Again this year my music buying was mostly online, free tracks from NoiseTrade, as well as paid tracks from Bandcamp, and preordering mp3s and CDs from Kickstarter and Indiegogo.
Here’s a playlist of everything on spotify.com.
Here’s a playlist of everything available on youtube.com.
| Band | Song | Why them | |
| 01. | The Highwomen (Brandi Carlile, Natalie Hemby, Maren Morris & Amanda Shires) | Redesigning Women | A country supergroup with great harmonies, I’d follow Brandi Carlile anywhere. |
| 02. | Philip B. Price | C’mon World | Winterpills frontman goes solo again. |
| 03. | Our Native Daughters (Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla & Allison Russell) | Moon Meets The Sun | Another supergroup, this one spiritual and banjo heavy. |
| 04. | Jakob Dylan and Norah Jones | Never My Love | The film looks fun, but the soundtrack with of The Wallflowers frontman doing duets on covers is a classic. |
| 05. | Delta Rae | Take Me There | First single from the 5th biggest music Kickstarter campaign. |
| 06. | Adam Lambert | Loverboy | The occasional Queen frontman shows he can still produce some impressive music on his own. |
| 07. | Wild Harbors | House On Fire | They did a great job opening for SHEL at Jammin’ Java. |
| 08. | Heather Maloney | We Were Together (feat. Taylor Goldsmith) | Wonderful duet with the Dawes frontman. |
| 09. | Farewell Angelina | Baby | Best part of the Herndon Festival this year in its new location. |
| 10. | The Rembrandts | Count On You | The “Friends” famous band returns with their sound unchanged. |
| 11. | Calva Louise | I Heard A Cry | A review said “Fuse surfy riffs to fuzzy grunge pop” and seems fairly accurate. |
| 12. | Fruit Bats | Drawn Away | Sad lyrics and upbeat melodies make a sweet song. |
| 13. | Joy Williams | The Trouble With Wanting | Formerly half of The Civil Wars, she’s back with this soulful song. |
| 14. | Bill Michalski | Hunch | I try to avoid repeats of artists, but this song really grabbed me. |
| 15. | Madison Cunningham | Trouble Found Me | She impressed me at Live From Here with her cover of Radiohead’s No Surprises, and her own stuff is good as well. |
| 16. | Keuning | Restless Legs | Lead guitarist of The Killers steps out with catchy solo debut. |
| 17. | Kate Davis | Open Heart | Would not have predicted songs like this from the woman singing here. |
| 18. | Local Natives | When Am I Gonna Lose You | Nice harmonies and falsettos. |
| 19. | Mary Lambert | Write You A Song | No Macklemore here, just a sweet song. |
| 20. | Smug Brothers | Every One Is Really Five | Reminds me of early Golden Smog. |
| 21. | Lily & Madeleine | Can’t Help The Way I Feel | Feels like a classic girl group song. | 22. | Jaret & Kelly | Daddy’s Girl | Singers for Bowling for Soup and The Dollyrots team up for a song close to my heart. | 23. | Katy Vernon | Undertow | Hits a sweet spot between country and pop. | 24. | Josh Rouse | Sleigh Brother Bill | Yes, it’s from his Christmas record, but aside from the subject matter, it’s a good song with a great beat. | 25. | Sass Jordan | Cinnamon | The Canadian singer/songwriter is back. | 26. | Pan Rocks Steel Drum Rock Orchestra (with Mike Portnoy, Philip Bynoe & Pete Thorn) | YYZ | An obvious cover, but fun (and you can’t go wrong with Mike Portnoy on drums). |