Best of 2008

This is my Finaa list of the year. The Truckers are #1 and went wire to wire in the top spot. No small accomplishment. Give me your thoughts and your top picks:

1) Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
2) The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
3) Kaey Chambers & Shane Nicholson - Rattlin' Bones
4) Lucinda Williams - Little Honey
5) Tift Merrit - Another Country
6) Hayes Carll - Trouble in Mind
7) Reckless Kelly - Bulletproof
8) Old 97's - Blame it on Gravity
9) Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
10) Chris Knight - Heart of Stone
11) Kaiser Chiefs - Off with Their Heads
12) The Steeldrivers - The Steeldrivers
13) Ryan Adams & the Cardinals - Cardinology
14) Old Crow Medicine Show - Tennessee Pusher
15) My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
16) The Waybacks - Loaded
17) Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
18) Band of Heathens - Self-Titled
19) Shawn Mullins - Honeydew
20) The Whigs - Mission Control
21) Ashton Shepherd - Sounds so Good
22) Jaon Boland & the Straggler - Comal County Blue
23) J. J. Grey & Mofro - Orange Blossoms
24) Okkervil River - The Stand Ins
25) Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound
26) The Beautiful Loser Society - Aim Low
27) Yarn - Empty Pockets
28) Griffin House - Flying Upside Down
29) The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
30) John D. Hale - Lost
31) Drew Emmitt - Long Road
32) Infamous Stringdusters - Self-Titled
33) Wild Sweet Orange - We Have Cause to be Uneasy
34) Cherryholmes - III
35) R.E.M. - Accelerate
36) Justin Townes Earle - The Good Life
37) Joey & Rory - The Life of a Song
38) Ray Lamontagne - Gossip in the Grain
39) B. B. King - One Kind of Favor
40) British Columbians - Self-Titled
41) Teddy Thompson - A Piece of What You Need
42) The Waifs - Sundirtwater
43) The Bridge - Blind Mam's Hill
44) Brett Dennen - Hope for the Hopeless
45) Donna The Buffalo - Silverlined
46) Heybale - The Last Country Album
47) Tejas Brothers - Self - Titled
48) Railroad Earth - Amen Corner
49) Kathleen Edwards - Asking for Flowers
50) Sierra Hull - Secrets
51) South Austin Jug Band - Strange Invitation
52) Eleven Hundred Springs - Country Jam
53) Jim Lauderdale - Honey Songs
54) Dr. Dog - Fate
55) The Stills - Oceans Will Rise
56) Hank Williams III - Damn Right Rebel Proud
57) Chatham County Line - IV
58) Sonny Landreth - From the Reach
59) Graham Lindsey - We are All Alone in This Together
60) Have Gun Will Travel - Casting Shadows Tall as Giants

Best of 2008 So Far

This is my Fourth list of the year. It is based on releases through August 19th. The Truckers are still #1 but almost got knocked off by The Hold Steady who debuted at #2. The other top debuts are Reckless Kelly at #5, Alejandro Escovedo at #7 and Chris Knight at #8. Anyway as always leave comments and tell me what an idiot or genius I am. I've been called a lot worse. The list follows:

1) Drive By Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark
2) The Hold Steady - Stay Positive
3) Tift Merrit - Another Country
4) Hayes Carll - Trouble in Mind
5) Reckless Kelly - Bulletproof
6) Old 97's - Blame it on Gravity
7) Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
8) Chris Knight - Heart of Stone
9) My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges
10) The Waybacks - Loaded
11) Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend
12) Shawn Mullins - Honeydew
13) The Whigs - Mission Control
14) Ashton Shepherd - Sounds so Good
15) Band of Heathens - Self-Titled
16) Drew Emmitt - Long Road
17) Infamous Stringdusters - Self-Titled
18) Wild Sweet Orange - We Have Cause to be Uneasy
19) Sonny Landreth - From the Reach
20) Justin Townes Earle - The Good Life
21) Griffin House - Flying Upside Down
22) The Raconteurs - Consolers of the Lonely
23) The Steeldrivers - The Steeldrivers
24) John D. Hale - Lost
25) Jakob Dylan - Seeing This
26) John Mellencamp - Life, Death, Love and Freedom
27) Teddy Thompson - A Piece of What You Need
28) The Waifs - Sundirtwater
29) Donna The Buffalo - Silverlined
30) Gary Louris - Vagabonds
31) Heybale - The Last Country Album
32) Kathleen Edwards - Asking for Flowers
33) Sierra Hull - Secrets
34) South Austin Jug Band - Strange Invitation
35) Eleven Hundred Springs - Country Jam
36) Jim Lauderdale - Honey Songs
37) Dr. Dog - Fate
38) The Stills - Oceans Will Rise
39) Black Crowes - Warpaint
40) Beck - Modern Guilt
41) Del McCoury Band - Moneyland
42) Chatham County Line - IV
43) Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet - Self-Titled
44) Have Gun Will Travel - Casting Shadows Tall as Giants
45) Allison Moorer - Mockingbird
46) R.E.M. - Accelerate
47) Railroad Earth - Amen Corner
48) Widespread Panic - Free Somehow
49) John Hiatt - Same Old Man
50) Stephen Malkmus - Real Emotional Trash
51) The Avett Brothers - Gleam II
52) Rhonda Vincent - Good Thing Goin'
53) Ben Sollee - Learning to Bend
54) Willie Nelson & Wynton Marsalis - Two Men with the Blues
55) Ralston Bowles - Rally at the Texas Hotel
56) Paul Thorn - Long Way from Tupelo
58) George Strait - Troubadour
59) American Gun - The Mean and the Machine
60) Twilight Hotel - Highway Prayer

