The Here & the Now: Best of 2012 (So Far)

Here’s a mix of favorite songs from albums released thus far in 2012. Per usual it’s been a good year for roots music from both old and new names. Newcomers JD McPherson, Crooks, Guns of Navarone, and John Fullbright lead the way, but geezers Loudon Wainwright, Beaver Nelson, Marty Stuart, and Chuck Prophet show there’s lots of life in them old bones yet.

I found the Illinois-based Giving Tree Band thanks to the Dead Covers Project, a competition of sorts where acts show off their best Grateful Dead interpretation.

Then there's San Antonio’s Hacienda, who some say sound too much like producer Dan Auerbach's main gig, the Black Keys. I think they sound a lot younger and fresher than that. On the veteran end, the Hobart Brothers with Lil’ Sis Hobart are the unlikely trio of Jon Dee Graham, Freedy Johnston, and Susan Cowsill.

Finally, if you haven’t heard Jason Eady’s AM Country Heaven, you’ve missed one of the purest country albums this year.

RIP Levon Helm and Davy Jones. Welcome back KOKE-FM and dB’s. The first six months have been rewarding. With upcoming releases from Uncle Lucius, the Trishas, Aimee Mann, Patterson Hood, and Caroline Herring, the rest of the year should be just as interesting.

Here's the link to download this 75-minute mix. Enjoy.

Best of 2012, Vol. 1

[Song, Artist, Album, Label – if any]

1) “Brown-Eyed Women,” Giving Tree Band, Dead Covers Project
2) “Resonate,” Guns of Navarone, Prize And Battlefield
3) “Bar Stool,” Crooks, The Rain Will Come
4) “Temple Beautiful,” Chuck Prophet, Temple Beautiful (Yep Roc)
5) “Natural Life,” Hacienda, Shakedown (Collective Sounds)
6) “World to Cry,” dB’s, Falling Off the Sky (Bar None)
7) “Just Like That,” Jon Dee Graham, Garage Sale (Freedom)
8) “All the Time in the World,” John Fullbright, From the Ground Up (Blue Dirt)
9) “Your Subconscious Does the Dirty Work,” Beaver Nelson, Macro/Micro (Freedom)
10) “Sleepwalkin’,” Rhett Miller, The Dreamer (Maximum Sunshine)
11) “Long Way Home,” Kat Edmondson, Way Down Low (Spinnerette)
12) “Who’s Feeling Young Now?,” Punch Brothers, Who’s Feeling Young Now? (Nonesuch)
13) “Tear the Woodpile Down,” Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives, Nashville Vol.1 (Sugar Hill)
14) “Dimes for Nickels,” JD McPherson, Signs & Signifiers (Rounder)
15) “Hear Jerusalem Calling,” Elizabeth Cook, Gospel Plow (31 Tigers)
16) “Isn’t That So,” Lyle Lovett, Release Me (Lost Highway)
17) “AM Country Heaven,” Jason Eady, AM Country Heaven (Underground Sound)
18) “No Dancing,“ Mastersons, Birds Fly South (New West)
19) “Ballad of Sis (Didn’t I Love You),” Hobart Brothers w/Lil’ Sis Hobart, At Least We Have Each Other (Freedom)
20) “The Here & The Now,” Loudon Wainwright III, Older Than My Old Man Now (2nd Story Sound)