If You Can't Say Anything Nice...

My Own Take on the Aughts

Bill Shunn has taken a run at naming his best music of the young century, and it got me thinking about what I would add to the list. I certainly can't question his own judgement: being that he has no pint-sized versions of humanity running around the house and siphoning off all his money, he seems better equipped than I to keep up with what the Cool Kids are listening to these days. But I do have a few opinions on albums I would add.

2000

• Crossing Muddy Waters, John Hiatt
  

2001

• For a Song, Maria Dunn
• Motherland, Natalie Merchant
• The Invisible Band, Travis
• The Green Album, Weezer
• Gold, Ryan Adams
• That's How I Walk, Stephen Fearing
  

2002

• Failer, Kathleen Edwards
• Here Comes the New Folk Underground, David Baerwald
• Barricades and Brickwalls, Kasey Chambers
• ...Nothing But a Dream, Paul Kelly
• The Rising, Bruce Springsteen
  

2003

• Stumble Into Grace, Emmylou Harris
• Hail to the Thief, Radiohead
• lover/fighter, Hawksley Workman
• Underneath the Stars, Kate Rusby
• "Welcome Interstate Managers", fountains of wayne
• 0, Damien Rice
  

2004

• both hands, wil
• We Were Good People, Maria Dunn
• Hymns of the 49th Parallel, k.d. lang
• The Revolution Starts... Now, Steve Earle
  

2005

• Smart Kid, The Clumsy Lovers
• Cold Roses, Ryan Adams & the Cardinals
• Haughty Melodic, Mike Doughty
• Folk is the New Black, Janis Ian
• Picaresque, The Decemberists
• In Your Honor, Foo Fighters
  

2006

• The Light That Guides You Home, Jim Cuddy
• How We Operate, Gomez
• The Crane Wife, The Decemberists
• Comfort of Strangers, Beth Orton
• 9, Damien Rice
• We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, Bruce Springsteen
• I'm a Mountain, Sarah Harmer
  

I have nothing yet for 2007, although a few are of interest to me, including the new Arcade Fire. In the meantime, I've deliberately not mentioned my very favorite of each year, a trait that drives my boys crazy. I'm teaching them the very meaning of the word "equivocate."

Labels: music