WMNF 88.5 Tampa : Top 50 Most Played "CDs of 2008" 1) Radiohead - In Rainbows - ATO 2) Various Artists: Cheatin’ Heart: Tales of Lies and Love - BAAMO 3) Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal - Back Porch 4) Have Gun, Will Travel - Casting Shadows Tall As Giants - self release 5) Amanda Shaw - Pretty Runs Out - Rounder 6) Hayes Carll - Trouble In Mind - Lost Highway 7) Will Quinlan and the Diviners - Navasota - Ironweed 8) The Avett Brothers - Emotionalism - Ramseur 9) Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Raising Sand - Rounder 10) Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend - Beggars 11) Old 97s - Blame it On Gravity - New West 12) Amy Winehouse - Back to Black - Universal 13) Rebekah Pulley - Back To Boogaloo - Lucky Bird 14) James McMurtry - Just Us Kids – Lightning Rod 15) James Hunter - The Hard Way - Hear 16) The Shackeltons - The Shackeltons - Loveless 17) Lupe Fiasco - The Cool - Atlantic 18) Drive-By Truckers - Better Than Creation’s Dark - New West 19) Iron and Wine - Shepherd’s Dog – Sub Pop 20) Hoots & Hellmouth - Hoots & Hellmouth - Mad River

Back in the dark days of dialup and baud rates - aka the early 1990s - the Postcard From Hell mailing list was started as an online meeting place for fans, friends and followers of Belleville, Illinois alt.country stalwarts Uncle Tupelo. Taking its name from the band's song "Postcard," the digital community continued onward after Uncle Tupelo's split in 1994 with keen interest in the successive careers of Jeff Tweedy (Wilco) and Jay Farrar (Son Volt.)Fifteen years on, the list not only survived but has grown miles beyond people trading live tapes and talking about the band that inspired it. Like Uncle Tupelo's very essence —not quite punk rock, not quite country, enough classic rock influence, folk traditions in the mix, and plenty more bubbling up— the Postcard from Hell community is a true music fan mélange. It's a hive of talk centering on all kinds of music past and present. Of course, Son Volt, Wilco and Uncle Tupelo still come up plenty but so might Spoon, the Smiths, Seger & Silver Bullet, Slayer or Bessie Smith. There's discovery here, too. Postcard from Hell has been instrumental in helping point toward the future. Buzz from "Postcarders" —through album and show reviews posted to the list— has led many others to find great new music and proven concurrent with the increased power of the internet for bringing awareness to bands on the rise. Postcard from Hell has been a place to champion many great artists early on. Some of them might not know it (Neko Case, the Arcade Fire, Midlake) but there's plenty who do (Two Cow Garage, Centro-matic, Glossary) and will tell you so. All in all, Postcard has proven to be a place where people from all over the planet have taken one minute common thread and turned it into something well beyond that. It's a lot more like a backyard beer blast with a loud stereo and stash of good records than it is a bunch of people sending emails. 40 LEWIS, JENNY - ACID TONGUES (35, 7, 0)39 BROOD, ELLIOTT - MOUNTAIN MEADOWS (39, 6, 1)38 DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE - NARROW STAIRS (40, 7, 0)37 SHE & HIM - VOLUME 1 (40, 8, 1)36 DIRTBOMBS - WE HAVE YOU SURROUNDED (42, 6, 1)35 LADYHAWK - SHOTS (42, 10, 1)34 FELICE BROTHERS - FELICE BROTHERS (42.5, 8, 0)33 GUTTER TWINS - SATURNALIA (43, 8, 0)32 OBERST, CONOR - CONOR OBERST (45.5, 8, 2)31 HEAVENLY STATES - DELAYER (48, 8, 0)30 ESCOVEDO, ALEJANDRO - REAL ANIMAL (49, 9, 2)29 JURADO, DAMIEN - CAUGHT IN THE TREES (54, 11, 0)28 REM - ACCELERATE (59.5, 11, 0)27 TV ON THE RADIO - DEAR SCIENCE (64, 10, 1)26 NADA SURF - LUCKY (64, 10, 2)25 BLACK ANGELS - DIRECTIONS TO SEE A GHOST (65, 12, 1)24 RACONTEURS - CONSOLERS OF THE LONELY (66, 13, 1)23 CONSTANTINES - KENSINGTON HEIGHTS (67, 13, 1)22 VAMPIRE WEEKEND - VAMPIRE WEEKEND (67.5, 11, 1)21 CARLL, HAYES - TROUBLE IN MIND (68.5, 14, 1)20 BLACK KEYS - ATTACK AND RELEASE (69, 12, 1)19 FLEET FOXES - FLEET FOXES (73, 17, 1)18 BLITZEN TRAPPER - FURR (74, 12, 0)17 MY MORNING JACKET - EVIL URGES (79, 12, 2)16 DEXATEENS - LOST AND FOUND (80, 13, 4)15 EDWARDS, KATHLEEN - ASKING FOR FLOWERS (80, 15, 2)14 GASLIGHT ANTHEM - THE '59 SOUND (86.5, 15, 0)13 DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS - BRIGHTER THAN CREATION'S DARK (88.5, 17, 2)12 BON IVER - FOR EMMA FOREVER AGO (98, 14, 4)11 WESTERBERG, PAUL - 49:00 (99, 14, 3)10 QUINLAN, WILL - NAVASOTA (107, 18, 3)9 FRIGHTENED RABBIT - THE MIDNIGHT ORGAN FIGHT (119, 20, 3)8 BRITISH SEA POWER - DO YOU LIKE ROCK MUSIC? (121, 21, 1)7 CAVE, NICK - DIG!!! LAZARUS DIG!!! (125, 17, 4)6 CALEXICO - CARRIED TO DUST (129.5, 23, 2)5 DR. DOG - FATE (162, 23, 3)4 TWO COW GARAGE - SPEAKING IN CURSIVE (179, 30, 4)3 CENTRO-MATIC / SSG - DUAL HAWKS (231, 36, 5)2 HOLD STEADY - STAY POSITIVE (244.5, 41, 4)1 OKKERVIL RIVER - THE STAND-INS (302, 43, 9) http://rateyourmusic.com/list/postmeridiannew/postcard_from_hells_top_100_of_2008

