Now that I have a few of these lists behind me, though, I can see their retrospective value. If I hadn’t recorded my Best Country Albums of 2008, for instance, I’d have no idea where to begin remembering how that year was any different from 2007 or 2009, much less what music I found important back then. A time capsule (which is basically what we’re talking about here) doesn’t have to be perfect in its arrangement of elements; it just has to be representative of its time. Any imperfections end up being part of its character.

Since my previous efforts are sort of scattered here and there (with 2008 and 2010 only published at the now-defunct The 9513), I figured this would be a good time to compile all my pre-2011 rankings in one place, such that my own particular biases might be more readily exposed and preserved for posterity.

(If it’s Country California’s 2011 lists you want, they’re all right here.)

Best Country Albums of 2010

10. Reckless – The SteelDrivers
Embraced by critics and fans alike on the strength of their Rounder Records debut and popular live shows, The SteelDrivers seem to delight in stretching out a bit on Reckless, dipping further into the wells of soul and blues, broadening their instrumental palette (bring on the resonator guitar!), and allowing departing frontman Chris Stapleton even more opportunities to kick his affectingly raspy low tenor up to a bluesy wail. The songwriting team of Stapleton and Mike Henderson provide another set of inspired material, highlighted by “Where Rainbows Never Die.”

9. Welder – Elizabeth Cook
One of country’s sharpest, quirkiest female voices is here and there and everywhere on this musical mish-mash of an album that would’ve ranked higher if it had lived up to its title a little better. Working for the first time with Don Was, Cook pretty much does whatever she wants and leaves the welding of all these disparate identities up to us. The results are a little uneven at times, but the best of these songs – “El Camino,” “Heroin Addict Sister,” “Mama’s Funeral” – more than take up the slack. In fact, they’re downright stunning.

8. Old Highs and New Lows – Hellbound Glory
Johnny Cash didn’t shoot a man in Reno just to watch him die, but this outlaw country band based in the area sounds like they might know who did. Frontman Leroy Virgil sings like he’s been chewing on gravel and writes with the wit of a haggard Roger Miller, characterizing the partners in the dysfunctional relationship of “Either Way We’re F**ked” as “mutual parasites,” bristling at being treated as “nothing but debris” on “In the Gutter Again,” and elsewhere managing what could very well be the first seamless integration of the word “sclerose” into a country song. This is brash, boozy outlaw music of uncommon intelligence.

7. Homecoming – Joe Diffie
Joe Diffie returns to his bluegrass roots to make a career record. While “Free and Easy” and nostalgic album highlight “Route 5, Box 109″ keep Diffie in a familiar pocket, pairing his usual country vocals with lovely rootsy arrangements, other tracks like “Tall Cornstalk” and Grascals collaboration “Rainin’ On Her Rubber Dolly” give him a full bluegrass workout. He rises to the challenge vocally and chooses all the right musical co-conspirators, from Aubrey Haynie and Rob Ickes to Rhonda Vincent and Bradley Walker. Good stuff.

6. Keeping Up Appearances – Amber Digby & Justin Trevino
It’s not easy to sneak a covers album into my Top 10, but Digby and Trevino managed it. Of course, you’d have to be a pretty well-versed student of country history to even recognize some of these as covers, as songs like “Wrong Company” (a minor hit for Wynn Stewart and Jan Howard in 1960) and the title track (Lynn Anderson and Jerry Lane in 1967) are of pretty obscure origin. Even on more common selections like “After the Fire Is Gone,” these two Texan traditionalists manage to breathe new life into familiar tales of marital discord. And they sound terrific together doing it.

5. Ghost Train: The Studio B Sessions – Marty Stuart
A rich, carefully curated collection that radiates love and affection for real country music, from the echoes of Haggard in “Branded” and “Hard Working Man” to the recitation of “Porter Wagoner’s Grave.” Connie Smith shows up to duet with her husband on “I Run to You” and Stuart briefly cedes the floor to steel legend Ralph Mooney so he can bend and slide his way through a gorgeous “Crazy Arms” instrumental. “Hangman,” cowritten with Johnny Cash just days before he died, is indisputably the showpiece, but the rest isn’t that far behind. This is Stuart’s best since The Pilgrim, and possibly his best ever.

