From streaming to stages, music gets us up, out, and moving about! See what folks were listening to at their desks, in bars, on stages big and small, and at festivals with a few thousand of their closest friends.

There were two music festivals that standout in my mind. The Tacos and Tequila Festival had artists from my high school days performing and it was just so much fun! The VOA Country Music Festival was also really incredible! It's so organized and so many fun things to do while you are there. We do festivals so well here.

– Melissa Lewis

Showing my age and my era here (and probably revealing a few other things), but the Raisins reunion shows at the Woodward were unforgettable. Their music brings back a flood of memories, every lyric comes right back and I still see some of the same faces in the crowd that I remember from the 80s. It always makes me smile.

– Doug Olberding

It’s Taylor Swift’s world, we’re just living in it.

“Life of a Showgirl” by Taylor Swift kept me going all through the fall and into early winter. I didn't think she could improve on “The Tortured Poets Department,” but she keeps delivering!

– Leslie Mooney

I love listening to music that is upbeat and energetic! I am a Swiftie and enjoy Taylor Swift and similar artists! I also really like 90's/00's R&B/Rap and Pop! From Nelly to Ludacris to Nsync to whatever! My music taste is all over the place! I think Music really enhances experiences and I will listen to different genres depending on what Im doing; Rap and EDM at the gym, Jazz while Im cleaning my apt, etc. Just depends on my mood! I think the artist of the year is Sabrina Carpenter hands down and I think song of the year may be "Golden"

– Andrew Maloney

Stevie Nicks on stage at the Heritage Bank Center

– Jackie Reau

The deeper current running through my year was King Records, especially revisiting the legacy of Little Willie John. That music still feels intimate, unresolved, and incredibly alive. It continues to ask questions instead of offering easy answers.

On the other side of it, I’ve been grateful to stay active as a musician. Playing jazz gigs around town this holiday season has kept me connected to the city through rooms, conversations, and sound. Catching my daughter play at Caffè Vivace has been its own kind of magic and a reminder that this music keeps moving forward.

– Yemi Oyediran

“Let It Fall” by Over the Rhine was reintroduced to me this year and it was the perfect, instructive and loving piece of music that comforted my soul.

– D. Lynn Meyers

“Apparitions & Arias,” a haunted tour of Music Hall with the Cincinnati Opera

– Linsey Kraeling

Heart Concert – it was a bucket list concert of female rockstars and watching them perform live will stay with me forever! I also got to meet Sugar Hill Gang and “Rappers Delight” is my favorite song from grade school...so amazing

– Michelle Jones

Locally Honour Rae, but Van Morrison, Valerie June, Dijon, Otis Redding, Tyler Childers are all shuffling somewhere in the back ground!

– Rachel DesRochers

Shameless plug: My 17 year-old son, Charlie Pille, just celebrated more than 47 million streams of his original tracks and cover songs on all streaming services. He's a budding music producer headed to Belmont University next year. His song “1985” is probably my favorite and plays on repeat.

– Krista Katona Pille

Blue Sky Mama - album by Deej

– Holly Brians Ragusa

I saw The Swell Season at The Taft Theatre this summer, a show that was equal parts intimate performance and raucous hootenanny. At one point Glen Hansard brought out a letter his mother had asked him to deliver to relative in Cincinnati, but he only had the first name on the envelope. But no one responded.

After a bit of coaxing from the audience, he opened the envelope to get a bit more information. As he started to read the letter, a woman in the back of the theater shrieked and ran toward the stage. The letter was meant for her aunt! I was pretty sure that was the most Irish thing I’d ever seen.

But later in the show the band broke into a cover of “Into the Mystic,” and that was, in fact, the most Irish thing I’ve ever seen.

The whole show was a wonderful reminder of the power music has to delight, surprise, and bring people together.

– Tricia Suit

Well, Spotify said I have the listening habits of a 74-year-old. I might be the wrong guy to ask.

– John Faherty

Cincy 6: 2025 Music

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