for what it's worth (not effin' much, i know), i absoutely fell in love with ryan adams this year -- whiskeytown's last album was a guilty pleasure for me, and "gold" turned out to be pure FM 70s rock goodness -- and this from a serious hater of classic rock. i tracked down "heartbreaker" and it's even better, assuming you like rootsy americana with a dash of country (rufus wainwright, freedy johnston, gillian welch, etc.). anyway, i've got a column about it here:
http://www.neumu.net/needledrops/data/00013_needledrops.shtml
in a similar vein, one of my top 10 records of the year, hands down, was chris lee's "plays & sings torch'd songs..." for steve shelley's smells like label. can't give this record enough props -- again, simple rootsy americana, not unlike cat power's earlier records, with a voice at first uncannily like jeff buckley's, but it distinguishes itself more the more you listen. i've reviewed it for the current issue of the wire (and, funnily enough, chris lee used to write for the wire under the moniker of a.c. lee). if you like rock (indie, rootsy, whatever) AT ALL, i can't recommend it enough.
cheers,
philip
philip sherburne
contributing editor, neumu
https://www.neumu.net/needledrops