Recording information: Fairall, Raleigh, NC (11/2006-12/2007); The Hunting Cabin, WI (11/2006-12/2007).

Photographer: Gilbert Vernon.

Recorded in a cabin in Northern Wisconsin in the dead of winter in long sessions intermittently broken up for the chopping and gathering of firewood, FOR EMMA, FOREVER AGO is the impressive debut release from Bon Iver aka Justin Vernon. With warmly recorded acoustic guitars and double-tracked vocals, FOR EMMA sounds like vintage Elliot Smith playing in the Pink Mountaintops. Vernon's voice--alone worth the sticker price--is captivating and multifaceted, as it morphs from wavering falsettos to gospel emotings sometimes within a single phrase. Surprisingly for such an intimate indie record--and particularly for one whose main theme seems to be private anguish--FOR EMMA proved a vibrant seller, registering respectably on both the U.S. and U.K. album charts, garnering many inclusions near the top of 2008 critical favorites lists, and making an unlikely star out of Vernon.