Dec 29
Travis Tackett’s Best CDs of 2007
2007 has been a great year for bluegrass music and a bunch of great discs were released. I’ve consumed more music since we launched BluegrassJournal.com six months ago than I have in the last 2 years. Of all the CDs I’ve listened to this year, there’s a handful that continually find there way back to the CD player.
For my number one pick, I’ve got to go with “Gaining Wisdom” from Donna Hughes, released on Rounder Records.
I can’t seem to get enough of this disc. Hughes is one of the truly gifted talents in the business. “Gaining Wisdom” showcases Hughes’ considerable songwriting abilities that relate everyday observations of life’s trials and tribulations from a unique viewpoint that most anyone can relate to their own life in one way or another.
Hughes’ song-writing skills have a unique and endearing quality about them. On the surface, they can seem deceptively simple and down to earth with a casual listen, yet upon closer inspection they reveal a highly sophisticated and thought provoking commentary on life itself, with an inate ability to command the listener’s undivided attention, drawing one to reflect on the many different joys, sorrows and challenges faced in life.
An album like “Gaining Wisdom,” I suspect, would come to be considered a “landmark” album for many artists in the midst of a long and successful careers. For Hughes, a relatively unknown, to debut with a collection of songs and performances this impressive… it leaves me highly anticipating her next release.
In the number two spot “Lovin’ Pretty Women” from The Steep Canyon Rangers on Rebel Records is just a great album. From the songwriting to performances, “Lovin’ Pretty Women” hits all the bases. The Rangers’ music is firmly planted on the traditional side of the genre but the band brings an energy and vibe to their traditional sound that borrows from the “Newgrass” fork of the musical tree.
Having seen these guys back in September at the Franklin, Ky., Festival, The Steep Canyon Rangers can blow the doors off the barn and leave crowds beggin’ for more. I suspect a ton of great things to come from The Steep Canyon Rangers in the years to come.
The group’s banjo picker, Graham Sharp, had a hand in writing eight of the 12 cuts on the project and may very well be the Steep Canyon Ranger’s ace in the hole.
To the uninitiated, a top to bottom listen will leave the listener wondering if Monroe or some other luminary of the genre originally released these songs years ago. Sharp has a real gift for penning tunes that sound like instant classics.
The instrumental work on the disc showcases a group of musicians who have honed their craft from years of playing together on the road
Much like my Dad, Dan Tackett I couldn’t nail down a single CD for 3rd place so I’m going to have a tie here as well. My picks for third include two artist that hadn’t released albums in several years.
And the tie comes down to Tom T. Hall’s “Tom T Hall Sings Miss Dixie and Tom T.” on Blue Circle Records and Charlie Sizemore’s “Good News” on Rounder Records.
Tom T. Hall is as deserving of the title “National Treasure” as any I’ve heard it bestowed upon. He has a unique perspective on life and can tell stories unlike anyone.
“Tom T. Hal Sings Miss Dixie and Tom T.” was originally intended as a Christmas present for Miss Dixie, Hall’s significant other and songwriting partner. Lucky for all of us, this wonderful album was released on the Hall’s own Blue Circle Records.
Tom T. and Miss Dixie have always written songs centered around observations of the common man’s life, and this batch of tunes deals with many of the same types of examinations that immortalized characters like Clayton Delaney, The Hitchhiker, and Ravishing Ruby.
Compared to the production of the country hits Hall had in the ’70s and ’80s, the laid-back and stripped-down instrumentation provided by an all-acoustic (and all-star) band place Tom T.’s strong suits as a songwriter and storyteller squarely at the forefront. Hall’s vocal delivery on the entire album is right on the money with an honesty you only get from an artist who penned the material.
“Good News” from Charlie Sizemore on Rounder Records showcases Sizemore’s unequaled vocal delivery on a great batch of songs. From the down and out “Blame it on Vern”, the lighthearted “Alison’s Band” and “I’ve Fallen And I Can’t Get Up” to the haunting civil war story “The Silver Bugle”, “Good News” is a great album and a long overdue return of one of Bluegrass’ great vocal stylists.
Back to the current tale, Sizemore himself may deserve the title of The Voice in today’s bluegrass scene. He plays his smooth voice on “Good News” every bit as well as his highly capable pickers do their instruments on this CD. He glides Teflon-like high and then dips low, all with plenty of emotion to fit the tune at hand.
If there’s a lesson to be learned from “Good News,” it’s this: Sizemore, Rounder Records and other powers that be shouldn’t wait another five years before doing this again. Doing so would be bad news.
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