Favorite Live Music of 2009

Rounding out my year-end listmaking is my live music recap. Enjoy.

Top FIVE Shows

1)Loud & Rich (Loudon Wainwright III & Richard Thompson) - the Vic - 29 October
2)The Hold Steady - House of Blues - 15 January
3)Thao with the Get Down Stay Down - Empty Bottle - 30 October
4)Andrew Bird - Schubas - 6 August
5)Blind Pilot - Lincoln Hall - 25 November

Honorable Mentions to Neko Case, AC Newman, Heartless Bastards, John Vanderslice, Loney Dear, David Bazan, Beirut, Mountain Goats and Liam Finn

Most Pleasant Surprises
The Rural Alberta Advantage - Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park - 24 August
The Cave Singers - Schubas - 12 September
Nellie McKay - Schubas - 6 December

Most Disappointing
Blitzen Trapper - Empty Bottle - 19 Feb

My Decade in Music

It's the time of year when many a music lover sits down and tries to identify the "best" albums of the year. Although I find these lists interesting, I also recognize that as tuned in as we might like to think we are, we all have fairly narrow scopes when it comes to considering all of the genres. So I just make lists of my favorites. Over the last few weeks, I've been working on a year-by-year list of my most enjoyed albums. I'm sure I missed a few, but, well that really doesn't matter.

Then, I picked out 15 that I think represent what I've enjoyed most throughout the decade. That's what you'll see first, followed by the yearly shortlist. My apologies to anyone who cares if I got any of the years wrong.

Norah's Favorite Albums of the 2000s - TOP 15
John Hiatt - Crossing Muddy Waters
Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks - Beatin' the Heat
Joan Osborne - Righteous Love
Rufus Wainwright - Poses
Amy Ray - Stag
Patty Griffin - 1000 Kisses
Le Tigre - Feminist Sweepstakes
Mason Jennings - Century Spring
Kathleen Edwards - Failer
Aimee Mann - The Forgotten Arm
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
Robert Plant/Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride



Norah's Favorite Albums of the 2000s - Yearly Shortlist

2000
Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
Cat Power - The Covers Record
Steve Earle - Transcendental Blues
Bebel Gilberto - Tanto Tempo
Rickie Lee Jones - It's LIke This
Southern Culture on the Skids - Liquored Up and Lacquered Down
Mason Jennings - Birds Flying Away
Erin McKeown - Distillation
John Hiatt - Crossing Muddy Waters
Dan Hicks and the Hot Licks - Beatin' the Heat
Richard Shindell - Somewhere near Paterson
Keb Mo - The Door
Joan Osborne - Righteous Love
Various Artists - O Brother, Where Art Though
Jeb Loy Nichols - Just What Time It Is
Teddy Thompson - Teddy Thompson
Ani Difranco - Revelling/Reckoning
PJ Harvey - Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea
Dusty Trails - Dusty Trails
Paul Simon - You're The One
Richard Buckner - Since
Kirsty MacColl - Tropical Brainstorm
Allison Moorer - The Hardest Part
Emmylou Harris - Red Dirt Girl
Patty Larkin - Regrooving the Dream



2001
Amy Ray - Stag
Grant-Lee Phillips - Mobilize
David Byrne - Look into The Eyeball
Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator)
Rufus Wainwright - Poses
Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire - The Swimming Hour
The Be Good Tanyas - Blue Horse
Jay Farrar - Sebastopol
Le Tigre - Feminist Sweepstakes
Lucinda Williams - Essence
Paris Combo - Living Room
Edith Frost - Wonder Wonder
Jonatha Brooke - Steady Pull
Ryan Adams - Gold


2002
Mason Jennings - Century Spring
Patty Griffin - 1000 Kisses
Steve Earle - Jerusalem
Various Artists - I Am Sam Soundtrack
Aimee Mann - Lost in Space
The Mountain Goats - Tallahassee


2003
Lucinda Williams - World Without Tears
Gillian Welch - Soul Journey
Kathleen Edwards - Failer
Erin McKeown - Grand
Deb Talan - A Bird Flies Out
Belle and Sebastian - Dear Catastrophe Waitress

2004
Patty Griffin - Impossible Dream
Lhasa - The Living Road
Various Artists - Garden State Soundtrack
Laura Veirs - Carbon Glacier
PJ Harvey - Uh Huh Her


2005
Aimee Mann - The Forgotten Arm
The Decemberists - Picaresque
The Mountain Goats - The Sunset Tree
Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
Animal Collective - Feels
Iron and Wine and Calexico - In the Reins
Okkervil River - Black Sheep Boy
Page France - Hello Dear Wind
Richard Buckner - Meadow
Amy Ray - Prom
Andrew Bird - and The Mysterious Production of Eggs


2006
Neko Case - Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
The Mountain Goats - Get Lonely
The Decemberists - The Crane Wife
Belle and Sebastian - The Life Pursuit
The Hold Steady - Boys and Girls in America
Erin McKeown - Sing You Sinners
Beirut - Gulag Orkestar
My Brightest Diamond - Bring Me the Workhorse
The Blow - Paper Television
The Kooks - Inside In / Inside Out




2007
Laura Veirs - Saltbreakers
Various Artists - Darjeeling Limited Soundtrack
Iron and Wine - The Shepherd's Dog
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
The New Pornographers - Challengers
Robert Plant/Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
Radiohead - In Rainbows
John Vanderslice - Emerald City
Voxtrot - Voxtrot
Liam Finn - I'll be Lightning


2008
Various Artists - Juno Sountrack
Kathleen Edwards - Asking for Flowers
Frightened Rabbit - Midnight Organ Fight
The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
Vampire Weekend -Vampire Weekend
Tift Merritt - Another Country
Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride
Blind Bilot - 3 Rounds and a Sound (But I didn't listen to this until 2009
Erran Baron Cohen Presents: Songs In The Key Of Hanukkah


2009
David Bazan - Curse Your Branches
Andrew Bird - Noble Beast
Neko Case - Middle Cyclone
A.C. Newman - Get Guilty
The Rural Alberta Advantage - Hometowns
Laura Veirs - July Flame (Not out until 2010 officially, but I've been listening to it nonstop since October.)
Various Artists - Dark Was the Night
Micachu - Jewellry

DECADE

I'm considering making one of those lists of my favorite movies and or music of the decade. CONSIDERING. Don't hold your breath.