4. Up On the Ridge – Dierks Bentley
After years of successively less interesting albums, Dierks Bentley tapped back into the bluegrass tones that made his major label debut such a revelation at the time of its release. Originally conceived as a straight bluegrass album, Up on the Ridge became something markedly funkier with the liberating influence of producer Jon Randall Stewart. And so we get, for example, Bentley joined by both the progressive Punch Brothers and elder statesman Del McCoury on a cover of, of all things, U2′s “Pride (In the Name of Love).” Bentley and Stewart have created a weird, highly listenable world that’s home to a lot of stuff that could only happen there.

3. American VI: Ain’t No Grave – Johnny Cash
It seems like there’s a new ‘last’ Johnny Cash record coming out every other month, but this sixth (and, I believe, final) installment in Rick Rubin’s American Recordings series is the definitive capstone. Where the late Cash recordings leading up to it were shot through with darkness and decay, Ain’t No Grave finds the legend finally, mercifully moving beyond. Gone are what Chris Willman termed the “folk-alt-rock karaoke selections of previous American discs.” Far from a bunch of leftovers, this might be the most carefully-assembled collection of them all. Everything here points to transcendence, culminating in “Aloha Oe,” where Cash drifts off into the great beyond with reassuring, magisterial lightness. Aloha, Mr. Cash… and thank you.

2. The Box – Brennen Leigh
She’s not even out of her 20s yet, but Brennen Leigh has so thoroughly immersed herself in the worlds of Emmylou Harris, George Jones, Melba Montgomery, and the Louvin Brothers that she seems naturally disposed to write songs that sound like they predate her own birth by at least a good twenty or thirty years. The Box is filled to the brim with new songs that sound like old friends, all presented in a lovely, understated acoustic style at the intersection of traditional country and folk. Leigh has set a pretty high bar for herself with this one.

1. The Guitar Song – Jamey Johnson
Johnson makes following That Lonesome Song seem deceptively easy, neatly sidestepping the problem of ‘matching’ his previous work by giving us something different enough that it defies one-to-one comparison. Where That Lonesome Song was a lean, concise wonder modeled after Waylon’s Dreaming My Dreams, The Guitar Song is a sprawling epic that finds Johnson exploring a wider range of sounds and emotions over two ‘Black’ and ‘White’ themed discs. The extended length left some critics wishing Johnson had pared it down a bit, but it’s testament to the quality of these compositions that there’s little agreement on which tracks should have been axed. Even if we could all agree on three to cut, there’d still be 22 deserving of this top spot.

Best Country Albums of 2009

20. Twang – George Strait
Not the best Strait album (not even the best recent Strait album), but a special one in his catalog for the twists introduced – he does some writing, sings in Spanish, and sings an old “El Paso” style story song written by his son – and the new life they bring to what is by now a very old and familiar formula.

19. Same Old Place – Newfound Road
He may be fronting a crack bluegrass band, but baritone Tim Shelton can very obviously wrap his pipes around any sort of material you throw at him. His accomplished performances here – which sometimes suggest Monroe and Haggard in equal measure – are a pleasure to behold, elevating an otherwise solid contemporary bluegrass outing into the company of the very best 2009 had to offer.

18. Here With Me – Holly Williams
Sometimes AC, sometimes country, always smart and believable. It’s like a character study of a tough-minded woman navigating complications of love and legacy. Songs like “Mama” and “Three Days in Bed” rank among the best of 2009 in any genre, and make up for occasional weak spots elsewhere.

