Totally agree that there is lots of outstanding music over the last decade, you just have to get out of the "pop/rock" genre rut. In my recurring playlists, you'll find:
Eleni Mandell
Kelly Joe Phelps
The Decemberists
Bela Fleck
Jerry Douglas
Dave Alvin
Popa Chubby
Derek Trucks
Iris DeMent
Neko Case
Raul Malo
Mark O'Connor
Lucinda Williams
The BoDeans
Todd Snider
and many many more.
Todd Snider is good, but his lyrics and whole attitude is such smarmy liberal hate mongering - he would fit in as an MSNBC host - against conservatives he is hard to listen to.
Thanks for that list (notarized, of course?), I’ll have to check out the unfamiliar names.