Another list posing as a post. You'll see many of my Best of 2011 on the list and some 2011 releases that were candidates. Some old favorites and some new favorites. Some country, some folk, some blues, all good stuff.

JC's Artists Played in 2011

1 Alison Krauss & Union Station / Alison Krauss
2 Drive-By Truckers
3 Cowboy Junkies
4 Emmylou Harris
5 Dwight Yoakam
6 Willie Nelson
7 Gillian Welch
8 Lyle Lovett
9 Steve Earle
10 Johnny Cash
11 Patty Griffin
12 Lori McKenna
13 Tom Russell
14 Lynyrd Skynyrd
15 Lucinda Williams
16 Audrey Auld
17 Graham Lindsey
18 Merle Haggard
19 Billy Joe Shaver
20 Kasey Chambers

Albums spun in 2011

1 Drive-By Truckers – Go-Go Boots
2 Alison Krauss & Union Station – Paper Airplane
3 Various – Country: The American Tradition
4 Steve Earle – I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive
5 Lucinda Williams – Blessed
6 Amos Lee – Mission Bell
7 Gillian Welch – The Harrow & The Harvest
8 Kasey Chambers – Little Bird (Deluxe Edition) / Little Bird
9 Bearfoot – American Story
10 Various Artists – A Very Special Acoustic Christmas
11 Lori McKenna – Lorraine
11 Bridger Creek Boys – Live at Bozeman Brewing Company 2011-10-17
13 Hayes Carll– KMAG YOYO (And Other American Stories)
14 Iris DeMent – Lifeline
15 George Strait – 50 Number Ones
15 Patty Griffin – Downtown Church
17 Cowboy Junkies – Demons
17 Matraca Berg – The Dreaming Fields
19 Hank Williams – 20 Of Hank Williams' Greatest Hits
19 The Tinder Box – These Winds EP

Tracks tracked in 2011

1 Alison Krauss & Union Station – Paper Airplane
2 Drive-By Truckers – Used to Be a Cop
3 James Blunt – I Really Want You
4 Trisha Yearwood – Perfect Love
5 Emmylou Harris – If I Needed You
5 Bearfoot – When You're Away
7 Amos Lee – El Camino
7 Steve Earle – Molly-O
7 Gillian Welch – The Way It Goes
10 Rodney Crowell – I Know Love Is All I Need
10 Adrienne Young – Hills and Hollers
12 The Del McCoury Band – 1952 Vincent Black Lighting
12 Alison Krauss & Union Station – Lie Awake
14 Gram Parsons – Love Hurts
14 Matraca Berg – Oh Cumberland
14 Graham Lindsey – The Bird That Lived in a Burning Tree
14 Drive-By Truckers – Go-Go Boots
14 The Tinder Box – These Winds
19 Steve Earle – God Is God
19 Gillian Welch – Tennessee

Happy new year, may it bring you many musical delights.

(For commentary visit my blog, jcshepard.com)

From Tamara Saviano (music industry type with some neat projects under her belt):

Townes Van Zandt simply never fit this earthly world. After all, the “electric cowboy” knew his time here would be short. “I don’t envision a very long life for myself,” Van Zandt said. “I think my life will run out before my work does. I’ve designed it that way.” Van Zandt lived fast and wrote faster. Classic songs rapidly emerged (“Pancho and Lefty,” “If I Needed You”). When he died on New Year’s Day 1997, the songwriter left behind a stunning catalog (“Tecumseh Valley,” “Lungs”).

Fifteen years on, Brian T. Atkinson’s I’ll Be Here in the Morning: The Songwriting Legacy of Townes Van Zandt spotlights the elegant (“To Live’s To Fly”) and engaging (“For the Sake of the Song”) lyricist’s significant impact on songwriting peers and followers. “‘Pancho and Lefty’ changed—it unchained—my idea of what a song could be,” folk icon John Gorka says midway through the new book, a tightly woven collection of more than 40 interviews with artists deeply impacted by Van Zandt’s singular poetry.

Several living legends – including Guy Clark, Rodney Crowell, Kris Kristofferson, Lyle Lovett and Lucinda Williams – analyze Van Zandt’s breathtakingly beautiful lyrics throughout the book and share poignant stories of witnessing the troubled troubadour’s rise and fall. Atkinson doubles down on these recollections with new insight from younger artists such as My Morning Jacket’s Jim James, The Avett Brothers’ Scott Avett, Grace Potter, Josh Ritter and Kasey Chambers to present a nuanced view of Van Zandt’s unparalleled body of work, his reckless lifestyle and his long-lasting influence.

Forewords by Van Zandt producer “Cowboy” Jack Clement and longtime road manager Harold F. Eggers, Jr. open the book. Each chapter begins with a carefully crafted introduction in which Atkinson provides context and background, linking each interviewee to Van Zandt’s growing legacy as his generation’s most influential songwriter. “Townes is a Christ-like figure in Texas,” says country star Jack Ingram at the book’s close. “He is the one. He was writing on another plane.”

“Townes’ reputation is awesome,” echoes Outlaw country pioneer Ray Wylie Hubbard. “The word ‘poet’ keeps coming to mind. I mean a real poet. When people discover Townes, they’re just enlightened. They’re instant fans. If it were a perfect world, Townes would be as well known as Bob Dylan.”

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NPR streamed this year's Americana Music Association Awards live from Nashville. When I clicked the link on my iPad it came up a Flash thing so I skipped it and read a book. Probably a good choice.

As I saw the winners roll by on Twitter later in the evening, I had a growing sense of unease. As one cranky outsider observed, it seemed more like Volvo commercial than a Celebration of Roots music.

ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Band of Joy, Robert Plant

ARTIST OF THE YEAR: Buddy Miller

INSTRUMENTALIST OF THE YEAR: Buddy Miller

NEW / EMERGING ARTIST: Mumford & Sons

SONG OF THE YEAR: “Harlem River Blues” by Justin Townes Earle

DUO / GROUP OF THE YEAR: The Avett Brothers

Lifetime Achievement Award for Songwriter: Lucinda Williams

Lifetime Achievement Award for Performance: Gregg Allman

Lifetime Achievement Award for Instrumentalist: Jerry Douglas

Jack Emerson Lifetime Achievement Award for Executive: Rick Hall

Now, don't get me wrong, I do have most of the AMA winners in my iPad. They are good. They're just not Great. I feel like the AMA has been taken hostage by 1970s soft-rock FM DJs. My "Americana" just leans towards more Hank.

Tho any show with Alison Krauss ain't all bad.


(cross-posted from JC Shepard.com)

Lady Antebellum takes Grammy Record of the Year for NEED YOU NOW off the "record" of the same name. Wow, didn't see that coming. Who cares if Arcade Fire took Album of the Year instead of Lady A, at least they both kept Lady Gaga gagging in her egg suit along with the rest of the dregs of pop music. Good job.

As you may guess, I can take or leave Lady Antebellum, but they're much easier on the ears than ANY of the alternatives. Tip my hat to 'em on Country Album and Country Duo Performance, too.

I was pulling (if just a bit) for Miranda Lambert's The House That Built Me. Yeah, yeah, she didn't write it herself, and it's formula country radio, but it's kinda catchy. Actually, that summarizes most of my feelings for Ms. Lambert. I'm coming around to her in spite of myself so I smiled that she got Female Country Vocal even tho I like Gretchen Wilson's better.

Not surprised Robert Plant got dissed on Solo Rock Vocal. Whatever. Although again I'm luke warm on the Band of Joy he's 10x better than any of the other dead white guys in category. Get over past glory, guys.

While above I give the h/t on Country Duo, I did prefer Zac Brown Band and The SteelDrivers, not to mention Dailey & Vincent - Dailey & Vincent Sing The Statler Brothers. Grammy obviously is tone deaf but you knew that.

Usually I lead off on these things with Americana. This year, well, I was under-impressed. I'm not really getting into Band of Joy. I like Rosanne Cash and like following her on twitter these days. I like Willie Nelson and I like his album Country Music... Same with the Bluegrass category and Patty Loveless. It's just.... I don't LOVE them. Oh, well, Mavis Staples deserves it as much as anybody.

Maybe next year.

-jc

p.s. I guess I need to listen to Marty Stuart's new album. I almost got it just for the Train.

This was the year I sort of blinked and missed. Musically, that is. Zip dang it was gone. My personal soundtrack, therefore, didn't benefit from much new music. All I could do to keep up with old music let alone add much more to the old Scrobbling machine.

So, you get the idea, another list posing as a journal. Stuff I played the most in 2010.

Artists:
1. Alison Krauss & Union Station / Alison Krauss (tis an artificial distinction)
2. Lyle Lovett
3. Johnny Cash tied with Emmylou Harris
5. Dwight Yoakam
6. Halden Wofford & The Hi-Beams / Halden Wofford And The Hi-Beams
7. Patty Griffin
8. Tom Russell
9. Merle Haggard
10. Graham Lindsey
11. Audrey Auld / Audrey Auld Mezera
12. Billy Joe Shaver
13. Cadillac Sky
14. Lynyrd Skynyrd
15. Patty Loveless
16. Kendel Carson tied w/Sand Sheff (they'd make a cute couple)
18. Adrienne Young
19. Corb Lund
20. Waylon Jennings

Albums:
1. Sinners and Saints / Sinners & Saints (new release)
2. Portraits (a best of album)
3. Legendary Hits (tho lost.fm seems not to know this one too well)
4. For a Decade of Sin: 11 Years of Bloodshot Records
5. Into the Wild
6. 20 Of Hank Williams' Greatest Hits
7. At Folsom Prison
8. Alright Dynamite
9. The Essential Bob Wills: 1935-1947
10. American VI: Ain't No Grave (new release)
11. I Am What I Am (new release)
12. Downtown Church (new release)
13. Blind Man Walking
14. Plow to the End of the Row
15. Halden Wofford and The Hi-Beams
16. Townes
17. Indians Cowboys Horses Dogs tied w/Billy Joe Shaver's Greatest Hits
19. We Are All Alone in This Together
20. Lonesome, Wild and Blue
Posted favorite new albums of 2010 on my blog at www.jcshepard.com.
Christmas albums not counted.

Tracks:
1. Trisha Yearwood - Perfect Love
2. James Blunt - I Really Want You
3. Emmylou Harris - If I Needed You
4. Sand Sheff - Free On This Mountain
5. Adrienne Young - Hills and Hollers
6. Graham Lindsey - The Bird That Lived in a Burning Tree
7. Mary & Mars - one less fiesta
8. Bleu Edmondson - Finger On The Trigger
9. Graham Lindsey - If I Was a Horse
10. Lyle Lovett - South Texas Girl
11. Graham Lindsey - No Way Out but Down
12. Cowboy Junkies - Sweet Jane (the original, not the re-recorded version)
13. Eddie Vedder - Tuolumne tied w/Graham Lindsey - We Are All Alone in This Together
15. 5 way tie:
Townes Van Zandt - Snowin' On Raton
Gram Parsons - Love Hurts and In My Hour of Darkness
Eddie Vedder - Guaranteed
Miss Leslie - In the Matter of Me and You
20. Eric Blakely - Something Into Nothing

That's all, folks!

-jc