Steve Earle and Allison Moorer are in love and in New York City. Washington Square Serenade. What can I say that hasn’t been said already? I absolutely love this album. It’s a beautiful collection of individual songs, but it’s a cohesive piece of art, too. I think it probably is my very favorite this year. It’s one of several Steve Earle albums that will be thrown in the ‘tote that will tote only the essential CDs to that deserted island’ when it comes time to go.

Tommy Womack released There, I Said It! early in 2007. It’s a wonderful, heartwarming gift from the perpetually tormented Tommy. It’s what passes for happy in his world. And I understand that. The year’s early releases tend to be overlooked sometimes. If you liked Circus Town or Positively Na Na, you’ll love this album. Some of the songs, like “Alpha Male and the Canine Mystery Blood” and “Nice Day” show a dangerously-close-to-grown-up version of this ‘40 something’ manchild. But, I’ve always thought he was a genius on the verge of either self-destruction or sweet success. So cool to see when it manifests itself as the latter.

Definitely my #1 pick of the year.

You remember the drummer for The Band? (who sang The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down?) Well, he’s older now. Levon Helm, who hadn’t crossed my mind in years, nearly blew said mind with his beautiful CD release, Dirt Farmer. Who’d ‘a thunk? It’s old-timey. It’s twangy. It has beautiful harmonies contributed by his daughter, Amy Helm and Teresa Williams. It’s Arkansassy…….It has a Carter family cut and a Buddy and Julie Miller cut. He says he’s just playing some of those old ‘back porch’ tunes. So sit yourself in an old rocking chair and listen to this one. What are you waiting for? This may be your best bet of the year…..

Jason Isbell. Well, yeah! He’s out on his own and has broken the mold. I don’t know what genre this music is. He opened for Cracker on their last tour. He held up his fair share of Drive By Truckers for several years and can throw down that rockin’, southern, fist-pumping shit with the best of them. But his recently released Sirens Of The Ditch is something apart and something very special. It could easily be the best album you will find this year. I would have to have this CD on that deserted island, for sure. Don’t take my word for it. Go to your my-space-tube-dot-com thingy and check out “Dress Blues”. If you aren’t totally sold, well, there’s no hope and Santa doesn’t love you.

Bettye LaVette released Scene of the Crime this year. The title refers to her return to Muscle Shoals and the studio that did not release her album many, many years ago. She got by with a little help from her friend, David Barbe this time. “Before The Money Came”, the song that explains that whole story, was penned by Patterson Hood of the Drive By Truckers for Bettye, with help by Bettye. When asked, she swore that she was not a song writer, but an interpreter of songs. So some of the expressions she used during their conversations in the studio are liberally sprinkled over this song, giving her co-writer street-cred.

She has a lot to say. She knows how to pick a song that works for her. She works for her songs. “Somebody Pick Up My Pieces” put me in a puddle of tears on the floor. I just want to listen to it again. It could be my favorite CD ever.

Gracey

The Knitters
The Modern Sounds of The Knitters
Zoe Records
It’s hard to believe that it’s been 20 years since the LA punk band X teamed up with Dave Alvin, then of the Blasters, and Johnny Ray Bartel and introduced a new generation to country music. While their first release, “Poor Little Critter in the Road” leaned to more traditional, acoustic arrangements, “The Modern Sounds of The Knitters” is a bit more raucous, with driving, crunchy guitar riffs heavy on the bass strings. There’s a re-worked version of X’s “In This House That I Call Home,” “Burning House Of Love” and Dave Alvin’s “Dry River” along with an interesting take on Steppenwolf’s “Born To Be Wild.”  They got great reviews on the tour and put up a fun website. And it’s great to hear those patented John Doe/Excene Cervenka slightly dissonant harmonies again.
-jitter

