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:

In that review, I sang the praises of the fiddle work on that fine CD, but I didn’t know for sure which direction that praise should be aimed. Along comes John Titus, co-producer of the CD — which was recorded at Titus’s J & V Studio near Weston, W. Va. — to straighten me out.

I’ve made it a cardinal rule to listen to a new CD at least three times before sitting down at the computer to give my take on it. Even then, I sometimes wonder if that’s enough to pass any kind of judgment, although I fully realize that any review of a CD — no matter who writes it — is only one person’s opinion.

By now I guess I’ve listened to Leavin’ You, a new CD by The Vaughns, the self-required three times — and then some. In fact, I’m having trouble keeping it out of my CD player. The more I listen to this West Virginia-based family band, the more I relish their work.