Sunday, January 01, 2012

My Top Albums of 2011

2011 was a revelatory year for me musically, thanks to turntable.fm. For those who don’t know, turntable.fm is a website at which people play music for each other in a chatroom. That quick and dirty description doesn’t capture the effect it’s had on me. In the five months since I first checked it out, I’ve been introduced to a wealth of great music that I never would have discovered, including several of this year’s favorites. In addition, I’ve enjoyed getting to know many of the people that comprise the community there.

Without further ado, here are my Top 25 Albums:

25. William Elliott Whitmore -- Field Songs
24. Tedeschi Trucks Band -- Revelator
23. Steve Earle -- I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive
22. The Jayhawks -- Mockingbird Time
21. Gillian Welch -- The Harrow and The Harvest

20. Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit -- Here We Rest
19. Iron and Wine -- Kiss Each Other Clean
18. Deer Tick -- Divine Providence
17. Old 97’s -- Grand Theatre, Vol. 2
16. The Mountain Goats -- All Eternals Deck

15. Sallie Ford & The Sound Outside -- Dirty Radio
14. Gary Clark Jr. -- The Bright Lights EP
13. Wye Oak -- Civilian
12. Low -- C’mon
11. Charles Bradley -- No Time for Dreaming

10. Middle Brother -- Middle Brother
9. Abigail Washburn -- City of Refuge
8. Ivan & Aloysha -- Fathers Be Kind EP
7. The Low Anthem -- Smart Flesh
6. Wilco -- The Whole Love

5. Dawes -- Nothing Is Wrong
4. Drive-By Truckers -- Go-Go Boots
3. Fleet Foxes -- Helplessness Blues
2. Frank Turner -- England Keep My Bones
1. The Decemberists -- The King Is Dead

To hear tracks from these albums, in addition to other tunes I’ve enjoyed in 2011, you can check out this Spotify playlist.