Daddy
At The Women’s Club
Cedar Creek Music
Appearing seemingly out of nowhere, Daddy put out one of the most surprising records last year. Rumor has it that after this live session at the Frankfort, Kentucky Women’s Club, they were banned from ever playing that venue again.  Couldn’t have been the music.  It’s hard to imagine a better show had ever been booked in there.  Daddy’s "At The Women’s Club” breathes new vibrancy into the tired old “southern rock” subgenre, alternating between thoughtful countrified ballads, foot-stomping, gospel tinged rockers, and scorching slow-burn blues.  Front men Will Kimbrough (of Todd Snider’s Nervous Wrecks) and Nashville songwriter Tommy Womack (also with the Nervous Wrecks) trade lead vocals and guitar riffs.  Highlights include “Slide It In,” “Happy in Your Skin,” “Nighmares,” and an allegedly totally improvised insertion of The Faces’ classic “Ooh La La” into “The Powers That Be.”  Without a doubt, “At The Women’s Club” is one of the most under-appreciated and best records of the year.
-jitter

South Austin Jug Band
Dark And Weary World
Blue Corn Music
I’ve always liked my bluegrass best in small doses.  While it’s great to lose yourself in a great banjo, mandolin, and fiddle jam, it can get repetitious after a while.  The South Austin Jug Band, with their diverse musical backgrounds incorporating jazz, blues, country, and folk, brings a fresh approach to an old formula with their second release “Dark and Weary World”.  Singer James Hyland’s voice brings to mind a young Steve Earle with his gritty twang.  The arrangements are fresh and melodic without growing tedious.  Check out “There Aint No Liquor In This Town,” a stomping throw-down if there ever was one.  These guys are young, all under 30, and have been playing together in various lineups for the last 4 years.  They play 200 plus shows a year and all that practice has made for a great record that’s easy on the ears without the sterile sounding production of their more famous contemporaries like Alison Krauss or Nickel Creek.
-jitter

Old 97’s
Alive And Wired
New West Records
There are not many bands I’ve seen play as often as I’ve seen the Old 97s. Having caught them at one of their first shows when Rhett Miller and Murray Hammond joined forces after the breakup of legendary punk bluegrass band Killbilly; I’ve watched these guys progress from alt country poster boys to major label pop idols and back again. Alive and Wired manages to showcase the best of all their phases, from the hard driving opener, “Melt Show” to the hard driving closer “Timebomb,” both from 1995’s “Too far To Care.” In between you’ll find 31 songs on 2 discs, everything from their cover of Merle Haggard’s “Mama Tried” to Rhett’s teenage pop anthems “Rollerskate Skinny” and “The New Kid”. If you’re not familiar with the band, this is a pretty good place to start and if you are, then it’s great to hear the way they tie it all together in a consistently listenable fashion.
-jitter

Todd Snider
That Was Me – The Best of Todd Snider 1994-1998
Hip-O Records
This “best of,” released in 2005, is a compendium of Todd Snider’s first three releases – all great songs. If you are looking to build your Todd collection, this is a good place to start. The novelty song “Talkin’ Seattle Blues,” which spoofs the popularity of grunge rock, or really, any rock out of Seattle in the nineties is probably the most well known of his songs. The compilation also includes “Alright Guy” which represents the quintessential Todd Snider to me – great tune and a tongue-in-cheek style that makes me laugh every time I hear the song, even after a decade or so of hearing it.  Here’s where I should admit to being a big Todd Snider fan. I own all of his discs except this here one that I’m writing about and a bunch of live recordings. And we play him a lot. Here’s the thing: I didn’t buy this disc because, although it’s a good place to get to know early Todd Snider, for my money, it doesn’t include some of his best work, even from those first three discs. It’s missing “My Generation” and “This Land is Our Land” from 1994’s “Songs for the Daily Planet” and somehow managed to leave off “Rocket Fuel” and the cover of the Steve Miller Band’s “The Joker” from “Viva Satellite,” for example. I can’t fathom it. But it’s still good music, and one of the best of the year.
-naomi