate in 2018: We got to spend a lot of time in Memphis this year, and have never had a bad meal. Best of the best is Uncle Lou's fried chicken.

Best thing you drank in 2018: Can't remember if it was good or not, but a bar up in Illinois set a bunch of our shots on fire, which is always exciting.

Best new place you visited in 2018: Codfish Hollow. Not sure there's a cooler place to play in the whole country.

Best bad decision you made in 2018: Signing up to win $500 of free Taco Bell.

Least favorite trend of 2018: Drum machines in country music.

Top personal victory of 2018: Does signing to Bloodshot count?

What are you most looking forward to in 2019? Touring more than we ever have and, hopefully, getting over to Europe.

2019 New Year Resolution and % chance of success: Wake up early and finally start taking advantage of all the free hotel gyms and continental breakfasts. 6.66% chance. 

John Szymanski (Guitar/vocals, Jon Langford's Four Lost Souls)

Al Scorch