Top Twenty CDs of 2008

1. Dietrich Gosser What the Buzzsaw Sings
2. Sleeping in the Aviary Expensive Vomit in a Cheap Motel
3. Blake Thomas Flatlands
4. Felice Brothers s/t
5. Conor Oberst & the Mystic Valley Band s/t
6. Hold Steady Stay Positive
7. Bound Stems The Family Afloat
8. Frightened Rabbit The Midnight Organ Fight
9. Mark Pickerel & His Praying Hands Cody’s Dream
10. Chris Mills Living in the Aftermath
11. Okkervil River The Stand-Ins
12. Eef Barzelay Lose Big
13. The Baseball Project Vol. 1 Frozen Ropes & Dying Quails
14. Ben Weaver The Ax in the Oak
15. Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!
16. Langhorne Slim & the War Eagles s/t
17. AA Bondy American Hearts
18. Blueheels Lessons in Sunday Driving
19. Firewater The Golden Hour
20. Blitzen Trapper Furr


Top Twenty Shows of 2008

1. Mark Pickerel & His Praying Hands/Jentri Colello; April 4: Kiki’s House of Righteous Music (KHoRM)
Pickerel charmingly proclaimed he felt like playing drums and “started a band” with Blake Thomas and “Dash” Harty
2. The Drive By Truckers/A3/Alejandro Escovedo and Lucinda Williams; July 3; Summerfest, Milwaukee
A3 were nothing short of jaw-droppingly amazing as part of the best Summerfest line-up in years
3. Josh Ritter; May 14; High Noon Saloon
to think I almost didn’t go to this show
4. Drive By Truckers/Felice Brothers; February 26; Pabst Theater
the Truckers were great as always, but I fell in love with the openers
5. Chris Mills & the New Miserable Basatards/Anders Parker; April 25; KHoRM
um, duh
6. Dietrich Gosser & Dan Kuemmel; September 27; WPT Studio
Dietrich & Dan played their gorgeous songs on the 30 Minute Music Hour
7. James/Amy MacDonald; September 25; The Vic Theater, Chicago
I thought I would never see them live again, I was wrong
8. Rock & Roll Means Well w/ the Hold Steady and the Drive By Truckers; November 14; Riviera Theater
stunning sets from both bands, but the encore was legendary
9. The Magnetic Fields/The Forewords; October 11; The Capitol Theater
best show I’ve seen from the curmudgeonly Merritt
10. Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles/Blueheels; February 18; KHoRM
I saw the Borgeses several times this year, but never better than in the basement
11. Gurf Morlix & Sam Baker/Blake Thomas; April 12; KHoRM
a surprise sell-out, “handsome as a trout” Baker kept us all laughing
12. The New Pornographers/Okkervil River; April 21; Orpheum Theater
Okkervil River (with the Wrens Charles Bissell on guitar) blew away the headliners
13. Pale Young Gentlemen/Amo Joy/Sleeping in the Aviary; November 22; High Noon Saloon
one of many amazing shows this year from Sleeping in the Aviary
14. Ha Ha Tonka/The Aaron Scholz Trio; November 2; KHoRM
I wish more people had been there for this super show
15. Ian Moore; October 18; Vnuk’s Lounge, Cudahy WI
since he had to cancel his KHoRM show I was especially happy to see him
16. The Successful Failures/The August Teens; April 19; KHoRM
a killer power pop bill, and so much fun
17. The Shotgun Party/Blake Thomas & Shauncey Ali; December 15; KHoRM
an unexpected delight and some wicked fiddling
18. Super Band (Blake Thomas, Jeremiah Nelson, Josh Harty & Chris Sasman)/The
Mysterious Bruises; December 12; Peabody’s Ale House, Oshkosh
perhaps the best sets I’ve seen from some of my favorite local boys
19. Jon Dee Graham/Josh Harty; May 11; KHoRM
as always, he played “Airplane” just for me, aaawwww
20. Jens Lekman/The Honeydrips; March 30; Old Music Hall
I smiled a lot at this show