17. Carolina – Eric Church
If you can get past Church’s tough guy shtick, you’ll discover some real talent. As much as I like pointing out the irony of poseur Church questioning other people’s cred on “Lotta Boot Left to Fill,” there’s little question that the guy can write and deliver a fine country song when he gets out of his own way. This is one of the records I’ve come back to the most over the course of the year.

16. When the Money’s All Gone – Jason Eady
The last discovery to make it into my Top 20, it leapfrogged some of the more established competition with an addictive, tuneful country-gospel-blues fusion and Eady’s hypnotic manner of storytelling. This one’s still growing on me, so I suspect it might have ranked even higher if I had picked up on it earlier.

15. Watch America Roll By – J.B. Beverley & the Wayward Drifters
Songs about getting the blues from no-good women, hitting the road (or hopping a freight), and successfully outrunning everything but your own damn pride have seldom sounded as good – or as alive – as they do in the capable hands of Virginia-based honky tonk outfit J.B. Beverley and the Wayward Drifters. Who says you can’t have new fun with old subject matter?

14. Sara Watkins – Sara Watkins
Like her earlier work with Nickel Creek, Sara Watkins’ solo debut is a smartly hybrid affair, only with more classic country influence and less experimental noodling than you might expect. The musicianship is great and the songs cover an intriguing range, from Tom Waits’ “Pony” to Jimmie Rodgers’ “Any Old Time,” but the real star is that voice, tough and soft and gritty and ethereal in all the right ways.

13. Do Wrong Right – Devil Makes Three
This old-time acoustic party band is unstoppable when the tempo is up, still pretty darn good when the tempo is down. After a couple studio efforts that lacked the spark of their live shows, this feels like their breakthrough album. It didn’t get the attention it deserved, but I’m still listening.

12. Mountain Soul II – Patty Loveless
A delightful album that never quite manages to overcome its ‘sequel stank’ and come into its own as a crowning moment in Loveless’ storied catalog. A completely worthwhile but ultimately non-essential continuation of her groundbreaking 2001 album, I wanted to rate it higher but couldn’t justify the move. Sorry, Patty.

11. Closer to the Bone – Kris Kristofferson
Like Cash before him, Kristofferson is the voice of age and wisdom, working on his own late career resurgence with a worthy successor to 2006′s This Old Road. He may not sing pretty, but he sings true, imbuing these songs with every ounce of his humanity. If you want to know what beats in the heart of Kristofferson, this is it. He’s writing and singing so intimately as to obliterate the barrier between man and music – closer to the bone, indeed.

10. Brothers from Different Mothers – Dailey & Vincent
There’s harmony and then there’s harmony. As the title of their sophomore set suggests, Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent have voices seemingly made to fit together, and the arrival of another great album so soon after their 2008 debut suggests that they’ve only just begun to reveal the full extent of their gifts to us.

9. Revolution – Miranda Lambert
There’s something about Miranda. It was evident on her debut album, and has only become more so with each succeeding release: She’s an artist. Not just a singer, not just a songwriter, certainly not just a star. An artist, hearkening back to the days when that implied a self-driven, self-aware pursuit of artistry, not just an album for sale on iTunes. What’s exciting isn’t that she’s getting better, which she is: it’s that she seems to be getting better for herself, and inviting us along for the ride almost as an afterthought. Revolution is her best set so far, held back only by an overbearing production style that dulls rather than sharpens Lambert’s edge.

8. Somedays the Song Writes You – Guy Clark
To be frank, a Clark album featuring “Hemingway’s Whiskey,” “The Guitar,” “Maybe I Can Paint Over That,” and “Somedays the Song Writes You” would probably end up in my Top 10 even if the rest of the tracks were dramatic readings of Jimmy Wayne lyrics. That’s how much I like those four songs. Thankfully, the rest of the album is pretty sturdy too, even as a number of subdued songs cause it to sag a bit through the middle.

