My Favorites from 2021.

These are  the 10 songs that you would find most often in my earbuds.

2021 was a good year for music.  Many singer/songwriters stayed home and wrote  really great songs which luckily for all of us they recorded them.  My list is drawn from the songs I listened to the most, not necessarily those I would judge to be critically the best or even the most popular.  They are what I like to listen to when I put on music. These are  the 10 songs that you would find most often in my earbuds.

Juntos Together.  Nancy Sanchez and Gina Chavez.  The perfect combination and sooo much fun!

Let It All Out, Elsten Torres. Strikes so deeply with anguish, but is inspiring too.

Hands on  Glass. Athena. Anther song that strikes deeply with anguish, born of Covid.

La Maldita Bruja.  Nancy Sanchez. She just keeps pumping them out. This is always on repeat.

Dream Catcher. Whitney Tai.  She also keeps pumping out the hits. Her voice, composition ad the universe she creates with music are unapparelled – always on my playlist.

Push. Irene Diaz. She keeps getting better and better (and more synthy). This one hits home and gets a “repeat” every time.

Oaxaca Love Song.  Las Cafeteras. As usual, funny, sharp, and musically addictive.

Cumbia Anthem.  El Dusty with Happy Colors. Clean the house, wash the car, and dance, dance, dance.  That is El Dusty and he is with me all the time.

This is You, This is Me.  Elsten Torres. Both in Spanish and English, this is song is so powerful and so addictive, I cannot turn it off.

The Broken Flowers. Matt Jaffe. Matt has moved from folk, to R&R, to some of the best melodic alt rock out there and this one is sheer poetry.

Patrick O’Heffernan