Tom Coxworth is the host of Folk Routes on the CKUA radio network in Alberta and generally an icon of the Canadian folk scene. He’s had a life-long love affair with roots music from all around the world, and there aren’t too many new albums that escape his ear.  All of that to say, you might want to check out his favourite albums from last year.  They’re probably pretty great!

1. Bruce Cockburn – Crowing Ignites (True North Records): Amazingly melodic “songs” able to go beyond lyric.
2. Dervish – The Great Irish Songbook (Universal Music): Bravely going back to the roots of Irish song
3. Rhiannon Giddens w/Francesco Turrisi – There Is No Other (Nonesuch Records): Stunningly perceptive songwriter, interpreter, and composer
4. Dave Gunning – Up Against the Sky (DaveGunning.com): Standing next to Rogers, Connors, and Lightfoot as a great storyteller
5. Irish Mythen – Little Bones (Independent): Songs of meaningful  social cometary
6. S.  Ondara – Tales of America (Verve Forcast): An artist with a very special approach to lyric and melody
7. Our Native Daughters (Rhiannon Giddens, Leyla McCalla, Allison Russell and Amythyst Kiah) – Songs of Our Native Daughters(Smithsonian): Concept and collective gathering of America roots
8. Small Glories – Assiniboine and the Red (Outside Music): A Canadian folk classic – let your banjo and harmonies ring
9. Martin Simpson – Rooted / Seeded(Topic): Superbly selected songs at its root – built on unrivaled guitar masterwork
10. Emily Triggs – Middletown (Independent): The alt of folk and routes music on display

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