Direct link here. Only 13 songs so some major culling but it'll do.

And who'd have thought, after all
Something so simple as rock'n'roll would save us all?

Lucinda Williams - Blessed
This is not from the album, it's her song from the The Lost Notebooks of Hank Williams project which I forgot to include on these lists anywhere else.

Dennis Coffey - self-titled FUNK. (super name dropping in this vid, but he's earned it)

The Decemberists -- The King is Dead

Middle Brother -- self-titled

Deer Tick -- Divine, Providence

Country Cajun Revival -- The Real Thing

And some of the rest that made life worth ploughing on.

Hayes Carll -- KMAG YOYO

Charles Bradley -- No Time for Dreaming Seeing him next March.

Tom Russell - Mesabi

Eddie Roberts & The Fire Eaters - Burn

The Civil Wars - Barton Hollow Current Americana It duo.

Lindi Ortega - Little Red Boots

The Sheepdogs -- Learn and Burn ROCK

Robert Ellis - Photographs This is a curious album in that a couple of songs are tears in my beer country and others are more low fi-y straight ahead folky. All good.

Cash Box Kings -- Holler & Stomp Not to be confused with Hayes Carll's "Stomp & Holler."

Jimmie Dale Gilmore & The Wronglers - Heirloom Songs The Wronglers include Warren Hellman bazillionaire investment banker dude who bankrolled Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Fran, and who died recently. I hope he provided for it 'cos I've always dreamed of going one day.

I snuck another into here which makes my top ten a top twelve.

Bei Bei and Shawn Lee -- Into the Wind
Another "world fusion" offering that works, this time with guzheng (Chinese stringed thingy) and doofy doofy beats.

Buddy Miller -- The Majestic Silver Strings 'Surple" still makes me laugh.

Lydia Loveless -- Indestructible Machine She's 21 or something ridonkulous.

The Sweetback Sisters -- Looking For a Fight The Sweetback Sisters are quite hilarious, as well as lovely to listen to. My favourite song on the album is "Too Many Experts" because it basically sums up the entire Internet. (this video is not that)

Brennen Leigh -- The Box Just super good country music, we still like that round here.

Tedeschi Trucks Band -- Revelator Susan and Derek, bluesing it all up in you.

These are my top ten eleven in two instalments. Dave Alvin is pretty clearly number one. Rest much of a muchness. I'll do another post or two with the other music I enjoyed most this year.

Dave Alvin -- Eleven Eleven
This record is on the short road to being one of those where I can say I know every word to every song. Perfect balance of styles and a host of memorable characters, sketched in bluesy economy, brought to life by Dave's rumbling baritone and propelled by many a memorable lick. Here's one of my favourite songs, "Johnny Ace is Dead."

Gillian Welch -- The Harrow & The Harvest
Do I need to explain? No? Super.

JuJu -- In Trance
JuJu is Justin Adams and Judeh Camara who play the electric guitar and the Gambian ritti (one string violin) respectively. Their previous album made my Favourites list last year, and their albums will I suspect keep making the list as long as they do them. It is approaching banal these days to talk about the connections between western rock n roll via the blues and African genres, but just sticking the two traditions together is not guaranteed to produce anything interesting. These guys make it work perfectly.

The Bo-Keys -- Got to Get Back
Memphis funk super group (including the only survivor of the plane crash that took Otis Redding). Just what it says on the box.

Frank Turner -- England Keep My Bones
Well now. I had never heard of this bloke until someone included him on an early Best Of list back in November and now here we are. A punkier Billy Bragg? A more sarcastic Springsteen? Well, whatever I like every song on this album. I like the hookyness of every track, I like the acapella ditties about 1066, I like the atheist singalongs, I like the name checking of Johnny, Dylan, Jerry Lee and Dostoyevsky.

Zoe Muth and the Lost High Rollers -- Starlight Hotel
Do I need to talk about the attitude, the voice, the band and the lyrics? Or do I just need to say that it has a song on it called "If I Can't Trust You With a Quarter (How Can I Trust You With My Heart?)"

Tickets for Byron players' side shows have started going on sale, and so the Easter bottleneck shuffle has begun.

I haven't experienced any great angst with my schedule the last couple of years but in 2012 Lucinda Williams and John Hiatt are playing Sydney the same night, Tuesday 3rd April. What to Do!!!???

