Hi to the ND club, and my Best of 2000-2009 by way of introduction

I was an ND subscriber for a number of years before reading the stunning post that the hard copy version would be no more. Like many of you I felt a real sense of loss and impotent anger. It still perplexes me that a title which represents such a rich and diverse scene cannot be viable in the US, but I guess you’ve done all the sums (or the math, as I think you say). Anyway, I still spend a lot of money on hasbeen formats, and keep my eyes open for opportunities to see interesting Americans playing in the UK; and better still getting over the pond to hear your great music in situ (if I could live in the Austin Motel, drink in the Continental Club, and perhaps stagger up to Guero’s to eat, I would, in fact, be in heaven).

Here’s some of the stuff I’ve enjoyed most this past decade. Inevitably one list wasn’t enough, so I’ve done one for Texas, and one for the Rest of the World (a bit like your World Series, it only seems to feature Americans).

Texas

Jon Dee Graham – Full
Patty Griffin – Impossible Dream
James McMurtry – Live in Aught-Three
Joe Ely – Live at Antone’s
The Dixie Chicks – Home
Midlake – Trials of Van Occupanther
Robert Earl Keen – What I Really Mean
Alejandro Escovedo String Quintet – Room of Songs
The Gourds – Heavy Ornamentals
Carrie Rodriguez – Seven Angels on a Bicycle

The Rest

Emmylou Harris – Resd Dirt Girl
Gillian Welch – Time (The Revelator)
The Wayfaring Strangers – Shifting Sands of Time
Califone – Quicksand/Cradlesnakes (latest is good too)
The Hold Steady – Boys and Girls in America
The Decemberists – The Crane Wife
Darrell Scott, Danny Thompson & Kenny Malone – Live in NC (OK, there’s a Brit in there)
Buddy Miller – Midnight & Lonesome
Dave Alvin – Guilty Women
Drive by Truckers – Southern Rock Opera.