OK so I didn’t have a party or even go out and it’s five days late to boot but here’s my birthday mix tape. I did put it together on my actual birthday, Aug 18, but I hadn’t been able to take the time to upload it until today. I usually debate whether or not to celebrate the day at all and end up somewhere with friends knocking back a few but this year that didn’t happen. The reason why doesn’t matter and is personal so I am not going to go into it. I made this mix before I knew what was up and it took sort of a morbid turn for a birthday mix even then. It’s five days late but I figured I’d post it anyway in hopes that someone might enjoy it.
I am off to wreak more havoc on the unsuspecting drivers on I-10 all of whom I will shortly think should DIE IN A FIRE. Yes it’s raining in Houston and a single drop within five miles I-10 turns everyone into complete idiots.
As usual I am late on stuff like this and most of you probably got it from the horse’s mouth so to speak. But in case you don’t frequent the Lucero Message Board here’s the comp those kids put together back in January. It pretty much speaks for itself so just click and listen.
15
Dec
The Bird List. A bird’s eye view of the combined top 20 lists of what we like to call a “loose confederation of like minded bloggers”. This is the inaugural year. It’s been a patchy one! But what we do have is decent idea, and what we feel is an interesting list. So Here it is. The best albums of the year as voted on by 30 of the web’s leading aficionados of twanglike music.
1. Justin Townes Earle – Midnight at the Movies
2. Lucero – 1372 Overton Park
3. Ryan Bingham & the Dead Horses – Roadhouse Sun
4. Buddy and Julie Miller – Written in Chalk
5. Dave Rawlings Machine – A Friend of a Friend
6. Slaid Cleaves – Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away
7. Todd Snider – The Excitement Plan
8. Avett Brothers – I and Love and You
9. Band of Heathens – One Foot In the Ether
10. Tom Russell – Blood & Candlesmoke
11. Jason Isbell & 400 Unit – Self Titled
12. Corb Lund – Losin’ Lately Gambler
13. Charlie Robison – Beautiful Day
14. Drive-By Truckers – The Fine Print
15. Steve Earle – Townes
16. Deer Tick – Born on Flag Day
17. Wrinkle Neck Mules – Let The Lead Fly
18. Magnolia Electric Co. – Josephine
19. Guy Clark – Somedays The Songs Write You
20. Those Darlins – S/T
20. Miranda Lambert – Revolution
Contributing Blogs: A Fifty Cent Lighter, A Truer Sound, Alt-512, Amber Waves of Twang, Americana Rock Mix, Americana Roots, Beat Surrender, Because Whit Happens, Country California, Country Music Pride, Farce The Music, For The Sake of The Song, Front Porch Musings, Heartworn Highways, High Noon Saloon, It’s Great To Be Alive, Kim Ruehl (No Depression), Juli Thanki, (The 9513), Romeo Sid Vicious, More Cowbelle, My Aimz Is True, Ninebullets, Sounds Country, The Gobbler’s Knob, There’s Always Someone Cooler Than You, This Mornin’ I Am Born Again, Twang Nation, Twangville, Freight Train Boogie, When You Awake
Special thanks to: Truersound, Sounds Country, Romeo Sid Vicious, and David Attaway
Well my number album of the year didn’t even make the overall top 20 and that makes me sad. Hell it was AIV‘s number one as well! If you want to see my personal list keeping checking 9b this week as I suspect it will pop up there sometime soon. As soon as it’s up there I’ll cross post it here as well and I am working on a top songs mix which, like the top albums, is turning out to be much harder than I thought.
This one comes courtesy of D.C. Live Tracks. I didn’t record it and wasn’t at the show. I did go see Lucero last night here in Houston but this is not that show. So none of the credit is mine at all. I wanted to share a good quality recording of Lucero with all of you and since this is from this tour it’s pretty much what I heard last night with few exceptions. And of course I interviewed the band last night but you’ll have to wait for that post to pop up on 9b. D.C. Live Tracks has some other great shows up but you’ll have to click one of the link and head over there to check them out. I found about them on the Lucero Message Board and have downloaded most if not all of the shows that get posted there.
On another note I am working on a blogroll, of sorts, to cover all the alt-country blogs I read and will have it packaged up as a bundle on Google Reader. This was inspired by The Bird List, a project I have been invited to participate in, and no I ain’t tellin’ you what it is just yet. You will have to just wait and see.
I have also been working on some other stuff on the backend of the old site here. I have changed the MP3 player, not the tape widget, to one that’s actually being maintained after the old one decided I didn’t have permission to access the settings anymore. Most of the rest of the stuff will be transparent to the readers but I did add a twitter widget to the sidebar and some other little tweaks. Anyway…
I leave for Portland, OR on Friday and will be gone until the following Friday. I don’t know how much I’ll update from there so follow me on Twitter if you want to keep up. This’ll probably be my last post on here this week. I have a lot of getting ready to do before I bail out of town. I am sure I’ll have geeky crap to post about when I get back.
This one is a little angrier than usual but what the hell it’s Friday after all. Not the greatest week in the world but not the worst either. So enjoy your weekend folks ’cause come Monday we are back into the thick of it again.
