Darrell Scott "Modern Hymns" (Appleseed Recordings)

Adcock, Gaudreau, Waller & Gray, The Country Gentlemen Reunion Band

Various Artists

The Gibson Brothers "Iron & Diamonds" (Sugar Hill Records)

Glen Campbell "Meet Glen Campbell" (Capitol)

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.

The first disc is one I really enjoyed a great deal when it came out. The CD was Darrell Scott’s Modern Hymns. I really liked the fact he recorded songs that meant a great deal to him. They were songs that wove the fabric of his life. Isn’t that what all of us music aficionados are looking for in the music we enjoy? Also, my kudos for the best liner notes of the year.

This is a disc filled with great songs, a great voice and wonderful instrumentation. The list of bluegrass people isn’t bad either. The likes of Tim OBrien, Alison Krauss, John Cowan, Sam Bush, Ronnie and Del McCoury fill this CD with some wonderful sounds.

I thoroughly liked the Country Gentlemen Reunion Band disc. I became a Country Gentlemen fan late in life after seeing one of Charlie Waller’s final performances with the band. This incarnation of the group happens to be: Tom Gray on bass, Randy Waller on guitar, Jimmy Gaudreau on mandolin and Eddie Adcock on banjo and guitar.

For me, the star on this nice disc is Eddie Adcock. He has had one tough year. Prior to major brain surgery, he still managed to fill this disc with some killer licks on both guitar and banjo. This disc shows why we want and need Eddie Adcock around in the bluegrass circles for several years to come.

The voices on this reunion disc blended splendidly with that trademark Country Gentlemen sound. My hat is off to Randy Waller, who has had big shoes to fill with the passing of his dad, Charlie. He is finding his niche quite nicely on this disc. Keep up the great work.

I think a very important CD for the year was McCoury Music’s offering by the title of Moneyland. This being an election year found the American people tired of putting up with what has become status quo in our country and across the world. This disc focuses on the greed and other issues that have permeated corporate America.

I am so proud of Del McCoury, his family and friends to come out with a disc this gutsy. Merle Haggard plays a key role on this CD, as well as Tim O’Brien, Emmylou Harris, Mac Wiseman, Marty Stuart, and the McCoury clan.

The choices of songs are thought-provoking. I felt like Moneyland came along at a pivotal time in American history and possibly helped people make up their minds at the voting polls. I applaud the forces behind putting out this fearless CD at a time when we had become fear-driven as a culture.

Not to slight the other three, but these next two discs are my top two favorites for the year. They have run neck-and-neck for a top spot in my music systems. It has continually become a chore to take out one to just replace it with the other, but with the first sounds of each disc, I am filled with great joy.

When I did a review back in March of the Gibson Brothers, Iron & Diamonds, our illustrious senior managing editor, Danny Tackett, put a headline on my review. That headline summed up the disc better than I could have: “Gibson Brothers Iron & Diamonds truly shines.”

Their songs were terrific on this contribution. Their voices blend wonderfully together, taking my mind back to the early days of the Everly Brothers. The instrumentation is simple and clean. I think this is virtually a perfect disc. Rather than me raving even more, just go out and get a copy if you haven’t already. You will not be disappointed.

For the last disc, I am here to proclaim an old friend, Glen Campbell, is back and is as powerful as ever. His new disc shows more than a bit of tongue-in-cheek with the title, Meet Glen Campbell.

With this disc, I feel he has stepped up and become a bit of a national treasure, with the likes of Bill Monroe, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash.

Glen Campbell’s strong point has always been an interpreter of great songs. For years, on the old Capitol albums of the 1960s, he sang those great Jimmy Webb songs with a fierce intensity. He is back on the Capitol label, his intensity is back and his ability to find great songs for his voice is there once again.

Ironically, I recently bought his first disc that came out on Capitol, back in 1962, which happens to be a bluegrass album. It is a fantastic disc as well, if you’ve never heard it. The new music is filled with banjo and fiddle as well as Glen Campbell’s great guitar work. For those of you, who don’t know of his guitar work, research all the great musical contributions he has played on.

I was not at all a fan of Glen’s post “Rhinestone Cowboy” music. On this disc, he is back with a vengeance. I can’t wait for his next offering. Maybe 2009 will bring it on, as well as some more great music.

To all our BluegrassJournal readers, have a great new year filled with laughter, friendship, love and music.

Do you have a favorite CD from 2008 ? Maybe your own top 5…Leave a comment telling us about it. We’d love to hear about your favorite discs.