These days, it seems like everyone and their mother is posting year end lists. Top Tens in every conceivable genre and subgenre abound, and suddenly everybody is a musical connoisseur (VICE Mag recently had a particularly biting and spot-on commentary on NPR’s uber-obscure picks for 2012).
I personally have been particularly hesitant to post such a listing. I think picking a finite number of albums in a year rife with amazing musical releases can be limiting and derivative; two adjectives I would never want associated with our brand.
But at the same time, I realize the role of this website is to introduce readers and fans to a wealth of artists and songs they might not normally hear. Which is why I’ve assembled the following list. It’s not in any particular order, and not limited to a select few, but merely a sprinkling of what we consider to be the best music of the past twelve months; albums we hope you’ll consider if you haven’t listened to them already; artists we hope you’ll discover and follow in the future.
So without further ado…..
• Old Crow Medicine Show ‘Carry Me Back’
• Punch Brothers ‘Who’s Feeling Young Now’
• John Fullbright ‘From the Ground Up’
• Black Prairie ‘A Tear in the Eye is a Wound in the Heart’
• I Draw Slow ‘Redhills’
• Cahalen Morrison & Eli West ‘Our Lady of the Tall Trees’
• Spirit Family Reunion ‘No Separation’
• The Stray Birds ‘The Stray Birds’
• Sara Watkins ‘Sun Midnight Sun’
• Joe Mullins & The Radio Ramblers ‘They’re Playing My Song’
• Buddy Miller & Jim Lauderdale ‘Buddy & Jim’
• First Aid Kit ‘The Lions Roar’
• Shovels & Rope ‘O Be Joyful’
What do you think? Did we miss any? What were your favorite musical moments of 2012?
[Wishing you all the very best on this last day of the year. Thanks for making our 2012 so spectacular. No doubt 2013 is going to be even better…]
