Here we go again! It’s time to count down the top ten CD’s of the year of our Lord 2011. As thin as last year seemed, this year is pretty tough – thick with new artists, new music and musical complications brought on by great artists releasing live recordings of their repetiore.

Last year, I had to put my foot down and rule out new-old releases, those remasters and/or repackaged CD’s of old music – often 30 to 40-years-old. That was easy enough, but now there are two spectacular new releases of previously released music that, if you’ve never heard of these artists, would bring you endless listening enjoyment, and from one a barrel full of laughs. Call it a bias, but I am going to let these guys in the mix. I know this chink in the armor will be offset by a huge number of new artists that will dazzle listeners.

This year, the honorable mention list would be top five in other years. That’s just how good the year has been. Crazy.

Top Disappointments of 2011

This hurts. I hate it when a fantastic release from a solid band is followed by one that doesn’t have a chance in the top ten. That’s how it goes though. Some days you’re the lion, and some days you’re the lamb.

INCUBUS – I don’t know what exactly got into these guys, but something’s out of kilter. Incubus was a band I could always count on for relief from the humdrum sounds so popular today. Here they are … soft, sweet, in love or some other musical disaster. If someone offers you a free copy of, “If Not Now, When?” feel free to say, “NEVER.”

The Gourds – I am still high on Shinyrib’s (Russell’s) solo effort that I just assumed that there would be some carryover to new Gourds releases. Almost, but not quite.

Warren Haynes – “Man in Motion” just seems to go nowhere. I mean this is the Warren Haynes! It sounds like an homage to the worst of the old rock-and-roll stuff. I can’t even find the words for such a talent, but I know he will rip me a new one next time out, so I’m not worried.

The Band of Heathens – “Top Hat Crown & the Clapmaster’s Son” is probably what I expected from The Band of Heathens last release (and it made the top ten). I get the impression they are just anti-establishment enough to tank a CD.

HONORABLE MENTION in Fly Fishing Music 2011

If he would have stuck to the plan, all the way through, he would not have fallen as the solid forces in front of him (the top ten) are just so strong. is fantastic, and a true departure from what you may think G.Love is all about. Listen to “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover,” a brave remake of the Paul Simon song. And this first, best of the rest, (this song) foreshadows a surprise Top Ten musician. Be sure to listen to the whole song for a “Free Bird” bluegrass jam at the bridge. It hurts to leave G.Love out, but the top ten will reveal just how tough this year is.

Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears
I guess you could say they’re a “one trick pony,” but turning out fine music is one great trick. Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears can make you sweat just listening. Think James Brown for the 21st. century. “Scandalous” has some nasty lyrics on it, but what doesn’t these days. It all sounds good, and pick it up along with the top ten at Amazon.com.

Foo Fighters
Take three of those five-hour energy drinks at once, and chase it with a Monster tall boy, and you are getting close to the energy that comes off Dave Grohl and his Foo Fighters. I watched a documentary on this, which sheds a lot of light on the band and where they are now. Another release you must own, but a couple of throw away tracks are enough to knock them out of the Top Ten for 2011. “Wasting Light” is essential Foo Fighers.

WILCO
Any top ten release has to be one I go to – again and again. “The Whole Love” just isn’t that CD. You know I am a huge Wilco fan, so they get a pass, an automatic bid to the Top Ten every year. I am not sure what makes “The Whole Love” weak, but perhaps it’s my rediscovery of Beatles music that Wilco has been feeding us in their own skins. I find myself longing for the good old days of “Being There” – the days before they actually got there. They almost went back “There” on the first track, but seemed to think better of it, and brought an interesting sound that does harken back to earlier days. It just isn’t a good year for retrospective sounds in this competitive field though. If you don’t have either of these CD’s, get “Being There” before you get “The Whole Love.”

NUMBER 10
I cheated. There is a three-way tie for tenth CD this year, and the number ten spot goes to (equally and in no particular order):

Slaid Cleaves – Sorrow & Smoke: Live at the Horseshoe Lounge
Slaid Cleaves is a wordsmith that gives you the feeling that everything will be okay even once Bob has left this mortal earth. I have seen him live at Dan’s Silver Leaf here in Denton, and he puts on a very good show. “Sorrow & Smoke” is a two CD set that has all his best work on it, recorded live at the Horseshoe Lounge in Austin, Texas. This is the CD to buy if you don’t know Slaid, have missed a few releases along the way, or just want to hear fantastic lyrics, yodling and a yankee’s take on the Texas music sound. He’s ours now!

Levon Helm – Ramble at the Ryman
Levon’s voice is leaving him now. Recent success has its cost, and for him, it’s that high price. Ramble at the Ryman brings in huge talent to pick up where Levon’s voice leaves off. It’s a killer live CD, and again, one of those that is a beautiful introduction to Levon Helm if you’ve been living under a rock the last four years. You can’t afford not to add it to your collection at less than a ten-dollar bill!

Todd Snider Live: The Storyteller
The three way tie is complete with the double CD release by our man Todd Snider. Again, one of those that makes a great the ultimate introduction to what Todd Snider is all about. The hint is in the title “Storyteller.” If you want to laugh until it hurts, and learn all the lyrics in between, this is for you. Warning – you’ll need to be a bit openminded as when Todd gets stuff off his mind, it’s a bit colorful, and definitely liberal. That said, it is completely hilarious.

