Dan Milliken’s Top 10 Albums of 2008
Thursday, December 25th, 2008
Happy holidays, everybody! I’m back with my personal top ten albums of the year, a list that took a stupid-long time to put together but is very nice to have done. All I would say as a note is that I like all of these albums very much and don’t think the rankings should be scrutinized to death, because my tastes certainly change frequently enough.
Okay, you get it. Let’s do this. Va-VOOM!
#10
Dailey and Vincent, Dailey and Vincent
I typically lean progressive in my bluegrass tastes, but there’s simply no arguing with this dynamic twosome, whose debut finds them ripping into a straight-ahead traditional style with such crazy-polished singing, playing and writing that they practically become the new standard. Excellent.
#9
Kathy Mattea, Coal
Confession: I wasn’t quite sure how to take this one. Although I like Kathy Mattea’s voice and generally love concept albums, I had trouble getting into this set of mining-related songs as a whole, which may be because I personally have trouble digesting so many bare-bones story songs in one sitting, or may be because the album itself becomes a bit monotonous after a while. It’s kind of hard to say, and I finally decided that it’s just the sort of thing I personally have to be in the right mood for. Objectively speaking, though, I think what Mattea and producer Marty Stuart have achieved here is easily one of the most fully realized artistic expressions of 2008, and it’s pretty hard to gripe about on a song-by-song or sonic basis. So #9 feels about right for me.
#8
Reckless Kelly, Bulletproof
Randy Rogers, Wade Bowen and Cody Canada take note: Reckless Kelly’s latest set showcases just how tersely effective the whole “country-nodding Texas rock” shtick can be when you pay the same attention to developing compelling lyrical ideas that you do to ‘tude (and I say that with love, because I enjoy work from all of the acts mentioned above). Bonus points for the year’s best album cover.
Category 2008 Rewind
Tags: Al Perkins, Buddy Miller, Cody Canada, Dailey and Vincent, Elvis Presley, Emmylou Harris, Garry Talent, Glenn D. Hardin, Hal Ketchum, James Burton, Jamey Johnson, Jim Lauderdale, Justin Townes Earle, Kasey Chambers, Kathy Mattea, Kelly Hogan, Kris Kristofferson, Patty Loveless, Peter Cooper, Ralph Stanley II, Randy Rogers, Reckless Kelly, Ron Tutt, Shane Nicholson, Tom T. Hall, Wade Bowen
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