A List of Lists – Our Featured Bloggers’ Favorite Albums of 2013

As we started working on tallying our 2013 ND Readers’ Poll, we asked our most frequently featured bloggers to cast their ballots for a bit of a “critics poll”. Since we don’t employ a staff of writers, these are all folks who post here on their own, because they enjoy it. They just happen to have great taste in music and a writing style which we recognize as being the cream of the ND community crop. We’d like to thank them for not only submitting their lists for this Featured Blogger Top 10, but also for taking the time out of their busy lives to frequently post great blogs on this site.

We thought folks in the community would be interested to read the full lists submitted for our Featured Bloggers Year-End Poll. So, in no particular order, here are the top picks of all the featured contributors who submitted lists for our Best of 2013 count:

KIM RUEHL (blog) 

1. Jason Isbell – Southeastern

2. Aoife O’Donovan – Fossils

3. Holly Williams – The Highway

4. Patty Griffin – American Kid

5. Robbie Fulks – Gone Away Backward

6. Milk Carton Kids – The Ash & Clay

7. Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison – Cheaters Game

8. Anais Mitchell & Jefferson Hamer – Child Ballads

9. Sarah Jarosz – Build Me Up from Bones

10. Brandy Clark – 12 Stories

BILL FRATER (blog)

1. Jason Isbell – Southeastern
2. Delbert McClinton & Glen Clark – Blind, Crippled & Crazy
3. Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison – Cheater’s Game
4. The Devil Makes Three – I’m A Stranger Here
5. Patty Griffin – American Kid
6. Paul Burch – Fevers
7. The Black Lilies – Runaway Freeway Blues
8. Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell – Old Yellow Moon
9. Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers – S/T
10. Various Artists – The Big E: A Salute to Steel Guitarist Buddy Emmons 

MICHAEL BIALAS (blog) 

1. Vienna Teng – Aims
2. Low – The Invisible Way
3. Heather Maloney – S/T
4. (tie) Jason Isbell – Southeastern / Amanda Shires – Down Fell the Doves 
6. The Henry Girls – December Moon
7. Ruth Moody – These Wilder Things
8. Over the Rhine – Meet Me at the Edge of the World
9. The Lone Bellow – S/T
10. Carrie Rodriguez – Give Me All You Got

NEIL FERGUSON (blog)

1. Valerie June – Pushin’ Against a Stone
2. Promised Land Sound – Promised Land Sound
3. J. Roddy Walston & The Business – Essential Tremors
4. John Murry – Graceless Age
5. Water Liars – Wyoming
6. JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound – Howl
7. Junip – Junip
8. Deer Tick – Negativity
9. Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires – There Is a Bomb in Gilead
10. Charles Bradley – Victim of Love

CHRIS MATEER (blog)

1. Bill Callahan – Dream River
2. Sam Amidon –  Bright Sunny South
3. Bonnie “Prince” Billy – S/T
4. Pokey LaFarge – S/T
5. Nathan Salsburg – Hard for to Win And Can’t Be Won
6. Mike Compton & Joe Newberry – Live
7. Hiss Golden Messenger – Haw
8. Valerie June – Pushin’ Against a Stone
9. Mavis Staples – One True Vine
10. Luke Winslow-King – The Coming Tide 

BARRY GILBERT (blog)

1. Peter Cooper – Opening Day
2. Sturgill Simpson – High Top Mountain
3. Delbert McClinton & Glen Clark – Blind, Crippled and Crazy
4. The Del-Lords – Elvis Club
5. Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison – Cheater’s Game
6. Son Volt – Honky Tonk
7. Semi-Twang – The Why and the What For
8. Ha Ha Tonka – Lessons
9. Melody Den – Storylines
10. Garland Jeffreys – Truth Serum

HOLLY GLEASON (blog)

1. Patty Griffin – American Kid
2. Jason Isbell – Southeastern
3. Guy Clark ¬ My Favorite Picture of You
4. Brandy Clark ¬ 12 Stories
5. Jim Lauderdale & Buddy Miller – Buddy & Jim
6. The Mavericks – In Time
7. Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell
– Yellow Moon
8. Nathan Bell ¬ Blood Like a River
9. Kacey Musgraves – Same Trailer, Different Park
10. Amanda Shires
– Down Fell the Doves

