What a great year for new music! This list features some of my favorites from the past year. It's a wide range of genres, certainly not limited to "Americana," but all worth a listen.
Best of 2011
1. Middle Brother – Middle Brother
2. Fleet Foxes – Helplessness Blues
3. Dawes – Nothing is Wrong
4. Hayes Carll – KMAG-YOYO
5. Tune-Yards – WhoKill
6. J. Mascis – Several Shades of Why
7. Johnny Corndawg – Down on the Bikini Line
8. Drive By Truckers – Go-Go Boots
9. Sarah Jarosz – Follow Me Down
10. Lucinda Williams - Blessed
11. Jason Isbell – Here We Rest
12. My Morning Jacket – Circuital
13. Gillian Welch – The Harrow and The Harvest
14. Wilco – Whole Love
15. Yuck – Yuck
16. Ryan Adams – Dirty Rain
17. Amy Winehouse – Lioness: Hidden Treasures
18. The Black Keys – El Camino
19. Foster the People – Torches
20. Man Man – Life Fantastic
21. The Black Angels – Phosgene Nightmare
22. Alison Kraus and Union Station – Paper Airplane
23. Chris Thile and Michael Daves – Sleep With One Eye Open
24. Tom Waits – Bad As Me
25. Portugal the Man – In the Mountain in the Cloud
Also Worth Noting...
Amanda Shires – Crazy Lightning; Thurston Moore – Demolished Thoughts; Seryn - This is Where We Are; Those Darlins – Screws Get Loose; Malcom Holcombe – To Drink the Rain; Deer Tick – Divine Providence; Radiohead – King of Limbs; Tedeschi Trucks Band – Revelator; Greg Allman – Lowcountry Blues; TV on the Radio – Nine Types of Light; Umphrey’s McGee – Death by Stereo; John Hiatt – Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hyms; The Jayhawks – Mockingbird Time; The Gourds – Old Mad Joy; Primus – Green Naugahyde; The Head and the Heart – Self-Titled; Gomez – Whatever’s on Your Mind; The Decembrists – The King is Dead; Steve Earle – I’ll Never Get Out of this World Alive; Big Daddy Love – Let it Grow; The V-Roys – Sooner or Later; Trombone Shorty – For True; Stuart Duncan, Chris Thile, Edgar Meyer, Yo-Yo Ma – The Goat Rodeo Sessions
Red Allen and Frank Wakefield were part of the thriving bluegrass scene around Washington D.C. during the 1960s. Others in this scene included The Country Gentlemen, Don Reno, and Red Smiley. When Wakefield and Allen went their separate ways in 1965, Red Allen teamed up with one of Wakefield's students; a young mandolin player named David Grisman. This 1967 recording represents on the earliest recordings featuring Grisman, who remains one of the most influential purveyors of acoustic music. As a result of Red Allen's influence, Grisman would later join Vasser Clements, Peter Rowan, Jerry Garcia, and John Kahn in 1975 to form Old and In The Way. 
