2010 Albums: Honorary Mentions-Songwriters

10-WOLF PARADE-Expo 86 (Sub Pop)

A healthy mix of young and old; male and female; traditional and renovators grace our selection of the best songwriter works of 2010. French troubadour Dominique A presented ‘La Musique’; US punk rocker Ted Leo came back with his Pharmacists in ‘The Brutalist Bricks’; young folk-flavored vocalists from the US (Sam Amidon) and Sweden (The Tallest Man On Earth) went hand by hand with a promising new generation of female singers (Laura Marling; Sharon Van Etten). Elsewhere, Phosphorescent carried on the country route he began with his tribute to Willie Nelson; Anais Mitchell offered an intriguing sort of opera folk and the charming Snake Fairies brought their Americana tinged vocals to the world.

9-SMOKE FAIRIES-Through Low Light And Tress (Heavenly)

8-TED LEO & THE PHARMACISTS-The Brutalist Bricks (Matador)

7-ANAIS MITCHELL-Hadestown (Righteous Babe)

6-LAURA MARLING-I Speak Because I Can (Virgin)

5-SHARON VAN ETTEN-Epic (Ba Da Bing)

4-DOMINIQUE A-La Musique (Source)

3-SAM AMIDON-I See The Signs (Bedroom Community)

2-PHOSPHORESCENT-Here’s To Taking It Easy (Dead Oceans)

1-THE TALLEST MAN ON EARTH-The Wild Hunt (Gravitation)