BIG BOY (blog)

1. Sleepy LaBeef – Sleepy Rides Again
2. Vintage Trouble ­– The Bomb Shelter Sessions
3. Omar Dykes ­– Runnin’ With the Wolf
4.  Nathan Williams ­– A New Road
5.  Mike Zito – Gone to Texas
6. Various Artists – Robert Randolph Presents The Slide Brothers
7. Various Artists – Remembering Little Walter
8. Shemekia Copeland – 33 1/3
9. Hayden Sayers – Rolling Soul
10.  Pine Leaf Boys – Danser 

EASY ED (blog)

1. Jason Isbell – Southeastern
2. Dawn McCarthy and Bonnie “Prince” Billy – What the Brothers Sing
3. Richard Thompson – Electric
4. Over The Rhine – Meet Me at The Edge of the World
5. Holly Williams – The Highway
6. Milk Carton Kids – The Ash & Clay
7. Jules Shear – Longer to Get to Yesterday
8. The Handsome Family – Wilderness
9. Pharis and Jason Romero – Long Gone Out West Blues
10. Anais Mitchell & Jeffrey Hamer – Child Ballads 

DOUG HESELGRAVE (blog)

1. Ravi Shankar – The Living Room Sessions Volume 2
2. Ballake Sissoko – At Peace
3. Bob Dylan – Another Self-Portrait Deluxe Edition
4. Joel Fredericksen – Requiem For A Pink Moon
5. Salif Keita – Tale
6. Iron and Wine – Ghost On Ghost
7. Deep Dark Woods – Jubilee
8. Steve Martin and Edie Brickell – Love Has Come for You
9. John Reischmann – Walk Along John
10. Chris Thile – Bach Sonatas and Partitas Vol. 1

ALAN HARRISON (blog) 

1. Guy Clark – My Favorite Picture of You 
2. Quiet Loner – Greedy Magicians 
3. Slaid Cleaves – Still Fighting The War 
4. Bonnie Whitmore – There I Go Again 
5. Danny & the Champions of the World – Stay True 
6. Monkey Junk – Monkey Junk Blues 
7. Elton John – Diving Board 
8. Markus Rill – My Rocket Ship 
9. Johnny Fritz – Dad Country 
10. Audrey Auld – TONK

HENRY CARRIGAN (blog)

1. Brandy Clark – 12 Stories
2. Guy Clark – My Favorite Picture of You
3. Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell – Old Yellow Moon
4. Kacey Musgraves – Same Trailer, Different Park
5. Marshall Chapman – Blaze of Glory
6. Sarah Jarosz – Build Me Up from Bones 
7. Valerie June – Pushin’ Against a Stone
8. Courtney Jaye – Love and Forgiveness
9. Shonna Tucker & Eye Candy – A Tell All
10. Claire Lynch – Dear Sister

LEE ZIMMERMAN (blog)

1. Patty Griffin – American Kid
2. Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell – Old Yellow Moon
3. Scott Miller – Big. Big World
4. Parsons Red Heads – Orb Weaver
5. Harmed Brothers – Better Days
6. Bill Mallonee – Beatitude/Dolorosa
7. I See Hawks In LA – Mystery Drug
8. Avett Brothers – Magpie & The Dandelion
9. Willie Sugarcapps – S/T
10. Caitlin Rose – The Stand-In

KATHY SANDS BOEHMER (blog)

1. Aoife O’Donovan – Fossils
2. Spuyten Duyvil – Temptation
3. Dietrich Strause – Little Stones to Break the Giant’s Heart
4. Connor Garvey – Meteors and Beating Hearts
5. Heather Maloney – S/T
6. Slaid Cleaves – Still Fighting the War
7. Lori McKenna – Massachusetts
8. Raina Rose – Caldera
9. Tall Heights – Man of Stone
10. Susan Werner – Hayseed 

JELA WEBB (blog)

