Benjibopper

Here's the music I enjoyed most last year, though it didn't necessarily come out then [edit: I almost forgot one I picked up in Toronto right after Christmas, by the great Paul Simon]:

Mike Evin - Do You Feel the World? - he plays with a smile on his face and you can hear it.

Drive-by Truckers - Go-Go Boots - musical storytelling, esp. "Used to be a Cop"

Robert Earl Keen - Picnic - slightly more hillbilly musical storytelling.

Los Lobos - The Ride - and "and friends" album featuring old and new; bluesy, soulful, musically accomplished.

Matt Andersen - Something in Between - off-the-chart guitar and voice chops

Amy Winehouse - Back to Black - started listening to this six months before she died - what a freakin' voice.

Moonshine Ramblers - Moonshine Ramblers - trippy folk, roots, bluegrass, blues and country with a boot to the head.

Paul Simon - So Beautiful or So What - an old master working his bountiful bag of tricks and astute rhymes, his best since Graceland.

Labels: 2011, best of