Cory Graves
Leon Bridges Shakes The Haters Off.
Each week, we take a survey of the local music scene and try to determine which acts in town are really putting in work and seeing it pay off. Which bands have the most intriguing shows coming up? Which bands are getting the most press around town? Which bands have accomplished the most notable feats of late? Based off these criteria, our music writers submit a list to be weighted and compiled into a master list revealed each week in this here space. We like to think it's fairly revealing. Check out our previous Buzz Rankings here.
As we learned yesterday, Leon Bridges had a way better year than you or I did. And he certainly had a more buzz-worthy 2015 than any other musician in town.
There's no arguing that at all, really.
And thanks to a Colbert performance and a Rolling Stone feature — and the fact that Concussion, the film for which Will Smith commissioned an original Leon tune — he this week once again tops our weekly, local music power rankings, now for his 19th time, 18 of which came this calendar year.
[Pause for emphasis.]
Eighteen, folks. That's something like 35 percent of the rankings for the year. To put it another way: Leon finished atop more than one out of every three of our weekly Buzz Rankings this year.
Unreal.
Not far behind Leon this week was Bobby Sessions. While he didn't edge out Leon on this particular list, he did beat him out for the No. 1 hole on the Dallas Observer's best albums of the year list. He also popped up on most every other local publication's best albums lists, too.
Lists were a big player this slow news week, and helped many artists from this week's rankings earn their spots. Erykah Badu, Andy Pickett and Regan James, for instance, are all artists that earned spots in the Top 10 of our own best local songs of 2015 countdown.
Then there were acts like The Polyphonic Spree, Brave Combo and Michael Martin Murphey, each of which played special holiday-themed concerts of late. Also: Crown the Empire will play this weekend's post-Christmas Unsilent Night festival at The Bomb Factory.
Elsewhere: Steve Miller earned a spot in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; Stevie Ray Vaughan got one step closer to getting his statue in Oak Cliff; Zhora released its debut EP; and Rigor Mortis premiered its Welcome to Your Funeral documentary last night.
(Also receiving votes: Brave Combo, Radioactivity, Eli Young Band, Vandoliers, Drowning Pool, Mga-Czar, The Outfit, TX, Doug Burr, Pearl Earl, Rei Clone, Brent Best, Buffalo Black, Pinkish Black, Devy Stonez, Sudie, Jacob Furr, Daniel Markham/Claire Morales, Denim Wonder, Neon Indian, Midlake, Telegraph Canyon, Jonas Martin, Larry g(EE), Charley Crockett, G.U.N., Vincent Neil Emerson, Conner Youngblood, ThatKidCam, Becky Middleton, Saint Clair and 88 Killa.)
