This is perhaps my favorite playlist this year. I added two bonus tracks for the holidays. Songs with thumbnails indicate albums new to my playlists. Enjoy!
Playlist also available on iTunes.
- These Tears, Reckless Kelly (from the album Wicked Twisted Road)
Mustang, Mike McClure (from the album Camelot Falling)
Former Great Divide front man rockin’ with his latest band. Gimme more “Red Dirt”!- Places, Blue Merle (from the album Burning In the Sun)
Fightin’ For, Cross Canadian Ragweed (from the album Garage)
This tune was ranked #1 last month in the Texas Music Chart. Another great album from these Texahomans.
The Hardest Part, Ryan Adams & The Cardinals (from the album Jacksonville City Nights)
Adams and The Cardinals just keep cranking them out. Another great tune from their second of three releases this year. Its as if for them speaking just becomes melody.
The Painter, Neil Young (from the album Prairie Wind)
“If you follow every dream / You might get lost”. Young stays on track with his latest.
Blue Jean, Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers (from the album Stephen Kellogg & The Sixers)
This album came out in February. I have no idea why it took me so long to discover this song.- See the Elephant, James McMurtry (from the album Childish Things)
- Wintertime Blues, John Hiatt (from the album Master of Disaster)
- Had a Real Good Time, Delbert McClinton (from the album Cost of Living)
- Impossibilities, Shurman (from the album Jubilee)
- Lost Again, Todd Thibaud (from the album Northern Skies)
- Flipping Quarters, Last Train Home (from the album Bound Away)
Lord Protect My Child, Susan Tedeschi (from the album Hope and Desire)
Tedeschi brings a new level of spirituality to this Bob Dylan remake.- Keep It Loose, Keep It Tight, Amos Lee (from the album Amos Lee)
Nobody’s Fault But Mine, Abigail Washburn (from the album Song of the Traveling Daughter)
This song has such feeling and depth. Wisdom manifested through song. Washburn has a long career ahead of her.
New York is a Christmas Kind of Town, Marah (from the album A Christmas Kind of Town)
Thank you, Marah! The holiday season needed a song like this.
Run Rudolph Run, Reverend Horton Heat (from the album We Three Kings)
Rockin’ Rudolph the way no one else can.
Also in heavy rotation:
A Retrospective: 1995-2000
Son Volt
release date 05/24/2005
(Rhino)
About the author: Washington, D.C. area creative by day. Music is my muse. I host Twangville’s weekly Readers‘ Pick.