Explanatory Note: This list should really be called “10 CDs I had in my possession, listened to regularly and enjoyed for a variety of different reasons.” Hence the extensive qualifiers.
10. Chris Robinson Brotherhood/Big Moon Ritual – a few very good tunes, including “Tulsa Yesterday” and “Rosalee”, although it gets a little “jammy” in parts for my taste.
9. The Time Jumpers/The Time Jumpers – Triple fiddles and homeboy Vince Gill. Awesome.
8. Royal Southern Brotherhood/Royal Southern Brotherhood – The drawback of this release is that this is a band that is meant to be heard LIVE rather than in a studio recording. Can’t wait to do so. Cyril Neville, Devon Allman, Mike Zito, Yonrico Scott and Charlie Wooton – should be some good playing, don’t you think?
7. Steve Forbert/Over with You – The man that brought you “Romeo’s Tune” back in ‘79 is still putting out good music with great lyrics.
6. Wood Brothers/Live Volume 1: Sky High – I am TOTALLY cheating here. This live album is good but what I really want to put on my list is Smoke Ring Halo from 2011, but I missed my chance, so I’m back-dooring it now. I love this band, and that CD is fabulous. It’s still in regular rotation in my player 18 months after its release.
5. Lincoln Durham/The Shovel vs. The Howling Bones – A copy of this CD fell into my hands. I listened to a few cuts and then booked Durham for a show sight unseen. He was fantastic. Take a listen, or better yet, go see him live.
4. Paul Thorn/What the Hell is Going on? – A collection of covers of very cool songs performed by a great band. Title track includes some blazing guitar by Elvin Bishop, a friend of Thorn’s, an Okie, and a great musician who wrote the original song. CD also includes an awesome cover of Ray Wylie Hubbard’s excellent tune “Snake Farm” among many other smart cover choices.
3. Uncle Lucius/And You are Me – American rock and roll is alive and well in the hands of these young Texas boys. Check them out. You won’t be disappointed.
2. J.D. McPherson/Signs & Signifiers – Fun, rockin’ collection of tunes by another Oklahoma artist. Video for the very catchy “North Side Gal”, directed by McPherson himself, is a great introduction if you don’t know his music. I dare you not to dance.
1. John Fullbright/From The Ground Up – Fullbright deserves his Grammy nomination. This is an outstanding CD, and Fullbright is a very talented musician and songwriter. Oh, yeah. He’s an Okie, too!
Honorable Mention
Guy Forsyth/The Freedom to Fail
Ray Wylie Hubbard/Grifters Hymnal
Neal Casal/Sweeten the Distance
The Mountain Goats/Transcendental Youth
Chuck Mead/Back at the Quonset Hut
The Flatlanders/The Odessa Tapes
Parker Millsap/Palisade
The New Tulsa Sound Volume 2
CDs I’m Pretty Sure I Will Love But Don’t Currently Own or Haven’t Had the Chance to Really Listen to Yet
O’Brien Party of 7/Reincarnation
John Hiatt/Mystic Pinball
Noam Pikelny/Beat the Devil and Carry a Rail
Darrell Scott & Tim O’Brien/We’re Usually Better than This
Jimmy LaFave/Depending on the Distance
Monte Montgomery/Tethered
