Bobby Bare Jr. + Blue Giant

Though he has a lengthy discography from which to cull highlights, Bobby Bare Jr's banner year may well be 2010. In June, Sugar Hill released Twistable, Turnable Man, a Shel Silverstein tribute album produced by Bare and his father, with a vocal lineup that includes Todd Snider, Black Francis and Andrew Bird. Now, Bare has unveiled A Storm, A Tree, My Mother’s Head, a handsome solo album that includes contributions from his father (who cowrote two songs with Junior), indie-pop singer David Vandervelde (who coproduced) and four fifths of My Morning Jacket, here transformed into Bare’s backing group.