I’m a bit amazed, perhaps even overwhelmed, at the number of high-quality bluegrass CDs hitting the market these days.

I’m talking about the good stuff here, albums that truly do perk up the ears, the ones you just keep in your player because they’re so good, so polished, some so unique you just can’t stop listening.

That’s how I’m gauging my Top 5 Bluegrass CDs of 2008, selecting the ones I just can’t file away and forget. I’d venture a bet that come this time next year, some of my 2008 favorites might be filed away (but not forgotten and definitely not doomed to silence) as the avalanche of quality recorded material just keeps rolling in.

Here are my picks:

This has been an interesting year for music. Last year we at BluegrassJournal.com gave a nod to our top three favorite musical offerings for 2007. This year, my buddy Danny Tackett suggested we go for the top five. As usual, my list tends to be quite varied. Stick with me through my favorites and hopefully you’ll see the bluegrass connection in them all.

It might not be there quite yet, but Asheville, NC is starting to look at lot like the new Nashville, at least when it comes to bluegrass musics roots and branches. Leading the way is the Songs From The Road Band, an aggregation of some of the areas hottest songwriters, singers and pickers named for the project that first brought them together, a 2006 solo release by Steep Canyon Rangers bass player and songwriter Charles Humphrey III that came out just weeks before the Rangers were handed the IBMAs Emerging Artist of the Year trophy. Now, with the release of As The Crow Flies, the Songs From The Road Band is serving notice that they’re more than a one-time get-together.

Nashville, Tenn. — After more than a year of lengthy negotiations with Robert Waldschmidt, the Trustee for the Robert W. McLean Bankruptcy Estate, the Country Music Foundation, the not-for-profit 501(c)(3)educational organization that operates the Country Music Hall of Fame^® and Museum, has reached a $750,000 settlement with the McLean estate.