*Classy Son Volt-styled alt.country* For those who regret the absence of Son Volt from the music scene (that's the original version, not Jay Farrar plus a bunch of hired hands) Will Quinlan's latest album will fall into the "must buy" category. Blessed (or cursed remember Nadine's Adam Reichmann never quite overcoming his uncanny vocal resemblance to Neil Young) with a voice the twin of Farrar's he and his band play the same brand of classy alt.country as their illustrious forebears. Forebears of all sorts are important to Quinlan, whether it's the legend "this machine kills fascists" on his guitar, the hints of GP and Neil and the like or, most importantly, the albums dedication to his late mother. Many of the songs, including the title track and the two versions of "Plastic Rosary (Winter 1970)", are remembrances of her, and subtle and moving ones to boot. Elsewhere he and the powerful Diviners turn their hand equally adeptly to driving Crazy Horse-styled rock ("South San Pedro") and mandolin powered introspection ("The Thieving Life"). "Navasota" sounds like an album that had to be made rather than one that could be. Maybe it's time to update that old saw, for Quinlan at least, as here he delivers four chords and the truth. http://www.americana-uk.com/auk/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=inde

Navasota #1 on WMNF for the second time since June release (first was July) We owe huge thanks to Randy Wynne and all @ WMNF for the great support they've given, as well as any friends that may have made requests. Thanks to all.

