The Blackcountryrock Pick of 2019

Here’s something that I haven’t tried before. Whilst I wholeheartedly recommend that you buy the records, go to the shows, purchase the downloads from Bandcamp, this is a long playlist based on what we’ve enjoyed listening to at Blackcountryrock’s mansion on the hill.

It’s complied from new releases, a few old favourites and some re-releases. The material is pulled from what I’ve heard via the Rough Trade Album Club (as some were captured in my Ranked post), friend’s recommendations and music that I’ve happened upon at gigs. There are a few specific sources. Numero Group’s wonderful reissue series continues to delight and I filled my boots when they came to a pop-up store in Shoreditch this autumn. Gilles Peterson’s BBC 6Music radio show was a constant joy during the summer of 2019 and beyond. The wonderful Ken Burns Country documentary series that has been on BBC4 during November and December has been inspirational.

Please don’t feel like you need to listen to it in order, although I have tried to introduce a decent flow to the playlist. I have tried to stretch across my tastes – electronic, jazz, rock, pop, soul, reggae, hip-hop, even a bit of grime. It’s six hours or so long so feel free to dip in.

And please, please, please – support these musicians. They need it now more than ever with reduced funding, tighter licensing, streaming and Brexit all having an impact on their ability to put food on the table.

So here it is as a Youtube playlist:

And here it is as a Spotify playlist:

https://open.spotify.com/embed/playlist/3eQw76evFxbXufCpie37F5

And for those of you who prefer a higher resolution version, here it is on Tidal:

Happy new year everyone, thanks for your support and have a happy and healthy 2020!