2015 has been an awesome year for us at thereviewarein.com. We’ve had the chance to see more shows, cover more festivals, talk to more artists, have more fun, and share more content with all of you.

And now, as we get closer to the end of the year, Trish and I are looking back at 2015 and trying our best (it’s not easy) to pick our favourite things.

We cover a lot of country… but that’s not all, so we’ve got country and non-country categories to share, and a few runners-up, because sometimes picking 1 clear favourite in a category wasn’t even a little bit easy.

Here’s hoping that 2016 is just as awesome – and that you’ve enjoyed all the music you’ve found and seen and listened to in 2015.

Keep being awesome!

Favourite Live Performance of the Year: Country

Josh… Eric Church: On Saturday night at Boots & Hearts I got to see Eric Church up on stage for the first time. It wasn’t a set full of small talk. It was a set full of hits. From start to finish it was guitars and singing and everything that I wanted to see. The highlight of the night was These Boots, when dozens of cowboy boots flew up on the catwalk and Church picked each one of them up, signed them with a Sharpie and tossed them back into the crowd so the owner could get it back. It was a highlight for a lot of people that weekend. Would definitely see this dude again.

Trish… Dean Brody at Boots and Bourbon (club show): I’m the worst at picking just one. Dean Brody at Boots and Bourbon was an invite only, up close and personal show and I was so close I could have reached out and touched Dean. His energy was palpable and the packed club barely knew the words to his brand new CD. Did I mention how sweet, adorable and handsome this man is?

Thomas Rhett (big stage): Up on the big stage Thomas Rhett was the big winner for me. Bright flowery shirt, drink in his hand, smile on his face with the sun shining down, winner. Engaging, entertaining, super fun to watch. Thomas moves likes he can’t stop and those dance moves, the audience loves them! This was my favourite performance at Boots & Hearts and that’s a tough spot to win.

Favourite Live Performance of the Year: Non-Country

Josh… Neil Young: WayHome 2015 It was the first, and likely the last, time that I saw Neil Young on stage. It was 3 hours that I’ll never get back, and wouldn’t want to. Because for all of the anti-GMO speeches and weird on stage activities, he’s still Neil Young. He’s still Rockin’ In The Free World. He’s still Heart Of Gold. He’s still a legend. And with an average song length of somewhere around 7 and a half minutes, there were plenty of extended guitar solos and jam sessions that brought smiles to old Uncle Neil’s face.

Runner-Up… Kendrick Lamar headlining on Saturday night at WayHome. He killed it for his entire set. And, I have to give a nod to Walk The Moon for their performance of Shut Up And Dance, they nearly blew the tent off the stage.

Trish… The Lazys (club show): It might be because it’s so fresh in my memory but the energy The Lazys put out at The Horseshoe was ridiculous! I could have watched this show over and over, night after night. Non-stop, insanely talented, catchy, make you wanna get up and dance, scream and jump up and down, loud experience. I can’t stop listening to them and you can’t make me. I hope when they return to Canada we get the chance to sit down again for ribs and a brownie.

Kendrick Lamar/Taylor Swift (big stage): Sorry I can’t choose between Kendrick Lamar and Taylor Swift, so I won’t. Kendrick’s performance at WayHome this past summer left me feeling changed. He touched me and the rest of the 35,000 who showed up. Powerful stuff. But I have to include Taylor. So amazingly put together, this sold out show made me so happy I cried, and I wasn’t alone. Keith Urban showing up as the special guest was the icing on the cake.

Favourite Award Show/TV Performance of the Year

Josh… Stapleton/Timberlake: Tennessee Whiskey/Drink You Away There are a lot of people that would pick this performance as the best of the year. For 8 minutes, through 2 songs, these 2 super talented dudes tore it up. The country industry has long loved Stapleton, and the entire world loves Timberlake, and when they got together on that stage it was damn near magic.

Favourite Album of the Year: Country

Trish… Dean Brody: Gypsy Road Put it this way, I put this CD in my car on April 21st and it’s still in the CD player. I played nothing but this album for weeks, never turning on the radio. It’s on both of my phones and in my iTunes library. The first track, first single Upside Down with its catchy opening whistle was the perfect thing to get things started. But the real question for me was, how many times did I hit the restart button for track 4 – Burning Down the House to hear Dean say ‘Banjo’. Too many times to count! A solid album from beginning to end with three radio singles including the newest one, Love Would Be Enough and who’s to say there won’t be more.

Josh… Brett Kissel: Pick Me Up Celebrated by iTunes, CBC Music, and fans all across Canada, Kissel’s Pick Me Up is a great album that I played on repeat as soon as I got my grubby little hands on it. And it’s a bonus that it sounds great live. From the 1st single, Airwaves, to my personal favourite, Pick Me Up, and even the 2 tracks that get me a little chocked up – Feet Back On The Ground & I Didn’t Fall In Love With Your Hair, this is a great album that I’m happy to have in my rotation.

Runner-Up… 2014 releases Montevallo (Sam Hunt) & Lifted (Dallas Smith) spent a lot of time on my playlists this year, and Cam’s debut album, Untamed is well on its way to doing the same. A lot of great country music out there!

