by Tom Osborne in Reviews

Over the course of the year we’ve had a weekly poll highlighting select new releases. You’ve picked your favorites each week and those have turned into our weekly and monthly Readers’ Picks. Now it’s time to turn the short list into a Twangville Readers’ Pick of 2011.

To qualify, a release had to have at least as many votes as our monthly Readers’ Pick with the least votes. In this case, that was both releases by The Decemberists with 17 votes each. If something you liked didn’t make the list, remember to vote each week next year.

Leading up to the 2012 release season we’ll be offering up the annual Readers Pick Poll. Please vote for your favorite release of 2011 that made the list and we’ll announce the winner at the end. Here’s the recap:

2011 Monthly Reader’s Picks

• Jan: THE DECEMBERISTS, The King Is Dead (17)
• Feb: THE WAILIN’ JENNYS, Bright Morning Stars (166)
• Mar: LUCINDA WILLIAMS, Blessed (25)
• Apr: JASON ISBELL AND 400 UNIT, Here We Rest (28)
• May: MY MORNING JACKET, Circuital (18)
• Jun: GILLIAN WELCH, The Harrow & The Harvest (24)
• Jul: BODEANS, Indigo Dreams (31)
• Aug: JOHN HIATT, Dirty Jeans & Mudslide Hymns (33)
• Sep: WILCO, The Whole Love (26)
• Oct: RYAN ADAMS, Ashes & Fire (30)
• Nov: THE DECEMBERISTS, Long Live the King EP (17)

Honorable Mentions

• TOM WAITS, Bad As Me (18)
• JAYHAWKS, Mockingbird Time (24)
• MATTHEW RYAN, I Recall Standing as Though Nothing Could Fall (19)
• THE BOTTLE ROCKETS, Not So Loud: An Acoustic Evening (19)
• DAVE ALVIN, Eleven Eleven (21)
• NEIL YOUNG INTERNATIONAL HARVESTERS, A Treasure (20)
• STEVE EARLE, I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive (26)
• R.E.M., Collapse Into Now (18)
• DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS, Go-Go Boots (20)
• HAYES CARLL, KMAG YOYO (& other American stories) (17)

About the author:  Washington, D.C. area web designer by day. Certifiable music freak by night. Husband and father of two by the loving grace of God.