Top 20 Best Albums of 2007 (and best shows) from Honest FM Radio Show and Weekly Webcast

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Tue. January 1st, 2008

I’m pleased to present my annual list of favorite music, from the Year 2007. I like records that sound like they will stand the test of time (repeat spins / many years). I like the eclectic range of Honest Tunes music on my radio show, valuing originality + a sense of history, variety, authenticity, good songwriting, challenging sounds, outstanding musicianship, communication through music, songs that say something with or without words, and anything that blends 2 or more “genres of music” into 1 new sound.

DGOLD’S TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2007 FOR HONEST TUNES RADIO
1. Col. Bruce [LINK] Hampton & The Quark Alliance - Give Thanks To Chank
2. Infradig - Ecstatic Everywhere
3. The Avett Brothers [LINK] - Emotionalism
4. North Mississippi Allstars [LINK] - Mississippi Folk Music Volume 1
5. Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
6. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
7. Levon Helm - Dirt Farmer
8. Mavis Staples - We’ll Never Turn Back
9. Grace Potter & The Nocturnals - This Is Somewhere
10. Betty LaVette - The Scene of the Crime

…PLUS MORE
11. Backyard Tire Fire - Vagabonds and Hooligans
12. Alex Machacek, Matthew Garrison, Jeff Sipe - Improvision
13. Dinosaur Jr - Beyond
14. Mama’s Cookin’ - Mama’s Cookin’
15. Neil Young - Chrome Dreams II
16. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings - 100 Days 100 Nights
17. Outformation - Traveler’s Rest

TOP 2 LIVE ALBUMS
1. Lotus [LINK] - Escaping Sargasso Sea (Live)
2. Neil Young - Live At Massie Hall 1971

#1 LOCAL FAYETTEVILLE CD OF THE YEAR 2007
1. Sarah Hughes - No Seat Belt

ALSO THESE ALBUMS ARE QUITE EXCELLENT AND INTERESTING. (UNRANKED)
Great American Taxi - Streets Of Gold
Old Union - Motels & Highways
moe. - The Conch
Umphrey’s McGee - Live at The Murat Egyptian Room
Brian Stoltz - Up All Night Live
Papa Mali - Do Your Thing
Andrew Bird - Armchair Apocrypha
Jason Isbell - Sirens of the Ditch
The Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
Wilco [LINK] - Sky Blue Sky
Tishamingo - The Point
Keller Williams [LINK] - Dream
Umphrey’s McGee - The Bottom Half

SOME 2006 RELEASES THAT I LIKED IN 2007
Lipbone Redding - Hop The Fence (2006)
Rodrigo y Gabriella - Rodrigo y Gabriella (2006)
Wolfmother - Wolfmother (2006)
Starroy - Ocho For Willow (2006)
Cerulean City - Saturn Return (2006)

TOP TOURS - LIVE SHOWS OF 2007
Solid Blues Tour - Mavis Staples, Charlie Musslewhite, North Mississippi Allstars (Pictured Below)
Rodrigo y Gabriella
Wolfmother
Widespread Panic [LINK] with Jimmy Herring
Tea Leaf Green [LINK] with Ben Chambers, Tea Leaf Green with Reed Mathis

Michelle Shocked - Little Rock Folk Club
Tea Leaf Green - on Honest Tunes Radio Show w/ Dgold and Phoreal on rainsticks for Stormcloud
Disco Biscuits [LINK] 12-30-2007 webcast on iClips
Trevor Garrod webcast 8-2007 from NYC Knitting Factory
We called it “Couch Rage Tour 2007″ watching so many live webcasts of many bands, festivals

SOLID BLUES TOUR - North Mississippi Allstars, Mavis Staples, Charlie Musslewhite, Joe Krown, Photo by Daniel Gold 2007
Also click over to this radio blog post from October 30 before Halloween for a pic of Luther at the Gold fort

4th row seats with B. Karn from Jammin’ Java Coffee House (on the square), for this awe-inspiring concert. Mavis brought the house down. I heard some funny interchanges in the lobby between a tween-age girl and her mom regarding the Dylan cover “Masters Of War”, the only song of the night the girl could relate to. It’s easy to see why this event was one of my favorite concert events of 2007. -Daniel

North Mississippi Allstars, Mavis Staples, Charlie Musslewhite, Joe Krown, Solid Blues Tour, fourth row concert seats Walton Arts Center fayetteville arkansas

Print | Posted Tue. January 1st, 2008 by Arkansas | Filed under Top 10 Lists

2 Responses to “Top 20 Best Albums of 2007 (and best shows)”

D. Gold Says:
January 10th, 2008
Honest Tune Magazine published their Best Of 2007 List today, which includes the editorial staff members’ collective votes for Top 30 CD’s of The Year.

I wrote the mini-reviews for 4 of them, which were among my votes,
# 10 - Avett Brothers: Emotionalism
# 14 - Col. Bruce Hampton & The Quark Alliance: Give Thanks To Chank
# 17 - North Mississippi Allstars: Mississippi Folk Music Volume 1
# 28 - Grace Potter and the Nocturnals: This Is Somewhere

Read the full story at
http://www.honesttune.com

–Daniel
Arkansas Says:
April 12th, 2008
http://www.jammys.com/survey/index.php?sid=5

Vote for the 7th Jammy Awards

Here is one category choice that I want to encourage you to vote for: The Tour Of The Year winner should be Solid Blues Tour with North Mississippi Allstars and Mavis Staples. This would be an awesome opportunity for a gospel-soul original like Mavis Staples to win a Jammy award, an excellent crossover of blended genres and music history — plus an honor for a civil rights singer in a time of our nation’s history when revisiting progressive songs is important in the public dialog. Listen to Pops Staples. Listen to The Staples Singers. Pick up the latest solo album from Mavis. I saw one show on the collaborative Solid Blues tour and it was one of my personal favorite concert experiences of 2007. NMA played acoustic to open the show, and then they were the electric backing band for Charlie Musslewhite (chicago blues harmonica player) and then for the climactic set by Mavis Staples that brought the house down. Please go vote for Solid Blues & Mavis Staples for the 7th Jammy Awards.