Moose Gronholm's Profile

Late in 2019 I was roaming through Instagram when I came upon a picture from my tattoo artist and his wife. They were proud of their son and stepson respectively Jacob Payzant for releasing his first album. So, I did what any music lover does in this situation, and I went looking for it, found it, and listened to it.

John Prine soon became a part of my musical family. My brother and I would sit out on our back porch or take a drive somewhere, and the soundtrack was John. It's not easy putting this all into words. Because when someone like John Prine loses the fight it makes the world a little less bright.

Highly Likely are a super group of sorts. Five people from different bands converging into one folky bluegrassy super group. The members are: Andy Tracy (percussion, harmonica, vocals formerly of Blue Caboose), Brian Bowling (banjo and member of Twig&leaf), Char Bowling (guitar, vocals, and also of Twig&Leaf), Jeff Roades (bass, vocals, and a troubadour), and Mark Miller (mandolin, vocals).

Somewhere lost in a sea of thoughts and feelings I put on the latest Josh Eagle record and drifted off to some place only left in my dreams. It was comforting. The record was calming. The electricity eased my weary mind. The gravel in Josh’s throat was soothing. The album felt like a meditation. I’m no Buddhist, nor do I pretend to be one, but the listening experience of this felt something akin to a moment of Zen. My mind travelled to all kinds of places. The song “I’ll Be There for You” brought me out to the desert and its winds. "Hallow’s Eve" brought me to the fall and dropped me into some New York City neighborhood.

Erin Coburn has done it again. She dropped her third album late last year and I couldn’t wait to hear what this woman came up with next. Low and behold I was pleasantly surprised. Erin for a long time had toured and recorded with John Redell and Dixon Creasey, however on this album she departs from the power trio and brings forth something even more powerful.

In the year that is set up to be over in a couple weeks, 2019, music saw a lot of great albums come out. So I will preface this by saying that I’m sure there are a few that I missed but really liked as well. The list below isn’t a top ten, I am not a fan of those, I think they are boring and overplayed. The list below is simply a compilation, if you will, of albums that I enjoyed from this year that has seemingly flown by. 

Frontier Folk Nebraska (FFN), are comprised of four guys. Four guys that bring a brand of rock n’ roll that is a hodge-podge of so many styles that they make it sound easy. FREAKS is their latest recorded album that came out on Black Friday, and before that I had the pleasure of listening to it early and often. 

Kelly Hoppenjans is currently residing in Nashville making her way in the vibrant music scene there. She has released her third album “Ok, I Feel Better Now” a sort of coming of age album with a hint of I’m doing this my way sprinkled in. Within the ten tracks she outlines what she sees as a human being walking this world, as well as, being a woman in the entertainment industry. 

It is the title track for me that truly encapsulates many feelings we have going on right now. “Six Feet of Earth” is a song that to sum it up simply means that in the end it does not matter how rich or how poor you are. As we are all the same under six feet of earth. 

Separation only makes the heart grow fonder, or however that saying goes and these four dudes in forty-one minutes proved that.

The following is a list of musicians that for me did something really great this year. Listening to their albums or seeing them in person however the situation landed itself something about them moved me.

"I love people. I have never met a stranger. I appreciate learning about people, helping people when I can and belonging to a community. I enjoy making people laugh, especially catching them off guard with a laugh, having a candid moment. I think that's why the photography plays a big part of who I am."