1. Sam Baker – Say Grace
2. The Milk Carton Kids – The Ash & Clay
3. Patty Griffin – American Kid
4. Josh Ritter – The Beast in Its Tracks
5. Anais Mitchell & Jefferson Hamer – Child Ballads
6. Rod Picott – Hang Your Hopes on a Crooked Nail
7. Chris Wood – None the Wiser
8. Martyn Joseph – Tires Rushing By in the Rain
9. Ron Sexsmith – Forever Endeavour
10. Slaid Cleaves – Still Fighting the War 

JUSTIN WESLEY (blog) 

1. The National – Trouble Will Find Me 

2. Phosphorescent – Muchacho 

3. Gregory Alan Isakov – The Weatherman

4. Jason Isbell – Southeastern

5. Frightened Rabbit – Pedestrian Verse 

6. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Push the Sky Away

7. The Heavy Blinkers – Health

8. Okkervil River – The Silver Gymnasium 

9. Ha Ha Tonka – Lessons 

10. Caitlin Rose – The Stand-In  

musicJJMG (blog) 

1. Richard Thompson – Electric
2. Steve Earle – The Low Highway
3. Various Artists – The Lone Ranger: Wanted 
4. David Rotheray – Answer Ballads
5. John Murray – The Graceless Age
6. Blair Dunlop – Blight & Blossom
7. The Lonesome Southern Comfort Company – The Big Hunt
8. Kat Edmonson – Way Down Low
9. Spin Doctors – If the River Was Whiskey
10. Joanne Shaw Taylor – Songs from the Road 

AMOS PERRINE (bl0g)

1. Patty Griffin – American Kid 
2. Patty Griffin – Silver Bell 
3. Jason Isbell – Southeastern
4. Neko Case – The Worse Things Get…
5. Richard Thompson – Electric 
6. Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison – Cheater’s Game 
7. Guy Clark – My Favorite Picture of You
8. Holly Williams – The Highway
9. Willie Sugarcapps – Willie Sugarcapps
10. Aoife O’Donovan – Fossils  

BEN BONIN (blog) 

1. The White Buffalo – Shadows, Greys & Evil Ways
2. Bill Kirchen – Seeds and Stems
3. Vince Gill – Bakersfield
4. Jeff Jensen – Road Worn & Ragged
5. Ashley Monroe – Like a Rose
6. Duke Robillard – Independently Blue
7. Otis Taylor – My World Is Gone
8. Guy Clark – My Favorite Picture of You
9. Mark Knopfler – Privateering
10. Various Artists – Divided & United: The Songs of the Civil War 

MIKE SEELY (bl0g)

1. Dawes – Stories Don’t End 
2. Jason Isbell – Southeastern
3. Kacey Musgraves – Same Trailer, Different Park
4. Phosphorescent – Muchacho
5. Ashley Monroe – Like a Rose
6. Shelby Earl – Swift Arrows
7. Amanda Shires – Down Fell the Doves

RYAN’S FATHER (blog)

1. Brandy Clark – 12 Stories
2. Jason Isbell – Southeastern
3. Patty Griffin – American Kid
4. Tedeschi Trucks Band – Made Up Mind
5. Steve Martin & Edie Brickell – Love Has Come For You
6. Willie Sugarcapps – S/T
7. Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison – Cheater’s Game
8. Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell – Old Yellow Moon
9. Aoife O’Donovan – Fossils
10. Marshall Chapman – Blaze Of Glory

MICHAEL BERICK (blog)

1. Jason Isbell – Southeastern
2. Various Artists – Divided And United: Songs of the Civil War 
3. Kacey Musgraves ¬ Same Trailer, Different Park
4. Milk Carton Kids – The Ash & Clay
5. Courtney Jaye – Love And Forgiveness
6. The White Buffalo – Shadows, Greys & Evil Ways
7. Slaid Cleaves – Still Fighting the War 
8. Escondido – The Ghost of Escondido
9. Mando Saenz – Studebaker
10. Robbie Fulks – Gone Away Backwards

JOE LEPPER (blog) 

