Record Geek Heaven’s Top 20 of 2011

Yuck

2011 turned out to be a pretty great year for music. Though it started off a bit slow, an impressive amount of new talent as well as seasoned songwriting vets emerged with stellar releases this year. In some cases, bands and artists returned with their strongest material in years. In others, emerging artists have given us some amazing things to look forward to for the future. And in others still, bands who have been kicking ass for a few years now are, well, still kicking ass. Here are Record Geek Heaven’s Top 20 Albums of 2011:

The Best of 2011: Part Five

Rounder Records

The Jayhawks – Mockingbird Time

Firstly, this is not a Jayhawks reunion album. Sure, it’s been eight years since their last one (Rainy Day Music), but so many bands have gone even longer between albums without formally breaking up that it seems counterproductive to call this a reunion. Secondly, this isn’t even a reunion album for original Jayhawks songsmiths Mark Olson and Gary Louris, since they released an acoustic album together last year. So then, what is Mockingbird Time?