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 Hanspeter Eggenberger on December 7, 2012 at 6:56am: ... and JD McPherson - Signs & Signifiers was released 2010 (Histyle Records), the Rounder release is a reissue.

Comment by Jeff Newport on December 7, 2012 at 7:03am: 6Volt was released in January, 2012.

Comment by Hanspeter Eggenberger on December 7, 2012 at 7:09am: That's correct, Jeff.

But Dave Alvin's Eleven Eleven is an Eleven release (June 2011).

Comment by No Depression on December 7, 2012 at 7:26am: No reissues. Albums and EPs released in 2012 only, please. The only room for discrepency on the release date allows for the difference between UK and Stateside releases. If you're in the UK, you're going based on what was released to you in 2012. If you're in the US, you're going on US release dates.

Reissues are albums which were released some other time, then picked up by a company, rehashed, and sold for more profit (or attention) in the current year. Thus, they are not albums originally presented for release in 2012 and have, presumably, been available for consideration in some prior year. Hope that makes better sense!

Comment by Jeff Newport on December 7, 2012 at 7:35am: Eleven Eleven was 2011. The new Eleven Eleven with the Live At The Ark bonus disk was 2012.

Comment by Jack on December 7, 2012 at 9:03am: 1) Chuck Prophet - Temple Beautiful

2) World Famous Headliners - World Famous Headliners

3) Kevin Gordon - Gloryland

4) The Blasters - Fun On Saturday Night

5) Alejandro Escovedo - Big Station

Comment by Bill Mallonee on December 7, 2012 at 9:23am: Right on and peace.

Comment by robert sproul on December 7, 2012 at 11:05am: 1. Dave Alvin - Eleven Eleven

2 Iris Dement - Sing The Delta

3. Alabama Shakes - Boys and Girls

4. JD McPherson - Signs and Signafiers

5. Rick Holmstrom - Cruel Sunrise

6. Ry Cooder - Election Special

7. Nick Waterhouse -Time's All Gone

8. Tiff Merritt - Traveling Alone

9. Shelby Lynn - Revelation Road

10. Blasters - Live 1986

Comment by Tom Van Scotter on December 7, 2012 at 11:39am: 1. The Honeycutters, When Bitter Met Sweet

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

3. Heartless Bastards, Arrow

4. Bonnie Raitt, Slipstream

5. Mark Knopfler, Privateering

6. Chris Knight, Little Victories

7. Chuck Mead & His Grassy Knoll Boys, Back At The Quonset Hut

8. Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson, Wreck & Ruin

9. Wrinkle Neck Mules, Apprentice To Ghosts

10. Iris Dement, Sing The Delta

Honorable Mentions:

Lucy Kaplansky, Reunion
Dwight Yoakam, 3 Pears
Mary Karr & Rodney Crowell, Kin
Rhett Miller, The Dreamer
The Time Jumpers, The Time Jumpers
Brandi Carlile, Bear Creek
Zoe Muth, Old Gold

Comment by Jim McGuinness on December 7, 2012 at 12:30pm: Since JD McPherson's Signs & Signifiers apparently isn't going to count as a 2012 release, I've dropped it from my original ballot. Congratulations to Chuck Prophet for taking over the top slot previously occupied by McPherson, and to Buddy Miller & Jim Lauderdale for entering the survey at #4.

1. Chuck Prophet - Temple Beautiful

2. Dion - Tank Full of Blues

3. Kelly Hogan - I Like to Keep Myself in Pain

4. Buddy Miller & Jim Lauderdale - Buddy and Jim

5. World Famous Headliners - s/t

6. Dwight Yoakam - 3 Pears

7. Alejandro Escovedo - Big Station

8. Marty Stuart - Tear the Woodpile Down

9. Tommy Womack - Now What!

10. Trapper Schoepp & the Shades - Run, Engine, Run