| ARTIST |
ALBUM NAME |
LABEL |
COMMENTS |
| Ben Atkins |
Mabelle |
Hightone |
An impressive first album from this 24-year old singer-songwriter from
Texas. He writes interesting songs, sings them well and has great
musicians backing him up. |
| Kate Campbell |
Monuments |
katecampbell.com |
A new collection from this great singer-songwriter who's Southern
roots, historical interest, and keen observations again make for an
unusually interesting album of new songs. |
| Clumsy Lovers |
Under The Covers |
clumsylovers.com |
This band from British Columbia, on this album, applies their
bluegrass/celtic sensibilities and skills to wonderfully irreverent yet
respectful covers of great songs by Paul Simon, the Beatles and others. |
| Dan Crary |
Renaissance Of The Steel String Guitar |
Thunderation |
A beautiful, exciting collection of 13 instrumentals, almost all of
them written by this longtime guitar hero. |
| Beppe Gambetta |
Blu di Genova |
Gadfly |
A spectacular seamless blend of American and Italian
traditional and original/progressive acoustic music. Many instrumentals
and a few songs including a gorgeous 6-minute interpretation of Norman
Blake's Church Street Blues. This CD, as an Italian import, was also one
of the best CDs of 2002. The American release has the same wonderful
music plus a delightful cartoon video featuring Beppe and his mother
accompanying the tune, "On The Road With Mama." |
| John Lilly |
Last Chance To Dance |
JohnLillyMusic.com |
Second album by this unusual purveyor of modern, unadorned,
old-fashioned, old-time country music. Most songs, he wrote, but few
other albums have songs by Hank Williams and Rod Stewart. |
| Men Of Steel |
The Art of the Steel-String Guitar |
Thunderation |
Four great guitarists: Beppe Gambetta, Dan Crary, Don Ross and Tony
McManus, teaming up to play in various duos as well as a foursome and a
few solos. Great picking and some singing on songs and tunes both
familiar and not. |
| Natalie Merchant |
The House Carpenter's Daughter |
nataliemerchant.com |
This wonderful voice that was the center of the band 10,000 Maniacs is
now applied to thoughtful, lovely interpretations of mostly traditional
folk songs. She may be more famous than most people on this list, but
her album is every bit as good. |
| Harvey Reid |
The Autoharp Album |
Woodpecker |
A gorgeous album of autoharp instrumentals and songs. If you buy only
one folk CD this century, this is the one to buy. |
| Dana Robinson |
Avenue of the Saints |
Robinsongs.com |
A quiet, very nicely played collection that sounds like it might be
all traditional, Appalachian songs, but instead are all original. The
more you listen, the more you find, both in the words and the fine old-timey
feel. |
| Tom Russell |
Modern Art |
High Tone |
Another album of thoughtful, catchy songs with unusual characters (Muhammed
Ali, Mickey Mantle, Stephen Foster and Harry Truman for instance) with
great, generally southwestern-style arrangements. |
| Ruthie & The Wranglers |
Someday |
Lasso |
Good and often amusing rockabilly from the Maryland, including the
wonderful chorus, "I say tomato, you say we're through." |
| Mike Seeger |
True Vine |
Smithsonian Folkways |
A fine, new 63-minute collection of fascinating versions of old-time
tunes shows Mike Seeger to remain a vital historian, creative
interpreter and master of many instruments. |
| Sid Selvidge |
A Little Bit Of Rain |
Archer |
Though he's been releasing occasional albums for more than 30 years,
Selvidge is I think little known at least outside of his home area of
Memphis. This is a wonderful collection of great little known songs with
great arrangements. His voice is a little like Jesse Winchester and his
approach is a bit like Ry Cooder. |
| Mike West |
New South |
Squirrel Records |
A new album from this unusual banjo-playing singer-songwriter from New
Orleans. His songs are perceptive, clever, thought-provoking and rarely
predictable. Just to hear a southerner explain why, "I don't sing
Dixie" is worth the price of admission but there is much more of
value here. The album title is both descriptive and ironic. |
| Winterfolk |
XV |
Waterbug |
Excerpts from a concert in Oregon early in 2003 with Tracy Grammer,
Utah Phillips, Andrew Calhoun and others even less known. The album
includes wonderful music and is also a living example of the range and
vitality of one of the many folk music scenes currently scattered around
the country. |
