It seems like it was a really strong year for new music this year despite what for me was some very high profile disappointments. Notably, a lot of the music I loved most this year came from artists that were completely new to me. First some Honorable Mentions and then on to the top 20...

Honorable Mentions



Son Volt – Honky Tonk

I’m a huge fan of Jay Farrar/Son Volt so this not making my top 20 is a relative disappointment. I do like it and consider it well worth owning, but I don’t really think it plays to Farrar’s strengths. It’s neither an album that I reach for to scratch a Farrar itch or to scratch a Bakersfield country itch, and it’s easily my least favorite SV album. That said, I like it a lot more than I did at first, and there are a few songs that have really grown on me. A couple of years from now, I could pretty easily see this being something I like more than I do now.



Ricky Ross – Trouble Came Looking

Ricky Ross was the lead singer of the late 80’s/early 90’s Scottish band, Deacon Blue. I was always a big fan of theirs and remain a fan of Ricky Ross. This is pretty AOR oriented fare and I’m not sure who if anyone on Obner, I’d feel comfortable recommending this to. I’m a sucker for his sound though and find plenty to like on this album.



Jason Isbell – Southeastern

I’m completely in the camp that thinks that the Drive-by Truckers haven’t been nearly as good since Isbell left and that Isbell’s albums have been much better than the recent DBT albums. Conventional wisdom is that this is his best yet, but I don’t agree with that. I still like “Here We Rest” a lot more. This is a fine collection of songs for the most part, but I don’t really like the flow and pacing of the album and I like it less as a whole than as a sum of its parts. Also, “Super 8” is pretty terrible.



The Grapes of Wrath – High Road

I’m a big fan of this band, particularly of the late 80’s album, “Tree House,” which is one of my favorite 80’s albums and even made my first listmania top 100. I was pretty excited to see that they had reunited and released this album. It’s a pretty good album for the most part and was in my top 20 for most of the year. It’s much more of a straightforward pop album though than “Tree House” and I don’t like it nearly as much stylistically. It's very sugary and bright and cheery and I have to really be in the mood for it to listen to it. It's very good for that type of pop music though and if I'm in the mood for it, I really enjoy it.



John Moreland – In the Throes

This is the one album that I’ve discovered over the past few weeks from reading critics’ and bloggers’ year end lists that I wished I’d discovered much earlier. I’m sure that this would have made my top 20 and perhaps even my top 10 if I’d had more time to spend with it. It’s pretty stripped down acoustic rock with the occasional pedal steel, good songwriting and raw vocals. RIYL: Bruce Springsteen’s “Nebraska” album.

20. Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell – Old Yellow Moon

I’m a big fan of both Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell and they often sound great together on this collection (especially on Invitation to the Blues, Bluebird Wine, and Hanging Up My Heart). It’s a fairly uneven collection with some great highs mixed with some other songs that aren’t particularly noteworthy. It’s poor flow that keeps this from appearing higher. There’s a lot on here that I really love but I can’t help but feel that this could have been a lot better with a little better song selection and more attention played to sequencing.



19. Dolly Varden – For A While

This is just a really solid album by a very underrated alt country band. There is some real beautiful harmonizing on here. I always wonder why I don’t listen to this more often after I’ve listened to it. The fact that this isn’t higher on my list reflects how great a year this was for new music. It has the opposite problem of “Old Yellow Moon” – consistently good but lacking in one or two really standout tracks.



18. Mike Stinson – Hell & Half of Georgia

“Hell and Half of Georgia” is Stinson’s first album since moving to Houston and is a bit of a stylistic departure from the honky tonkish country of his previous albums. There is still a fair amount of country here but it’s plugged in, electric and much more Texas Roadhouse Roots rock. I don’t really like it quite as much as his last album, but there are a lot of good songs on here.



17. Eric Brace & Peter Cooper – The Comeback Album

The album title is a bit tongue in cheek as they’ve never left the music scene both active as musical partners and in their own solo careers and have never experienced any real commercial success to strive to comeback to. In recognition of their sense of humor, harmonizing vocals, and lack of success, GP tour manager Phil Kaufman dubbed them the Neverly Brothers. They are apparently very well-regarded within the Nashville scene though as evidenced by the strong cast of contributing players including Lloyd Green on pedal steel, Marty Stuart, Duane Eddy, and Mac Wiseman. Highlights include Ponzi Scheme, Johnson City and a nice cover of Tom T. Hall’s Mad.



