Best of 2011: Music

There were only a few new music discoveries this year, but those few were good...

The Avett Brothers

At the end of last year, I had about 5 or 6 of the Avett Brothers' songs. This year I bought like three albums, I think? I love the music these guys make. It is honest and genuine and fun and wild. Besides Frank Sinatra, most of the year was spent listening to the Avett Brothers.

The Civil Wars

Look again. No, that is not Johnny Depp. Although I have this sort of conspiracy theory that it might really be Johnny Depp pretending not to be Johnny Depp. But yes, that is Joy Williams, former CCM artist. Their debut album is amazing. I listened to it on repeat on the drive to and from college during the whole spring semester.

Mumford & Sons

I don't typically listen to popular music. Which is why I honestly felt embarrassed about buying a CD that had a sticker on the front that said "VH1's Artist to Watch" or something like that. Which is why the only song of theirs I owned was "The Cave" for months. Then I finally broke down and bought the CD. I love it to pieces except for one song, Little Lion Man, which has profanity repeated in the chorus. This is sort of a King's Speech deal- the rest of the album is amazing and completely clean, except for this one song. I don't understand. So I just don't sync that song to my iPod and skip over it when I listen to the CD. :)

The Secret Sisters

{I love the vintage hairstyle of the girl on the right and need to try it out. I also love her dress. And the sister on the left is wearing an Elvis pin, so she's my hero.}

I only found The Secret Sisters this month, and I broke my Christmas-music-only rule because I can't stop listening to their CD. The bad news is that it's only 11 songs and not even 30 minutes long...I need more songs! :) I'm into 20s-60s music, but I've never really been into "classic country." This CD might change my mind. It's mostly classic country, with a couple of public domain songs and a couple original ones. Not only do they sound amazing, but listen to this: they recorded the CD with no computers or digital equipment. They recorded things exactly like they would have been done in the 50s. They even used vintage microphones! Is that not the coolest thing ever??

The Secret Sisters get two songs. Because you guys really need to know about them. :)

What musical artists have you discovered this year?

 Until next time,