If ever there was a Twangville give-away that I would want to win, this would be it. Several years ago Australian singer-songwriter Paul Kelly began playing multi-night shows during which he performed songs from his catalog in alphabetical order. The shows begat plans for a box set; the planned box set begat a book. Although […]
Editors’ Picks: Best Album of 2011: Jason Isbell’s “Here We Rest”
Last year, our Twangville authors combined forces to dub Justin Townes Earle‘s Harlem River Blues as Best Album of 2010. This year official Twangille Best Album of 2011 honors go to Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit‘s Here We Rest. Let me tell you this is no small feat as we’re a picky bunch. Our […]
Best Under the Radar 2011
Instead of focusing on a best of list, I wanted to highlight 10 albums released in 2011, by artists that aren’t household names. There are so many hard working and passionate artists who deserve to be noticed. The current landscape of the music industry makes it difficult for artist from local and regional scenes to […]
Win Big: Elvis!
Is there anyone out there who doesn’t know Elvis? From the early Sun Studio years to the Vegas spectacles, he blazed a distinctive trail. Dig beneath the out-sized legacy, however, and you’ll find the heart of a musician. Over the course of his career, Elvis wrapped his voice around everything from gospel to country to […]
Readers’ Pick: Best Album of 2011: Jason Isbell’s “Here We Rest”
With 65 of 300 total votes Twangville readers picked Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit‘s “Here We Rest” as their favorite album of 2011. Rounding out the top five were albums from Matthew Ryan, The Decemberists, Ryan Adams, and Gillian Welch. Congratulations to all the nominees which were based on our monthly Readers’ Pick poll. […]
Todd’s Tops of 2011
There were tons of releases in 2011 and I am sure I only listened to a fraction of them. I always have a hard time narrowing down my top 5 or so choices, and then I always have a hard time coming up with a full list of 25. Here’s my top 15 of the […]
Shawn’s Favorite Live Sets Of 2011
By now you’ve seen what most of us were listening to on our MP3 or CD players last year. Â So I thought I’d add my favorite live sets from last year. Â 1) Roger Waters: I got a chance to see The Wall at the HP Pavilion in San Jose. Â Holy cow. Â As far as I’m […]
Shawn’s Best of 2011
 1) R.E.M. – Collapse Into Now: OK, I’m willing to admit maybe this was a little bit of a sentimental choice for me since it may be their last album.  But darn it, I still think this is their best effort since the 80’s and 91’s Out Of Time.  The jangly guitars, the inexplicable Stipe […]
Tom’s Picks: Best of 2011
The Decemberists hit hard in January with The King Is Dead and maintained their number one status with me for the entire year. Butch Walker‘s The Spade was the best I’ve heard yet from the Master of Hooks. Let’s hope his work with The Black Widows will continue. In at #21 was Telekinesis the highest […]
Mayer’s Picks: Best EPs of 2011
Many of my favorite releases from this year were 5-6 song eps rather than 8-10+ song full-length releases. It is, perhaps, a statement on modern music industry that, with one exception, all of these were self-released. As John Lennon said, “Power to the people.” Here, in no particular order, are a few favorite EPs from […]