response 26 of 33:

Mar 20 22:18 UTC 2003

Making this list for 2002 was like pulling teeth.  I've stalled it 
for three months, but this is the last chance to do my list and have
it read in the Agora conference.

There were a lot of good albums for 2002 but I don't think anything 
got the emotional response I expect from a *great* album. 

Altan, THE BLUE IDOL
   Veteran Irish folk band's album was the best of their long career
   in the view of several critics, and I concur.  Their duet with 
   Paul Brady on "Daily Growing" was my favorite song of the year.

Chumbawamba, READYMADES
   Loaded with British folk samples and guest vocals.  
   "Jacob's Ladder" was my other favorite song of the year.
   Kate Rusby and Dick Gaughan are among the guests.

Coope Boyes Simpson, TWENTY FOUR SEVEN
   Three harmony voices on excellent leftist political material.
   The title track is my third and last favorite song of the year.  :)

Linda Thompson, FASHIONABLY LATE
   Ex-wife of Richard Thompson comes up with her first album in 
   17 years.  She and co-writer son Teddy Thompson show a great 
   talent for touching traditional sounds in contemporary songs.
   This was the unexpected treat of the year; I was sure she 
   was retired from music for good.   (Item from interviews: 
   Linda gets Botox injections in her throat to control the 
   spasms which shut down her career in the 1980s.)
   
Mary Gauthier, FILTH AND FIRE
   A singer-songwriter who is approaching the level Richard Thompson
   reaches at his peak.  Steve Andre, who does not like most singers, 
   startled me by singing along with some of this album.   
   She's so intense this is scary to listen to sometimes.

Shine, SUGARCANE
Sunhoney, NOVEMBER
Alyth McCormack, AN IOMALL
   All three albums feature Scottish Gaelic singer Alyth McCormack.
   Individually probably none would make my list -- maybe the Shine
   album would, with its two-harp, three-singer lineup -- but altogether
   they make an impressive body of work and I need to boil down 
   one killer highlights CD from them.

La Volee d'Castors, VDC
   High-energy, rhythmically complex Quebecois folk band.

Bruce Springsteen, THE RISING 
   First mainstream rock album to make my list in years.    
   I'm not even that much of a Springsteen fan.

Kapela Ze Wsi Warszawa, WIOSNA LUDU
(The Band from the Village Warsaw, THE PEOPLE'S SPRING)
   Open-throated eastern European singing, lots of drumming.
   The band's web site calls it "bio-techno," whatever that means.  :)
   Faintly reminiscent of Hedningarna, though not as complex in 
   instrumentation.  From Poland.

Some sort of honorable mention goes to three albums from the 
Scottish folk-techno scene:  FAERIE STORIES by the Peatbog Faeries,
and both HARDLAND and GLEN LYON by Martyn Bennett.   

2002 was the year for my happy discovery of the BBC Radio shows 
via the internet:  well over half this list was discovered through
Real Audio listening to Radio 2, Radio 3 and Radio Scotland.

Did I forget anything?

response 28 of 33:

Mar 21 01:51 UTC 2003

I thought Altan were Welsh, but maybe I'm confused.

response 30 of 33:

Mar 23 06:40 UTC 2003

There was a noted Welsh band whose name was one word beginning with A, 
though, or did I dream it?

response 32 of 33:

Mar 23 22:26 UTC 2003

I can't think of any other Welsh bands beginning with A besides Ar Log, oh
wait -- the Alarm! At least, they were Welsh and begin with A. (I have one
of their single Cds with a song in Welsh on it.) They aren't folk, though,
but standard 80s rock.