Best of 2009: My Picks

Once again, I have two albums as my top album of the year because they are both so masterful that I cannot choose between them: Golden Apples of the Sun by Caroline Herring and Give Up the Ghost by Brandi Carlile. These are the two albums of 2009 that anyone who really loves great music (read: that which is most likely not on contemporary mainstream radio) must buy right now.

Last year Caroline Herring topped my list (in a tie with Ben Sollee's Learning to Bend) with her album Lantana...