As most of you know, I’m a music fan. Always have been. And this year, there have been some great musical releases. I’ve written about several of them already, but here are the early contenders for my annual Album of the Year award. (For previous annual music reviews, click here and here and here.) Note: all of these purchases have been made legally. I used a holiday iTunes gift card for some of these, but I found most of them either at the Amazon MP3 Store (where you can often find new releases for as low as $3.99) or eMusic (where I end up paying around .10 cents per song).

Here are some of my favorite albums of 2009, in no particular order:

• Great Lake Swimmers, Lost Channels – This Canadian folk trio has a Jayhawks-esque quality about them. With its lush harmonies and a fresh, airy tone that rivals 1970s AM radio, I’ve found this album to be the perfect spring listen. Download this: Walking On A Line and Everything Is Moving So Fast.
  

• Justin Townes Earle, Midnight at the Movies – The son of country rocker Steve Earle and the namesake of Dad’s mentor and friend, Townes Van Zant, Justin Townes Earle has produced a collection of songs that stand on their own merit. Midnight at the Movies, Earle’s sophomore effort, displays the young artists singer / songwriter wares. The best of the lot is the biographical confession Mama’s Eyes: “I am my father’s son/ I’ve never known when to shut up/I ain’t foolin’ no one/I am my father’s son.” But this album works precisely because Earle has determined not to trade on the family name. Download this: Mama’s Eyes, Can’t Hardly Wait.

• Steve Earle, Townes – I guess you can tell I’ve been in an alt-country mood for most of the year, huh? Not to be outdone by Junior, the elder Earle has produced a stellar set of songs in tribute of Townes Van Zant, his mentor and good friend. The result is a beautiful and heartfelt album. But make no mistake: this is a Steve Earle album. His trademark growl and bluegrass-rock reinvigorate these songs and will hopefully make them accesible to a whole host of new fans. Download this: Pancho and Lefty, Mr. Mudd and Mr. Gold (w/ Justin Townes Earle)

• M. Ward, Hold Time – I came across this one on eMusic back in February and it’s quickly become one of my favorites. The eMusic review says it well: this is meta-music, music about music and the balm it can be for those of us who give ourselves to it. For Ward, music is present in the crevaces of life; in pain, in joy, even in death. To that end, this is an album for all seasons. I love it. You’ll see me waxing eloquent about this album again in December, I promise you. Download this: Never Had Nobody Like You, Rave On, Epistimology, Fisher of Men…just get the whole thing.

• Ben Kweller, Changing Horses – I just realized that almost every one of these albums so far has been country or alt-country and each one is superior to most of the dreck coming out of Nashville these days. It’s a shame that most people’s only association with country music is the overproduced power pop that Music Row develops. Anyway, this album is Kweller’s exploration of country / western music. Known more as a Ben Folds-ish type artist, these songs may seem at first a stretch to the Kweller enthusiast, but his easy voice fits comfortably within the genre and the songs never seem forced. Download this: Sawdust Man, Wantin’ Her Again.

• Gomez, A New Tide – Gomez is a rare band these days. They’ve remained intact for more than a decade and each of the five band members contributes to the song writing process. What’s more, three members share lead vocalist duties, which leads to albums that – in the eyes of some critics – are uneven and incoherent. But this same variety is the band’s greatest strength. A New Tide has a light atmosphere about it that makes it a bit more mellow than previous releases. Download this: Airstream Driver, Natural Reacation.

That’s it for now. I’ve left out the new Springsteen and U2 albums; if you know anything about me, you know that these have been spinning in copious fashion around our house for the past several months. Besides, I’ve already written about them this year anyway. Anything else I’ve missed? What are you listening to right now?