Goodbye is too good a word so I'll just say fare thee well - and thanks - to the following artists/bands for providing much insight, entertainment and joy in 2011:
Ryan Adams "Ashes & Fire" He's sober, married and mellow. Beautiful ballads.
Gregg Allman "Low Country Blues" Meets T-Bone Burnett for first time. Shame poor health resulted in cancellation of his first ever Montreal gig.
Dave Alvin "Eleven Eleven" Still blasting away after all these years. Dave Alvin, Tom Waits, Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen walk into a Karaoke bar...
The Baseball Project "Volume 2: High And Inside" Wonderful tribute - again - to baseball legends from yesterday and today. Still waiting for the Tim Raines song.
Big Sugar "Revolution Per Minute" Gordie Johnson leaves his Austin production studio to front his old band again for their first album in eight years. With help from Warren Haynes and our own Shane Murphy.
The Black Keys "El Camino" Danger Mouse or not Auerbach & Carney might be remembered as THE band of right now.
Blackie And The Rodeo Kings "Kings And Queens" Canada's supergroup (Stephen Fearing, Tom Wilson & Colin Linden) collaborate with and pay tribute to some of their favourite females including Roseanne Cash, Emmylou Harris, Lucinda Williams, Pam Tillis & Serena Ryder. Nice to hear Kenny Pearson on organ on most of the songs as well.
Ray Bonneville "Bad Man's Blood" Intense, swamp and stompin' blues from one our favourites.
Jeff Bridges "Jeff Bridges" He's a hell of an actor.
Bright Eyes "The People's Key" I'm not much of a science fiction fan but I am a fan of Bright Eyes.
Michael Jerome Browne "The Road Is Dark" Career best album from blues guitarist extraordinaire who makes Montreal home.
Glen Campbell "Ghost On the Canvas" Farewell from The Rhinestone Cowboy who's dying of Alzheimer's disease. Title track written by Paul Westerberg. Sadly ironic for me as a music trip to NYC several years ago took me to Feinstein's At The Regency to see Glen Campbell & Jimmy Webb perform together, the late soul great Ruth Brown packed 'em in at the Jazz Au Bar on East 58th (no longer exists) while Westerberg was at The Supper Club. Again I say, if you've always wanted to see somebody live, and they aren't coming to Montreal, make sure you catch them somewhere. No better place than NYC. All three shows back in 2005 were spectacular.
Johnny Cash "From Memphis To Hollywood Bootleg Vol II" & "Live Around The World Bootleg Vol III" This collection is for Cash completists only. It is interesting to hear Johnny as radio announcer in the 1950's, early demos of his classics and his entire set (solo) from the 1964 Newport Folk Festival but the Cash family is scraping at this point.
Guy Clark "Songs And Stories" Career spanning acoustic treatment of one of America's most important songwriters on stage in Nashville.
Gary Clark Jr. "The Bright Lights EP" Can't wait for the full album. Brilliant young guitarist has some people whispering comparisons to the greatest. Won't be playing Divan Orange again.
Ry Cooder "Pull Up Some Dust And Sit Down" Nobody is making better music with a stronger message than Ry Cooder. An American treasure.
Jim Cuddy "Skyscraper Soul" Love letter to Toronto. Don't hold it against him. It's great.
Dawes "Nothing Is Wrong" This fouresome (including brothers Taylor and Griffin Goldsmith) does great job chaneling Jackson Browne, The Eagles and the whole Laurel Canyon feel of the 1970's.
The Decemberists "The King Is Dead" Another young throwback band that should have been alongside Mumford & Sons and The Avett Brothers with Dylan at The Grammys.
Brett Dennen "Loner Boy" 32 year old American folkie who looks 10 years younger and might be better than Bright Eyes.
John Doe "Keeper" It sure is.
Drive By Truckers "Go-Go Boots" My favourite American band. Three great vocalists and songwriters. Direct lineage to Muscle Shoals. Dedicated to Vic Chestnutt.
