It’s the most wonderful list-making time of the year, a time when personal playlists and downloads for the last 12 months are analyzed and rated by any number of entities. That’s what these “best of the year” lists really are – a chance for a particular magazine, website, or blogger to take inventory of the year and make their collective tastes known. You won’t mind if I cheese out and use the year 2011 as an excuse to name 11 albums this year. I also decided to add a list for concerts this year, since I saw so many great ones. The lists are in alphabetical order by band.
The Wounded Messenger’s Top 11 Albums of 2011
The Antlers – Burst Apart
Bon Iver – Bon Iver, Bon Iver
Hayes Carll – KMAG YOYO and Other American Stories
Dawes – Nothing is Wrong
The Flashbulb – Love as a Dark Hallway
Morning Teleportation – Expanding Anyway
The New Mastersounds – Breaks from the Border
The Roots – Undun
Paul Simon – So Beautiful or So What
Wye Oak – Civilian
Yuck – Yuck
The Wounded Messenger’s Top 11 Shows of 2011:
The Budos Band – Hopscotch Festival, The Pour House, Raleigh, NC, Sept. 10, 2011
The Devil Makes Three – Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro, NC, July 24, 2011
The Foreign Exchange – Hopscotch Festival, Lincoln Theater, Raleigh, NC, Sept. 9, 2011
Gov’t Mule – Warren Haynes Christmas Jam, Asheville, NC, Dec. 10, 2011
The Hold Steady – Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro, NC, August 31, 2011
Phil Lesh and Friends – Warren Haynes Christmas Jam, Asheville, NC, Dec. 10, 2011
Phish – Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, Charlotte, NC, June 17, 2011
Robert Plant & Band of Joy – Bonnaroo, Manchester, TN, June 12, 2011
Paul Simon – DAR Hall, Washington, DC, May 25, 2011
Trombone Shorty and Orleans Avenue – Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro, NC, Nov. 6, 2011
Widespread Panic with Horns and Hornsby – Bonnaroo, Manchester, TN, June 12, 2011
