In a year unlike any other, these ten albums managed to strike a chord. There is no rhyme or reason to the order. Combining those from European shores as well as those from American soil, these albums do something quite spectacular, they touched my heart and soul, helping me find comfort and solace even in the darkest of days.
Gwenifer Raymond – Strange Lights over Garth Mountain (Tompkins Square Records)
Even in a year when it seemed the entire world was making records at home, no one else made a recording quite like Gwenifer Raymond’s Strange Lights over Garth Mountain. Channeling the ghost of John Fahey, Raymond found the keys to making her fingers blaze across the fretboard summoning sounds not usually associated with a young woman from Wales, now living in Brighton. For those of us living in the colonies it’s hard to believe that perhaps the finest proponent of American Primitive music resides on the other side of the pond. Simply incendiary.
Rowan Leslie – Escaping the Dawn (Mountain Ash Records)
If truth be told when it comes to Irish music I need a bit of help understanding the difference between a reel and a jig, yet Rowan Leslie’s Escaping the Dawn takes traditional Irish music and tweaks it just a bit. Not surprising for an Irishman living in Scotland. While his fiddle can fan the flames of passion, he also understands musical idioms that reside outside the norm and isn’t afraid to use them, creating his own Irish jazz hybrid on “Natasha’s Tune.” Blending sadness and joy, Rowan Leslie performs the kind of music that has never been more needed.
Bob Dylan – Rough and Rowdy Ways (Columbia)
There are songwriters and then there’s Bob Dylan. No one else even comes close. Rough and Rowdy Ways proves his continued relevance, illustrating that even in the most trying times we have his insight to fall back on. A voice that cannot be silenced, he looks at situations telling the unvarnished truth. While others seem to be turning inward, he looks onward. He is a force of nature, like the wind and rain that he’s sung about. On Rough and Rowdy Ways Dylan proves that he remains one person we can count on to sing about the things that matter.
Andrew Tuttle – Alexandra (Room 40)
Ostensibly about his hometown on the east coast of Australia, Andrew Tuttle’s Alexandra captivates listeners by aurally describing the sights. Combining banjo, guitar and electronics with an ever-changing cast of characters including Gwenifer Raymond, Tuttle paints a picture of a quiet rural area succumbing to unrelenting urban sprawl. From his vantage point, he looks at a world-changing before his eyes. These gentle visions, coloured in the most remarkable ways, illustrate his ability to examine the landscape colouring his visions with wood and wires.
Playing folk music like jazz, Bonny Light Horseman brings together the talents of Anaïs Mitchell, Eric D. Johnson from the Fruit Bats, and multi-instrumentalist Josh Kaufman. Together they reexamine the nature of traditional folk. Rather than being keepers of the flame, the three reinvent these songs for a new generation, breathing new life into the form. With no rules to hinder them, they recreate this music to fit their moods and these times. Bonny Light Horseman use traditional folk music and reinvent it for the 21st century.
The Innocence Mission – see you tomorrow (Bella Union)
Proving that great music can be created anywhere, Karen and Don Peris of The Innocence Mission created see you tomorrow from the basement and dining room of their Lancaster, Pennsylvania home. Using everything from pump organ to tympani, their gentle visions and familiar textures blend in subtle ways that highlight their lyrics. Theirs are not the large scale works of an artist like Seurat, but smaller-scale works like those of Van Gogh. Yet within their framework they create simple masterpieces.
Swamp Dogg – Sorry You Couldn’t Make It (Joyful Noise)
Jerry Williams makes usually makes music that’s wild, unruly and funky as all get out. Sorry You Couldn’t Make It has a lot of those same qualities, but it’s classified as his first country album. “Don’t Take Her (She’s All I Got)” one of the standouts on this collection was a hit for Johnny Paycheck back in 1971. Playing with everyone from Justin Vernon and Jenny Lewis to Sam Amidon and the late John Prine, this is a masterclass in country music with a modern edge thanks to the production of Polica’s Ryan Olson. In a life full of firsts, Sorry You Couldn’t Make it is yet another for Jerry Williams.
Tamikrest – Tamotait (Glitterbeat)
Having been driven from their homes by the ongoing fighting in Mali, Tamikrest are a band without a home but Tamotait is an album rooted both in the region’s troubles and the beauty of the human voice. Their music surges and aches, born in struggle and initially based on traditional music and the songs of Tinariwen. While the problems continue, the music has moved on incorporating both incredible gentleness along with surging fury. There is nothing else quite like Tamikrest.
Steve Dawson and Funeral Bonsai Wedding – Last Flight Out (Kernel Records)
Sometimes you capture magic in a bottle, for Steve Dawson and Funeral Bonsai Wedding who were joined by the Quartet Parapluie, Last Flight Out was captured in a single five-hour session. Channelling ghosts of John Martyn and Tim Buckley, Dawson and company create a unique vision of what music is and what it can be. It is a work of beauty and grace, capturing a moment of magic expanding the language of music.
Pavey Ark – Close Your Eyes and Think of Nothing (Self-Released)
Reminding me of early Aztec Camera, Pavey Ark have set an early standard of excellence on Close Your Eyes and Think of Nothing. Hailed as one of the highlights of Bearded Theory even before their album came out, their use of strings and horns add a delightful sense to songs filled with both joy and sorrow. Opening albums from new bands are rarely this strong, this is a band that understands the use of dynamics, creating music with heart and soul.