Big Al

She's such a powerful artist. Very unique style. Perhaps an acquired taste. But definitely the real deal. For those unfamiliar start with Big Thief's album Two Hands or Adrianne's solo album Songs and Instrumentals. Some totally rocks out like "Not" on Two Hands. Some is simply delicate and beautiful like the whole Songs album.

Great songs. That's what it's all about. These guys can really rock. But they almost have some beautiful ballads. Though there's a lot darkness in the songs. My favorite album is Brighter Than Creations Dark. Though I think most fans would point to Decoration Day or The Dirty South. Those are great albums. Jason Isbell, who is now in the midst of a great solo career is on those and he wrote some stellar songs for them.

The Mountain Goats features singer songwriter John Darnielle. In fact early Mountain Goats albums are simply John solo acoustic. He's an exceptional songwriter, very witty, very deep. I'd describe them as indy rock punk folk. I think that pretty much says it. My favorite albums are the upbeat Heretic's Pride and the exceptionally dark The Sunset Tree where John revisits his troubled youth.

One week when I was twelve years old, both Time and Newsweek were delivered to my home with Bruce on the cover. That was so weird. Then my sister brought home Born to Run. I was so taken by the romanticism, the wall of sound and the saxophone. I became a huge Bruce fan. That was before any of my classmates heard of him, even though I lived in New Jersey.

It took a long time for the next album to come out. So I went back in time and fell in love with Greetings from Asbury Park and especially The Wild, The Innocent and the E Street Shuffle. I also fell in love with all the bootlegs that were available, both live and studio. I loved a bootleg called Fire on the Fingertips almost as much as the official releases.

Eventually, Bruce released Darkness On The Edge of Town. It was kind of a let down for me. And by and large, for awhile there, everything he put out was a bigger let down than the previous album (except for Nebraska) culminating in Tunnel of Love.

But then he released The Rising. It was what so many of us needed in the wake of 9/11. It was a revelation. And for me, Bruce was back in the swing of things. His latest album Letter To You has some really great songs, three of which were ironically written back during that sweet spot in the 70's that I love so much.

Greg had already been on my radar. Then one day the local NPR folk show played several songs from the new release Dream Cafe. I drove right to the record store. It was so melodic with such beautiful lyrics. For a good ten years or so, I was a Greg fanatic. Probably saw him about 50 times. He has a large and diverse catalog. His more recent albums have gotten bluesier and also more raw. And they're good. But I'd start with his 90's albums. Dream Cafe, Poet Game and Further In are amazing. Further In might be may all time favorite album. I happened to get an early copy of it on cassette and I quickly wore it out.