Steve Earle "I'll Never Get Out Of This World Alive" Partially written for his late father. This is one Americana artist who does not need any help from T Bone Burnett but received it nonetheless.
Elliott Brood "Days Into Years" Alternative country from Hogtown. Real keen Canadian music fans will know of a tie - in with former Montreal darlings of the Alt Country movement The United Steelworkers Of Montreal (among the less joyous stories from 2011 was the break up of the Steelworkers as well as The Stills).
The Felice Brothers "Celebration, Florida" First saw their frenzied live act at Bonnaroo in 2008. Indie folk roots rock from The Catskills.
Rory Gallagher "Irish Tour" Late Irish guitar god getting the royal reissue treatment he richly deserves.
Woody Guthrie "Live Wire In Performance 1949" Not much live Woody Guthrie to experience unless it's the travelling tribute show put together by daughter Nora that hit the Ottawa Folk Festival a few years back. This rare recording (originally released in 2008) features Guthrie and his second wife Marjorie kibitzing with about 50 people in a downtown Newark hall during the winter of 1949. Fascinating but not riveting.
Emmylou Harris "Hard Bargain" My favourite female singer. A hot 64 year old. Loving tributes to Gram Parsons, Kate McGarrigle and Emmylou's big black dog.
Jimi Hendrix Experience "Hendrix In The West" & "Winterland". Hard to believe there is still this much rich material from somebody who's career spanned five years. The Winterland box set features Jimi, Noel Redding & Mitch Mitchell at the peak of their power over three nights in October 1968. Absolutely essential.
John Hiatt "Dirty Jeans And Mudslide Hymns" Has he ever made a bad album?
Hey Rosetta! "Seeds" It's been a trip watching them grow into Canada's best. Must be experienced live.
Chris Isaak "Beyond The Sun" Isaak and his band cover the greatest Sun artists of them all - Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison & Jerry Lee Lewis. And they pull it off.
Wanda Jackson "The Party Ain't Over" It sure isn't as she proved several times in Montreal over the last couple of years. A treat to have the queen of Rockabilly produced by Jack White.
The Jayhawks. "Mockingbird Time" Welcome back boys.
Garland Jeffreys "The King Of In Between" Improbable comeback by the little dynamo at age 68. One of my picks for album of the year. Some of the most inspiring live moments from 2011 took place on stage at Rubin Fogel's Club Soda including Jackson and Southside Johnny & The Asbury Dukes during the Jazz Festival and Jeffreys' two and half hour performance last month.
The Jimmyriggers "I Stand In the Weeds" I love these local guys who are slowly building a larger audience. Classic roots and rock sound with sharp songwriting skills.
Booker T. Jones "The Road From Memphis" If you love your swirling soulful Hammond B3 organ as much as I do it's tough to find better than this Hall of Famer who gets some vocal help from Jim James and Sharon Jones.
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears "Scandalous" While on the topic of classic soul and R & B (with a dash of punk)... Another live highlight of 2011 (at Salla Rosa). Andie Bennett's favourite band.
Hugh Laurie "Let Them Talk" A better musician than Jeff Bridges. Not by much.
G. Love "Fixin' To Die" Without his special sauce. An unexpected treat produced by Avett Brothers.
Nick Lowe "The Old Magic" One of the tracks is called "Sensitive Man". That about sums up his latest. Unforgettable solo performance opening up for Wilco. Must return to Montreal with full band.
The Low Anthem "Smart Flesh" Unique, haunting sound from Rhode Island. Can also wage an all out rock and roll assault.
Bob Marley And The Wailers "Live Forever" Entire final concert September 23, 1980 in Pittsburgh. What else is there to say?
Craig Morrison And Friends "Blowing In The Wind" A special night at Oscar Peterson Concert Hall. I was the MC. I mostly listened. You should have been there. Don't miss Craig's 15th annual Roots of Rock & Roll concert spread over two nights in early February.