----- Original Message -----
From: Randy Wynne
To: Randy Wynne
Sent: Monday, December 08, 2008 12:51 PM
Subject: WMNF 88.5 Tampa playlist, December 8, 2008

WMNF 88.5 Tampa playlist, December 8, 2008

eclectic, independent and 70,000 watts

Randy Wynne PD, Flee MD, Mike B altMD 813-238-8001

ADDS IN BOLD

1) Will Quinlan and the Diviners - Navasota - Self –Release (8)

2) Vivian Girls - Vivian Girls - In the Red (7)

3) Kanye West - Graduation - Def Jam (7)

4) James McMurtry - Just Us Kids - Lightning Rod (6)

5) Of Montreal - Skeletal Lamping - Polyvinyl (6)

6) Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue - Warner (5)

7) Schools of Seven Members – Alpinisms - Ghostly (5)

8) Ladyhawke - Ladyhawke - Modular (5)

9) Taylor Swift - Fearless - Big Machine (5)

10) Rebekah Pulley & the Reluctant Prophets - Back To Boogaloo – Lucky Bird (4)

"This is about as crowded as this place gets," said CL's music critic, Wade Tatangelo, of the music-goers huddled under the red neon glow of the New World Brewery sign Saturday. It was only 10 p.m., and the bands had yet to start playing at the CD release party of Will Quinlan & The Diviners' album Navasota. It was the biggest draw I've seen for a local act, and it wasn't because Quinlan is a hyper-networker who knows everyone. Quite the contrary; Quinlan is reserved, seemingly keeping everything hidden under his black cap and horn rimmed glasses. Most of the people I spoke to were not friends of one of the bands, as is so often the case at local shows. They were simply fans who had followed Quinlan since his days with the Pagan Saints or before.
Matt Butcher started the night with a voice somewhere between Ben Folds and Death Cab for Cutie, and a style reminiscent of Dylan.
Have Gun, Will Travel played just before Quinlan, as their alt-country, harmonica infused, acoustic, barroom poetics are in tune with Quinlan's stylistic sensibility. The two bands even shared slide guitarist Scott Anderson for the night.
"Great set," a fan congratulated me after Have Gun finished.
"That wasn't me playing," I said.
"The girl looked confused.
"It's the pearl snaps," I said, pointing to my shirt.
"I was just telling you it was a great set so you would write it in the paper."
However she meant it, pearl-snap Western shirts were about as ubiquitous that night as Converse All-Stars, snapped onto the likes of Have Gun's bassist, Anderson and Quinlan himself. It is hard to say why pearl snap shirts fit so well with acoustic troubadours. Perhaps it's a way of paying homage to the music's country roots, but I like to think the fashion is more utilitarian. It provides a quick way for drunks to escape the confines of their shirts without having to fool with the complicated mechanics of buttons — which is important in the few seconds one has before passing out or when you're falling into bed with a partner who may second-guess her decision at any moment.
Along with pearl snaps, drinking has a huge presence in alt-country. Quinlan will be the first to admit that alcohol has influenced his music, particularly with limiting the success of the Pagan Saints. But it is partly his struggle with drinking that makes his music, and performances, so compelling. At the handful of Quinlan shows I've seen, he usually plays seated, navigating through a largely unrehearsed set, ordering shots of Jameson and calling friends to the stage to sing with him during the long interludes between songs. This was the first time I'd seen him on his feet, attacking the mic like a younger rocker and challenging the deck-stomping, clap-along energy of Have Gun.
"I'm not good at this in-between shit," Quinlan said during a brief pause between songs. "Thank y'all for coming out."
He's not much for talking, but music pours out of him like whiskey over ice. His voice sounds like Counting Crows, though less whiny and with more accessible lyrics that seem to be written as much at the end of empty bottles as the worn end of plastic rosaries.
No matter where the inspiration comes from, his voice is irrefutable. It climbs through the open air over New World, following you into the loudmouthed party district of Ybor City. It casts a poetic light on girls in tube dresses with heels going clank-clank on broken sidewalks, drifters lingering under the neon beer signs burning through smoky windows, bright yellow street cars carrying single passengers, lines of the well-dressed youth standing in line, waiting: His music is a language for understanding the passing details of life.