Best Vinyl of 2019 ROUND ONE!

Best Vinyl of 2019 - The Complete Round One List!

It's that time again when every cultural, entertainment, and music publication look back over the previous year and put together their "End of Year" lists. Some of these lists start populating our feeds and inboxes in early December. In the past, we have waited until January to post our list.  

This year, however, we are doing things a little different!

First, lets talk about the NEW RULES: If this is your first year reading our list, here are the selection parameters we use that will help give context to the list.

• First, our list only considers music released on Vinyl. There are several projects that appear at the top of many "Best Of" lists that we did not consider because they were not released on vinyl in 2019.  
• Second, in the past, although the albums were all chosen based on the music, we did use some of the aesthetic qualities such as album weight, multiple disc presentation, color variant, and album art to separate any close picks for the lists. We DID NOT do that this year.  Its all about the music baby!
• Thirdly, while we do choose many of these titles from our previous curated efforts throughout the year, this list goes way beyond our Record of the Month program. 
• Fourth, in previous years, our list was separated by genre to better represent B.T.R.C. and the curated design we present in our Record Store and to our subscribers throughout the year. This year, we started with 106 Albums for Round One!  This initial round is set up by B.T.R.C. Style rules or Genres. In Round TWO, We invited artists and guests that have appeared on the podcast over the last couple of years to vote for their favorite albums from the master list.  This pares the list down to 30 Albums. ROUND THREE pares the list down to the TOP 20 ALBUMS of 2019!
• Lastly, we used to present the albums in no particular order. This year, we are doing a traditional descending countdown. The TOP 20 will be counted down on a 2 part episode of The Blind Tiger Record Club Podcast that will air on December 31st and January 1st. 

After you listen to the podcast on New Years Day, we will launch our annual Best Vinyl of 2019 SALE. Almost every title on our list in all three rounds is available in our store and on sale for the entire month of January!

So, without further ado, we are very excited to present the Blind Tiger Record Club Best Vinyl of 2019 - Round One!

Singer Songwriter:

Lillie May - Other Girls
Grace Potter - Daylight
Marc Cohn & the Blind Boys of Alabama - Work To Do
Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors - Dragons
Tyler Childers - Country Squire
Ian Noe - Between the Country
Justin Townes Earle - The Saint of Lost Causes
Josh Ritter - Fever Breaks
Jade Bird - Self Titled
Ryan Bingham - American Love Song
Pedro the Lion - Phoenix
Caamp - By and By
The Lumineers - III
Bruce Springsteen - Western Stars
Lukas Nelson & The Promise of the Real - Turn Off The News (Build a Garden)
Dean Lewis - A Place We Knew
Lucette - Deluxe Hotel Room
Joy Williams - Front Porch
Shovels & Rope - By Blood
John Paul White - The Hurting Kind
Glen Hansard - This Wild Willing
Bruce Springsteen - Springsteen on Broadway
Bon Iver - ii
Dylan Leblanc - Renegade
Paul Cauthen - Room 41
Ron Pope - Work
Robert Ellis - Texas Piano Man
The Highwomen - The Highwomen
Hiss Golden Messenger - Terms of Surrender
Neil Young & Crazy Horse - Colorado
Jenny Lewis - On The Line
Big Thief - U.F.O.F.
Rhiannon Giddens - There Is No Other
Jeff Tweedy - Warm
Joseph - Good Luck, Kid

Alternative:

Alice Merton - Mint
Maggie Rogers - Heard It In A Past Life
Lily & Madeline - Canterbury Girls
The Strumbellas - Rattlesnake
Cage The Elephant - Social Cues
The Head & The Heart - Living Mirage
The Raconteurs - Help Us Stranger
Drivin N Cryin - Live the Love Beautiful
Barns Courtney - 404
Wilco - Ode To Joy
White Reaper - You Deserve Love
Foals - Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost: Pt.2
Brittany Howard - Jaime
Of Monsters and Men - Fever Dream
Dreamers - Launch, Fly, Land
The Black Keys - Lets Rock
Khalid - Free Spirit
Silversun Pickups - Widow Weeds
The National - I Am Easy To Find
Billie Eilish - When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
Strand of Oaks - Eraserland
Vampire Weekend - Father of the Bride
Noah Kahan - Busyhead
Better Oblivion Community Center - Better Oblivion Community Center
Pixies - Beneath the Eyrie
Jr Jr - Invocations / Conversations
Dan Luke & The Raid - Out Of The Blue
Bishop Briggs - Champion
K. Flay - Solutions
Bailen - Thrilled to Be Here

Rock:

Quaker City Night Hawks - QCNH
American Authors - Seasons
Catfish & the Bottlemen - The Balance
The Get Up Kids - Problems
Chris Shiflett - Hard Lessons
Sheryl Crow - Threads
Sturgill Simpson - Sound & Fury
Cold War Kids - New Age Norms 1
Coldplay - Everyday Life
Pete Yorn - Caretakers
Korn - The Nothing
X Ambassadors - Orion
The Regrettes - How Do You Love?
The Heavy - Sons
Band of Skulls - Love Is All You Love
Reignwolf - Hear Me Out
Rival Sons - Feral Roots
Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes - End of Suffering
Devil Wears Prada - The Act
Tool - Fear Inoculum
The Menzingers - Hello Exile
The Glorious Sons - A War On Everything

Jazz Soul & Blues:

Durand Jones & the Indications - American Love Call
Kelly Finnigan - The Tales People Tell
Mavis Staples - We Get By
The Black Pumas - Black Pumas
The Tesky Brothers - Run Home Slow
Beth Hart - War In My Mind
GA-20 - Lonely Soul
Emily King - Scenery
Los Coast - Samsara
Seratones - Power
Robert Randolph & The Family Band - Brighter Days
Michael Kiwanuka - Kiwanuka

Best Vinyl of 2019 Sale begins January 1st!  

Two-part podcast with Top 20 Airs New Years Eve and New Years Day!