It’s not easy to cull fifty songs out of a decade’s worth of listening, but I’ve attempted it nevertheless. I’m not claiming these are the best songs of the last ten years, only that they are my personal favorites -- the songs I listened to again and again, the ones I most often combined on mixtapes and know now by heart. I wasn’t able to select a top ten. A top twenty was the best I could do. I present them to you in alphabetical order, followed by thirty of their distinguished brethren.
Top Twenty Faves:
Ash Wednesday, Elvis Perkins
Cannot Get Started, Handsome Furs
Come Pick Me Up, Ryan Adams
Crazy, Gnarls Barkley
Favorite, Neko Case
Flume, Bon Iver
The Greatest, Cat Power
Hard Feelings, Constantines
Hot Burrito #1, Robb Strandlund
I Never, Rilo Kiley
Jesus, Etc., Wilco
Maine Island Lovers, Okkervil River
Muzzle of Bees, Wilco
Poison Cup, M. Ward
Rita, Los Lobos
Secret Meeting, The National
A Song for You, Whiskeytown
Soon Enough, Constantines
So Says I, The Shins
Where to Begin, My Morning Jacket
Thirty More to Love:
3rd Planet, Modest Mouse
50 Dollar Whore, Anne McCue
Anonymous Face, Quix*O*Tic
Blue, Lucinda Williams
Breath Thin, Tulsa
Call It A Ritual, Wolf Parade
For Real, Okkervil River
Golden, My Morning Jacket
Gone for Good, The Shins
Head Home, Midlake
Hex, Neko Case (Catherine Irwin cover)
I Envy the Wind, Lucinda Williams
I’ll Be Here Awhile, 311
I Will Sing You Songs, My Morning Jacket
Karen, The National
Lemme Count the Ways, Pillows
A Long Dream, Tyler Ramsey
Mahgeetah, My Morning Jacket
Making Pies, Patty Griffin
Mercury, Kathleen Edwards
My Love for You Is Real, Ryan Adams
The Opposite of Hallelujah, Jens Lekman
Over Time, Lucinda Williams
Porchlight, Neko Case
Rain, Patty Griffin
Red, Okkervil River
Sewn Up (Exhumed & Groomed), Rogue Wave
Three Faint Calls, The Greenhornes
The Velocity of Saul at the Time of His Conversion, Okkervil River
Your Eyes Told, Jesse Sykes & the Sweet Hereafter
