Best albums of 2006 (so far)

I'm starting a list of my favorite albums of 2006 now, so I don't forget any. I'll keep adding to it as the year goes on.

• Andersen, Eric. Waves.
• Assorted. A Prairie Home Companion Original Motion Picture Soundtrack.
• Assorted. Classic Labor Songs from Smithsonian Folkways.
• Assorted. This Line is Singin.' Picket Line Songs from the Freedom Song Network.
• Cottars, The. Forerunner.
• Duhks, The. Your Daughters and Your Sons.
• Duhks, The. Migrations.
• Greencards, The. Weather and Water.
• Jencks, Joe. Rise As One.
• McCutcheon, John. Mightier than the Sword.
• Ollabelle. Riverside Battle Songs.
• Tres Chicas. Bloom, Red, and the Ordinary Girl.

Some peace songs

Sometimes I don't like songs, bumper stickers, etc. about peace or other issues because to encapsulate them like that tends to oversimplify them. However, here are two peace songs that I do like.

"Riverside" by Ollabelle

This is a song I've known pretty much all my life. If you don't recognize the title "Riverside," maybe you'll know it as "Study War No More." Though I've known the song as long as I can remember, it never made a big impression until I heard Ollabelle's rendition, which makes it a plaintive, wistful plea for peace.

We the People by Schooner Fare

Sometimes people making fun of folk music say things like, "Let's all hold hands and sing 'Kumbaya.'" Though this is said derisively, it touches on the power some folk music has to ignite a sense of universal love and inspiration. "We the People" is an upbeat song that gives me that feeling of wanting to go out and make the world a better place.