Disclaimer: this countdown isn’t meant to be an all-time definitive list. These are simply my favorites.
I owe my friend Shameeka a drink for introducing me to Yola.
On paper, the concept of Yola doesn’t work. A British country singer with a reverence for retro songcraft? But she pulls it off.
Her first album Walk Through Fire sounds like a perfect treasure from the late ‘60s or early ‘70s that’s been unearthed. And the centerpiece of it is her tremendous voice.
For her second album, Stand for Myself, Yola brings in more styles — R&B and rock — but the respect for the glorious sounds of the past is still there.
But country still remains her bread and butter.
I hope Yola keeps making music for a long time to come.
Photo: Peter Matthews from New York City, United States, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons