Best of 2008 (pre-list hype!)

It occurred to me last week that this will be my fifth officially-blogged "Best Of" list.  So why not run down the previous four years' worth of listmaking?  Some of these picks I still stand behind -- some others not so much...

Best of 2007:

1. Joe Henry – Civilians
2. Patty Griffin – Children Running Through
3. Wilco - Sky Blue Sky
4. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
5. Spoon - Ga Ga Ga Ga
6. Mary Gauthier - Between Daylight and Dark
7. Grace Potter & The Nocturnals - This Is Somwhere
8. Bettye LaVette - The Scene of the Crime
9. Lucinda Williams - West
10. Over The Rhine - The Trumpet Child

Best of 2006:

1. Solomon Burke – Nashville
2. Drive-By Truckers – A Blessing and A Curse
3. The Drams – Jubilee Dive
4. Mindy Smith – Long Island Shores
5. Joanna Newsom – Ys
6. Neko Case – Fox Confessor Brings The Flood
7. Richard Buckner – Meadow
8. Madeleine Peyroux – Half The Perfect World
9. Ray LaMontange – Til The Sun Turns Black
10. Allison Moorer – Getting Somewhere

Best of 2005:

1. The New Pornographers – Twin Cinema
2. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Jacksonville City Nights
3. Aimee Mann – The Forgotten Arm
4. Over The Rhine – Drunkard’s Prayer
5. Bright Eyes – I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning
6. Various Artists – I Believe To My Soul
7. Ryan Adams & The Cardinals – Cold Roses
8. Spoon – Gimme Fiction
9. Josh Rouse – Nashville
10. Sigur Ros – Takk…

Best of 2004:

1. Allison Moorer – The Duel
2. Sam Phillips – A Boot and A Shoe
3. Tift Merritt – Tambourine
4. Patty Griffin – Impossible Dream
5. Drive-By Truckers – The Dirty South
6. Neko Case – The Tigers Have Spoken
7. Kasey Chambers – Wayward Angel
8. Wilco – A Ghost Is Born
9. Rufus Wainwright – Want Two
10. Kings Of Leon – Aha Shake Heartbreak
11. Buddy Miller – Universal United House Of Prayer
12. Loretta Lynn – Van Lear Rose

So let the merry listmaking begin!

UPDATE:  Per John C.'s suggestion, here's an overall Top 10, 2004 through 2007:

1. Sam Phillips – A Boot and A Shoe
2. Joe Henry – Civilians
3. Patty Griffin – Children Running Through
4. Tift Merritt – Tambourine
5. Allison Moorer – The Duel
6. Buddy Miller – Universal United House Of Prayer
7. Patty Griffin – Impossible Dream
8. Solomon Burke – Nashville
9. Spoon – Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
10. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Raising Sand

I think what emerges from that list is that 2004 and 2007 were very strong years, in my book.  I'll go ahead and say that 2008 was not quite as strong as last year, but I feel pretty strongly about my Top 5.

Comments

[John C]

Just to help get you in shape for the task ahead, I propose you cut your prior 4 years back to a consolidated Top 10 (and I propose the following)

NOT in any order, except by year:

Patty Griffin – Children Running Through
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss - Raising Sand
Mary Gauthier - Between Daylight and Dark [although I might substitute Kelly Willis, if I had the choice...]
Grace Potter & The Nocturnals - This Is Somewhere
Over The Rhine - The Trumpet Child
Solomon Burke – Nashville
Madeleine Peyroux – Half The Perfect World
Tift Merritt – Tambourine
Drive-By Truckers – The Dirty South
Kasey Chambers – Wayward Angel