Actually the dilemma was not a big one in the end. My devotion to both is equal, really I can't split them. I've seen both live in the last couple of years and neither seem likely to give up touring or recording in the foreseeable future. So it comes then down to the venue, and that is, as the young folk say, "a no brainer." John is playing the Metro and Lucinda the State. The Metro: smallish, general admission where you can get up the front with a bit of rock and roll in the air versus the State where your only option is to sit and clap politely. Lucinda's ads say "One Show Only" so that is sad but man I am looking forward to "Walk On", "Slow Turning", "Tennessee Plates" etc etc in that venue.

Speaking of no-brainers Justin Townes Earle is at the Factory the night after. Never miss him live.

Steve Earle is going solo at the Factory the following week, through an early offer I got some front row seats and Steve solo is still a worthwhile proposition despite my mostly indifference to his last decade of output.

Also at the Factory in March is Charles Bradley, the latest retro soul revelation from Daptone.

I gather Trombone Shorty is also playing at the Metro but tickets aren't on sale yet. I'll also check out Bettye Lavette and Nick Lowe sideshows to see if I can fit them in.

Before all that in January I'll be seeing the Cambodian Space Project at the Vanguard and Hanggai at the Basement. Cambodian Space Project traverse the same general territory combining Khmer pop and western rock as the better known Dengue Fever. although CSP are actually based in Phnom Penh.

Hanggai play Mongolian folk music with electric guitars and a punk attitude. I find them quite enthralling.

Phew.

Bruce Springsteen, The Promise This is truly beautiful stuff. Also essential is watching the HBO documentary of the making of Darkness on the Edge of Town, with amazing footage of inside the studio and lots of real insights into the artistic process. Darkness was actually the first Springsteen album I owned so I've always had a soft spot for it, seeing the album or mores worth of great material from those sessions gives a better understanding of what the album is, on relistening, as well as adding 20 odd quality tracks to our collections. It is a case of what the album could have been but was not, by deliberate choice. And it's not often we really get that level of stickybeaking into creation. Even people not into Bruce would benefit from seeing the doco, it's a real close examination of the artistic process.

Bob Dylan, The Witmark Demos: 1962-1964 (The Bootleg Series Vol. 9) Well it's Bob and lots of good stuff but not as essential as the Bruce for the reasons above. Recently I have been obsessing over some gospel era live shows and those are my personal pick for Bootleg Series 10. I know that at least for April 20, 1980 Massey Hall Toronto gig there is an officially recorded by Sony audio and video record. Bob's ambivalence or otherwise about the era is unknowable of course, but I'd love to see something new added to the official record. Of course, the unofficial record has been ahead of the curve for decades, this article is worth reading for that, "the wisdom of bootleggers over gatekeepers"

Riley, Grandma's Roadhouse As this Nashville Scene article says "long lost country rock gem" featuring Gary Stewart.

Everything from Soundway To wit, The World Ends: Afro Rock and Psychadelia in 1970s Nigeria, Nigeria Special, Volume 2: Modern Highlife, Afro Sounds & Nigerian Blues 1970-6 and The Sound of Siam : Leftfield Luk Thung, Jazz and Molam from Thailand 1964 - 1975

Next Stop .... Soweto Volumes 2 and 3 series from Strut. Free tracks, info and sounds at the Volume 2 and Volume 3 microsites. I'll single out Vol. 3 Vol. 3: Giants, Ministers and Makers: Jazz in South Africa 1963-1978 since the rock, funk soul crate digging comps are a dime a dizen these days so I really loved hearing the jazz side of things.

Crazy Heart, The Soundtrack See here.

Kris Kristofferson, Please Don't tell Me How the Story Ends, The Publishing Demos 1868 - 1972

Keith Richards, Vintage Vinos - Tres cool collection of Keef's non-Stones work, solo and with the X-Pensive Winos.

A short (16 songs, just over an hour) selection of tracks:

And in no order the final list of the records covered in the previous six posts, which are all here.