NUMBER 9

Gillian Welch – The Harrow & The Harvest

This is the best she’s ever done. It is a CD that will lead you to other artists, and open musical doors you didn’t know existed. Listenable for fly fish dudes and dude-ettes. Sure she’s another NPR favorite, but NPR has been at the forefront of delivering great music this year. Hearing is believing. Great music and lyrics.

NUMBER 8

Lucinda Williams – “Blessed”
East Texas’ Lucinda Williams release “Blessed” makes one think she’s finally found what she’s been looking for in another person. The only downside is the love laden lyrics are less a part of my life, and the lives of most fly folks I know, as we are a bit more absorbed in the daily struggles for success and survival. Her music is so great that we can’t hold that, or anything else for that matter, against her. There’s a Deluxe Edition that includes “kitchen tapes” which I wish I had. Maybe I will have to trade up.

Number 7

Hayes Carll – “KMAG Yo Yo”
I saw Hayes here in Denton a few weeks after this one came out, and there was a huge college contingent – standing room only – at Dan’s … singing along, knowing the lyrics exactly – the new lyrics. Hayes Carll transcends into the status of cult with this new release, and is now one of Don Imus’ favorite musicians on his national “Imus in the Morning” show. Don’t believe me if you want, but believe that nappy headed Imus guy, and get “KMAG Yo Yo.”

NUMBER 6

Dawes – “Nothing is Wrong”
Bring me more of this, what is it they call it? – “LA Sound.” I cut my teeth on Jackson Browne, The Eagles and a few other less significant LA bands, so this is one refreshing CD. Old is new again. Songs that are easy to understand, and sing along with, what a novel idea! People, this CD is at Amazon.com for 7.75, so there is no excuse. Listen first and debate it with me later, if you like.

I returned home from Houston the day after Christmas to find an Amazon box chock full of research material for the year-end top ten fly fishing music countdown. As if there wasn’t enough great music already, I thought it only fair to take a spin of the 2011 releases by Radiohead, Alison Krauss and Union Station, The Black Keys and Slaid Cleaves.

It’s the best of music times, and the most difficult of music times. I have no less than three CD’s that contain used material, that is new live releases by favorite musicians with no new music on them. What the heck am I supposed to do about that? Should there be a new category, or should they summarily be ruled out? Slaid Cleaves, the legendary Levon Helm, and a fantastic double dose of Todd Snider, all muddy the water when it comes to whether it fits the years old definition of “New Music.”

Check back later today for the bottom of the countdown, and then tomorrow, the top music for fly fishers – released in 2011. It really was a good year for music along with everything else.

The first post should be out this afternoon while I am fishing one last day – for the palmetto bite on a local metropolitan lake.

Being a photographer by profession, necessarily makes me a gadget freak. There’s just no escaping it, and it’s often a bleeding edge on which I tread. And I have been on the Apple bandwagon since about 1995, when I had to go across the Square (I had a studio/living space on the Square in Downtown Denton, Texas) to borrow my friend Karl Schindler’s computer and printer to do something – on an almost nightly basis. Karl was in the music program at UNT and working on creating his compositions and printing the sheets for them. This was only two years after I created my first website, but way before the full blown revolution we photographers find ourselves in today.

After working for my wife’s business www.cimarrona.com at a recent hugely successful show in Deep Ellum, I was paid handsomely and it took a matter of hours until that money burned a ghastly hole in my pocket and fell right through into a cash register, “One iPad, 32-gig in white please.” Why white you would ask? To reflect the Texas heat wherever it goes this coming year – of course.

Now, just like all these pad things coming out, the iPad is merely the syringe that delivers the drug, and I am hooked. Within a couple of hours I had John Gierach’s latest book “No Shortage of Good Days,” and rolled the dice on Henry Winkler’s new tome “I’ve Never Met an Idiot on the River” as well. The Fonz’s book was priced at a low risk price (7.96 at Amazon), so why not? Was that the end of it? Heck no. To the magazine rack I go.

If you have been to my place, you know I occupy the back porch with two, and sometimes three dogs. That’s where the fly tying, cycling, fly rod storing man cave-ish existence is for me. It’s a good life, but a cluttered one, with magazines – lots and lots of magazines, filtering dog hair out of the air and in between slick pages. So as sentimental as I am about paper (photographic prints, books and magazines), I cut the cord to paper magazines by purchasing a new subscription to “Saltwater Fishing Magazine,” and am just waiting for others to expire.

There is this huge upside that is the crux of this observation – these darn books and magazines are many times easier to read. They also go with you wherever you go without taking up any space. Both of these plus column factory were unexpected, but now I am a complete addict. The books, like Gierach’s, are so much easier to read that I find myself blazing through them at many times the normal reading speed. The magazine contents include extremely sharp text and photographs that are stunningly reproduced. It’s a whole new world.

The next phase is to start lobbying the publications we like most, “Southwest Fly Fishing,” “Drake Magazine,” “Fly Rod and Reel,” “Texas Saltwater Fishing” and ________ (you fill in the blank) for their publications to go digital as well. Saltwater Fly Fishing is already digital, and you can bet once my subscription to that expires, I’ll never buy another paper copy – period, paragraph.

I am definitely not saying the iPad is the only reader out there, and the new Amazon “Fire” looks good up close as well, but the navigation is intuitive just like all Apple products (some would call it “elementary” or “childish”), and that’s how I have always liked my hardware – hit the button and go. There’s enough complications in the world that if I can simplify something like reading, I am on board for that. How about you?

NOTE – I’ll be removing ads for paper books at Amazon from the site. I will also let you know when any of the unique books in my store are converted to digital offerings. Expect a few book reviews sooner rather than later!