Amid the recent and exciting “Shakedowns” amongst the currently touring Grateful Dead threaded projects, I had the good fortune of swapping some very interesting and eloquent emails with my friend Jeff Mattson.

After years at the helm of The Zen Tricksters, a stint with Phil Lesh and Friends, a terrific and on-going run with Donna Jean Godchaux and her various recent incarnations, Mattson now steps into John Kadlicek’s shoes with the freight train that is the Dark Star Orchestra.

Ah yes it is that time of year again. It is the time of year when critics put out their best of lists. There will be more lists this year with the new decade thing going on (shameless plug for my next article).  Here is what I came up with for this year, enjoy.

Top 5 Albums that I listened to in 2009

1. Rural Alberta Advantage –  Hometowns

2. Modest Mouse – No One is First and You’re Next

3. Peter Bjorn and John – Living Things

4. Gomez – A New Tide

No instrument has spoken in more voices to more people than the guitar, and over the past decade no festival has sought out the modulations in those voices and the range of the guitar's cultural expressions than the New York Guitar Festival.

Following its success since 1999 (with rave reviews in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Jazz Times as well as sister festivals in Urbana, Illinois and Adelaide Australia), the New York Guitar Festival announces its tenth season of concert performances, January 8 though February 4, 2010.