My Morning Jacket "Circuital" Jim James has one of the most chillingly inspiring and unique voices in rock and roll history. The fact that he can also lead a 10 minute jam puts him near or at the head of the class of rock vocalists in 2012. One of my "I was there" moments at Bonnaroo in 2008 when My Morning Jacket performed, beginning at midnight, a four hour set in the pouring rain.
New York Dolls "Dancing Backward In High Heels" Third album as part of the Dolls return and perhaps the most musically rich. Have now released more albums in the last five years than they did when they first hit the scene and then broke up in the early 1970's.
North Mississippi All Stars ""Keys to The Kingdom" Luther and Cody Dickinson honour their late father Jim. With help from Mavis Staples, Ry Cooder and Spooner Oldham.
Roy Orbison "The Monument Singles Collection (1960 - 1964). Every single and B side plus a DVD of a 1965 concert. Brilliant.
John Prine "The Singing Mailman Delivers" Very early studio and live performances of some of Prine's greatest tunes, written while he was still a full time mailman in Chicago. Hearing Prine sing "Sam Stone", "Hello In There", "Angel From Montgomery" and so many others to an unsuspecting regular crowd at The Fifth Peg Club in Chicago in November 1970 is fly-on-the-wall-history-in-the-making. His first studio LP would not be released until several months later.
Red Hot Chili Peppers "I'm With You" Some have complained about John Frusciante's missing guitar licks but I love this album.
Sam Roberts Band "Collider" Almost a full hour of proud Montrealer Sam and mates (nice to see him add the "Band" to his name). Can we call it Classic Canadian Rock?
Tom Russell "Mesabi" Tom Russell is so good at everything he does. Would love to see him on the big screen. He's created enough characters and written about so many others.
The Sheepdogs "Learn & Burn" More Canadiana. These kids earned their way onto the cover of Rolling Stone. An inspired FM Rock station would play "I Don't Know" followed by The Guess Who's "Running Back To Saskatoon".
The Kenny Wayne Sheppard Band "How I Go" Stole the show at the traveling Hendrix Tribute at Metropolis. This album solidifies his rep. He also gets a nod of respect from SRV bassist Tommy Shannon.
Paul Simon "So Beautiful Or So What" Simon's best in years, maybe decades.
Todd Snider "Live The Storyteller" Hippie dippy pot smoking Jesus loving witty songwriter/raconteur. Once played the old Club One for BillyBob Productions on Oscar night in front of about, oh, maybe 10 people.
Social Distortion "Hard Times And Nursery Rhymes" There is much, much more to this than the brilliant cover of Hank Williams' "Alone And Forsaken". Another candidate for album of the year.
Tedeschi/Trucks band "Revelator" As was the case with Derek Trucks' last effort ("Already Free") this might be the most joyous album of the year. Susan Tedeschi & Derek Trucks might be the best husband/wife team in music since Louis Prima and Keely Smith (look them up).
The Strokes "Angles" Maybe if they weren't such bloody cool New Yorkers...
Kurt Vile "Smoke Rings For My Halo" Thirty something guitarist - songwriter from suburban Philly who's a big Springsteen fan. Keep an eye on him.
Tom Waits "Bad As Me" Tug of war for album of the year with (see below). Now when the hell does he finally show up in Montreal again?
Wilco "The Whole Love" Unlike Waits I actually got to see Jeff Tweedy and his friends on stage in my city. Nobody does rock and roll and everything it stands for better than Wilco.
Various Artists "The Lost Notebooks Of Hank Williams" Williams gets the old Wilco-Billy Bragg Woody Guthrie treatment here as some of his lyrics are transformed by Bob Dylan (he got the project rolling) and son Jakob plus Norah Jones, Jack White, Alan Jackson and Lucinda Williams. A true team effort.
Lucinda Williams "Blessed" I'm happy she's finally found happiness but some of us need a touch more angst.
Neil Young International Harvesters "A Treasure" Cowboy Neil's 1984-85 concert tour of America's heartland with the late Ben Keith on pedal steel. Superb sound. Four to five years before Neil came all the way back with 'Freedom" and "Ragged Glory". But of course, like Dylan, Neil Young never went away.
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