Picking the best folk and Americana records of the year isn't nearly as hard as discarding those great records that just didn't feel right stuck in the category.
Releases by Calexico and DeVotchKa felt far too worldly to pigeonhole as folk or country, for instance, while Blitzen Trapper's fantastic Furr smells more like the Kinks than Neil Young. [Editor's note: That's why we put it on our indie-rock list.] We likewise discarded Shearwater's near-masterpiece Rook, despite the fact that the alb
This album review runs in OC Weekly this week--summer guide issue!--but why wait until then? The record's out now! Yeah!Elvis CostelloSecret, Profane & Sugarcane(Hear Music)In this phase of his career, Elvis Costello seems determined to convince people he can do just about anything--jazz (2003's North), classical (2004's Il Sogno), pop duets (2006's The River In Reverse, recorded with Alan Toussaint) and collaborations with indie-rock darlings (last year's Momofuku, which featured cameos fro
