Top Ten Albums of 2008

2008 was a great year to be a music fan. From Rock to Country to Folk every genre of music had a few gems come out during this year. Below you will find, in no particular order, a list of what I feel are the ten best of 2008.

Paul Thorn- A Long Way From Tupelo

Paul Thorn's music has always been difficult to pin to a particular genre. His first album, Hammer and Nail was a straightforward southern rocker. From there he has flirted with folk, country, gospel, and soul. Thorn's latest album A Long Way From Tupelo finds him bringing it all together to form a complete package. From the opening song "Lucky 7 Ranch" with it's groovy guitar riff to the folksy gospel of "When the Long Road Ends", this is one of Thorn's most mature albums to date.

Todd Snider- Peace Queer

Folk singer Todd Snider has flirted with political messages in the past, most effectively in his song "You Got Away With It" from the Devil You Know album but has refrained from recording an entire political album. That restraint was broken with the release of Peace Queer. If the album title wasn't a clue to Snider's political leanings, song titles like "Mission Accomplished" should. Fortunately, Snider hasn't lost any of his trademark sense of humor, remarking on a recent tour stop that "I don't expect these songs to change anyone's mind. I didn't write them to change opinions. I wrote them because they rhyme." Peace Queer isn't Snider's best album but an average album from Todd Snider is better than most people's best any year.

Alice Cooper- Along Came a Spider

Hard rock's Prince of Darkness, after spending his last four albums flirting with 70's style garage rock and Nine Inch Nails style industrial metal, returns to his theatrical horror show roots with this concept album about a serial killer who cuts one limb off each of his victims. Drawing a thematic line to Steven, the main character from Cooper's masterwork Welcome to My Nightmare album, Cooper's songwriting is, as always, top notch and some guest sessions from Slash and Ozzy Osbourne bring some variety to the mix.

My Morning Jacket- Evil Urges

My Morning Jacket's June release of Evil Urges was met with a collective "What the...?" from the fan base they built with their reverb-heavy southern rock licks. With Evil Urges, My Morning Jacket decided to trot out the other musical styles that influenced them. "Highly Suspicious" and "Evil Urges" would sound at home on an early 90's Prince album while "Touch Me I'm Going to Scream Pt. 1" evokes shades of Yes and "Librarian" could pass for an America tune if not for the reference to the "Interweb." While these divergent influences could result in a train wreck for many bands, My Morning Jacket weaves them perfectly so they sound like they all go together.

Old Crow Medicine Show- Tennessee Pusher

Tennessee Pusher marks a new direction for Old Crow Medicine Show. Their previous albums OCMS and Big Iron World were covers heavy, relying mostly on re-arrangements of old traditional tunes. Tennessee Pusher contains only one cover, a soulful reworking of Alfred Reed's "Lift Him Up". Another big change is in the production. Out is David Rawlings, who produced Old Crow Medicine Show's last two albums, and in is legendary producer Don Was, who manages to dampen the band's trademark manic bop into something with a little more gravity. Many of Tennessee Pusher's songs have to do with drugs but these aren't the upbeat "Cocaine Habit" or "Tell It to Me". "Methamphetamine" is a starkly real portrayal of the meth problem in the rural South, saying "When it's either the mines or the Kentucky National Guard/ I'd rather sell him a line than be dying in the coal yard." But lest you think Tennessee Pusher is one big downer, Old Crow reminds you where they came from with "Humdinger", where they promise "Wine, whiskey, women and guns/ how can ya afford not to have any fun/ if you're not a right winger then we'll all have a humdinger."

Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet- S/T

Traditional Chinese folk music and banjo-laden bluegrass do not seem like things that would go well together, but Abigail Washburn proves that they do. An Asian Studies major in college who speaks fluent Mandarin, Washburn has the credentials to make this combination work. With an all-star backing band that includes Bela Fleck, Ben Sollee, and Casey Driessen, Washburn mixes Chinese standards like "Kangding Qingge" with folk songs like "Banjo Pickin' Girl" and makes them sound completely organic.

Metallica- Death Magnetic

After failed attempts to embrace grunge, alternative, and southern rock, Metallica returns to their roots with Death Magnetic. New producer Rick Rubin and new bassist Robert Trujillo combine to bring the crunch and fury back to Metallica's sound. The first single "Cyanide" is an onslaught of guitar and bass that hits you in the face with thrash metal fury. "The Day That Never Comes" is a power ballad that would fit well on The Black Album. The best song on the album, "All Nightmare Long" is a hook-heavy thunderstorm that's sure to get heavy rotation at wrestling shows in 2009.

Chatham County Line- IV

Chatham County Line differs from the majority of young bluegrass bands in that they forgo the "wink and a nod" irony of many of their contemporaries. Instead, they go about the serious business of playing really good bluegrass music that incorporates huge dollops of folk, blues, and Americana. Coming off their masterful Route 23 album, Chatham County Line releases IV. There are no real surprises on this album. The 13 songs on this album deal with traditional bluegrass themes of love, loss, addiction, and trains. While every song on this album is good, the star is "Birmingham Jail" which updates the old folk traditional into a song about Wallace-era race wars and manages to make it sound fresh and relevant in 2008.

The Raconteurs- Consolers of the Lonely

Most people would be perfectly content with being a rock star once over. Not The White Stripes' Jack White. He's done a high profile collaboration with country superstar Loretta Lynn and now has decided to form a supergroup of sorts with Brendan Benson and Jack Lawrence, The Raconteurs. Their follow up to 2006's Broken Boy Soldiers took fans as a surprise, being announced only a week before release and reportedly being written and recorded in its entirety earlier this year. The rawness shows throughout Consolers of the Lonely and matches perfectly with Benson's searing vocals that sound like they're straight out of a 70's garage-glam band and with White's crazy guitar work. From the first single "Salute Your Solution" to the beer-soaked barroom wail of "Old Enough" to the searing "Many Shades of Black", this album manages to sound old and completely fresh all at the same time.

David Byrne and Brian Eno- Everything That Happens Will Happen Today

The last time David Byrne and Brian Eno recorded an album together, Ronald Reagan was just taking office. Now in 2008 they've collaborated again for Everything That Happens Will Happen Today and it's like they never left. Certainly there's evidence of time passing, such as Byrne's singing "everybody's happy/to be a baby daddy" but this album evokes the best of the Byrne/Eno collaborations during the Talking Heads era. But this is a happier, more mellow collaboration, drawing influence from gospel and electronic music to create something new. The lyrics go back and forth between cynical and hopeful, often in the same song. In "Life is Long", the afore mentioned baby daddy line is followed up later with "Now I can say those three little words/ and every day I'm dreaming a world/ soul to soul, a kiss and a sigh/ holding back the waters outside.