J. Tillman

He's probably best known now as the drummer for Fleet Foxes, but long before he joined that Seattle buzz band, J. Tillman had built up an impressive career as a solo artist in his own right. In 2009 he released two albums (his fifth and sixth) of plaintive, spare, haunting country-folk, January's Vacilando Territory Blues and September's Year In The Kingdom. Both feature guestwork from his Foxes bandmates, but the driving focus here is on quiet, even lonely sounding beauty—Neil Young's After The Gold Rush and Nick Drake are obvious reference points, or Jose Gonzalez if grown more somber and ethereal. Tillman's nearly whispered vocals seem to float over the songs, carried aloft by the strum of an acoustic guitar or a softly struck dulcimer.

Updated 10/28/2009