Here are my picks for the Top 12 folk-rooted or
folk-branched albums of 2012 (including reissues). I started with the list of
more than 400 albums that landed on my desk over the past year and narrowed it
down to a short list of about 30. I’ve been over the short list a bunch of
times and came up with several similar – not identical – Top 12 lists. Today’s
list is the final one. The order might have been slightly different, and there
are several other worthy albums that might have been included, had one of the
other lists represented the final choice. I also took a bit of liberty by listing four reissues by one artist as a single choice.
1. Woody Guthrie, Woody at 100: The Woody Guthrie Centennial
Collection (Smithsonian Folkways). The book and the third CD, which contains much
previously unreleased material, make this 3-CD boxed set essential for Woody
collectors. The entire set also makes for a great introduction for Woody
novices to the great folksinger and songwriter in this year marking the 100th
anniversary of his birth.
2. Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas (Columbia). Like so much of Leonard Cohen’s best work, there
are layers and layers of meaning and understanding in these songs that I think
will continue to reveal themselves over a period of years of repeated
listening.
3. Bob Dylan – Tempest (Columbia). This is the work of a master
songwriter – the master songwriter of our time – informed by half a century of
his own work and by the music of what Greil
Marcus called “old weird America,” the folk music and folk-rooted blues
and country music which developed in various regions before spreading
everywhere via recordings and migratory performers.
4. Stan Rogers – Turnaround/Between the Breaks … Live!/Northwest
Passage/From Fresh Water (Borealis). Remastered and reissued versions of the
final four of the five original albums Stan Rogers – in my opinion, Canada’s
greatest folksinger and songwriter – recorded for his family owned record label
(the first in the series was reissued in 2011).
5. Tom Russell
– Heart on a Sleeve (Frontera). A remastered and reissued version of the great
solo debut album – with six bonus tracks
– by the artist who I’ve come to think of as the greatest songwriter of my
generation.
6. Eric Bibb – Deeper in the Well (Stony Plain). Mostly recorded
in Louisiana with musicians who add some Cajun and Creole influences, this is yet
another inspired and inspiring set by the great acoustic blues and folk artist.
7. Maria Dunn – Piece By Piece (Distant Whisper). This suite of
eight songs inspired by the waves of women immigrants who worked at the GWG
clothing factory in Edmonton between 1911 and 2004 – and which is sung from
some of their perspectives – is one of this year’s folk music masterpieces.
8. Anne Hills – The Things I Notice Now: Anne Hills Sings the
Songs of Tom Paxton (Appleseed). This is an excellent set of some of the finest
songs written by one of our finest songwriters – sung by one of our finest
interpretive singers. Tom Paxton joins Anne for three duets.
9. Lucy Kaplansky – Reunion (Red House). Many of these songs
movingly and poignantly reflect on family relationships and the continuity of
generations.
10. Kim & Reggie Harris – Resurrection Day (Appleseed).
Filled with glorious harmonies, this album inspires with a message that we are
all important and vital parts of a world that is so much bigger than any of us.
11. Kathy Mattea – Calling Me Home (Sugar Hill). A moving folk
music album by a one-time country music hit-maker which explores her deep roots
in the Appalachian Mountains.
12. Hans
Theessink & Terry Evans – Delta Time (Blue Groove). A second superb collaboration
by the always excellent Hans Theessink, a Dutch blues singer based in Austria,
and Terry Evans, a fine blues and gospel singer originally from Mississippi.
--Mike Regenstreif
