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left shoe shuffle
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To quote the title track from Mavis Staples' brilliant new album, "You are not alone", pdog.
Plenty of good music out there by artists new and not-so-new. Aside from Mavis, some other recent favorites:
Springsteen - 'The Promise' is simply an embarrassment of riches.
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - Thirty-odd years on, 'Mojo' ranks with their best work, imo.
Peter Wolf - Another lifer still making great music. 'Midnight Souvenirs' is the goods.
Neil Young - 'Le Noise'. Just a man, a guitar and Daniel Lanois' subtle production. Great stuff.
Freedy Johnston - 'Rain On The City' is the latest bittersweet offering from this sorely overlooked artist.
Jason & The Scorchers - 'Halcyon Times' is the raucous return of these old Nashville punkabillies.
JP, Chrissie & The Fairground Boys - Chrissie Hynde's romance with a guy half her age might have fizzled, but the end result, 'Fidelity!', sizzles.
Grace Potter & The Nocturnals - The eponymous third album from a band that just keeps getting better. A very good live act, too.
Los Lobos - 'Tin Can Trust' is another slice of Rock & Roll, Blues, Tex-Mex and R & B from East LA's finest. Love these guys.
Robert Plant - 'Band Of Joy' furthers his exploration of Americana. Patty Griffin, Buddy Miller and Darrell Scott lend some great support.
Fistful Of Mercy - A likely one-off from Dhani Harrison, Ben Harper and Joseph Arthur, but a damn good one.
Patty Griffin - Like the Staples album, 'Downtown Church' is a shot of old time religion. In truth, the closest I've gotten to church in years.
Johnny Cash - 'Ain't No Grave' purports to be the last American Recordings release, and is a fitting final sendoff to The Man In Black.
Willie Nelson - 'Country Music' is the first "traditional" album from the man that calls Methuselah kid. T-Bone Burnett and a bunch of session aces make it sound as timeless as Willie hisself.
Ronnie Wood - 'I Feel Like Playing'. I feel like listening. Often.
And there were those "new" 'Exile' tracks...
Furthur merits a mention, too. While they didn't release any albums, Phil, Bobby and friends did release soundboards of all their shows.
Those are some of the things that got eartime this year.
I'm also looking forward to Ryan Adams & The Cardinals' double set 'III/IV'. Hope it'll be out soon.
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