By Noah W. Bailey
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
Local pop culture critic Greil Marcus hits the Contemporary Jewish Museum on Thursday at 7 p.m. to discuss the general idea of the identity of "American music." The author/columnist will be in conversation with Josh Kun, who co-curated the museum's current Jews on Vinyl , meaning you can check out some kitschy album art while learning a thing or two about American musical history.
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