Favourite Album of the Year: Non-Country

Trish… Taylor Swift: 1989 / Hozier: Hozier Who wasn’t listening to Taylor Swift’s 1989 this year? In an elevator on my way up to work I ran into 4 colleagues. To be polite we remove our headphones and I ask, “so what are you listening to?” Taylor, Taylor, Taylor, Taylor… yeah me too! Not a single song to skip on this album. Technically released in 2014 I’m including it because she did just wrap this tour!

A close second though is Hozier so many plays, so many great songs. Another late 2014 release this album garnered platinum and gold status all over the world. With five singles to date this album was a big part of my music history this past year.

Josh… Ryan Adams: 1989 Is this cheating a little bit? Maybe.

But Adams’ covers of Taylor Swift’s songs were perfect for me. I loved the way he changed them just enough to make them something different – and turned Welcome To New York & All You Had To Do Was Stay into favourite cuts for me. I wrote about the album when it came out and said, “As a 33 year old dude, I feel like Ryan Adams’ version of Taylor Swift’s 1989 was recorded specifically for me.”. It still feels that way 3 months later.

Favourite EP of the Year: Country

Josh… Jess Moskaluke: Kiss Me Quiet Yes, I would rather have had a a full length album, but I’m not here to look a gift horse in the mouth. I don’t have a “skip” song the 6 track EP and the added acoustic versions of Kiss Me Quiet and Lightning Bolt are great too. And yes, I hope that next time we get a new album from Jess there are 12 songs on it. But for now, I’ll keep playing the Kiss Me Quiet collection as often as I please.

Runner-Up… Cam: Welcome To Cam Country This was our true introduction to one of Country’s newest stars. With a 4 song EP (My Mistake, Runaway Train, Half Broke Heart, Burning House) she got folks ready for the full length Untamed.

Favourite EP of the Year: Non-Country

Trish… Poor Young Things: Force of Nature Six songs, all great with a slightly different feel. I’m hooked. From the beginning Like An Animal to the last note of Hurricane, catchy, interesting, great lyrics and hooks. I find myself wondering if in person meetings and live performances are impacting my choices. I think yes!

Birds of Bellwoods: The Fifth A big fan of this band since coming across them in the Boots and Hearts Emerging Artists list their EP The Fifth is quiet, dark and haunting. Great lyrics, amazing voices and super talented musicians, this one stayed with me.

Favourite Photoshoot of the Year

Trish… St. Vincent: I’d never heard of her. I know! I’m sorry. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time. From the second she hit the stage I was mesmerized. Gorgeous, interesting, striking angles, that smile and those eyes! I took so many shots of her and there were so many good ones, it was very hard to narrow it down for the actual post.

Favourite Surprise of the Year

Trish… I started listening the week before the CNE show. I was surprised how much back catalog there was. I had an amazing time at the show and when I checked Spotify, my most played artist… Rick Springfield. And not what you’d think, it wasn’t Jessie’s Girl but Our Ship’s Sinking off the latest album – Songs for the End of the World, that got the most song plays. Who knew?

Favourite Interview of the Year

Josh… Small Town Pistols We sat down with Amanda and Tyler at Boots & Hearts and had an awesome time. They had just come from the main stage, drinks in hand, and we all got comfortable while we talked about the music, their dad, the new record, and even the fact that my brother used to share a school bus seat with Tyler way back in the day. I’ve been listening to The Wilkinsons since the mid-90s, and to be able to interview these 2 was a good memory for the year.

Trish… Poor Young Things Shout out goes to Strut Entertainment for thinking this one up. Meet the band at HMV, chat about music, buy stuff with gift cards and then give away an album and a gift card to our readers! Favourite interview of the year.

Favourite Festival of the Year

Josh & Trish… Boots & Hearts Between the 2 of us we saw a bunch of festivals this year, but Boots & Hearts is at the top of both of our lists.

The opportunity to see 4 days of awesome country music + the chance to sit down with The Stellas, Small Town Pistols, High Valley, The Road Hammers, Jess Moskaluke, The Reklaws… it was a great weekend, and continues to build on a “family” feeling every year for us.

Favourite Memory of the Year

Josh… Scott Weiland Meet & Greet It was the end of the night, everyone had left the Mod Club, and I got a tap on my shoulder. Just minutes later I was standing side by side with Scott Weiland, arms over each other’s shoulders, ridiculous smile on my face, and caught on camera forever.

It was an awesome way to end a night when the now passed rock and roller brought his A game to the stage in Toronto.

Trish… Jason McCoy at the CMAOs An already amazing night had a cherry put on top. 

I’m sitting in the hallway of The Flato Markham Theatre, trying to get some juice in my battery for the next round of performances and awards, and someone comes and sits beside me and picks up their phone, which was already hanging out of the socket. Oh, it’s only Jason McCoy, the host. We chatted about technology and better batteries.

Thanks to everyone who helped make 2015 so great for us, and so hard to pick our favourites. And thank you to everyone who Liked and Shared and Retweeted their favourite posts from thereviewsarein.com during the year.

We love you all.

Happy Holidays & An Awesome New Year!

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Joshua Murray

creator of content, daddy blogger, writer, coffee drinker, fan of the Batman. proud mo bro. prouder dad.