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Since it seems that everyone else does it, I do it too. The following are the albums that I just keep coming back to this year for my own personal listening enjoyment.

Here they are - the Top 10 albums of 2006 according to the woodsmeister:

1. Bruce Springsteen - The Seeger Sessions: Easily the most important folk album of the new century. Supercharged folk songs rendered in a folk/rock/Dixieland melange by top-flight musicians that transcends easy categorization.
2. Bob Dylan - Modern Times: The best album by Dylan in well over a decade, maybe two.
3. Ashley Maher - Flying Over Bridges: Intriguing mix of folk/singer/songwriter/Afropop/worldbeat/jazz with catchy, difficult syncopation and an incessant groove. Maher's smooth voice also helps.
4. Brett Dennen - So Much More: The best pure singer/songwriter album I heard all year. It's no wonder that Dennen is getting all kinds of buzz and his tunes placed on TV shows. It's all that good.
5. Diana Jones - My Remembrance of You: A little bit country, a little bit folk, a little bit old-timey, a little bit Iris DeMent, a little bit Gillian Welch, but a whole lot of good. Jones' songs are first-rate, and her voice is arresting.
6. Red Molly - Never Been to Vegas (live): This all-female trio features tight harmonies, instrumental chops (particularly Abbie Gardner), and well-chosen cover tunes, and should appeal to anyone who likes the Dixie Chicks and/or murder and death ballads.
7. Mark Erelli - Hope and Other Casualties: Erelli's best yet features some of his best songwriting so far. Here's what I said in April: "It's no accident that the cover of this album is an homage to Dylan, because this album is very Dylanesque - a little personal, a little political. And while several songs do chronicle Erelli's disappointment with the way things are going (hence the title) he title of the album, he does offer an album of pragmatic hope in "The Only Way" : 'So I'm gonna love/And I'm gonna believe/And I'm gonna dream/But I'm gonna roll up my sleeve/And give everything until there's nothing left to give./That's the only way I know how to live.'"
8. Hem - Funnel Cloud: Hem keeps expanding their musical pallette, and the result is their best album yet. Sally Ellyson sings with a little more passion on this disk, and the production and arrangements are top notch as always.
9. John Flynn - Two Wolves: Flynn is as much a philospher as a great storyteller, and songs like the title track about the effects of revenge on the one seeking vengeance, and "Trust the Rope" bear this out.
10. Chuck Brodsky - Tulips for Lunch: Another great album of story songs from a master storyteller.

Honorable Mention (in alphabetical order):

• Dave Carter and Tracy Grammer - Seven is the Number
• Bruce Cockburn - Life Short Call Now
• Crooked Still - Shaken by a Low Sound
• The Duhks - Migrations
• Tommy Emmanuel - The Mystery
• Amos Lee - Supply and Demand
• The Queensberry Rules - Black Dog and Other Stories
• Paul Simon - Surprise
• Solas: Reunion
• Brooks Williams - Blues and Ballads

Honorable mention 2006 releases for Christmas:

• Over the Rhine - Snow Angels
• Sarah McLachlan - Wintersong
• Moya Brennan - An Irish Christmas

Disclaimer: The above list is entirely subjective based on the taste and whims of Greg Grant, aka woodsmeister. It is not based on airplay, listener feedback or any other scientific measurement.

Labels: Folk News, Reviews

Adds so far this holiday season to Online Folk Christmas

Artese N Toad - The Americana Christmas Project
Bob Sirois - Dreams of Christmas
Bob Sirois - A Hometown Christmas
Dave Rowe Trio: A Holiday Concert
David Grisman - David Grisman's Acoustic Christmas
Keith Andrew Grim - Christmas Celebration
Leslie Ritter and Scott Petito - This Christmas Morning
Loreena McKennit - To Drive the Cold Winter Away
Maggie Sansone - Sounds of the Season
Mike, Peggy and Penny Seeger - American Folk Songs For Christmas
Moya Brennan - An Irish Christmas
Over the Rhine - Snow Angels
Robin Bullock, Al Petteway and Amy White - A Midnight Clear
Sarah McLachlan - Wintersong
Skaggs Family - A Skaggs Family Christmas
Various Artists - Hudson Harding Sampler Number 1: Happy Holidays

Labels: New Adds, Online Folk Christmas

New adds for the Online Folk Festival since 11/4/2006

Andina and Rich - Because We Can
Bernice Lewis - She Undoes
calicoDrifters - Dreams Are the Ponies We Ride
Dan Walsh - Diesel and Smokes
Fiamma Fumana - Onda
Friction Farm - 34 degrees, 32 minutes
Horizon Blue - Once Upon a Song
Houston Jones - Three Crow Town
Iain Campbell Smith - Ballads and Barsongs
Janet Bates - Another Child
JP Jones - Magical Thinking
Mandy Breeze and Doug Kelly - Sinple Folk
Melinda Crawford - The Wandering Suitcase of Stirling
Melissa Ferrick - In the Eyes of Strangers
Oxymora - Thundering Silence
Sam Green and the Time Machine - For the Good of All
Scott Alarik - All That is True
Various Artists - Making Music Matter: A Collection From Falling Mountain Music
Various Artists - Harlan County, USA

Labels: New Adds, Online Folk Festival

Top 40 songs on the Online Folk Christmas for the last week (November 30-December 6) as rated by listeners. Just a little sample to whet your appetite for what you might hear this holiday season.

