Slowly Going Bald

(Almost done. I got a lot of music this year.)

This year, my sister and I didn't buy each other that many albums as Christmas gifts. We realized that some of the CDs we wanted were already owned by the other sibling, and that we'd be a lot better off just swapping music en masse. So when we met up at the family homestead, I brought my laptop, she brought a couple dozen of her favorite albums, we bought some blank CDs, and that was that. I had bits and pieces of a few of these albums (the Dylan, the Chicks), but for the most part they were all new to me. As such, I haven't even begun to process all the music she gave me apart from liking it as much as I figured I would. (I also think it's pretty clear from the release dates that she buys a lot more new music than I do, so I really won out. It's like I got great records from 2008 for free simply by waiting.) So here then is a list of the albums I ripped from her, and that I'm sure I'll be spinning throughout 2009:

Shelby Lynne, Just a Little Lovin' (2008)

Ray LaMontagne, Gossip in the Grain (2008)

Lucinda Williams, Little Honey (2008)

Alison Krauss and Union Station, Live (2002)

Lewis Black, Anticipation (2008)

The Fratellis, Here We Stand (2008)

R.E.M., Accelerate (2008)

M. Ward, Post-War (2006)

Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998)

She & Him, Volume One (2008)

Bob Dylan, Love and Theft (2001)

Patsy Cline, The Definitive Collection (2004)

My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges (2008)

Alejandro Escovedo, Real Animal (2008)

Death Cab for Cutie, Narrow Stairs (2008)

Dixie Chicks, Wide Open Spaces (1998)

Dixie Chicks, Fly (1999)

Bruce Springsteen, Nebraska (1982)

Johnny Cash, My Mother's Hymn Book (2004)

Rilo Kiley, Under the Blacklight (2007)

Coldplay, Viva La Vida (2008)

The Killers, Day and Age (2008)