READERS PICK: MARCH 2011 Twangville readers recently picked Lucinda Williams Blessed as their favorite album of March 2011. It seems like each time Williams releases a new album critics call it the best since Car Wheels On A Gravel Road. I guess that’s the consequence of having a Grammy-winning album. While comparisons will forever be […]
Tom’s Picks: Best of Winter 2011
My favorite albums from the Winter of 2011. Links will lead you to Twangville reviews. Also, be sure and check out the video companion below. Enjoy! Top 10 THE DECEMBERISTS, The King is Dead [★★★★★/4.700]Album number 6 for the Portland, OR based group. A slight departure from previous concept albums featuring cameos by Peter Buck […]
Readers’ Pick: The Wailin’ Jennys, “Bright Morning Starsâ€
READERS PICK: FEBRUARY 2011 Twangville readers recently picked The Wailin’ Jennys Bright Morning Stars as their favorite album of February 2011. Jazz vocalist Heather Masse joins Ruth Moody and Nicky Meht as the third Jenny in their first studio album in 5 years. Each contributed 4 songs each for a total of 12 original songs […]
Readers’ Pick: The Decemberists, “The King Is Dead”
READERS PICK: JANUARY 2011 Twangville readers recently picked The Decemberists‘ The King is Dead as their favorite album of January 2011. To record album number six The Decemberists shacked up in a remote barn outside of their Portland, OR base. For this release, the band shied away from their common concept album format to do […]
Best Albums of 2010, Official Twangville Editors’ Picks
Here it is. Nearly 100 recommended albums from 2010 by our esteemed Twangville editors. Last year it was Lucero topping the list just edging out Justin Townes Earle by a nose. One year later, it’s Earle who sits at the top with Harlem River Blues our Best Album of 2010. All links below go to […]
Readers’ Pick: Scott Miller, “Christmas Gift”
READERS PICK: DECEMBER 2010 Twangville readers recognized Scott Miller’s “Christmas Gift” as their favorite holiday album of 2010 which also makes it our Readers’ pick for the month of December. When Miller was asked about it he plainly said “Why a Christmas record? Because I like Christmas, that’s why.” That seems like a good enough […]
Best Albums of 2010, Tom’s Picks
Here are my favorite albums of 2010 of everything I listened to. As usual, my tastes are all over the map as you can clearly see. You’ll see some long time favorites like Eli “Paperboy” Reed, Justin Townes Earle, Hold Steady, and Ray Lamontagne in my top 10 but also pay close attention to some […]
Readers’ Picks: Best Albums of 2010 (Plus a Giveaway)
Twangville readers rallied to give Paul Thorn‘s ‘Pimps and Preachers’ an overwhelming victory for album of the year. An interesting fact about the album is that Thorn himself painted the album cover. He painted the preacher to be his father and the pimp to be his uncle. You don’t have to look much further to […]
Tom’s Picks: Best Songs of 2010, a Playlist and Video Companion
If I limited selections from my favorite albums of the year to as many as I could fit on a CD it would look something like this. The journey starts with the always energetic Eli “Paperboy” Reed. Somewhere in the middle you hear the genius songwriting by Caleb Stine and Justin Townes Earle. All to […]
Tom’s Picks: Best EPs of 2010
My nod for EP of the year goes to Eric Brace & Last Train Home‘s simply named ‘Six Songs’ which pulls together a six-fingered handful of songs they’ve been playing live for some time now. Brace sings in near perfect French with a couple of the tracks (“Autumn Leaves”, “Et Maintenant / What Now My […]