As I look back on the year I have a lot to be grateful for. I have collaborated with a number of folks and done some projects of my own. 2022 is off to a productive start with some exciting things happening that I can’t wait to share. Some of the folks I’ve been working with (and I’m sure I’ll inadvertently leave some out) over the past 12 months, or who have done work for me include:
Carl Burnitz
Lang Owen
Darren Woodlief
Admiral Radio
Zena Strings
Bentz Kirby
Zach Bingham
Mike Scarboro
Chris Padget
Kevin Kimbrell
Jeff Gregory
Steve Bennett
Kristen Harris
John Epps
The Mash-Up Americans
I was also humbled to be included in the Free Times “Best of Columbia Music 2021” issue with my EP “To Paul” and in an end of the year piece from the same publication.
9. Todd Mathis — “To Paul.”
Few albums I’ve ever listened to approach the emotional texture of the four-track EP “To Paul.” Todd Mathis dedicated the collected songs to Paul Bodamer, who died in 2020 and was a frequent recording partner and close friend. Made up of three covers and one original track, it’s a moving reimagining of Wilco’s “Theologians,” Faster Stereo’s (a band they formed together) “One More Time” and Willie Nelson’s “Me and Paul.” As one listens with knowledge of the album’s context, it’s hard not to feel a heavy heart even when it strikes playful tones. That’s as evident as any song on “Me and Paul,” where Mathis charts an up-and-down journey that brings the listener along for the ride with the two. Here the two take the place of Nelson and his drummer Paul English. It’s a high place to put oneself and another, but one that any friend would gladly give to a friend if they could. It’s a move that requires almost blinding love, and Mathis lends just that in his reimagination of the track and the entire album. DAVID CLAREY
Columbia venues, bands returned with live performances, varied approaches to pandemic KYLE PETERSEN
Given this outlook, I feel something like singer/songwriter Todd Mathis’ heartfelt tribute EP, “For Paul,” which was released in June, to his friend Paul Bodamer might be the most emblematic of the year.
Although a drummer and songwriter himself, Bodamer, who we lost early on in 2020, was more known for his tireless engineering and production work for Americana and jazz artists in the Midlands. Mathis carefully selected the songs on the mostly acoustic EP, selecting one of Bodamer’s favorite songs, Wilco’s “Theologians,” followed by a cover of one of the producer’s own songs and then a spot-on take on the Willie Nelson travelogue “Me and Paul.”
Each song directly speaks to Mathis’ grief, but they are nothing next to the intense vulnerability and mournful swell of the closing original number. “I’m writing this song just to tell you how much that I love you/I’m writing this song just to put it out in the air,” he tenderly sings. “I’m writing this song just in case/your spirit is out there floating among the airwaves/and maybe just maybe somebody else needed to hear/the words ‘I love you.’”
