I Know What Mr. Eddy's Going to Say, But Let's List the Best Country / Alt.country Albums of 2003 So Far

so that's
1. Over the Rhine, Ohio
2. Allison Moorer, Show

There's a couple of Canadian alt.country albums that I'm digging so far this year.
One by Cuff the Duke and the other by Luther Wright and the Wrongs.
I haven't even heard of the albums you mention, but I'm going to check them out.

is that Luther Wright record the one where they do all of Pink Floyd's The Wall in bluegrass style? Cause I keep thinking about getting that and I never do.

Anyone heard the new Marty Stuart? It's supposed to be hella great and is #1 on my list to hear....

No. The new Luther Wright record is brand new, as in released last week. All originals except one Bill Monroe cover. Called Guitar Pickin' Martyrs.

Aw cool. I'll have to look into that.

*notices*: hey, is it just me or is it just us in here? Maybe all the music people who listen to country music are just out having fun tonight or something...or (gasp) maybe Hall and Oates IS more important than the entire genre of country music!

Hall and Oates and Ray Parker Jr as well, much more worthy of chin-scratching.

I haven't heard much by way of alt-country this year, but The Pine Valley Cosmonauts' "The Executioner's Last Songs Vol. II and III" is an excellent album (essentially a compilation benefit album, with the Jon Langford-led PVCs as backing group).

Over the Rated = the missus' nickname for OtR (I've never heard them)

I like the new Randy Weeks, the new Scott Miller and the new Chris Knight, but only the Randy Weeks one isn't a letdown from previous performance. Tim Easton's album is fine, but not exciting. June Carter Cash's forthcoming posthumous disc is pretty great, and not just because she's dead.

I dunno, I'm so bored of most of these guys and gals. They need to call Mutt Lange or the Neptunes or someone. Not-every-song-needs-to-be-the-same-tempo.

Andy, that's a damn funny joke about OtR, but I hadn't ever actually heard of them before I got the CD in the mail, so maybe it's funnier if you're into alt.country. Either way, though, it's not applicable to the new record, which is deep and harsh and sexy and mythic, as well as having more lovely melodies on it than one can rightly ignore.

But big ups to yr missus for that one.

I wish I could contribute more to this thread cuz I love this "genre" but I haven't heard much this year. I'll check out the suggestions. Lucinda's song "Broken Guitar Strings Bleeding Fingers" or whatever it's called is awesome. Also, there's a guy from NJ called John Eddie who released a CD on Lost HIghway called "Who the hell is John Eddie?" and it's terrific. More rootsy/folk than alt_coountry but whatever. I'm looking forward to hearing Decoration Day by the Drive by Truckers. I'm also patiently awaiting new stuff from Slobberbone, Marah, Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers, and the Old 97's.

I sure like them Cuff the Duke boys. I saw them open for the Sadies last April. Hot damn.
Shit. I've almost stopped listening to Country music altogether. I used to like it a lot, but then it sorta got out, and I got flooded with it and almost nothing else, and now I have a really hard time mustering up the cajones to put anything on.

You say you already know what I'm gonna say, but what the heck.

Number One by a Country Mile:
Brooks and Dunn

Also rans (in no particular order):
cracker (mostly-covers EP-or-whatever)
dusty drake
*the songs of hank williams jr.* tribute comp
big al downing
hoosier hotshots reissue
alison moerer live CD
nashville west reissue
kentucky headhunters
terri clark
deanna carter

terri clark is awesome, I like her live about a million times more than I like her records.
You ever seen her live? She's sorta real hot, in that brawny Alberta ranch-hand kinda way.

new Marty Stuart!
myth-obsessed and overwrought
yet still so backroads

I'm using a broad definition of "country" here, but:

1. Decoration Day -- Drive-By Truckers
2. Red Dirt Road -- Brooks & Dunn
3. Till the Wheels Fall Off -- Amy Rigby
4. Failer -- Kathleen Edwards
5. World Without Tears -- Lucinda Williams

amen to decoration day ... & must sit down & listen to amy rigby's new one. she's excellent live (though it's too bad her self-released live disc late last year didn't include her rendition of i'd go the whole wide world, which she wasn't playing when i saw her in little rock in 1/01.

eagerly awaiting the new one by trailer bride. the last one was, to me, a marked drop-off from their first 3, but we'll see.

