My Top Albums of 2011 — A Fact-Based Approach

11) Larkin Poe “Winter EP”

Larkin Poe are moving away from Dixie Chicks-style country and more towards their own brand of bluegrass-country-pop-rock.

12) Sarah Jarosz “Follow Me Down”

Sarah was a guest at the Crooked Still show in October. I did see her in the audience talking to other youths and just assumed she was a random young fan of Crooked Still that was looking for something to do before hitting the bars and getting ghost-faced wasted in the Burren. That isn’t necessarily untrue, but her celebrity identity was unveiled as she was called up on stage to play with the band. I was oddly star-struck as this was the girl I had given $9.99 to on iTunes just months prior, and now see strolling Harvard Square.

During intermission I got up to walk down the stairs to the bathroom as did many of the beer drinking progressive bluegrass fans did. I happened to be right behind Sarah as we walked down the stairs and found the nerve to say the following lines; “I figured your were too big of a celebrity to be here. Your album was #1 on iTunes over the summer.” She responded with something like “well Crooked Still is one of my favorite bands” in a teenage and nasally accent. I almost followed up by saying that Darrell Scott was the best part of her album, but we split ways as the line split by gender and then bathroom function. Looking back I can see how that may have not really been a compliment.

13) Abigail Washburn “City of Refuge”

Abigail is a peanut. A peanut that’s invented her own form of progressive bluegrass.

14) Alison Krauss & Union Station “Paper Airplane”

Alison appeals to the masses, but keeps the americana sounds that pop-country artists have replaced with make-up and eating disorders.

15) Tori Amos “Night of Hunters”

The last few solo Tori albums have taken a more pop direction. This album seems to build off of her Christmas albums with themes literally stolen from classical music that is foreign to the average listener. The young vocal guests add a creepy flavor as they don’t have the same vocal talent that Tori has.

16) Amaranthe “Amaranthe’

I don’t know why I bought this album. It has a pretty lady on the cover, but something screams “Evanesense” about it. After my first listen I thought it was throw-away pop-metal (a la Evanesense) and had this master tweet:

My first impression of this @Amaranthemetal album is that it sounds like early @britneyspears with driving guitars.

It really wasn’t meant to be an insult as Britney’s first 2 albums will live on as classics but I was somewhat upset that I didn’t get an angry response. After a few more listens I started to appreciate it as fun metal for high schoolers and began to enjoy it. Every time I hear “Leave Everything Behind” I still always think that they really don’t know what “tenacity” means.

17) The Civil Wars “Barton Hollow”

On first listen this album was dull. On the next few listens I started to really like it, but it then quickly fell into the tired and warn category.

The biggest problem was the song “To whom it may concern” and the nauseatingly repetitive lyric “I’ve missed you, but I haven’t met you”. It’s either a rip on the classic Savage Garden song “I knew I loved you” or they found a high school girl’s poetry book as inspiration for the song.

18) Jonathan Coulton “Artificial Heart”

This album doesn’t have the laugh-out-loud moments that his previous albums has. It turns this into a fun pop album stealing from They Might Be Giants and Ben Folds.

19) The Lonely Island “Turtleneck and Chains”

This year’s guilty pleasure addition.

20) Lori McKenna “Lorraine”

Lori is from the Boston area. Whenever I see her live she’s playing with local musicians; Mark Erelli is never far from her side. Why is it then that the liner notes for all her albums contain Nashville names that I don’t recognize? Moving on.

Lorraine could be a lesson in phrasing in a songwriter 101 class with the track “The Most” being the best example. Listen to this track and think about how boring it could be if the chorus didn’t have the important white space she adds. It’s not the pauses between the sentences, it’s the pauses in the middle of the sentences that make this beautiful.