Best new releases of 2011

[Harvey2]

Sorry about the extra work Arlene but as you suggest, you can check out the album titles (all 2011 releases) on the web and by doing so, you will get additional info too. I agree that a best of list should be kept brief, no more than 20 but it has been an exceptional year for new releases (IMO) and I didn't want to leave anyone out. You will notice that some of my favs including Wilco, Ryan Adams, Lucinda Williams etc. are not included because, frankly, whilst I bought their new CDs, I wasn't over impressed by any of them.

[acoustic1]

Hi everybody: I"ve had logging on issues, but finally have it worked out.
Just finalized my 2011 lists. I make a compilation, so these aren't in order & aren't even necessarily my Top 20 albums, but 2 separate mixes that I think reflect many of the top songs of 2011.

Jenn’s Best of 2011 Hick
1. The Way it Goes- Gillian Welch
2. This Story- Kasey Chambers
3. Ramblin’ Man- Serena Ryder & The Beauties
4. Woebegone- Shelby Lynne
5. Cup of Sorrow- Amos Lee
6. Down By the Water- The Decemberists
7. Fletcher- Blitzen Trapper
8. Barton Hollow- The Civil Wars
9. If I Can’t Have You- Blackie & The Rodeo Kings(B.A.R.K)
w Lucinda Williams
10. Get Back To The Country- Neil Young
11. Tell Me Why- Elvis Costello & Emmylou Harris
12. You’re Still On My Mind- Ben Kyle & Carrie Rodriguez
13. I Want To Be With you Always- Majestic Silver Strings
w Patty Griffin
14. Ring Them Bells- Sarah Jarosz
15. Quiet Girl- Jude Johnstone
16 Swing Low Sail High- The Wailin’ Jennys
17. Old Highway- The Good Lovelies
18. Long Highway- Edwina Hayes
19. Pouring Rain at Dawn- The Jayhawks
20. Drifting Dreaming- The Waifs
21. Death in Arkansas- Eliza Gilkyson
22. That’s Where I’m Going- Eilen Jewell

Jenn’s Best of 2011
1. If I Wanted Someone- Dawes
2. Little Black Submarines- The Black Keys
3. First Light- My Morning Jacket
4. Walking Far From Home- Iron & Wine
5. Love The Way You Walk Away- Blitzen Trapper
6. The Laugh of Recognition- Over the Rhine
7. Never Let Me Go- Florence + the Machine
8. Someone Like You- ADELE
9. Whatever’s On Your Mind- Gomez
10. How Come You Never Go There- Feist
11. Ball & Chain- Tedeschi Trucks Band
12. Lead Me Love- Shelby Lynne
13. Revolution- Eliza Carthy
14. Face in The Crowd- Joseph Arthur
15. Birds of a Feather- The Civil Wars
16.The Road- Emmylou Harris
17. Jar of Hearts- Christina Perri
18. I Don’t Know How You’re Livin’- Lucinda Williams

Jenn’s Best of 2011 Acoustic
1. At Your Door- Alexi Murdoch
2. Moon in the Water- Dawes
3. El Camino- Amos Lee
4. The Way the Whole Thing Ends- Gillian Welch
5. Black Sheep- B.A.R.K. w Serena Ryder
6. Boxcars- Across the Borderline
7. Call- Joseph Arthur
8. Wonderful (The Way I Feel)- My Morning Jacket
9. Stand out in the Rain- The Jayhawks
10. For What It’s Worth- Stevie Nicks
11. Take It All- ADELE
12. The Thief- Shelby Lynne
13. Girl in a Coat- Blitzen Trapper
14. January Hymn- The Decemberists
15. 20 Years- The Civil Wars
16. Arms- Christina Perri
17. Across the Sea- The Wailin’ Jennys
18. Sleepless Nights- Eddie Vedder
19. My Name is Emmett Till- Emmylou Harris

Looking forward to hearing more lists soon,
Peace,
Jenn

[russ]

some of my favorite albums (and/or tracks) from this year are:

Emmylou Harris - Hard Bargain (The Road)
Abigail Washburn - City of Refuge (Bring Me My Queen)
The Barr Brothers - The Barr Brothers (Beggar in the Morning)
Buddy Miller - The Majestic Strings
The Low Anthem - Smart Flesh (Ghost Woman Blues)
Elenowen - (No Such Thing As Time)
The Trishas - They Call Us The Trishas (Till I'm Too Old To Die Young)
Glen Campbell - Ghost on the Canvas (A Better Place)
Danny Schmidt - Man of Many Moons
Over the Rhine - The Long Surrender (The Laugh of Recognition)
Yo-Yo Ma, Stuart Duncan, Edgar Meyer, Chris Thile & Aoife O'Donovan - Goat Rodeo Sessions (Here and Heaven)
Mary Black - Stories from the Steeples
The Civil Wars - Barton Hollow
Mazzy Star - Common Burn / Lay Myself Down
Gillian Welch & David Rawlings - The Harrow & The Harvest
Tom Waits - Bad as Me

[Harvey2]

Good list Jenn, it must have taken you forever ;-) Anyway, for anyone tempted by these selections here are (IMO) the ten outstanding releases of 2011.

