Postcard 2 is a listserve- is that still the word?- a message board- whatever we called online communities in the days before MyFace and Tweets- that serves a diminishing population of music folks who know how to spell and will argue about how to pronounce Gram Parsons’ name. http://www.postcard2.com/ is the home page- drop by, join up- we could use the fresh faces.
Annually, the Postcard Top 20 survey provides interesting reading and I’m sure this year will be no different. Over the next couple weeks I’ll also list my Canadian and Alberta-based favourites of the last year. Here is what I submitted to Postcard for this year, many of which I wrote about here at Fervor Coulee:
While compiling this list two things surprised me: a. how much music I purchased last year! And b. how few albums (that I wasn’t reviewing) I listened to more than a couple times. There are few- more likely no- albums I know today from 2010 as intimately as I did Darkness of the Edge of Town, Quadrophenia, and Fool Around in a similar amount of time. With so much music coming into my life even albums from artists I always enjoy- like Jim Lauderdale’s latest and The Gaslight Anthem- were purchased and not heard, not cracked. My new year’s resolution- slow down; listen more; and, if necessary, be more selective in my purchases.
Postcard Top 20 2010 1. Mary Gauthier The Foundling 2. Robert Plant Band of Joy 3. Peter Cooper The Lloyd Green Album 4. Eric Brace & Peter Cooper Master Sessions 5. Elizabeth Cook Welder 6. Marty Stuart Ghost Train 7. Matt Urmy Sweet Lonesome 8. Dierks Bentley Up on the Ridge 9. Mary Chapin Carpenter The Age of Miracles 
10. Tony Booth The Other Side of Love 11. Shelby Lynne Tears, Lies, and Alibis 12. Reckless Kelly Somewhere in Time 13. Danielle Doyle The Cartographer’s Wife 14. The Steeldrivers Reckless 15. Kim Beggs Blue Bones 
16. Wise-Magraw How the Light Gets In
17. J. R. Shore- Talkin’ on a Bus 18. The Sadies- Darker Circles 19. Ian Gomm and Jeb Loy Nichols Only Time Will Tell 20. Jay Clark Live at Jammin’ at Hippie Jack’s
Almost made it: Mark Erelli Little Vigils; Kevin Welch A Patch of Blue Sky; Marshall Chapman Big Lonesome; Tim O’Brien Chicken & Egg; Jackie Leven Gothic Road; The Earl Brothers The Earl Brothers; D. B. Rielly Love Potions and Snake Oil; Ron Hynes Stealing Genius; Jenny Whiteley Forgive and Forget; The Punch Brothers Antifogmatic
Reissues: 1. Bruce Springsteen The Promise- not a reissue, I know 2. The Blue Shadows On the Floor of Heaven 3. Kris Kristofferson Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends 4. Tom Russell Cowboy’d All to Hell 5. Shawn Camp 1994
Some New Favourites I Didn’t Hear Until this Year: The Wild Tchoupitoulas The Wild Tchoupitoulas; Del McCoury Del McCoury; Larry Sparks Ramblin’ Letters; Bill Morrissey Bill Morrissey re-recording; John Boutté Good Neighbor; Greg Kihn Mutiny; Doug Cox & Salil Bhatt Slide into Freedom 2; Barbara Lynn Voices of Americana; Dick Curless Tombstone Every Mile; Johnny Darrell Singin’ It Lonesome; The albums of Tony Booth, like Lonesome 7-7203 and The Key’s In the Mailbox.
Of course, any such list is subjective and likely to change with the next album off the shelf; I did put considerable thought into compiling my Postcard Top 20 for 2010 and am confident that it wouldn’t change very much with additional review.
Thanks for visiting Fervor Coulee- now, go buy some music! Donald
Fervor Coulee- roots music opinion 