Honorable Mention: Whisky Myers, The Weepies, Shelby Lynn, Wes Charlton, Jeb Loy Nicholls, Mando Saenz, North Mississippi All-Stars, Tim O'Brien, Black Mountain, Carlene Carter, James McMurtry, Willie Nelson, Jackie Greene, Langhorne Slim, The Hollyfelds, Malcolm Holcombe, Jason Collett, Firewater, Tab Benoit, Marah

Settin'' the Woods on Fire: This Week's Charts

This is a periodic feature in which I post on AWT the top albums and debuts in the airplay charts from Americana Music Assoc., XM Cross Country and FMQB Non-Commercial Adult Alternative chart. I haven't posted the charts in six weeks because there was not a ton of movement for a while. Now that here have been a rash of Spring releases things are shaken up a bit. Links to all of these charts are found to the right in the AWT favorite links list.

Americana Music Association - Airplay Week of July 7th
1) John Hiatt- Same Old Man
2) Hayes Carll - Trouble in Mind
3) Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal
4) Band of Heathens - Self Titled
5) James McMurtry - Just us Kids
6) Reckless Kelly - Bulletproo
7) Emmylou Harris - All I Intended to Be
8) Old 97's - Blame it on Gravity
9) Eleven Hundred Springs - Country Jam
10) John Mellancamp - Life Death Love and Freedom

Debuts
29) Hacienda Brothers - Arizona Motel
30) Honeybrowne - Mile by Mile

XM Ch.12 Cross Country - Cross Checking week of July 7th

1) James McMurtry - Just Us Kids
2) Reckless Kelly - Bulletproof
3) Hayes Carll - Trouble In Mind
4) Brendon James Wright & The Wrongs - Self-Titled
5) Band Of Heathens - Self-Titled
6) Pear Ratz - Holier Than Thou
7) Shurman - Waiting For The Sunset
8) Stone Coyotes - VIII
9) Van Morrison - Keep It Simple
10 Jason Ringenberg - Best Tracks & Side Tracks

Debuts
44) Alejandro Escovedo - Real Animal

FMQB AAA Non-Commercial - Airplay Week of July 7th

1 MY MORNING JACKET -Evil Urges
2 COLDPLAY - Viva La Vida
3 ALEJANDRO ESCOVEDO - Real Animal
4 ELVIS COSTELLO - Momofuku
5 BIG BLUE BALL - Big Blue Ball
6 AIMEE MANN - Smilers
7 AMOS LEE - Last Days At The Lodge
8 DEATH CAB FOR CUTIE - Narrow Stairs
9 FLEET FOXES - Self-Titled
10 R.E.M. - Accelerate

Debuts:
29) Adele - 19

RIYL Reckles Kelly - Try John D. Hale and Austin Collins

For those of you who like their new album as much as I do, read the Austin Chronicle article on Reckless Kelly and the The 9513 review of Bulletproof. However, if you like the new Reckless Kelly I think you will also like two other artists starting to make some noise on the Texas scene. One is Austin Collins out of his Namesake city in the Lone Star State and The other is The John D. Hale band.

The John D. Hale Band is from Iowa but they are gaining notoriety on the Texas and Southwest circuit. In fact Ray Randall says they are practically the House Band at Americana Roots which is high praise indeed. Their album Lost will appeal to fans of the more Rocking side of Reckless Kelly. Although they have more country undertones than Reckless Kelly. John D. Hale's musical pedigree was formed early when his older brother gave him a Robert Earl Keen album when he was just 10 years old. He subsequently immersed himself in REK and his kindred spirits and the rest as they say, is history. He especially took after Keens ability to spin an outlaw tale. On "Pistol in Each Hand," a drug deal gone wrong song he sings "He rolled one while he waited for them to gun him down." Two other songs in this mold involve jealous lovers, "Love Pulled the Trigger" and "LA County." "Stake our Claim Again" (See video below.) is a lament song in the vain of Chris Knight that addresses the plight of the rural farmer, "Should we cash the farm on in. Just move on down the line. Tell 'em all to go to hell and buy us a little more time." The album also has a hilarious hidden track called "The Local First Assembly Church of Crystal Methodists." A church that reads from the Book of Jerry Jeff and has commandment like "Don't covet your neighbors weed and pass it to the left."

Austin Collins will appeal to those who like Reckless Kelly's more country singer-songwriter tunes, of which there aren't many on Bulletproof. Collins has always been interested in songwriting but upon graduation from college he tried to be practical an d became a financial analyst for a while. Being in the Corporate Finance and Accounting field myself, I was glad to here that we all aren't complete bean counter nerds. (Collins had the good sense to get out though.) Collins songwriting is powerful and engaging, and primarily addresses the complexities of relationship on Roses are Black. This songwriter certainly has staying power.