A Little Dive Bar In Dahlonega (Ashley McBryde)

This is absolutely the best song of the last year. If you haven't been to Dahlonega, Georgia, you really need to go. The foothills of the mountains are covered in patches of forest - a patchwork made in heaven. Everyone speaks with a southern drawl - not like those on television - but like those that flowed slowly from your grandfather's and grandmother's lips. "Homesick for grass that's greener and a slice of Mama's peach pie."

Desperados Under the Eaves (Warren Zevon)

"I was sitting in the Hollywood Hawaiian Hotel. I was staring in my empty coffee cup. I was thinking that the gypsy wasn't lyin'. All the salty margaritas in Los Angeles, I'm gonna drink 'em up. And if California slides into the ocean - like the mystics and statistics say it will - I predict this motel will be standing until I pay my bill." RIP, Warren. We will keep you in our hearts for a while.

Starless (and Bible Black) (King Crimson)

This 2014 version of King Crimson includes mainstay guitar innovator extraordinaire Robert Fripp along with other Crimson alumni: guitarist/vocalist Jakko M. Jakszyk, Tony Levin (bass, stick), Mel Collins (saxophones, flutes) and drummer Gavin Harrison. Starless (and Bible Black) first appeared 40 years before this live performance on Crimson's 1974 studio album Red. I hate progressive rock, but I love everything Fripp touches.

Filthy McNasty (Horace Silver)

The late, great Dexter Gordon said, "Bebop is the music of the future." Listening to Horace Silver's quintet from 1961 makes me a believer. Mr. Silver was perhaps the greatest of the hard-bop pianists of the late 1950s and early 1960s, but his greatest accomplishment was putting together the tightest bands in the land. The twin threat of Blue Mitchell on trumpet and Junior Cook on tenor saxophone makes every Horace Silver album of this era essential.

I Don't Like Mondays (Tori Amos)

I Don't Like Mondays was much more than just the expected response of a tired worker facing a new week's labor. Written by Bob Geldof of the Boomtown Rats in 1979, the song responded to a mass shooting at a San Diego elementary school. No one performed this chilling song better than Tori Amos.

The Weary Kind (Ryan Bingham)

Ryan Bingham voice captures the sounds of the hard life and hard living of rural Texas - a scratchy voice always touching a raw nerve. A gifted songwriter and a world-weary performer, Ryan defines that middle ground of alt-country where roots country meets Americana music. His great performance here is featured in the soundtrack of 2009’s best film, Crazy Heart.

Ballad of El Goodo (Big Star)

American power pop begins with Big Star. Formed in Memphis by a duo of creative madmen, Alex Chilton - late of the Box Tops - and Chris Bell, Big Star brought together the bombshell guitars of the British invasion - especially those of Pete Townsend and the Who - with the dazzling harmonies of the Beatles and the Byrds. Big Star was but one fleeting moment in Americana, missed by most, but cultishly loved by all who heard them play.