Marshall Chapman, Big Lonesome
Buddy Guy, Living Proof
The Fabulous Ginn Sisters, You Can't Take a Bad Girl Home
Phosphorescent, Here's To Taking it Easy
Sharon Jones & the DapKings - I Learned the Hard Way
Aloe Blacc, Good Things
The Secret Sisters, The Secret Sisters
American Graveyard, Hallelujahland
Whitey Morgan and the 78s, Honky Tonks and Cheap Motels
Hellbound Glory, Scumbag Country
Joe Pug, Messenger
Chris Altmann, Que Paso
Mary Gauthier, The Foundling
Tom Jones, Praise & Blame
Marty Stuart, Ghost Train
Justin Townes Earle, Harlem River Blue
Shelby Lynne, Tears, Lies & Alibis
Cotton Jones, Tall Hours in the Glowstream
Ray Wiley Hubbard, A. Enlightenment, B. Endarkenment Hint There is no C
Lil Band O Gold, The Promised Land
Raul Malo, Saints & Sinners
Los Lobos, Tin Can Trust
The Tallest Man on Earth, the Wild Hunt
Chelsea Crowell, self-titled (honorary 2009 ring-in)
Huun-Huur-Tur, Ancestor's Call
Gregory Porter, Water
Lucky Peterson, You Can Always Turn Around
The Carter Family III, Past & Present
Elizabeth Cook, Welder
Mike Stinson, The Jukebox in Your Heart
Cedric Watson et Bijou Creole, Creole Moon: Live at the Blue Moon Saloon

Huun-Huur-Tur, Ancestor's Call
Yes, I hear you say, this list has had lots of country and folk and some blues, some New Orleans and Texas sounds, some this and some that. But where? Is the Tuvan throat singing? Gotcha covered right here. Had Huun-Huur-Tur's previous album in my year end a couple of years ago and Ancestor's Call is in much the same vein so needs a spot to. Despite the reputation and undoubted strangeness to non-Steppes ears I find this music comforting for some reason. The clip clop of the horses seems to underpin the whole flow; see here for some insights into what they're actually singing.
There aren't really any live YouTubes that do it justice for mine so if you're interested track down the music as recorded.

Gregory Porter, Water
Time for some vocal jazz! Cool guy, hot voice - a voice very much in the traditional crooner mould (he's performed on Broadway & does a Nat King Cole tribute show which gives you an idea) but, while certainly colouring between the lines, the album has also an effortless modern touch and style. This is his first album, an up and comer. (Of course I can't say or think his name without adding "The only thing I knew about Gregory Porter was that his name wasn't Gregory Porter.")

Lucky Peterson, You Can Always Turn Around
I want to say "traditional blues" but there are enough other elements to not make that quite accurate, "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" swings and the opening to "I'm New Here" is as fine folk-country picking as you'll hear, "Trampled Rose" is, i dunno, some gypsy-Arabic thing happening. But he pulls it off, complemented by the fine vocals of Tamara Peterson.

The Carter Family III, Past & Present
The Carter Family III is Dale Jett (A.P and Sarah Carter's grandson), John Carter Cash and his wife Sarah. and is "just" a really fine collection of old timey tracks in the (surprise) Carter Family style. Not much by way of video for this ... but here's John Carter and Dale Jett (autoharp) on a Carter track together, plus bonus Tom T Hall.

This is the fourth instalment in my 2010 retrospective. They are in no order, I just made a list then took the first five for the first post, next five or six for the next and so on. I might comment on some that they are a cut above the pack but otherwise there is no ranking at all.

Lil Band O Gold, The Promised Land
Wrote up the gig with videos here.

Raul Malo, Saints & Sinners
Raul's fourth album in five years, the others have made my year ending list too. Raul is not those who favour mumbling, ironic alt.country; they are soaring songs from an old fashioned school of pop craft. He's also had five record labels in ten years solo post-Mavericks so I hope at Fantasy he finds what he's looking for and we get more, please.

Chelsea Crowell, self-titled
ACTUALLY, this is a 2009 release (but November, c'mon) but I didn't realise that til I was googling links to write this, so it stays. All complaints should be directed to the Federal Minister for Arts. This is a very charming and catchy collection of folk-pop-country (I particularly like "Tremelo Trees", "Where the Hell is Robert E Lee" and "I Want My Seven years Back") which is worth listening to for itself and as a very promising debut so you can say you knew her way back when. You are welcome.
Plus her Twitter background is Robocop riding a unicorn. Case closed.

UM WHAT there are no videos ANYWHERE for her. But there are couple of songs on the above linked website. Give 'em a whirl.

Los Lobos, Tin Can Trust
Hard to go past Los Lobos for musical talent per square member, or consistency over a couple of decades. Tin Can Trust offers a familiar formula of thoughful Tex-Mex bar rock - um, OK that might not actually be it's own actual formula. But if it is, they invented it. I also today picked up La Pistola Y El Corozan from 1988, because what else would you follow up a gigantic smash hit number 1 ("La Bamba") with but an album of traditional Mexican folk songs?

