I love year-end lists.  I’m always curious about what has moved other people in the last year, and reading the lists of others gives me a chance to learn about music I may have missed. 

But looking over my list of music that moved me in 2011, I was struck by one trend that may have been overlooked by best-of lists. Specifically, I noticed an unusually large amount of remarkable No Depression-like music released by younger, relatively unknown women. So I here’s my best-of list of…

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I'm pushing 60, and I find it encouraging when artists who are also beyond a certain age release some of the best work of their careers. In the last few months, there have been a significant number of CDs released by long-seasoned artists that are in my personal heavy rotation list. I realized this morning that I'm not listening to these CDs because of how old the artists are but because of how damned good the music is.



The best of these albums combine well-honed musical… Continue

First, a practical question: Has anybody heard anything about a new Patty Griffin album.  I've heard nothing, but I just saw this on Patty's Facebook page about the forthcoming Cayamo music cruise:  "Hey Cayamo cruisers! Patty will be playing some brand new songs on the ship!"  I have no inside information, but typically new songs mean a new album is on the way.

 

Which brings me to musing the remarkable streak Griffin has been on.  Before last year's Downtown…

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The kind of music discussed by the No Depression community is often characterized by strong artists who, in a more perfect world, would receive more attention than they do. This week, higher-visibility releases, such as the big-label debut by Iron & Wine, will likely get the lion's share of attention while brilliant releases such as Austin-based Carrie Elkin's Call It My Garden likely will fall between the cracks.



As with all of Elkin's releases, this album, her first for… Continue

There's one day each year out here in the deep country of the Driftless region of southwestern Wisconsin when Spring breaks Winter's back. That day was yesterday and for me, as always, music played an essential part in this blessing ritual.



On that special day yesterday, as I have since I was a teenager, I drove into town, the warm spring air blowing softly from the southwest invisibly melting the snow, the sun finally high enough in the sky to warm the earth. I drove into town,… Continue