Over the next couple of weeks, Backbeat will feature some Top Ten lists from around the Village Voice Media chain. Click here for previous year-in-review coverage from Backbeat and VVM.
Picking the best folk and Americana records of the year isn't nearly as hard as discarding those great records that just didn't feel right stuck in the category. Releases by Calexico and DeVotchKa felt far too worldly to pigeonhole as folk or country, for instance, while Blitzen Trapper's fantastic Furr smells
Crackerfarm​Arena rock is making a comeback. Thanks to bands like My Morning Jacket,
Wilco and North Carolina's the Avett Brothers, the spirit and tradition
of the '70s is swelling and helping to conjure up images of rock and
roll when it was at it's purest, most visceral and most likely bearded.
We recently spoke with Bob Crawford, bass player for the Avett
Brothers, and discussed how the band's humble beginnings transformed into music being produced by the legendary Rick Rubin. Read the full