16. Guy Clark – My Favorite Picture of You

This isn’t one of my favorite Guy Clark albums but everything he’s ever put out has been at least very good and this one is no exception. There are some great songs on here including Cornmeal Waltz, the title track, Heroes, and Hell Bent on Heartache.



15. Bobby Long – Wishbone

Bobby Long is a rootsy singer-songwriter with strong pop sensibilities. At times, his raspy voice reminds me of Tim Easton, but he’s also got a strong streak of power pop in him. There are a lot of songs which sound a lot like Girlfriend era Matthew Sweet. It’s one of the first albums I bought this year and its stuck with me all year long. It lags a little in the middle unfortunately. If he could have kept up the pace and quality of the best songs for the whole album, it would have appeared much higher. I suppose that you could say that about a lot of albums though.



14. Tim Easton – Not Cool

On his first album since moving to Nashville, Tim Easton explores his fascination with early rock n’ roll, country blues and rockabilly. I think it is his best album by a pretty wide margin.



13. Garland Jeffreys – Truth Serum

Another strong set of blues inflected roots rockers



12. Jules Shear – Longer to Get To Yesterday

Jules Shear was quietly busy in 2013, releasing two albums: the first a set of duets with his wife Pal Shazar and this solo album of intelligent folk pop songs. This is by far the better of the two.



11. New American Farmers – Brand New Day

New American Farmers is the new band name for Paul Knowles and Nicole Storto, a duo who released four albums under the name “Mars, Arizona” in the 00’s. They play Americana music with a strong pop sensibility and a small dose of psychedelia. The album leads off with “Everything” which sounds like a lost Byrds track with former Byrd, Gene Parsons, guesting on Banjo. They do a really cool cover of ELO’s “Can’t Get it Out of My Head” stripped down to piano, pedal steel, and a string quartet. There is strong songwriting, some excellent pedal steel, nice harmony vocalizing, and a pretty cool trumpet playing from Ara Anderson who plays with Tom Waits on one song. This was in my top 5 for much of the year and it’s a testament to how strong the year was that it’s not higher.

10. David Newbould – Tennessee

One of the things I love about this about is how much attention was paid to the sequencing of songs. They flow from one to the other beautifully, while varying stylistically from one to the next. As an album, It feels like so much more than the sum of its parts which I sometimes feel is a dying art. The music itself is mostly country-tinged singer/songwriter fare with lots of pedal steel. Some songs are very melancholic, others swing, and many rock with a propulsive anthemic pace reminiscent of the Gin Blossoms (but much better). I liked it from first listen but it was also a real grower.



9. Lloyd Cole – Standards

Lloyd Cole has always been one of my favorite artists. This one is much more of a rock/pop record than he’s released in years and features much of the same band that he played in the early 90’s after first going solo (Matthew Sweet on Bass, Blair Cowen on keyboards, and Fred Maher on Drums). I really like it but I like everything he does.



8. Daniel Romano – Come Cry With Me

In my opinion, “Come Cry With Me” isn’t nearly as strong as “Sleep Beneath the Willow.” The best song on this might be the 5th or 6th best if placed on “Sleep Beneath the Willow” and it also has much lower lows such as the throwaway romper “Chicken Bill” and the creepy “Middle Child.” That said, he continues to mine the same vein of country music as he did on “Sleep Beneath the Willow” and he does it as well as any new artist out that. While I don’t love it quite like I do “Sleep Beneath the Willow,” I do really like most of it a lot.



7. Warren Hood Band – Warren Hood Band

They play country rock with a heavy dose of soul. It’s the kind of album that sounds like it could have been recorded in the early 70’s at Muscle Shoals. The songs all have a really familiar feel to them but with the exception of one obscure cover, they are all originals. Highly recommended.



6. Preservation Hall Jazz Band – That’s It

This is the first album of all original material by New Orleans’s Preservation Hall Jazz Band in their 50+ year history. The album is co-produced by Tuba Player and Musical Director Ben Jaffe and MMJ’s Jim James. It’s everything I love about New Orleans music.