new chris knight is great
(love the one where he has died
halfway thru the song)

gibson brothers good,
del mccoury band better
(old bluegrass guys rule)

charlie robison's
live disc is the ROCKINGEST
more later on that

townes van zandt disc with
early demos ('66!)
is unparalleled

dolly tribute disc
way too tame (except for me'
shelle n'denge o')

Should I get Brad Paisley and Patti Loveless' new efforts? I've just seen videos...Paisley's "Celebrity" (I think that's what it's called) is actually most enjoyable for George from Seinfeld's outburst demanding a soy latte rather than for the song itself. I think the nice Loveless song/video I saw was from her new(upcoming?) cd...

Have there been any other than Jayhawks and Wilco?

steve: brad paisley's got
aykroyd belushi goodman
singing backup = NO!

I too was intrigued
but I gotta say thank you
to the AMG

geir: you are funny
but you are out of your league
here, as usual

revive for end of the year lists, I think this is my album list in order and my singles list in order although order is still shifting around, alt.country disqualified sez me:

Anthony Hamilton, Comin’ From Where I’m From
Marty Stuart, Country Music
Michelle Malone, Stompin’ Ground
Sara Evans, Restless
Allison Moorer, Show
Charlie Robison, Live
Pat Green, Wave on Wave
Robert Earl Keen, Farm Fresh Onions
Brooks & Dunn, Red Dirt Road
The Del McCoury Band, Here Comes the Night (might get replaced by Flaco Jimenez' Squeeze Box King)

Gary Allan, “Songs About Rain”
Mindy Smith, “Jolene”
Bubba Sparxxx, “She Tried”
Montgomery Gentry, “Hell Yeah”
Martina McBride, “This One’s For the Girls”
Franky Perez and the Highway Saints, “Something Crazy”
Terri Clark, “I Wanna Do It All”
Kenny Chesney, “There Goes My Life”
Nappy Roots, "Roun' the World"
Brad Paisley, “Little Moments” (might get replaced by Wynonna, "Sometimes I Feel Like Elvis")

I really like the Lyle Lovett alb and Bottleneck. But listened to less country this year than probably every before, and with no good reason, except maybe that I listened to less music period this year than ever before (except like pre-ado years).

Here's what I decided on (though I discounted ZZ Top, Buck 65, Calexico, Winfred E Eye, My Morning Jacket, and who knows how many other albums for "not being country enough" and the Dixie Chicks double live CD/DVD "for being too long to devote time to yet plus I just got a DVD player and haven't decided if that part should count"):

BEST COUNTRY ALBUMS 2003
1. Brooks & Dunn *Red Dirt Road* (Arista)
2. Kentucky Headhunters *Soul* (Audium)
3. Merle Haggard *Like Never Before* (Hag)
4. Dwight Yoakam *Population Me* (Audium)
5. Drive-By Truckers *Decoration Day* (New West)
6. Toby Keith *Shock'n Y'all* (DreamWorks)
7. Deana Carter *I'm Just a Girl* (Arista)
8. Terri Clark *Pain to Kill* (Mercury)
9. Cracker *Countrysides* (Cooking Vinyl import)
10. Alison Moorer *Show* (Universal)

BEST COUNTRY SINGLES 2003
1. Faith Hill "One" (Warner Bros.)
2. Toby Keith "I Love This Bar" (DreamWorks)
3. David Banner "Cadillac on 22's" (Universal)
4. Brooks & Dunn "You Can't Take the Honky Tonk Out of the Girl" (Arista)
5. Merle Haggard "That's the News" (Hag)
6. Bubba Sparxxx featuring the Yonder Mountain String Band "Comin' Round" (Interscope)
7. Kid Rock featuring Alison Moerer "Picture" (Universal)
8. Gary Allan "Songs About Rain" (MCA)
9. Martina McBride "This One's For the Girls" (RCA)
10. Kenny Chesney "Big Star" (BNA)

BEST COUNTRY REISSUES 2003
1. *Stomp and Swerve: American Music Gets Hot* (Archeophone)
2. *Down in the Basement: Joe Bussard's Treasure Trove of Vintage 78s, 1926-1937* (Old Hat)
3. Hoosier Hot Shots *The Definitive Hoosier Hot Shots Collection* (Collector's Choice)
4. Terry Allen *Amerasia* (Fate/Sugar Hill)
5. Merle Haggard/Willie Nelson *Pancho & Lefty* (Sony)

