After a fractious election year that saw misogyny and bigotry woven into the political discourse, some took comfort in the hope for art becoming energized in the years ahead with the fire of resistance. Some of the most memorable albums of 2016, however, offered magnetic expressions of a musician’s personal journey, whether via guitarist Jeff Parker finding inspiration in his homes of Los Angeles and Chicago in the “The New Breed” or JD Allen reexamining the broader significance of the blues with his trio album “Americana.”