What a great year 2022 has been – at least when it comes to local music. Concert venues are full again as more of us venture out to shows; the festival scene is thriving, from old standbys like Shakori Hills to newcomers like October’s SleepyFest; and we’re continuing to see a flood of great new music, as artists head to the studio to record all the stuff they spent the pandemic working out.
Amidst all that great music, which songs have stood out the most?
Here’s our countdown of the 25 best local songs of 2022.
First, the ground rules! As always, we define a “local” artist as anyone based in Orange, Durham, or Chatham counties – with apologies to the amazing music coming out of Wake and Alamance. (Check out The Veldt’s “New Blood,” Boulevards’ “How Do Ya Feel,” or The Collection’s “My Best Christmas,” for instance.) We’re also sticking with musicians who are still in the area; this excludes great songs like “Not Gonna Do This Anymore” by Autumn Nicholas (who’s currently in Nashville) or “Sunday” by Doriana Spurrell (who’s currently in Boston).
And most of all, we’re only considering originals – though it’s worth noting that this was also a great year for covers. Tre. Charles, whose debut single “Stressin” made our top 10 last year, kicked off 2022 with a fantastic rendition of Childish Gambino’s “Redbone.” Mipso blew me away with a stripped-down version of David Bowie’s “Modern Love.” Cam Knopp channeled George Harrison with his own acoustic cover of “Something.” And then you have The A’s, The Tan and Sober Gentlemen, Jake Xerxes Fussell, and Joseph Decosimo – all of whom released wonderful albums this year that resurrect and reinterpret old folk and bluegrass classics.
With all that in mind, here’s this year’s Live & Local Top 25 – an especially good list for one particular artist, who claims two spots in our top three.
Empowering in the face of adversity, this track from Pittsburgh transplant Luren Grotto was one of the best local hip-hop songs of 2022, in a year that also featured stellar new work from G. Yamazawa, Young Bull, and Rapper Big Pooh, among others. (Fun fact: it’s also one of two entries on our list with the exact same title.)
This slow-building epic is the highlight of Hidden Worlds, Tracksuit’s first album in four years. (Their 2018 single “Chasing the Wind” just missed our all-time top 100 countdown a couple years ago, so it’s extra nice to finally recognize them here.)
23. Rachel Hirsh, Wilder Still
Already a longtime veteran of the Triangle music scene, Rachel Hirsh triumphed again this year with her debut solo EP I’ve Been Here This Whole Time, of which this smooth rocker is the highlight.
22. Paling Light & JPhono1, Spyhunter
The prolific JPhono1 (John Harrison) put out three albums this year – including Arcing Phase to Phase, an innovative collaboration with John Crouch. 2022 was a good year for both electronic music (see also Sylvan Esso’s “Didn’t Care,” Bright Moments’ “Symmetry I,” or Waldo Witt’s “Love Like A Fire”) and hypnotic tracks (Wailin Storms’ “Drag” or Red October’s “Stressed Out”), and the catchy “Spyhunter” combines the two into one.
21. Dave Hedeman & the Gone Ghosts, Far Away
The Gone Ghosts’ terrific roots-rock album No Voice to the Wicked includes several tracks that came out as far back as 2019, but they held onto “Far Away” until this year. (Other album highlights include “Hard Times,” “We Can’t Run,” “Cannonball,” and “I Don’t Wanna Die Here” – but lucky for me those all came out earlier, so I don’t have to pick a favorite.)
Honorable mention to The Pinkerton Raid, another band that released singles for several years – including one that made last year’s top 25 – before finally dropping their own great 2022 album, The Highway Moves the World.
Comprised of students from UNC, NC State and Duke, “ya aunty’s favorite boy band” is already putting out top 40-level pop music on a consistent basis. “So Good” is their best yet, but I’d be surprised if it stays that way for long.
Fun fact: with about 6 million Spotify streams, “So Good” is one of the most popular local songs of the year. The most popular? That’d be a song that just missed our cut: Porter Robinson’s “Everything Goes On,” with nearly 30 million streams.