Abigail washburn - City of Refuge
June Tabor - Ashore
Joan as Police Woman - The Deep Field
P J Harvey - Let England Shake
Cerys Matthews - Voyager
Emmylou Harris - Hard Bargain
Randy Newman - Songbook No. 2
Gillian Welch - The harrow and the harvest
Diana Jones - High atmosphere
Wire - Red barked trees

[lisa]

Cerys Matthews - Voyager


yay!

[Harvey2]

Yah indeed! And as Cerys states, "he who fears the garden, fears life" I couldn't agree more.

[Mike Rogers]

In my view two discs stand out from the pack:
An Appointment With Mr Yeats.................The Waterboys
Bright Morning Stars.................The Wailin' Jennys

I will shortly be buying the new Gillian Welch, Civil Wars and Matreca Berg albums.

I've been checking out YouTube more this year and getting my kicks from there. This experience have made me
less inclined to listen to a whole album by a single artist. Overall I think that this has been one of the better recent years
for albums and my shopping list is quite long.

From an Emmylou perspective my favourite has not been Hard Bargain. Instead I've rediscovered Blue Kentucky Girl and now regard
it as a work of genius.

[Arlene]

Just to be different, here's a list of my favorite covers released this year:

01 Gillian Welch & David Rawlings- White Rabbit (available on iTunes)(Jefferson Airplane)
02 Thea Gilmore- Dear landlord (Bob Dylan)
03 Carrie Rodriquez & Ben Kyle- Love Hurts (Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris)
04 Kasey Chambers- Everything is Turning to White (Paul Kelly)
05 Blackie & The Rodeo Kings w/Emmylou Harris- Step Away (Willie P. Bennett)
06 Patty Griffin- The Cape (Guy Clark)
07 Lyle Lovett- Anyhow, I Love You (Guy Clark)
08 Elvis Costello w/Emmylou Harris (available on iTunes) (Neil Young)
09 Sarah Jarosz- Ring Them Bells (Bob Dylan)
10 The Majestic Silver Strings w/Shawn Colvin- That's The Way Love Goes (Lefty Frizzell)
11 Abigail Washburn- What Are They Doing in Heaven Tonight? (Daytrotter website download)(Traditional)
12 Ryan Bingham- That's How Strong My Love Is (KUT-FM download) (Buddy Miller)
13 Emmylou Harris w/The Low Anthem- To Ohio (available on iTunes)(Low Anthem)
14 Crooked Still- American Tune (Paul Simon)
15 Kris Delmhorst- Magic (The Cars)
16 Kasey Anderson- To Live is to Fly- (Daytrotter website download)(Townes Van Zandt)
17 Tom Russell w/Lucinda Williams- A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall (Bob Dylan)
18 Emmylou Harris- Halley Came to Jackson (Emmylou Harris)
19 Robert Earl Keen- Play A Train Song (Todd Snider)
20 Amy Speace- Galbraith Street (Ron Sexsmith)
21 Jimmy LaFave- Lorena (Traditional)

I also compiled a two CD compilation of other songs released this year but maybe another time...

[Howard]

Here are my favourite CDs of the year:

1. Richmond Fontaine, The High Country
2. Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, Here We Rest
3. Drive-By Truckers, Go-Go Boots
4. Wilco, The Whole Love
5. Adele, 21
6. Dawes, Nothing is Wrong
7. The Horrible Crowes, Elsie
8. Gillian Welch, The Harrow & the Harvest
9. Ryan Adams, Ashes & Fire
10. Fleet Foxes, Helplessness Blues
11. Kate Bush, 50 Words for Snow
12. My Morning Jacket, Circuital
13. The Jayhawks, Mockingbird Time
14. Centro-Matic, Candidate Waltz
15. The Decemberists, The King Is Dead
16. Emmylou Harris, Hard Bargain
17. Laura Marling, A Creature I Don't Know
18. Robbing Mary, El Otro Lado