1. John Grant – Pale Green Ghosts
2. Phosphorescent – Muchacho
3. Matthew E. White – Big Inner
4. Southern Tenant Folk Union – Hello Cold, Goodbye Sun
5. Neko Case – The Worse Things Get…
6. Low – The Invisible Way
7. Robert Pollard – Honey Locust Honky Tonk
8. Thirty Pounds of Bone – I Cannot Sing You Here, But for Songs of Where
9. Okkervil River – The Silver Gymnasium
10. Darren Hayman – Bugbears

JULIE WENGER WATSON (blog)

1. The Wood Brothers – The Muse
2. Robbie Fulks – Gone Away Backwards
3. Max Gomez – Rule the World
4. Willie Sugarcapps – S/T
5. Jason Isbell – Southeastern
6. Lincoln Durham – Exodus of the Deemed Unrighteous
7. Matuto –The Devil & The Diamond
8. The Band of Heathens – Sunday Morning Record
9. J. Roddy Walston & The Business – Essential Tremors
10. Terry Allen – Bottom of the World

HAL BOGERD (blog) 

1. Jason Isbell – Southeastern
2. Michael Rank and Stag – Mermaids
3. Sam Baker – Say Grace
4. Michael Rank & Stag – In The Weeds
5. Wynntown Marshals – The Long Haul
6. Peter Cooper – Opening Day
7. Tony Joe White – Hoodoo
8. Holly Williams – The Highway
9. Gurf Morlix – Gurf Morlix Finds The Present Tense
10. Kenny Roby – Memories and Birds

RYAN MIFFLIN (blog)

1. The Hooten Hallers – Chillicothe Fireball
2. Barrence Whitfield & the Savages – Dig Thy Savage Soul
3. Jake Bugg – Jake Bugg
4. The Replacements – Songs for Slim
5. Charles Bradley – Victim of Love
6. John Paul Keith – Memphis Circa 3 AM
7. JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound – Howl
8. Ten Foot Polecats – Undertow
9. Lydia Loveless – Boy Crazy
10. Crankshaft & the Gear Grinders – What You Gonna Do

GILLIAN TURNBULL (blog) 

1. Neko Case – The Worse Things Get…
2. T. Buckley – Northern Country Soul
3. Patty Griffin – American Kid
4. Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison – Cheater’s Game
5. Daniel Romano – Come Cry With Me
6. Tim Hus – Western Star
7. JR Shore – State Theatre
8. Liam Fitzgerald & The Rainieros – Last Call!
9. Various Artists – Look Out Kansas City
10. Court Yard Hounds – Amelita

KYLA FAIRCHILD (blog)

1. Phosphorescent – Muchacho

2. Kurt Vile – Wakin’ On a Pretty Daze

3. Caitlin Rose – The Stand-In

4. Jason Isbell – Southeastern

5. Kenny Roby – Memories and Birds

6. Thao & the Get Down Stay Down – We the Common

7. Valerie June – Pushin’ Against A Stone

8. Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison – Cheater’s Game

9. Brandy Clark – 12 Stories

10. Amanda Shires – Down Fell the Doves

JOANNA COLANGELO (blog) 

1. Grateful Dead – Sunshine Daydream (Live from Veneta, Oregon 1972)
2. Steve Martin & Edie Brickell – Love Has Come for You
3. Steve Earle – The Low Highway
4. Ben Harper & Charlie Musselwhite – Get Up!
5. Jason Isbell – Southeastern
6. Mavis Staples – One True Vine
7. Tedeschi Trucks Band – Made Up Mind
8. The Civil Wars – S/T
9. David Bromberg – Only Slightly Mad
10. Norah Jones & Billie Joe Armstrong – Foreverly 

TWANG NATION  (blog)

1. Brandy Clark – 12 Stories
2. Jason Isbell – Southeastern
3. Sturgill Simpson – High Top Mountain
4. John Moreland – In The Throes
5. Guy Clark – My Favorite Picture of You
6. Gurf Morlix – Gurf Morlix Finds the Present Tense
7. Hiss Golden Messenger – Haw
8. Lindi Ortega – Tin Star
9. Son Volt – Honky Tonk
10. Holly Williams – The Highway 

FRANK GUTCH JR (blog) 

