Favorites of 2006

Favorites of 2006
I’m not arrogant enough to a make a best of list. These are just my favorites. So here are my lists. I’m sure I forgot some stuff and there is still music I haven’t listened to yet (like The Pernice Brothers – Live a Little). Enjoy…

Favorite Female Artist
These three women really stood out for me this year. Jenny’s CD was amazing. It is rare that you see so deep into one’s soul. Lyrically one of the best this year. With Tina and Thea, I fell in love with their CDs by song 3. Great songs, great melodies, great production. Just perfect.

Jenny Lewis and The Watson Twins – Rabbit Fur Coat
Tina Dico – In The Red
Thea Gilmore – Harpo’s Ghost

Favorite Male Artist
I first saw Willie at a benefit for Light of Day and loved “cell phones in the pockets of the dead”. A great mix of messages and rock and roll. Phil Roy’s follow up doesn’t have “melt”, but not a bad song on it. Alexi’s CD was worth the wait. T Bone… Just read the lyrics and feel the rhythms. Amazing. People who aren’t Bruce fans have been attracted to The Seeger Sessions: A great side project. Alejandro is finally back, and with John Cale. How cool is that. Damien Rice… Wow. And finally Bob. It ain’t Lonelyland, but for the first time in 6 years I like everything on the CD.

Willie Nile – Streets of New York
Phil Roy – The Great Longing
Alexi Murdoch – Time Without Consequence
T Bone Burnett – The True False Identity
Bruce Springsteen - We Shall Overcome – The Seeger Sessions
Alejandro Escovedo – The Boxing Mirror
Damien Rice - 9
Bob Schneider – The Californian

Favorite Box Set
T Bone’s musical history has been lost to most of us. This is a must box set. I loved every song. The first 2 CDs from Tom Wait’s Orphans is just packed with good songs. Tom can be hard to listen to for a long period of time for some people. This could change that.

Tom Waits – Orphans
T Bone Burnett – Twenty Twenty

Favorite Indie Artists
Patti is a great songwriter. I would love to see her matched up with a great producer like John Leventhal. Gary Jules songs are like small poems. Kristy Kruger has such a unique vision and is so talented. I love this CD. Joanna Newsom, uhmmm, is strange, amazing, and may be the next Kate Bush.

Patti Witten – Tell the Wind
Gary Jules – Gary Jules
Kristy Kruger – Songs from a Dead Man’s Couch
Joanna Newsom – Ys

Favorite Concerts
I thought the Seeger Sessions concerts were as good as some E Street performances I’ve seen over the years. What a potent band Bruce put together. And then the new arrangements of his older material… It was a risk that paid off big. T Bone Burnett’s performance was so powerful and engaging with a great band behind him; each member contributing so much. Gomez just knocked us over. They were so good that Guster, a very good band paled in comparison. Finally saw Jon Dee with a band. And then James comes out and just blows me away. Best double bill of the year. And I’ll sneak this one in… Sam finally singing “I Need Love” with the Section Quartet. Thanks Sam!

Bruce Springsteen
T Bone Burnett
Gomez/Guster
Jon Dee Graham/ James McMurtry

And a bunch of other CDs I really liked
(many of which could have easily been in my favorite lists):

Bruce Springsteen – Hammersmith Odeon ‘75
Cat Power – The Greatest
Rosanne Cash – Black Cadillac
KT Tunstall – Eye to the Telescope
Etienne de Rocher – Etienne de Rocher
Shawn Colvin – These Four Walls
Stephen Dijoseph – Hypnotized
Amos Lee – Supply and Demand
Kenny White – Never Like This
Ollabelle – Riverside Battle Songs
Neil Young – Living with War
The Watson Twins – Southern Manners
Gomez – How We Operate
Mark Knopfler and Emmylou Harris – All the Roadrunning
Jon Dee Graham – Full
Calexico – Garden Ruin
Drive-By Truckers – A Blessing and A Curse
Beth Orton – Comfort of Strangers
Wild Colonials – Life As We Know It
Allison Moorer – Getting Somewhere
World Party – Dumbing Up
Bruce Cockburn – Life Short Call Now
Los Lonely Boys – Sacred
Golden Smog – Another Fine Day
The Decemberists – The Crane Wife
Dave Potts - $12.99
Minibar – Desert after Rain
Elizabeth & the Catapult
Josh Ritter – The Animal Years
Guster – Ganging up on the Sun
KGSR Broadcasts Vol. 14
The Little Willies
Jenny Owen Youngs – Batten The Hatches
Paolo Nutini – Live Sessions
Los Lobos – The Town and the City
Trail of Dead – So Divided
Bob Dylan – Modern Times
Five for Fighting – Two Lights
Joan Osborne – Pretty Little Stranger