The Americana and roots music authority

Time to vote: What were your favorite albums of 2012?

Now that we're knocking on the door of 2012's final month (and maybe the last month of the world, if you believe in fairytales), the time has come to compile a list of the year's best music.

Each year, we turn the spotlight to you folks, to come up with a Top 50 list of the No Depression Community's favorite releases. While most folks in this community are likely to focus hard on Americana/roots music, in the past we've received and counted votes for artists as variant Lady Gaga, Patti Smith, and Adele. Be honest and share the ten albums (in numbered order, please) which most blew your mind.

In the interest of my sanity (your fearless Community Manager Kim) We will not be accepting Top 20 (or longer) lists this year but feel free to add honorable mentions in addition to your top 10. Just know those honorable mentions will not be counted toward the final tally. Also, please keep your votes to albums released during the calendar year of 2012. Reissues don't count, nor do box sets. If you're in Europe and inclined to include an album which was released in your part of the world in 2012, but which hasn't yet dropped in the States (or did way back in 2011), you're welcome to include it because it's current to you. Ballott stuffing is seriously discouraged and we reserve the right to adjust for that as necessary. The final list will be comprised of albums which have received the most votes. See details on how the votes will be tallied below.

To include your list in our final tally, please post it in the comments on this post. You're welcome to blog about your favorite albums of the year, but if you don't also include your list in the comments here, it will not be counted. To comment on this post, scroll to the bottom of this page and leave your list in the comments section.

You have until 11:59 p.m. Eastern time on Dec. 14 to submit your top ten list via this blog post. I and a small team of volunteers will then convene near the International Space Station, where we will employ a complicated mathematical formula to combine all your lists into one master list.

This master list will be published on this site on Wednesday Dec. 26, 2011 (if the world hasn't already ended) as the final official No Depression Community Poll. Also published that day will be a masterlist of the favorites from our most frequently featured bloggers - the closest we'll get on this site to your standard critics' poll.

The votes will be tallied as such: Ranked lists will be scored using "reverse 10" scoring: 10 points for #1; 9 points for #2, 8 points for #3, etc down to 1 point for #10. Unranked lists get 5.5 points per choice (10+9+8...+2+1=55 total points, divided by 10 choices equals 5.5 points per choice). Non-numbered lists will be counted as ranked lists unless otherwise noted, so if you don't number your list and want each of your choices to count as 5.5 points per album please specify that.

Now, give it some thought and cast your votes.

Comment by Art Klein on December 2, 2012 at 8:00am: 1- Father John Misty - Fear Fun

2- Turnpike Troubadours - Goodbye Normal Street

3- The Lumineers - The Lumineers

4- Gretchen Peters - Hello Cruel World

5- Hospitality - Hospitality

6- Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls

7- First Aid Kit - The Lion's Roar

8- Good Old War - Come Back as Rain

9- Brandi Carlile - Bear Creek

10- Rufus Wainwright - Out of the Game

Comment by Arlene on December 2, 2012 at 10:39am: 1. Iris DeMent- Sing the Delta

2. John Fullbright- From The Ground Up

3. Shovels and Rope- O' Be Joyful

4. Alabama Shakes- Boy and Girls

5. Buddy Miller & Jim Lauderdale- Buddy and Jim

6. Justin Townes Earle- Nothing's Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now

7. Rayna Gellert- Old Light

8. Cahalen Morrison & Eli West- Old Lady of The Tall Trees

9. Carolina Chocolate Drops- Leavin' Eden

10. Bonnie Raitt- Slipstream

Comment by John O. Tabor on December 3, 2012 at 7:21am: 1) Goodbye Normal Street - Turnpike Troubadours

2) Wreck & Ruin - Kasey Chambers/Shane Nicholson

3) Camilla - Caroline Herring

4) O' Be Joyful - Shovels and Rope

5) Making Our House A Honkytonk - Rachel Harrington

6) Grifters Hymnal - Ray Wylie Hubbard

7) Plenty - Walt Wilkens

8) Two Birds - Grace Pettis

9) Gospel Plow - Elizabeth Cook

10) Tomorrowland - Ryan Bingham

Comment by Preston Kyles on December 3, 2012 at 6:22pm: 1. Sarah Gayle Meech- "One Good Thing"

2. Derek Hoke- "Waiting All Night"

3. JP Harris and The Tough Choices- "I'll Keep Calling"

4. Chuck Mead- "Back at the Quonset Hut"

5. Bob Wayne- "Till The Wheels Fall Off"

6. Rich Mahan & The Cocktail Heroes- "Blame It On Bobby Bare"

Comment by Steve Ford on December 3, 2012 at 9:46pm: 1. Iris DeMent - Sing The Delta