19. Dissimilar South, Fear of Flying
Lotta breakup songs on the list this year, not sure what’s up with that – but at least this one has a happy ending. Carter Hodge wrote “Fear of Flying” in the process of splitting with bandmate Maddie Fisher; but Dissimilar South stayed together, got stronger, and in 2022 they released their breakout album Tricky Things, of which this bittersweet single is the centerpiece. Take that, Sonic Youth.
18. Colin Sneed, Don’t Hardly Feel It
Quietly released in October as part of a three-song EP called Diane, Colin Sneed’s fun “Don’t Hardly Feel It” is what would have happened if the Velvet Underground had decided to record a ‘70s-era Nashville country album.
17. The 8:59’s, You Are No One
Another group that just missed our all-time top 100 back in 2020, Pittsboro’s finest leapt forward this year with Return Song, their best album yet. “You Are No One” is one of several songs on this list to capture the weirdness of fading away from someone who used to be your everything.
Due out in January, H.C. McEntire’s Every Acre is likely to be one of the top local albums of 2023. “Soft Crook” is the best of three singles she’s already released, a hauntingly beautiful track about confronting depression – and embracing love.
15. Love & Valor, Stop This Train
Hillsborough’s Love & Valor have been among our favorite bands for years. “Stop This Train” is like many of their best songs: earnest, sincere, optimistic and hopeful, and catchy and fun as hell besides.
14. The Dead Tongues, James St.
“This place ain’t the same, (and) neither are you and I.” Other listeners may be partial to “Dust,” the title track from Ryan Gustafson’s breathtaking fifth album – one reviewer called it the song of the year, and he’s got a point – but I’ll give the edge to “James St,” a melancholy post-breakup song that projects all his speaker’s feelings onto the rainy, windy, decaying avenue.
13. The Consequences Of Our Own Actions, Sorry For The Next Girl
Kristi Dixon doesn’t usually take the lead on vocals with TCOOOA, but oh man, when she does… “Sorry For The Next Girl” is the kiss-off song of the year and a pop punk classic that rivals anything Avril Lavigne ever made.
I’m kinda breaking my rule with this one, because this is a cover of sorts. Alex Riggs originally released a plugged-in version of this song (then called “Halloween for Norma Tanega”) on the album Themselves – but the version that makes this list is the alternative recording that appears on October’s Cry Because It Happened, billed as the last “Al Riggs” album before they officially rebrand as Riggings. Stripped of all frills, this “Halloween” is just Al and a piano, as so many of their best songs are: honest and raw, stoic yet emotional, always on the outside looking skeptically but longingly in.
2022 in general was a good year for artists re-recording their own material. Watchhouse released Duo, an acoustic (and even better) re-recording of their 2021 self-titled album; Mac McCaughan did the same with six songs from last year’s The Sound of Yourself; and actually one of my favorite local songs of the year was Dan Melchior’s “Animals,” a re-recording of a song he first released all the way back in 2002.
11. Florence Dore, Sweet To Me
Produced by Don Dixon, recorded by Mitch Easter, with a backing band that includes Mipso’s Libby Rodenbough plus two of the dB’s: Florence Dore brought together a veritable who’s-who of the local music scene for her terrific album Highways and Rocketships. “Sweet To Me,” the lead single, is also the standout, inspired by her grandmother – and a chance conversation with John Prine.
10. Django Haskins, I Pull The Strings
“I Pull The Strings” is the bouncy highlight of Beforetimes, a collection of 10 pre-pandemic songs that Django Haskins released in two parts in early 2022. Not only is it one of the best local songs of the year, it’s also maybe the weirdest, at least in terms of its subject matter. A song written from the perspective of mid-20th century urban planner Robert Moses, about his ambitious, racially problematic, possibly megalomaniacal vision for redesigning New York City? Look, you got to learn your history somehow.
