2011 Halftime Report: Favorites So Far

Halfway through the year and, as is by now customary, it’s time to take a look at the albums that have emerged as my favorites thus far. As always, this list could look entirely different come December (well, not entirely different; the first three, in particular, are unlikely to go anywhere too far), but, for now, these are the records that have impressed me most in 2011, which of course means they all get pretty high recommendations.

Lots of good stuff on the way, of course, in particular a new Joe Henry album and what I suspect will be another charmer from Nick Lowe. For now, though, I’d say 2011′s finest records are these:

01. Over the Rhine
The Long Surrender

02. Gillian Welch
The Harrow and the Harvest

03. Paul Simon
So Beautiful or So What

04. Booker T. Jones
The Road from Memphis

05. Hugh Laurie
Let Them Talk

06. The Decemberists
The King is Dead

07. Robert Stillman
Machine’s Song

08. Jill Scott
The Light of the Sun


09. DeVotchKa
100 Lovers

10. The People’s Temple
Sons of Stone

Ten more albums that I’ve loved this year: Josh Garrels– Love & War & The Sea In Between; Raphael Saadiq– Stone Rollin’; Hayes Carll– KMAG YOYO; Sam Phillips– Cameras in the Sky; Tedeschi Trucks Band– Revelator; Buddy Miller– Majestic Silver Strings; PJ Harvey– Let England Shake; John Paul Keith– The Man That Time Forgot; Arctic Monkeys– Suck It and See; Beastie Boys– Hot Sauce Committee Part 2

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