2. Tedeschi Trucks Band - Everybody's Talking'

3. Dave Alvin - Eleven Eleven

4. Gretchen Peters - Hello Cruel World

5. Justin Townes Earle -Nothing's Gonna Change The Way You Feel About Me Now -

6. Dr John - Locked Down

7. Chris Smither - Hundred Dollar Valentine

8. Leonard Cohen - Old Ideas

9. Shane Nicholson and Kasey Chambers - Wreck and Ruin

10. Joan Osborne - Bring It On Home

Comment by Dwight Schrutte on December 4, 2012 at 8:26am: Part of the fun of this is seeing totally new music I haven't heard this year, and of course another part is tearing up other peoples lists or trying to understand how someone could include a particular album in their top 10 when I can't even listen to it.

Ill save those comments for later - this was a great year for music if you could avoid all the mainstream crap that's out there

My top 10

1. John Fullbright ~ From The Ground up

2. The World Famous Headliners ~ The World Famous Headliners

3. Justin Townes Earle ~ Nothing's gonna change the way you feel about me now

4. Bonnie Raitt ~ Slipstream

5. Hans Thieesen & Terry Evans ~ Delta Time

6. Sam Lewis ~ Sam Lewis

7. Db's ~ Falling off the Sky

8. JD McPherson - signs and Signifiers

9. American Aquarium~ Burn, Flicker, Die

10. Gary Clark jr. ~ Blak & Blu

Lots of other good candidates as well - and Psychedelic Pill deserves a spot in the top 10 I put Blak and Blu in because 25 years from now I think it will be recognized as the beginning of an incredible career. Americana I thought was wonderful when I first heard it it but failed to hold up to repeated listenings.

Shovels and Rope just missed as did the new Hiatt for me - I think its the best of the last three he has done by far. Buddy and Jim will have to grow on me and may be the biggest oversight on the list - I thought it much better than Buddy's last loved both the Wanda Jackson and the Rosie Flores records too and I have also played the Blasters and 3 skulls and the truth by David Hildago, , Mato Nanj and Luthar Dickenson a lot. Loud. Both the Dr. John and the Jack White albums started in my top 10 but also got edged out as the year went along

The new Van Morrison was horrible - OK not horrible but completely interchangeable with anything else he has done in the last 15 years - boring. And I'm sorry - I thought Tempest was well written - some of it but after listening once I don't think I'll ever listen again -

I also was not thrilled with the new Mumford and sons or the OCMS - wanted to like them - maybe they will grow on me

Please tell me why I even know Lana Del Ray exists and I wasted 10 minutes of my life......

Comment by Bryant Brabson on December 4, 2012 at 9:47am: Ryan Bingham - Tomorrowland

Jason Isbell - Live from Alabama

Chuck Meade - Back at the Quonset Hut

Dave Alvin - Eleven Eleven

Turnpike Troubadours - Goodbye Normal Street

Marty Stuart - Tear the Wood Pile Down

Old Crow Medicine Show - Take Me Back

Lindi Ortega - Cigarettes & Truckstops

Dwight Yoakam - 3 Pears

Comment by Brian Charlton on December 4, 2012 at 12:51pm: So much good music out there but here is my top 10 list

1) Iris Dement          Sing the Delta

2) Justin Townes Earl     Nothing's Going to Change....

3) Ry Cooder                      Election Special

4)Rodney Crowell and Mary Karr    Kin

5) Carolina Chocolate Drops              Leaving Eden

6) Calexico                                               Algiers

7) Alabama Shakes                               Boys and Girls

8) Punch Brothers                                Who's Feeling Young Now?

9) Dwight Yoakum                               Three Pears

10) First Aid Kit                                    Lions Roar

Comment by Corey A. Bonnette on December 4, 2012 at 4:11pm: 1. Sharon Van Etten - Tramp

2. Black Prairie - A Tear in the Eye is a Wound in the Heart

3. Marty Stuart - Nashville Vol. 1: Tear the Woodpile Down

4. Fiona Apple - The Idler Wheel

5. First Aid Kit - Lions Roar

6. Cody Chestnutt - Landing on Hundreds

7. Shovels & Rope - Oh Be Joyful

8. Dwight Yoakam - Three Pears

9. This One's For Him: A Tribute To Guy Clark

10. Beth Orton - Sugaring Season