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All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen shares the albums and songs that stood out even if some were more peaceful than explosive.

This year, the World Cafe host fell for an eclectic mix of albums, including gems by Courtney Barnett, Kamasi Washington and Tame Impala.

For one listener, it was a good year for albums that were big and loud, but a few quieter, introspective picks snuck onto Robin Hilton's list as well.

The best folk and roots music of the year, from quiet acoustic solo records to stomping shout-alongs, focused on community, elements of ancestry and stories that unite us.

The host of All Songs Considered shares the albums he loved this year. Many of Bob Boilen's favorite albums of 2013 were danceable. Many were intimate. Some managed to be both at once.

If one defining thread ran through 2016's best albums, it was an air of mystery: a sense of myth, otherworldliness, storytelling ambition or multimedia wizardry.

It was a great year for lyricists, says All Songs Considered host Bob Boilen. His favorite albums of the year are proof of that richness.

2017 was a year of chronic whiplash, not only for the ceaseless horror show of news headlines, but for the overwhelming number of great albums and songs that were released.

Compiling a Top 10 list for Folk Alley is difficult because it wears so many different musical hats. Each hour, the music stream from WKSU presents more than just the typical folksinger, so care was taken to create an all-encompassing list of great songs. The songwriter still prevailed, though — probably because there are so many of them.

These tunes from 2011 each exemplify how great singers and great songs fit together. Hear music featuring vocalists like Kurt Elling, Eliane Elias and Norah Jones.