I'll start by saying this was damn good year for country music. There was releases from alt-country staples (Old 97s, Drive-By Truckers, Ryan Adams, Steve Earle) as well as exciting releases from some relatively young guns (Hayes Carll, Josh T. Pearson). I'm lucky to have been covering this type of music in a year so ripe with good releases and it was hard to widdle it down, but these are my top 5:
5. Ryan Adams:
Ashes and Fire, Capitol
After parting ways with his backing band, The Cardinals, and releasing some metal albums via his website that I don't think even Mandy Moore took the time to listen to, Mr. Adams found himself going back to the basics with his new album. I don't mean this in a bad way in any means, because his basics (great, insightful lyrics laid over mostly acoustic guitar) suit him just fine. It's a great autumnal record, and I look forward to having it in my rotation this winter.
Key Tracks:
Ashes and Fire
Chains of Love
Lucky Now
4. Robert Earl Keen:
Ready For Confetti, Lost Highway
Much like Mr. Adams, Keen harkens back to what makes him great in the first place: insightful lyrics that equally hit dreary wistfulness and wry country wit. He hits both of these amicably many times throughout this album and though it's certainly not his best album, there's few times throughout the album the he misses the bullseye.
Key Tracks:
Black Baldy Stallion
I Gotta Go
The Road Goes On and On
3. The Old 97s:
The Grand Theater, Volume Two; New West
Resulting from sessions in Dallas and Austin early last year, TGT V2 was the second set of songs after last year's The Grand Theatre, Volume One. Much like that album, this album finds the Old 97s perfectly executing the thing that made fall in love with them (and eventually alt country) in the first place. When Ken Bethea's guitar storms in with that signature dropped-down-two-steps tuning on "Brown Haired Daughter", you know the 97s are right back at what they do best. This album stands perfectly on it's own and even more interestingly as the companion to TGT V1 and these two albums are my favorite work of theirs since Wilco was still an "alt country" band. Anyways, just go them live already I'll see you there.
Key Tracks:
The Actor
No Simple Machine
How Lovely All It Was
2. Drive-By Truckers:
Go-Go Boots; ATO
The Truckers do here what they always do. Deliever an album rich with stark storytelling on Hood's part, great one liners on Cooley's, and sounds simultaneously fresh and indicative of the band. I don't have too much to say about this one DBT speaks for themselves in many ways. It's gritty, grimy, insightful, poignant,.... it kicks ass.
Key Tracks:
Go Go Boots
Cartoon Gold
Used To Be A Cop
Ray's Automatic Weapon
1. Hayes Carll:
KMAG YOYO; Lost Highway
Relative newcomer Hayes Carll firmly planted himself as a songwriter to be reckoned with by putting out the perfect country-rock record. It's got boot-stompin' ragers, whiskey-soaked honky tonkers, and genuinely sweet and insightful slow numbers. On this album, he's the perfect purveyor of country wit, drunken rambles, and genuinely sweet balladry. This is hands down the best beginning to end album of the year and I look forward to seeing where this guy goes from here as he's obviously found a formula that works to a tee.
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