Back When: 2011

One last shot of 2011, I promise. Here’s my semi-annual mix of songs I liked from albums released in the past 12 months. As always, it’s a combination both local and national of longtime favorites like the Old 97’s, Richard Buckner, and the Jayhawks, and new discoveries of Austinites like the Carper Family and Sons of Fathers.

These projects always surprise me when I finish them. They reflect the new music I’ve listened to and written about for the Chronicle, but only when it’s all in one place does it reveal what kind of year it’s really been.

This year's mix seems particularly root-rock heavy, although T Bird & the Breaks and Trombone Shorty bring a taste of something different. As much as 2011 was unexpectedly good musically, I’m sure we’re all ready put it to bed and see what’s next.

Here’s the track list. It will fit on an 80-minute CD, and yes it’s an analog mix done the old fashioned way – by hand.

1) Richard Buckner, “Traitor,” Our Blood (Merge)
2) Ry Cooder, “No Banker Left Behind,” Pull Up Some Dust and Sit Down (Nonesuch)
3) Carper Family, “Back When,” Back When
4) Nick Lowe, “You Don’t Know Me At All,” The Old Magic (Yep Roc)
5) Sarah Jarosz, “My Muse,” Follow Me Down (Sugar Hill)
6) Sons of Fathers, “Sons of Fathers,” Sons of Fathers
7) Shawn Nelson, “Anna Lee,” San Juan Street (Fonky Tonk)
8) Old 97’s, “I’m A Trainwreck,” The Grand Theatre Volume Two (New West)
9) Jayhawks, “She Walks in So Many Ways,” Mockingbird Time (Rounder)
10) Vince Gill, “Guitar Slinger,” Guitar Slinger (MCA Nashville)
11) Dale Watson, “Down Down Down Down Down,” The Sun Sessions (Red House)
12) Amanda Shires, “When You Need A Train It Never Comes,” Carrying Lightning
13) Matraca Berg, “You and Tequila,” The Dreaming Fields (Dualtone)
14) Robert Earl Keen, “I Gotta Go,” Ready For Confetti (Lost Highway)
15) Graham Weber, “Sweet Virginia Brown,” Women
16) Slaid Cleaves, “One Good Year,” Sorrow & Smoke (Music Road)
17) Will Sexton, “Sunday Driver,” Move the Balance
18) Kasey Chambers, “Down Here on Earth,” Little Bird (Sugar Hill)
19) T Bird and the Breaks, “The Clap Hands Songs,” Never Get Out of This Funk Alive
20) Trombone Shorty, “UNC,” For True (Verve Forecast)
21) Ben Sollee, “Close To You,” Inclusions (Tin Ear)
22) Todd Snider, “Is This Thing Working?,” Live the Storyteller (Aimless)

You can download the whole thing here.