Wilton’s CHRISTMAS 3xCD 2011 – a musical postcard of the year, mostly recalling gigs, plus: 11 other tracks from 2011 (includes 12 covers)

1 Michael Franti & Spearhead The Sound of Sunshine At Koko, he jumped into the crowd and made a beeline for my "Spearhead" t-shirt and we sang All I Want Is You, together! 2 Ringo Starr & his All Starr Band Boys Saw Ringo at Hampton Court & Ringo Deathstarr in Brixton. 3 Cloud Control Meditation Song #2 (Why Oh Why) Recommended to me at The National gig in Sydney in Jan, they moved from Sydney to London; we saw them at XOYO. 4 Birdcloud Bandit Tragic tale from the trailer park. Nashville duo, EP on iTunes. 5 Imelda May Inside Out I saw that Imelda was playing two blocks from my hotel in Seattle and thought "Why not?". Etta James meets Wanda! 6 Wanda Jackson Thunder on the Mountain Seems like ages ago, chatting to Caitlin at the Barfly in Feb about Wanda's new album. Saw Wanda again in Nov at Scala. 7 The Kills Baby Says Front row for Hotel and VV at The Cannery in Nashville. 8 Lykke Li Youth Knows No Pain I would love to go and see this Swedish popster live, soon. 9 Cake Sheep Go To Heaven A memorable set at the Beale Street Festival in Memphis. 10 The Waterboys Sweet Dancer From Mike Scott's album of WB Yeats poetry set to music. He also covered I Threw It All Away in stunning style, at Feis. 11 The Cranberries Linger At the Irish music festival Feis they walked out and went straight into Zombie!! ...that Dolores Cranberry is a total Star. 12 Tomorrow is a Long Time One of Bob's love songs written for Suze Rotolo (RIP 2011). 13 Alison Krauss & Union Station My Love Follows You Where You Go London in Nov; Liz Rose wrote this besides having daughters. 14 Magic Slim & The Teardrops Bad Boy Second time in two years, seeing Slim; Beale St in tent. 15 Justin Townes Earle Harlem River Blues Only my second time at the wonderful Union Chapel, and my first JTE show. Justin & support James Walbourne both fab. 16 Gregg Allman My Love is Your Love Saw Duane's bro in Memphis & London. A Magic Sam tune. 17 Peggy Sue All We'll Keep From the new album Acrobats. Rosa, Katie & Ollie won me over at www.bandstandbusking.com at Northampton Square 18 Hindi Zahra Music Hints of but Zahra's even better. A great recommendation from Celine at the superb Mark/Bob Nov gig 19 This Is The Kit Earthquake Loved Kate Stables' headlining set at Cafe Oto w/ a full band. 20 Electrelane I'm On Fire Verity's reformed band played their Brooce cover, at XOYO. 21 The Dead Weather New Pony One of 5 Bob tracks here; I resisted the vinyl hardsell and got this on CD in Third Man Records, nr The Cannery, Nashville. 22 Jamie T 368 Amazed that anyone called Jamie T is good (thanks, Louise). 23 Mogwai George Square Thatcher Death Party Saw these with Gemma in Caen (thanks Bea). Go to Trafalgar Square! www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=129192542984 24 And So I Watch You From Afar Set to Kill Outstanding, supporting The Joy Formidable at the Forum. 25 The Smashing Pumpkins Lightning Strikes New music in 2011. November in Brixton at Volume >>>11. 26 The Joy Formidable A Heavy Abacus TJF London gigs: missed 1, saw 1; from the 2011 debut album 27 Ben Waters & Charlie Watts Roll 'Em Pete Saw Ben Waters paying tribute to Ian Stewart w/ Charlie, in the A,B,C & D of BoogieWoogie in The Brook, Southampton. 28 The Avett Brothers Shame Saw both the Mumfords & the (lots better) Avetts at Beale St. 29 & Leon Russell Watching the River Flow Saw Bob (twice) & Leon, between their 70th birthdays. Spoke to Leon & got a nod! This is 1971 w/ Jim Keltner, Carl Radle 30 Andrew Combs Tennessee Time More Nashville cats; title from the 2010 EP w/ Jeremy Fetzer. 31 Jonny Corndawg ft Caitlin Rose Chevy Beretta Saw Jonny, then Paul & I got drunk at Caitlin Rose's Scala gig 32 John Mellencamp Jack and Diane John COUGAR played this classic, in Memphis. He was OK. 33 Ryan Adams Kindness Ry Cooder and Ry-an Adams had new albums. First outing in UK for this at Cadogan Hall in Nov. Probably Gig of the Year. 34 Wilco Ashes of American Flags New 2011 album, but my abiding memory is them playing this in Memphis as the crowd got texts about the Bin Laden raid. 35 Dawes How Far We've Come Also a bit Wilco-y: The Dawes (from LA like The Doors) album can sound like pastiche at first, but is genuinely Great. 36 The Antlers Hounds From Burst Apart, their atmospheric and rather nice album. 37 Emmylou Harris Every Grain Of Sand Emmylou for free on the lawns of Sydney was first 2011 gig! 38 Cass McCombs County Line First heard this via Richard of Margot & the Nuclear So&So's 39 Sarabeth Tucek Get Well Soon Saw her play w/ Luther Russell, supporting This Is The Kit. 40 Jose Feliciano Light My Fire Amazing guitarist and vocalist, saw him play at the Cafe. 41 Caitlin Rose Faithless Love JD Souther/Linda cover. Saw Caitlin several times (OK, six); saw this at Borderline (this is http://youtu.be/g5gbFXLEzms ) 42 Janis Ian My Autobiography Third time seeing Janis. To hear her play is magical. Read the prologue from her autobiography at http://tinyurl.com/6c7qrrm 43 The Chariot Inspiring live act, from , saw them at Brixton again. 44 Summer Camp Ghost Train Jeremy & Elizabeth were fab w/ just Jeremy's backing, at the Angel Crypt. Tks Howard! This is a Daytrotter session. 45 Stephen Malkmus Senator Saw Pavement last year & The Jicks this year, w/ new album. 46 Public Image Ltd. Rise Johnny played Guilfest! The whole band were effin' brilliant. 47 John Otway Bunsen Burner Otway sang this at his (59th) birthday gig at the Borderline. 48 Jonathan Wilson The Way I Feel Dawes' producer: grew to love the laid back vibe of this album 49 The Flaming Lips Do You Realize?? They played this in Memphis: amazing live show, w/ balloons 50 Bill Frisell Across The Universe Saw Bill at the Hi-Tone in Memphis and Jazz Alley in Seattle. Between these gigs, he recorded this, just as he promised me. 51 The National Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks Jan 2011, unamplified encore recorded at the gig we attended at the Enmore in Sydney. http://youtu.be/azzgL2ThcM8 52 New Order Love Will Tear Us Apart Brilliant at the Troxy minus Hooky but w/ Gillian back after 10 years; this is from the gig: http://youtu.be/wyAKu1mgUOU To sample the work of these artists in a more audio-visual manner, visit the you tube list: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8F001C7185EE4CE8