Larry's Top 10 Albums of 2008

1) Johhny Flynn & the Sussex Wit - A Larum
The rebirth of British Folk Rock, Flynn sounds like a beautiful mixture of Shakespeare, Fairport Convention, and later Richard Thompson records. Add some theatrical flair, a few fiddles, banjos, and wonderfully different harmonizing... and voila... my favorite freakin' album of 2008!

2) Fleet Foxes - Fleet Foxes/Sun Giant EP
Timeless, haunting, beautiful... if I wasn't such a damn Anglophile, this would probably have been my number one for 2008. It was a close call. At any rate, the Fleet Foxes have crafted an amazing blend of old 70s folk rock and new-fangled, spooky Strange Country. The old folks will dig it cause it reminds them of Neil Young and Fairport Convention, and the young'uns will dig it cause it sounds like today -- an organic response to our increasingly clinical, commercial culture. (And yes, this is actually an album and an EP, and yes, they were actually released in 2007. No worries, they "arrived" this year!)

3) Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
The most up-tempo and fun album of 2008. No question. I'm not convinced they'll be able to stick around through a second album, but who cares? This album is a masterpiece of glamour rock n' roll. Bowie should be jealous.

4) The Steeldrivers - The Steeldrivers
The best Bluegrass album in a decade! Holy crap, I hope the Steeldrivers (along with Chatham County Line) shake up the monotonous and bland Bluegrass world! It sounds like honest-to-God real music again!

5) Hayes Carll - Trouble In Mind
The best country album in several years, I wish there were more artists as talented as Hayes Carll. And to be honest, as much as I like "She Left Me For Jesus," there are far, far better tracks on this one. ("It's A Shame" might be one of the best Country songs of all time.)

6) Winter's Fall - Winter's Fall
The wonderful missing link between Uncle Tupelo and My Morning Jacket.

7) Justin Towne Earle - The Good Life
Despite a less than stellar showing at the AMA Awards Ceremony, the Hickory Wind gang twisted my arm into buying this album, and they were absolutely correct -- I do love it! A wonderful mix of classic Country and Americana, Justin's going places.

8) Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson - Rattlin' Bones
A wonderful new direction for Kasey Chambers and my first introduction to her husband Shane Nicholson, Rattlin' Bones is a great Americana-almost-Bluegrass album. They flow seamlessly from the Buddy & Julie-esque title track to a straight-up Bluegrass charmer, "The House That Never Was," and back into a Gillian-haunted banjo rocker called "The Devil's Inside My Head". This one's a much more acoustic treatment than we're used to from Kasey, but it's a welcome new sound. (Only "Sleeping Cold," another of the best tracks on the album, really sounds like Kasey's older, signature sound.)

9) Bombadil - A Buzz, A Buzz
Goofy, moody, unpredictable... Bombadil's debut album is a strange mix of genius songs with tiresome songs. Trim out the few low-key, slow, melancholy songs, and you're left with an upbeat, fun, and sometimes ridiculously fresh album. Check out "Julian of Norwich," "Johnny," and "Get To Getting On." I want Bombadil to release a dozen more albums to explore all the amazingly new worlds they've opened... (For the record, "Get To Getting On" was one of my favorite songs of 2008.)

10) Solas - For Love And Laughter
The first Solas album with new lead singer Máiréad Phelan finds the gang still in rare form. The acoustic jigs and reels rock as hard as ever, showing the band is not losing any edge in their second decade. Máiréad's singing brings a new gentleness to their vocal songs, and with the Duhks stopping by for a few tracks, this album has more than its share of surprises.