The Tallest Man on Earth, the Wild Hunt
This dude is a Swedish dude and is quite the hot young thing in singer-songwriter world. For more than that I'm gonna link to Tim and James. (Hey, finding something to write about a million bloody albums every December is hard, walk a mile in my shoes.)

The vid is a cover of "Graceland" (NB: Not on the album)

My new 8 Tracks mix (9 songs, 35 minutes) is pretty much inspired by Treme, the new show on HBO by David Simon, brains behind The Wire. I hagiographied The Wire here before. Treme is set in New Orleans a few months after Hurricane Katrina, I've only seen 2 episodes so far but it's shaping up as not disappointing my sky high expectations. It's a very sad fact I think Channel Nein has the rights to it in Australia, y'all ain't never gonna get to see it if you wait for them.

I've seen Dr John a few times before and since this time of year is saturated with gigs I might have missed him this time round, except he was at The Basement and the chance to grab the show in such a small venue was too much to pass up. Lead guitarist from the Lower 911 John Fohl warmed up the place with some very impressive blues, which also set an appropriately old school tone. The album they released last year didn't impress me very much, so honestly I was pleased the show was three quarters classics. Iko Iko, I Walk on Gilded Splinters, When the Saints, Goodnight Irene. It was, as the young people say, awesome. Pure New Orleans. Dr John even busted out the guitar which I hadn't seen live before.

I live tumblr'd an audio snippet of Iko, Iko. Just recorded on my iPhone so its a bit fuzzy but gives you a flavour.

Speaking of New Orleans, Lil Band o' Gold are here for Byron. I have their first album and would love to see them but they're only sideshowing in Melbourne and ... Moruya. What the heck is in Moruya??

Best Dylan Album -- Equal winners: Together Through Life and Christmas in the Heart (I'm with Tom Russell on this gem)

Best Non-Dylan Albums:
I think if you looked at my most played album released in 2009 it would be Leonard Cohen: Live in London but I'm gonna exclude live recordings, reissues and compilations from this ...

1. Easy Come Easy Go - Marianne Faithfull. I got this back in January and here it still is, top of the list.
2. Blood and Candle Smoke - Tom Russell. Typically full-bore TR effort of weaving biography and myth, now with mariachi horns
3. The Bright Mississippi - Allen Toussaint. Refreshing, transfixing, dreamy masterclass
4. Midnight at the Movies - Justin Townes Earle. No sophomore nerves here, proving the first album was not a fluke.
5. Hills and Valleys - The Flatlanders. Slipped a little in list over time but still an album of a grade Americana song to song
6. Traditions in Transition - Quantic and his Combo Barbaro. Genre tinkering with respect and passion, Latin on the wild side
7. One to the Head, One to the Heart - Gretchen Peters. What I said at the time
8. A Friend of a Friend - David Rawlings Machine. Should be higher really, but couldn't drop anything.
9. Mountain Soul II - Patty Loveless. Infectious bluegrassy country, highly polished but full of affection
10. Get Out While You Can - Dan Sultan. Well now, I only got this yesterday so given a few more days it could have really shot up the charts. Brilliant collection of soul, country and blues and heaps more soul. Dan is a star, no doubt.
11. Potato Hole - Booker T From the show in April
12. What Have You Done My Brother? - Naomi Shelton and the Gospel Queens. Preach it, sister
13. Dirt Town City Limits - Mat d and the Profane Saints. See Jim's great review.
14 Today, Tomorrow and Forever - Pete Molinari feat. The Jordanaires. Only an EP, but a perfectly formed one.
15. For the Mission Baby -- Malcolm Holcombe.
16. Ready for the Flood - Gary Louris and Mark Olsen. Was rather "meh" on it for eight of the last nine months but sort of started to grow on me ....
17. Animals in the Dark - William Elliott Whitmore. Should be higher also, what can you do? Lists are stupid. Hat tip Phineas, some very cathartic tracks on here believe me.
18. Cotton - Sam Baker. Also needs more time but exceptional story songs and that kind of creaky Texas voice I love.
19. Lucky One - Raul Malo A little bit country, a little bit croony, very pleasant listening.
20. The Soul of Black John - John Black