Best of 2009 So Far: October

Lots of upheaval in the chart for this edition. For instance, I finally gave a good month of listening to the Buddy and Julie Miller album and it rocketed into my top 5. I've added a few links to the chart so you can check out the artists/albums. Feel free to comment with your own favorites.

Top Albums of 2009

As of: Oct. 4

1. Charlie Robison - Beautiful Day

2. Magnolia Electric Company - Josephine

3 Ben Nichols - The Last Pale Light in the West

4. Lucero - 1372 Overton Park

5. Buddy and Julie Miller - Written in Chalk

6. Son Volt - American Central Dust

7. Slaid Cleaves - Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away

8. Justin Townes Earle - Midnight at the Movies

9. BettySoo - Heat Sin Water Skin

10. Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels

11. The Black Crowes - Before the Frost...

12. The Devil Makes Three - Do Wrong Right

13. Joshua James - Build Me This

14. Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Tell 'em What Your Name Is

15. Chris Knight - Trailer Tapes II

16. Miranda Lambert - Revolution

17. Guy Clark - Somedays the Song Writes You

18. Deer Tick - Born on Flag Day

19. Brad Paisley - American Saturday Night

20. Krizz Kaliko - Genius

21. George Strait - Twang

22. Tom Russell - Blood and Candle Smoke

23. Drive-by Truckers - The Fine Print

24. Pete Bernhard - Straight Line

25. Steve Earle - Townes

26. The Avett Bros. - I And Love And You

27. Mastodon - Crack the Skye

28. Scott Warren - Quick Fix Bandage

29. Holly Williams - Here With Me

30. The Fox Hunt - America's Working So We Don't Have To

31. Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit - s/t

32. Eric Church - Carolina

33. Robert Earl Keen - The Rose Hotel

34. Old Californio - Westering Again

35. Wilco - Wilco (The Album)

36. The Deep Dark Woods - Winter Hours

37. Phosphorescent - To Willie

38. Roman Candle - Oh Tall Tree in the Ear

39. John Moreland & The Black Gold Band - Endless Oklahoma Sky

40. Red Fang - s/t

YouTube Gems Bonus: Miranda Lambert "White Liar"

Some of you have already seen this posted in other places. Just in case, here you go. Had to post this especially because of the Jamey Johnson appearance.

Miranda Lambert More CMT Music More CMT Music Videos

YouTube Gems: BettySoo

Recommended if you like Emmylou Harris, Kathleen Edwards, Lucinda Williams, Allison Krauss.

Read up on her here: Knuckledragger's Blog

Buy her tunes here.

Follow her on Twitter here.

Songs Illustrated

.99 Review: Tim McGraw "Southern Voice"

.99 Review

Tim McGraw

"Southern Voice"

The People's Take

ok song (3 Stars) – I watch tim on thursday night football

-by Kylie Jo 1

Tim remains true to his roots with "Southern Voice" (5 stars) – Swiftly after the marginally charted "It's a Business Doing Pleasure With You", McGraw has released another single that will be a radio smash. "Southern Voice", a song that credits several historical and modern legends for their contributions to the "southern voice", is a twangy number that will force the listener to sing or hum along everytime it plays. McGraw's vocal performance in this song are, as he puts in the song, "smooth", and along with that, the honky-tonk instrumental aid simply adds to the overall "fun" that this sing-along single will promote.

-by Agent Ashcroft

My Take

I was hoping to give this a positive review. I actually enjoy a lot of Tim's music (a lot more than I should admit as a commercial country music farcer and a big alt-country fan) so I'm rooting for a comeback despite his recent song choice foibles and record company troubles. Also, I have a southern superiority complex - at least culturally and athletically - so I never tire of new pandering country hits to fuel my yeehaw. I even liked Buddy Jewell's hymn to the south - not the one about the southern border, mind you.

Some of the parts of "Southern Voice" are nice but the sum of the parts is meh. Trouble with this one is the overall presentation. Par for the country course, it's a listing song - listing people who happen to be southern and happen to have done positive things and been generally successful in life. Other than the fact that they sprang from the same geographic region and were not known for being crystal meth dealers, racists, arsonists, ignoramuses or barefoot yokels, there is little else to hold together this string of names. And another thing, any listing song about the southern voice that doesn't mention this guy is missing a major piece of cultural significance.

The music doesn't help with the presentation. I'd expect a song called "Southern Voice" to either sound really country or pull in some anthem-like Southern rock guitar. Wrong on both counts. The tune just kinda lays there like water in a jar ... or grits... and grits without bacon bits or pepper or sugar or butter, just plain-ass grits. Oh yeah, there's harmonica - so I guess the grits have (is grits a plural?) a dash of salt.

I won't say this is a terrible song (save what might be the clumsiest, most cliche ridden bridge ever). On third and fourth listens, it's actually starting to burrow into my ears a little and hey, I respect all the folks presented. "Southern Voice" just doesn't fuel my yeehaw.

An aside: here are a few of metrolyrics.com's interpretation the song's lyrics (lol!):

"Will Farmer wrote it"

"blows from Memphis down to Appalachia Coal"

"Don't let this old goat cross in this Almond Brothers t-shirt and throw ya"

"Dr. King paved it"

"Billy Graves saved it"

Total value: .55/.99

The Checklist

Church/God

Mama

Boots

Name Dropping

Dying Person

County Fair

Lost Love

Love

Hometown Pride

Kindly Advice

Truck

Whiskey

Beer

Life Affirmation

USA

Soldiers

Pop Sheen

Star Power