1. Tamikrest – Chatma
2. The Incurables – The Fine Art of Distilling
3. The Toniks – Rise and Shine
4. Jeff Finlin – My Moby Dick
5. Dirtmusic – Troubles
6. Arborea – Fortress of the Sun
7. Nick Holmes – Sonar
8. Maxi Dunn – Edmund & Leo
9. The Fire Tapes – Phantoms
10. Tom Mank & Sera Smole– Swimming in the Dark

APRILWOLFE (blog)

1. John Moreland – In The Throes
2. Doc Feldman & The LD50 – Sundowning At The Station
3. Jason Isbell – Southeastern
4. Jeremy Squires – When Will You Go
5. Water Liars – Wyoming
6. Dawes – Stories Don’t End
7. Red Tail Ring – The Heart’s Swift Foot
8. Donovan Wood – Don’t Get Too Grand
9. Kill County – Dust in Wire
10. Gregory Alan Isakov – The Weatherman

STACY CHANDLER (blog)

1. Jason Isbell – Southeastern
2. Aoife O’Donovan – Fossils
3. Steep Canyon Rangers – Tell the Ones I Love
4. Kelly Willis & Bruce Robison – Cheater’s Game
5. Joy Kills Sorrow – Wide Awake
6. Sarah Jarosz – Build Me Up from Bones
7. Josh Ritter – The Beast in its Tracks
8. Mandolin Orange – This Side of Jordan
9. Richard Buckner – Surrounded
10. Mipso – Dark Holler Pop

COUNTRY FRIED ROCK (blog)

1. Various Artists – Vol. 2 For Nuci’s Space
2. Shonna Tucker & Eye Candy – A Tell All
3. Kenny Roby – Memories and Birds
4. The Whiskey Gentry – Holly Grove
5. Hymn For Her – Smokin Flames
6. Mary Gauthier – Live at Blue Rock
7. Shinyribs – Gulf Coast Museum
8. Austin Lucas – Stay Reckless
9. Belle Adair – The Brave & the Blue
10. NC Music Love Army – We Are Not For Sale: Songs Of Protest

BILL KOPP (blog)

1. Steven Wilson – The Raven That Refused to Sing (And Other Stories)
2. The Bye Bye Blackbirds – We Need the Rain
3. E.Normus Trio – Love and Barbiturates
4. Jim Ruiz Set – Mount Curve Avenue
5. Secret Friend – Time Machine
6. Black Sabbath – 13
7. Volto – Incitare
8. RPWL – A Show Beyond Man and Time
9. Fleshtones / SCOTS / Los Straitjackets – Mondo Zombie Boogaloo
10. Polyphonic Spree – Yes, It’s True

KEVIN LYNCH (blog)

1. Tedeschi Trucks Band – Made Up Mind
2. Holly Williams – The Highway
3. Guy Clark – My Favorite Picture of You
4. Son Volt – Honky-Tonk
5. Mary Gauthier – Live At Blue Rock
6. Robbie Fulks – Gone Away Backward
7. Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell – Old Yellow Moon
8. Tim O’Brien and Darrell Scott – Memories And Moments
9. Rory Block – Avalon: A Tribute to Mississippi John Hurt 
10. Laura Marling – Once I Was An Eagle

JAY MINKIN (blog)

1. Jason Isbell – Southeastern
2. Kim Richey – Thorn in My Heart
3. Escondido – The Ghost of Escondido
4. Willie Nile – American Ride
5. Valerie June – Pushin’ Against A Stone
6. Rachel Brown – Just Look My Way
7. Lee Harvey Osmond – The Folk Singer
8. Holly Williams – The Highway
9. Amanda Shires – Down Fell the Doves
10. Griffin House – Balls

SKOT NELSON (blog)

1. Ruth Moody – These Wilder Things
2. Billy Bragg – Tooth and Nail
3. Jason Isbell – Southeastern
4. Neko Case – The Worse Things Get…
5. Emmylou & Rodney Crowell – Old Yellow Moon

6. Sam Baker – Say Grace
7. Mavis Staples – One True Vine
8. Ali Holder – In Preparation For Saturn’s Return
9. Steve Earle – The Low Highway

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