BEST NEW ACTS
1. Dusty Drake
2. Rodney Atkins
3. Elizabeth McQueen and the Fire Brands

how could I forget the Willie Nelson demos reissue?!?
and Terri Clark! Probably my second favourite concert of the year (after the Sadies 2.5 hour set).

and Chuck, based partly on a bit of back/forth we had and (moreso) a long conversation with a high school kid, I have reconsidered Talkin' Honky Blues and now rate it much higher.

which, like, singlehandedly justifies the disgusting amt of time I spend talking/posting abt music and listening/reading to what other people have to say abt it.

if it counts, I'd like to vouch once again for Carla Bozulich's remake of Willie Nelson's "Red Headed Stranger" album.

also, if it counts, I'd put the Cardigan's "For What It's Worth" on the best country singles list - it's lyrics especially are devastating unrequited country love.

yay for Bubba Sparxxx and David Banner being considered "country" (and with Bubba I don't even think it's that controversial -- he's totally the Hank Williams Jr. of his era, or would be if he were more popular -- all of the good that implies and none of the bad.

Top 5:

1. Decoration Day -- Drive-By Truckers
2. Deliverance -- Bubba Sparxxx
3. Til the Wheels Fall Off -- Amy Rigby
4. Failer -- Kathleen Edwards
5. Red Dirt Road -- Brooks & Dunn

Just want to second the John Eddie nod from, uh, July up above -- saw him opening for Robert Earl Keen a while back. He's got a couple great songs; I love "Play Some Skynyrd" (and not only because it allows him, from now on, to assume that anyone shouting "Play some Skynyrd!" is a fan of his).

And Bubba Sparxxx, of course. And that Carla Bozulich disc is great. It bugs me that Lucinda lands on all these lists just because she's Lucinda -- it's a weak record. But then, I guess I should be happy for her that she now commands attention just for being Lucinda. I was primed to like Toby Keith -- I wanted to horrify my friends by sticking up for him -- but, eh. Not really. He needs more of everything -- hooks, wit, guitars, cadillacs, etc.

As of this particular second:

ALBUMS
1. Dwight Yoakam Population Me
2. Winfred E. Eye The Dirt Tier
3. Deana Carter I'm Just a Girl
4. Toby Keith Shock'n Y'All
5. Brooks & Dunn Red Dirt Road
6. Drive-By Truckers Decoration Day
7. Rebecca Lynn Howard Forgive

SINGLES
1. David Banner "Cadillac on 22's"
2. Faith Hill "One"
3. Bubba Sparxxx "Deliverance"
4. Bubba Sparxxx "Comin' Round"
5. Toby Keith "I Love This Bar"
6. Montgomery Gentry "Hell Yeah"
7. Kenny Chesney "Big Star"
8. Gary Allan "Songs About Rain"
9. Dixie Chicks "Travelin' Soldier"
10. There's a Toby-Willie duet that sounds better than some of these, but I refuse to vote for it.

yay Frank for your pick
of Rebecca Lynn Howard
she seems a good sort

heard an interview
on our local country station
she was quite cool

Also I better bump off Brad Paisley's song in favor of Patty Loveless' "Lovin' All Night," which was inexplicably left off my list but is fuckin' hott

haikunym watch out
your second poem is five-eight-four
which isn't quite right

freakishly enough,
this jumped at me right away,
don't know how i knew.

i mean i don't count
in your posts regularly
coz that would be weird.

hey god damn sterling
I was pretty close okay?
sometimes: SPILLOVER

hey, i'm sorry dude
didn't mean to cause offense
or impugn your cred

I was not pissed off;
if I sounded so, sorry;
hard to be jovial in a haiku format, sometimes tone is the first thing to go, no offense taken whatsoever, hope none was given, you have always been one of the coolest people around this joint as far as I know, whoops, my syllable count is not doing to well is it

and now hell I might
replace one of my albums
with Suzy Bogguss

her album Swing is
the "western" in C&W,
jazzy flirty blues

While it's no match to her previous work, Gillian Welch's Soul Journey still deserves mention.

finally I've heard
Patty Loveless' album and
it's so freakin' great

it's On Your Way Home
and it might be #1
of the year for me