Oh, and I've added the new Moya Brennan - An Irish Christmas CD as well, and it hasn't had enough plays to show up on this list yet, but I suspect it will.

Rank. Artist - Song - Album
1. Anonymous 4 - Nowel; Owt Of Your Slepe Aryse - The Best Of Celtic Christmas
2. The Crossing - In Dulci Jubilo - The Court of a King
3. Brent Bourgeois, Carolyn Arends, Derri Daugherty - what child is this - Noel
4. Emmylou Harris - Beutiful Star of Bethlehem - Light of the Stable - Christmas Album
5. Loreena McKennitt - Coventry Carol - A Winter Garden
6. Harvey Reid and Joyce Anderson - Christ Was Born in Bethlehem - Christmas Morning
7. Emmylou Harris - The First Noel - Light of the Stable - Christmas Album
8. Over the Rhine - Thank You My Angel - The Darkest Night of the Year
9. Carlos Nunez - Galician Carol - The Very Best of Celtic Christmas
10. Pierce Pettis - Miriam - A Winter's Eve: Acoustic Music for the Winter Season
11. Sheila Walsh - Light Of The World - Peace - A Celtic Christmas
12. Ottmar Liebert - Poets + Angels - Poets & Angels
13. Maddy Prior and the Carnival Band - I Saw Three Ships - The Best Of Celtic Christmas
14. Donal Hinely - Carol Of The Bells - Midwinter Carols: Fourteen Selections On Glass Harmonica
15. Ensemble Galilei - Danse Arabe (from the Nutcracker Suite) - A Winter's Night -- Christmas in the Great Hall
16. Shawn Colvin - In the Bleak Mid-Winter - Holiday Songs and Lullabies
17. Suzy Bogguss - I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day - Have Your Self A Merry Little Christmas
18. Ashley MacIsaac - Ciuin An Oidhach (Silent Night) - A Cape Breton Christmas
19. Aoife Ni Fhearraigh - Seact Sualci Na Maighdine Muire - The Best Of Celtic Christmas 20. Harry Connick, Jr. - Winter Wonderland - Acoustic Christmas
21. Chris Thile - Bring a Torch, Jeanette Isabella - Tinsel Tunes : more holiday treats from Sugar Hill
22. Beausoleil - It Came Upon a Midnight Clear - Alligator Stomp, Volume 4: Cajun Christmas
23. The Irish Tenors - R Tynan, A Kearns, J McDermott) - Ave Maria (Gounod) - Home For Christmas
24. Newgrange - Christmas Eve - A Christmas Heritage
25. Lori Pappajohn - While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night - Celtic Harp for Christmas
26. Honky Tonk Confidential - Who Gets the Fruitcake This Year? - Creme de la Creme: A Holiday Feast
27. Jethro Tull - Pavane - The Jethro Tull Christmas Album
28. Jerry Chamberlain, Sharon McCall, Riki Michelle, Derri Daugherty - i heard the bells on christmas d - Noel
29. Jane Monheit - I Heard The Bells On Christmas Day - The Season
30. Sara Groves - Child Of Love - It's Christmas Time
31. Loreena McKennitt - God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen - A Winter Garden
32. The Christmas Jug Band - Lonesome Reindeer Blues - Uncorked
33. Peasall Sisters - Hark The Herald Angels Sing - A Holiday EP From Dualtone
34. Patty Loveless - Beautiful Star Of Bethlehem - Bluegrass & White Snow
35. Harvey Reid and Joyce Anderson - Pretty Paper - Christmas Morning
36. Eric Rigler, Scarlet Rivera and Tommy Eyre - The Holly and the Ivy - Christmas in Ireland
37. David Cullen - The Christmas Song - Holiday Guitar
38. Alison Brown Quartet - Carol of the Kings - A Winter's Eve: Acoustic Music for the Winter Season
39. The McKrells - Angels We Have Heard on High - Merry Christmas
40. Los Embajadores Vallenatos - Diciembre - A Putumayo World Christmas

Labels: Christmas music, Online Folk Christmas, online radio, Top 40