American Songwriter's Top Photos of 2010

Taken during this year’s Jazz Fest in the haze of New Orleans’ legendary Preservation Hall, My Morning Jacket joins forces with the Preservation Hall Jazz Band as part of a memorable show. Photo by Laura Brown.

Photographer Dylon Walker shot this great photo of The Avett Brothers entering the stage dressed as mummies for their Halloween show at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville.

With her new album’s release on the horizon, legendary queen of rockabilly Wanda Jackson sat for a few photos for American Songwriter at Jack White’s Third Man Records. The portraits, taken by photographer Jo McCaughey, were featured in our November/December issue.

Musician, leather-craftsman and good friend of American Songwriter Jonny Corndawg posed for a few portraits during the 2010 Record Store Day festivities at Grimey’s New And Pre-Loved Music.

Matt & Kim’s energy is insane, and this photo captures that perfectly. Taken at their Nashville concert in September by Katie Chow.

In November, Langhorne Slim dropped by AS to to play us a few tunes while in town to play a show later that evening. I caught this under the fall foliage outside the offices.

This live shot of Yeasayer was featured in our November/December issue and is one of my favorite pics of the year. The band was performing to a sold-out crowd during the Next Big Nashville music festival. Photo by Ben Azevedo.

Photographer Debbie VanStory caught this fantastic live shot of Taylor Swift performing at The Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Brenden Benson and country singer Ashley Monroe duet during one of the Sessions we co-sponsored with local production studio Lake Fever. This photo later ran in our January/February shutter spread.

Hayley Williams of Paramore during a September concert in Nashville’s Municipal Auditorium. Photo by Ben Azevedo.

In a back alley, immediately after their packed daytime show at this year’s SXSW in Austin, TX, members of Dr. Dog flipped through copies of American Songwriter, searching for a Shutter spread that featured the band in the March/April issue.

In the whirlwind of Academy Awards week (prior to winning the Oscar for Best Actor for his role in Crazy Heart), Jeff Bridges posed for this shot which would later become the cover image of our March/April 2010 issue. Taken by photographer Dustin Cohen in the back rooms of a New York dive bar, this shoot produced what I consider to be some of the best portraits American Songwriter has ever published.

San Francisco folk outfit Vetiver outside of our offices on Music Row. They were in midst of a cross-country tour and stopped by to record a few songs for our Sessions series.

Actress & musician Zooey Deschanel performing at Bonnaroo with She And Him. Photo by Laura Dart.

I loved how this particular image, which was essentially a test shot, turned out for Chromeo during our photoshoot with them in downtown Nashville for the November/December 2010 issue. Taken by Laura Dart.

Elvis Perkins (center, with mug) and his bandmates take a break outside of Lake Fever studios on Nashville’s Music Row. The band was in town for a show, and spent the afternoon prior recording a few songs that later became part of our Sessions series.

I love this photo; the reflection of the crowd, the feel of it all. New Orleans Jazz Fest 2010. Photo taken by Laura Brown.

In November, we ran some beautiful shots online of Florence and the Machine at Los Angeles’ Wiltern Theatre. She’s pretty flawless. Photo by Debbie Van Story.

Taken in the back halls of Atlanta’s Tabernacle Theater, French megastars Phoenix posed for photographer Julia Robbs during our cover photoshoot for this years’ July/August issue.

I was with Phosphorescent backstage at their Ryman debut in Nashville, midway through their North American tour supporting headliner David Gray. I took this photo of lead singer Matthew Houck running through Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”, which he later performed with David on stage as part of the night’s encore.

This was another favorite photo of mine from our cover photoshoot (March/April 2010) with Jeff Bridges in New York City. I loved how the afternoon light really set the scene for many of these portraits we were able to publish. Photo by Dustin Cohen.

Seattle songwriter David Bazan came by the American Songwriter offices back in March to record a few songs as part of our Sessions series. Photos taken by Christy Byrd.

Photographer Nina Westervelt joined the band Dr. Dog in upstate New York while they recorded their latest album, Shame, Shame. Among many of the photos from her collection featured in our March/April issue, this one was a favorite. Porch singin’ and a dobro seem pretty perfect.