Overlooked must-have music releases from the past year

but after 30 years, the music gods have smiled upon it, and half a lifetime and another life lost. The nine tracks on the album sound fresh out of 1990, with a California country rock sensibility scored by McFee’s fine-programmed classical string opener on titles such as “Could Have Been,” “That’s Country,” “Too Cool,” and “On the Way to the City.” The vocal harmonies, structure, and arrangements are all to the point of flawless, as if they mixed the essence of the Doobie Brothers and CCR within their blood. The music itself is timeless; it is all incredibly 21st-century yet preserved in a lost era. It’s just another glaring example of a 40-year-old album that should have been a bona fide chart-topper. Jackdawg is rock, pop, country, and southern rock all wrapped into one tasty cool little package. A hidden and unexpected hand-me-down from a time when downloads contained liners and record labels actually DID pick up on fabulous acts. May be long overdue, but we are once again grateful the forces of music have taken this journey with these guys. A fantastic obscure album release from last year that was a jewel in the rough sea of music history.