From the editors: We’re launching a new column! Beginning next month, Dog Bites 2.0 will be featured the third Friday of each month with something new, something old, and something local in the music scene.

Mike Watterston, the longtime DJ at WNTI radio and a resident of Hackettstown will be joined by Joe Hirsh of Joe Hirsh Productions in highlighting what and who gets your attention.

Today, Watterston shares a rundown of his favorite albums released in 2020:

1. Lucinda Williams – Good Souls Better Angels

One constant in the Alt-Country world for decades now has been Lucinda Williams. In 2020, she wants us to know that she means business and certainly isn’t messing around in any way.

The band is on fire throughout this 12-track journey through good love, bad love, God, the devil, and life—they even took a minute to talk politics. These are the same guys Lu has been playing with for a while now. The producer once again is her husband, Tom Overby. The perfect description of this effort is gritty, down & dirty. Another gem.

2. Bruce Springsteen – Letter To You

This is another outstanding product from Bruce. The inspiration for this record was the deaths not only of Clarence & Danny but his teenage pal, George Theiss, who was in The Castiles, Bruce’s first band. With that said, the record is almost completely upbeat! He also dusted off a few old, unreleased things which are so good to see. A track that Bruce gave to Warren Zevon, “Janey Needs a Shooter,” plus “Song For Orphans” and “If I Was The Priest,” which is my favorite track on this. The band recorded the entire thing live in the studio with virtually no overdubbing. There is a companion piece documentary to this on Apple TV+ also. I loved last year’s “Western Stars,” but this is the most complete Bruce disc since 2002’s “The Rising.”

3. Bob Dylan – Rough and Rowdy Ways

This is Zimmy’s 39^th studio record and it’s pure Dylan lyrically. Every one of the 10 tracks are fantastic. Nothing throwaway here. This is my favorite Bob Dylan record in years. His voice is outstanding. I feel as though I must repeat myself here: His voice is outstanding!!

As usual, he surrounds himself with the most talented musicians: Old pal Tony Garnier on bass, Charlie Sexton on guitar, and Matt Chamberlain on drums. Also sitting in is ex-Heartbreaker Benmont Tench and Fiona Apple.

The final track is an epic piece from Dylan—and I mean that in every sense. It’s called “Murder Most Foul,” taken from a line in Hamlet. It’s 17 minutes long. You can take “Joey,” “Sad Eyed Lady…” and “Hurricane,” roll them all together and this track will still beat it by a country mile. It’s built around the assassination of JFK and it goes through a stack of our musical events and icons through the years—Stevie & Lindsay, Stan Getz, Glenn Frey, Warren Zevon, Patsy Cline, Carl Wilson, Woodstock, Altamont—and it’s just incredible! It’s a sparse, beautiful piece with Bob on vocal, Donnie Herron on violin and Fiona on piano.  BRAVO & VIVA BOB DYLAN!!

4. Miley Cyrus – Plastic Hearts 

In 2012, a Bob Dylan tribute record came out entitled “Chimes of Freedom.” Miley appears on it and does a much-more-than-respectful version of “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go.” I had respect for her from that point on. Dolly Parton is her godmother, so maybe some sort of osmosis thing was happening. Then in 2020, we got this effort from her and, for me, it’s been confirmed. The bad girl of pop music is finally all grown up.

For 38 minutes she proves it here. This a really good record if you dig that contemporary vibe with some retro ’80s thrown in for good measure. She lets the F-word fly a few times but I’ll let it slide; who am I to complain about an occasional F-word? It’s packed with tracks in this short period of time; we get 15 in all. Regarding the retro ’80s, there is a track on this called “Midnight Sky.” Also included is “Edge of Midnight” and it samples “Edge of Seventeen” with help from Stevie Nicks. Joan Jett is on this CD, as is Billy Idol. Go Miley Go!

5. Tony Allen & Hugh Masekela – Rejoice

In the late ’60s and early 1970s, these guys made their marks in music. Tony Allen was a percussionist in Fela Kuti’s Africa ’70 band out of Nigeria and co-founder of the Afrobeat style of jazz. (Fela Kuti is a whole other interesting guy. Check him out.). Hugh Masekela is a South African master trumpet player, known as the “Father of African Jazz.” You may recognize his name from his 1968 pop hit “Grazing in the Grass.” Masekela died in Johannesburg on the early morning of January 23, 2018, from prostate cancer, aged 78. On April 30 of this year, Tony Allen died of an abdominal aortic aneurysm in Paris. Thankfully, Tony Allen finished recording this album in Summer 2019 at the same London studio where the original sessions had taken place. This is a doozy. If this sounds good to you, it is!

6. Pearl Jam – Gigaton

I don’t know about you, but I was starting to give up on ever hearing that old Pearl Jam sound again. Well, thankfully, I’m happy to report that the 11^th CD from PJ is a very strong effort.

Throughout the record, the bass and drums are electrifying, Eddie sounds crazy again and Stone and Mike are as awesome as ever. Tracks like “Dance of the Clairvoyants,” “Who Ever Said,” and “Superblood Wolfmoon” will prove it. There are a couple soft rockers in here but I never minded the way they arrange them. Great effort this time out!

7. Neil Young – Homegrown

This is Neil’s 40^th (!!!) studio album. Talk about being prolific. This is an old archive thing, which is fine with me. Recorded in late ’74 between “On The Beach” and the “Zuma” sessions, it was dropped at the time and “Tonight’s The Night” was released in its place. Two songs from “American Stars ‘n Bars” show up here, “Star of Bethlehem” and the title track. The track “Florida” is an odd spoken word thing that sounds like something from the Doors’ “American Prayer.” Very weird, cool stuff. Neil’s Stray Gators are on most of this along with help from Levon Helm, Robbie Robertson and Emmy Lou Harris. If you’re familiar with Neil Young’s early ’70s work, you know what you’ve got here. Twelve tracks of pure gold.

8. The Dirty Knobs – Wreckless Abandon

“Wreckless Abandon” is the current album from The Dirty Knobs. Do you like Tom Petty? Of course you do. Then you’re going to love the Dirty Knobs. This is a Mike Campbell band. Mike was Petty’s former lead guitarist and songwriting partner in the Heartbreakers. This is a side band Mike Campbell formed during his Heartbreaker days and he can’t really help himself from sounding like Tom. It’s the way he’s been playing and singing for the past 40 years. Thankfully for us, that’s not a bad thing. We’ve got 13 tracks of rockin’ blues, rock ‘n’ roll and an acoustic track tossed in for good measure. Heartbreaker Belmont Tench sits in on “Aww Honey” and Chris Stapleton takes over vocals on “Irish Girl.”  Matt Laug is on Drums and Lance Morrison on Bass.

Honorable mention: 

 The Rolling Stones – Living In A Ghost Town (single)

The crazy thing about this song is that the Stones recorded it in 2019. It was, however, completed the following year. Obviously, it references our Covid-19 situation but still, the thought of it began last year. It’s the Rolling Stones’ first single in four years and the first original material from the band since “Doom and Gloom” and “One More Shot” in 2012. Great Stones track to boot…in case you thought they couldn’t write another good song. It sounds like something done during the Voodoo Lounge sessions. The Stones live on.

Mike Watterston’s show on WNTI, Dog Bites, aired for over 30 years.