Hal's Top Two Discs of 2006 / Revisited

I'm not a list maker. Forced (I think that sounds better than "prodded by Larry") to come up with a top 10 list I did so. I whittled my list to my top two discs of 2006 in my last post. Reminder: Josh Ritter's "The Animal Years" and Jon Dee Graham's "Full".

I truly enjoy/enjoyed/am enjoying both of these discs but just as often I find myself playing Ritter's "The Golden Age of Radio" and "Hello Starling" and John Dee Graham's "The Great Battle"-all of which were released in 2006 if released means "the year I became aware of them".
Did Ritter and Graham make it to the top of my list because they released the two best discs of 2006 or were they more cumulative awards for "the best body of work by an artist that I just finally became aware of". Much like the joy Sean described in finding that nugget when searching through the discount bins, I love the rush of discovering a "new" artist that also has a back catalog of discs. I'm a huge fan of Los Lobos and Dave Alvin (both made my Top 10 list). I don't regret buying their 2006 releases but I liked them and I knew I'd like them before I bought them. No surprises. It is the surprise of "discovering" someone like Josh Ritter or Jon Dee Graham that keeps me listening and when they have a back catalog of quality discs-what else could a music fan ask for?