Well, let’s be honest…2016 was a difficult year for many reasons, but I also had moments of joy that will stay with me forever, so it wasn’t wholly bad. All and all it was a mixed bag of emotions, many highs and many lows.  I was able to check the number one thing off my bucket list with a fantastic trip to London in May.

I had many great moments in music throughout the year as well, between an amazing Violent Femmes concert (one of my all time faves), where they played a song they wrote 25 years ago, that they had never played live before because of the controversial subject matter. I sent them a Facebook message before the show and asked them to play it that evening at the show, and they did, going out as a special request, talk about elation!! So of course that made the list. It was a true joy to meet Peter Frampton and Michael Franti, both of whom were absolute gems! We also lost a handful of genius musicians this year, who can never be replicated or replaced. Then came the election, and I needed some songs of hope for my weary soul.

So that’s how my top ten list came about, some songs that are hopeful, some dark or sad, some fun, and others that just spoke to me for personal reasons.  This isn’t a list of new songs that came out this year, but songs that ended up in heavy rotation on my playlist for a myriad of reasons in 2016.

1. Paolo Nutini- Iron Sky

 2. Chris Stapleton- Traveller

 3. Violent Femmes- Big Car

 4. Cigarettes After Sex- Affection

 5. Citizen Cope- Healing Hands

6. Alex Clare- Hummingbird

 7. David Bowie- Space Oddity

 8. Alex Turner- Piledriver Waltz

9. Lake Street Dive- You Go Down Smooth

10. Leonard Cohen- Hallelujah