The year 2011 doesn't end with one giant stand-out album, but a pool of admirable work. A list of 20 favorites would have been so much easier. This list was dictated by my mood during one week in December. Ask me in a month, and it could be different.

Ha Ha Tonka always comes to entertain and that's just what they did Friday night at the Firebird.

Call the sound of Ha Ha Tonka folky indie rock; call it Southern rock; call it Ozark-steeped-blues-rock. What the labels don't convey is the band's sense of raw power and four-part harmonies. On Friday night, Ha Ha Tonka broke out the harmony and more.

A freight train barrels out of the drum kit. Spanning the distance between mandolin and bass guitar, this rhythmic drive sustains Ha Ha Tonka's delicate harmonies.

According to a pretty good authority, a Fleetwood Mac reunion is just around the corner.

Friday night at Off Broadway, a close to capacity crowd was treated to a barrage of sights and sounds translated to energy that passed from person to person like the common cold.

All photos by Ben Mudd.

On Friday night, amid tornado sirens and bouts of torrential down pour, college frat boys, rained-out Cardinal fans and music revelers alike made it to Off Broadway for a whiskey-filled tribute to Missouri roots and southern rock.

What's a surefire method of putting a fresh spin on an album? Try recording it in a 200-year-old barn. Ha Ha Tonka did just that for its newest release, Death of a Decade.

Photo highlights from the first afternoon of the 12th annual KDHX and Twangfest Day Parties at South By Southwest. Parties went down at Jovita's in Austin. All photos by Chris Bay. See more at my Flickr stream.

It seems odd to describe an evening as "gentle" which includes a stomping interlude of quasi-southern rock, but that feeling dominates when recalling the night spent with Casey Reeves, Ha Ha Tonka and Rocky Votolato at Off Broadway.

All photos by Kate McDaniel. See more at my Flickr stream. 

With its latest album, Novel Sounds of the Nouveau South, Ha Ha Tonka invites listeners on a literate and rocking tour of the Southern Midwestern past and present.