2017 Master Lists: The Albums!

7 Comments

1. I’d also add the following:

   Rod Melancon – ‘Southern Gothic’
   Joey McGee – ‘Terlingua Taproot’
   Yawpers – ‘Boy In A Well’
   The Steel Woods – ‘Straw In The Wind’
   Ned LeDoux – ‘Sagebrush’
   Lukas Nelson and the Promise Of The Real s/t
   Christian Lopez – ‘Red Arrow’
   Steelism – ‘Ism’

   With that said though, this is certainly a great list. I applaud y’all putting it together.

   Reply

2. I’m curious of what mainstream albums will make the cut.

   The only great mainstream albums this year imo were Lauren Alaina, Chris Stapleton, Lee Brice, Little Big Town, Brad Paisley, Carly Pearce and Joe Nichols. It really felt like the mainstream lacked this year for good albums, but that’s just me. It’s not that they were bad album but a lot of mainstream albums this year were so boring.

   Reply

3. Not a great year for albums from my perspective. Love Alison Krauss’s “Windy City” & Delbert McClinton’s “Prick of the Litter”. While I’ve bought a few individual songs from some of the other albums on this list, the only other albums I purchased were not country – a Mills Brothers album off i-tunes (12 songs from the 1940’s and early 50’s) and “Plum”, an album of jazz influenced songs from Georgia Middleman.

   When I saw the name Joe Henry on this list I immediately thought of the Joe Henry who wrote lyrics for quite a few John Denver songs, most notably for JD’s Windsong album (1975) to which he contributed “Windsong”, “Shipmates and Cheyenne”, “Love Is Everywhere” and “Spirit”. For the album “Spirit” (1976), he co-wrote “Come and Let Me Look in Your Eyes”, “Pegasus” and “The Wings That Fly Us Home”. Joe and Gary Burr co-wrote all the songs on Gary Burr’s 1996 “Lime Creek” album. Among Joe’s other writing credits is “Belleau Wood” with Garth Brooks, a song about a Christmas truce during WWI which appeared on Garth’s “Sevens” album. He also co-wrote “Skin” for Rascal Flatts with Douglas Johnson.

   Reply

4. I couldn’t agree more with the inclusions of Tift Merritt and Margo Price on this list. The womenfolk, especially those of the Americana stripe, seem to come up big with great albums each year, even if they can’t get arrested on mainstream country radio.

   I would add to this long list another female entry: [I]Echo Canyon[/I], by Orange County, California-based alt-country/Americana singer/songwriter Alice Wallace. It is very much a slice of California and Southwestern C&W and rock, with a spaghetti western-themed title track and an almost old-school approach, much like that of what Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris were doing in the mid-1970s.

   Reply

5. Thanks, everyone! We’ll be adding these recommendations to the master list and check out the albums! So far, this is fewer albums we missed than I expected.

   @bob,
   Doesn’t appear to be the same Joe Henry; this one is another accomplished singer-songwriter and three-time Grammy nominee, but about a generation later than the one you mentioned!

   Reply

6. You might want to add Sarah Darling’s Dream Country. She’s gone independent with this one! For singles: Where Cowboys Ride, Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want, Halley’s Comet

   Reply

7. My Top 10
   1. Nashville Sound (Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit)
   2. From a Room: Volume I (Chris Stapleton)
   3. All American Made (Margo Price)
   4. Vaquero (Aaron Watson)
   5. Graveyard Whistling (Old 97’s)
   6. Trophy (Sunny Sweeney)
   7. Jason Eady (Jason Eady)
   8. Brand New Day (The Mavericks)
   9. Prisoner (Ryan Adams)
   10. The Rest of our Life (Tim McGraw & Faith Hill)

   Reply