a good time was had by all

It turns out that Deni from Last Girl on Earth has quite a musical resume. She kindly pointed me to her professional site, which contains a ton of audio samples. She's a violinist who has played with REM, Daniel Lanois, Robyn Hitchcock, Warren Zevon, Richard Thompson, and a ton of others. The biggest treat can be found when you click on the TV Show link on her site. There you can find a fantastic video of Deni performing "De Chirico Street" with Robyn Hitchcock.

Ok, on with the big show. Top 10 most favoritest albums of the year accordian to the 'Mountain, continued.

5. Entrance: Wandering Stranger

Did I mention I like Fat Possum? Entrance is Guy Blakeslee, a 23-year-old Baltimore native who plays his guitar upside down. Sounds like a gimmick, but it aint. Apparently that's how he learned to play. I have no idea what was in his baby formula, but it made him a little strange. His voice, only matched in its loneliness by his rather astonishing guitar playing, suggests what Jeff Buckley might've sounded like if he grew up in the mountains listening to Blind Lemon Jefferson with Will Oldham in a leaky outhouse. The music is that of a long journey, through swamp and desert. Definitely my Rookie of the Year. It was impossible to narrow down the album to a one song sample, so I closed my eyes and pointed.

Entrance: Train is Leaving (mp3)
(Yousendit file)

4. Richard Buckner: Dents and Shells

I wasn't real thrilled with the last couple of Buckner releases. They seemed kind of directionless and pointlessly messy. Here, he returns to the type of album that made Devotion + Doubt and Bloomed such treasures. Pedal steel and piano have moved to the front of the mix, and Buckner's high loneseme voice still strings the kind of inscrutable phrases together that leave you scratching yr head, but knowing yr hearing something sad. It's all leaving and loss, the burning of deserts, the sound of never and the taste of love.

Richard Buckner: Invitation (mp3)
(YouSendIt file)

Bonus Song

Here's my top single of the year, released over 50 years ago. What can I say?

Hobart Smith: Fly Around My Blue-Eyed Girl (mp3)
(yousendit file)