9. The Mountain Goats, Wage Wars Get Rich Die Handsome
Django may have briefly usurped the crown this year, but John Darnielle is still the reigning king of writing songs from inventive, unique perspectives. Case in point: 2022’s Bleed Out, an entire album inspired by the gritty action movies of the 60s, 70s and 80s. “Written while watching a French action movie way past my normal bedtime,” as Darnielle puts it, “Wage Wars Get Rich Die Handsome” is a wild, rollicking headbanger about – avenging injustice? Being a hitman? Like all those classic action flicks, it almost doesn’t matter: just sit back and enjoy the ride.
2022 gave us Tularosa: An American Dreamtime, Kamara Thomas’ brilliant concept album – nearly a decade in the making – about a particular region of New Mexico and the people who defined its checkered history. Tularosa hits its apex in “Oh Gallows,” a masterful epic that starts quietly and builds slowly to a powerful climax.
7. Superchunk, If You’re Not Dark
Still going after 30-plus years, Superchunk triumphed again in 2022 with Wild Loneliness, their best album in over a decade. Lots of great songs here, but I’m partial to the closer: “If You’re Not Dark” is a brilliant ode to the twisted parts that live in all of us.
6. Elijah Rosario, Silver Lining
The latest entry on our list: Durham’s Elijah Rosario was already having a solid 2022 with the release of his summer single “Can’t Get Enough,” but in late November he dropped one of the tracks of the year, a perfect late-night drive song about a relationship on the rise.
5. Archers of Loaf, Human
Archers of Loaf delivered the comeback of the year with Reason in Decline, their first full-length album since 1998. It kicks off with “Human,” a cannon shot of a song that opens with a pounding keyboard riff and resolves into a haunting refrain, maybe the best lyric of the year: “It’s hard to be human – only death can set you free.”
My hot take: forget “White Trash Heroes” or “Web In Front,” this one right here is the best song the Archers have ever recorded.
4. Treee City, Every Day
I did promise you a second song with this title. Patrick Phelps-McKeown has been making stellar electronic music as Treee City for several years, but he shot into the stratosphere this year with his full-length debut Good Job. Several great tracks on this album, but “Every Day” is the highlight, a pulsing hit that’s perfect for a rave, a club, a house party, or any late-night drive with the windows down.
3. Mightmare, Enemy
Already a local country icon, River Shook turned to rock this year with their new project Mightmare and shot to the top all over again. Tucked in the middle of their debut Cruel Liars, “Enemy” is another beautifully bitter breakup song about wanting to go out with a bang instead of a whimper. (I’m also a big fan of the little moments that make songs great, and “Enemy” has a good one, a cool transition out of the chorus that channels all the energy into the bass.)
2. Violet Bell, Junkie
I first heard “Junkie” live, a year and a half ago, played not five feet away from me while Omar and Lizzy were appearing on Live & Local. It blew me away then and it still blows me away now.
“Junkie” falls at the end of Shapeshifter, a concept album that revolves around the selkie, a mythical seal-like creature that can shed its skin to take human form but becomes vulnerable in the process. Like all the great archetypes, it’s an idea that lends itself to infinite interpretations: do we sacrifice ourselves to fit in? What do we reveal about ourselves when we expose what’s underneath? And if we lose a part of ourselves – or if it’s taken away from us – how can we reclaim it? How can we be whole again? “Junkie” brings it home: it’s not about the selkie at all; it’s about us and only us.
1. Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, Talkin’ To Myself
It’s very hard to decide between the top two, but this was River Shook’s year. Mightmare captured our attention in October, but Shook kicked off the year in February with Nightroamer, the Disarmers’ third album, anchored by this bleak yet catchy instant classic that defies genre classification and showcases Shook’s distinctive world-weary waver of a voice, one of the best the Triangle’s ever seen. It’s the best Disarmers song yet, and that’s saying a hell of a lot.
What was your favorite local song of 2022? Comment and let us know!
Here is the full audio of Aaron Keck’s Top 25 Local Songs of 2022 Live & Local radio show!
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