5. Sturgill Simpson – Hightop Mountain

Sounds like a lost Waylon Jennings album. He’s pretty great live too.



4. Carla Bruni – Little French Songs

Might be her best album.



3. Slaid Cleaves – Still Fighting The War

I ‘d heard of Slaid Cleaves before this year but don’t think that I’d ever heard any of his music. He’s a pretty talented songwriter, equally adept at serious political topics like veterans’ struggles to adjust after coming home from the war, songs of love and heartache, and lighter upbeat pop songs like “I Love You Even More than I love Texas.” I’ve gone back and listened to a lot of his back catalog and while I like most of it, I think this is probably his best album.



2. Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison – Cheater’s Game

Just a beautiful country record by husband and wife, Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis.



1. Andrew Duhon – The Moorings

I love this album. I love just about everything about it. I fell head over heels in love with this album in much the same way that I did with Daniel Romano’s a couple of years ago. It’s that rare type of album that just continues to reveal itself with each listen. I played it to death and never grew the least bit tired of it. I often played it 3 or 4 times in a row in one sitting which I something I never do with other albums. I think at least half of the songs on it have been my favorite song at one point in the year. Stylistically, it’s mostly acoustic folk pop but it’s so much more than that. His voice is reminiscent of Van Morrison in that it drips of blue eyed soul, has a wonderful sing-songy nature to it but is capable of soaring when he needs it to. The songwriting is excellent with interesting narratives and really colorful phrasing such as:

“We parted on a Sunday much too gloomy for its name”
“They wore that bible belt just a little too tight”

It’s a beautifully arranged with lovely melodies. It has a stripped down feel to it, but is also varied in instrumentation – which I think is pretty rare to find together. There are gorgeous melodies and the arrangements are near perfect. Every note played feels like it is perfect service to the songs. Why doesn’t this album get more love?

With the exception of Slaid Cleaves, Lloyd Cole, Jules Shear, Mike Stinson & The Grapes of Wrath, these albums are all on spotify.

I created a playlist of a few songs per album, not always the best songs on the album, but representative ones:

http://open.spotify.com/user/1210086413 ... MzhHxUt2aa

I suppose it was going to happen eventually, but I finally signed up for spotify to listen to your playlist.

will have to check out that duhon. also really like slaid cleaves' and the grapes of wrath new ones

no

I'll check some of these out

For sure.

h/t to you, Bill, for Tim Easton: I've really enjoyed that record this year and it made my Top 20.

I'm terminally out of touch- I've only heard the Guy Clark, Garland Jeffreys, and Romano things from this list.

I've been listening to that John Moreland a lot since making this list and wish I had included it. If I were to revise the list, I'd put Moreland at #8, move Daniel Romano down to #12 and bump everything at 12 and higher down one spot.



I'd expect that you'd like most of the stuff on my list with the Carla Bruni, Lloyd Cole, Jules Shear, Bobby Long, Grapes of Wrath, and Ricky Ross being the possible (and in some cases probable) exceptions. You should check out Sturgill Simpson, Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison, Warren Hood Band, and John Moreland albums. Those are the ones that seem the most obvious ones that I think that you'd like.

yes.

It was my #2 (behind Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds), and my most listened to album of 2013.

I could potentially be booking US dates for him in 2014.

Didn't know about that Slaid Cleaves record. Will have to hunt it down.

Another solid list Bill. I need to check out these -

19. Dolly Varden – For A While
15. Bobby Long – Wishbone
5. Sturgill Simpson – Hightop Mountain
1. Andrew Duhon – The Moorings ( I wished I could've seen him at the tiny Hotel Utah.

A little surprised Son Volt was so low. Also, if you had more time with John Moreland, I'm fairly certain it would've placed higher.

Indeed. You might have missed my post less than a week after I made the list that if I were to redo the list at that point, the John Moreland album would have jumped to 8. It probably would be even higher still today but you could shuffle the #2-8 in almost any order and I wouldn't argue too much. I'm finally to the point where I need a little break from that Andrew Duhon album which isn't to say that I wouldn't still put it at #1. The Moreland album is the one that is getting more plays than anything else right now though.