7. The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again – John Fogerty
Don’t call it crossover. John Fogerty has a better intuitive grasp of country music than most of its stars, and his performances of classics like “Fallin’ Fallin’ Fallin’” and “I Don’t Care (Just As Long As You Love Me)” radiate love and appreciation for country music that was hinted at (and sometimes made quite explicit) in his impressive body of work with Credence. Unlike his first Blue Ridge Rangers album from 1973, on which he played and sang every part, this one benefits from the live energy provided by a crack backing band.

6. A Taste of the Truth – Gene Watson
Nobody sings a hurting song better than Gene Watson, and Watson hasn’t found a set of hurting songs this good for quite some time. The cover image finds him apparently miscast as Underwear Boy in Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” video, but the songs are the antithesis of Swift’s rosy portrayal, with Watson positively miserable throughout. It’s for the best, as marital discord, self-deception, and heartbreak have seldom sounded this sweet.

5. Hillbilly Goddess – Alecia Nugent
Where bluegrass and acoustic country meet, there’s a good chance you’ll find a little slice of heaven. There’s also a good chance you’ll find Carl Jackson – the producer behind The Life of a Song (Joey + Rory), Highway of Dreams (Bradley Walker), the Louvin Brothers tribute album, and all three of Nugent’s albums to date, including this one. Three albums in, Jackson and Nugent have worked out all the kinks: she’s singing better than ever, the songs are of consistently high quality, the production frames everything perfectly. At its best – a stunning cover of the Buddy and Julie Miller gem “Don’t Tell Me” – it’s darn near unbeatable.

4. Midnight at the Movies – Justin Townes Earle
Such is Justin Townes Earle’s gift that it seems like these songs have been stuck in my head for much longer than a year – in fact, it seems like they’ve been there all along. This guy is scary good, leaving me practically inarticulate in his wake. For the second year in a row. (The Good Life came in 5th in last year’s ranking, and I couldn’t do a very good job of explaining why back then, either.)

3. Willie and the Wheel – Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel
Somewhere along the way, popular music became less, well, musical – less like good bands, more like creative keystrokes. This western swing album from Willie Nelson and Asleep at the Wheel is as long overdue as it is simply, joyously musical. No record released this year better encapsulates sheer musical celebration.

2. One to the Heart, One to the Head – Gretchen Peters & Tom Russell
Peters and Russell, two of the best country/folk singer-songwriters around, channel their energies into the related field of song-choosing, piecing together uniformly excellent songs from disparate sources so seamlessly that the resulting Southwestern theme album drops nary a hint of its scattered origins. It feels entirely whole, entirely new. As singers, the two artists play off of each other brilliantly, with Peters in particular delivering some of her most stirring vocals to date. This one didn’t attract anywhere near the critical or popular attention it deserved.

1. The Excitement Plan – Todd Snider
A controversial pick for top album of the year? Only to those who mistake Snider’s loosey-goosey style for incompetence and underestimate the difficulty of putting together an album as simultaneously snarky, profound, wry, and heartfelt as this. It’s a delicate balance that few (hero Prine among them) have truly mastered. Every time Snider puts out an album, I think he’s at the peak of his powers. Then he outdoes himself again. The Excitement Plan is one of his sharpest, most dynamic sets yet, and one I’ll be listening to for years to come.

Best Country Albums of 2008

10. 12 Ounce World – Rodney Hayden
Hayden’s voice has some of Robert Earl Keen’s twangy whine to it, but the arrangements are straight-up, sawdust-stirring honky tonk shuffles. This is country like George Strait used to make it–sometimes better.

9. Around The Bend – Randy Travis
For the health of the format, it’s best that Randy Travis show up every few years to remind everyone else of how it’s done. Here he does just that, applying his well-weathered, almost impossibly expressive baritone to the strongest set of material he has assembled in this century.

8. Call Me Crazy – Lee Ann Womack
If you want proof of Womack’s dyed-in-the-wool traditionalism, hear the way her voice drips regret and sorrow even on the honeyed pop confections here. She’s an exceptional country singer regardless of the material handed to her, but becomes damn near unbeatable when hooked up with stone-cold traditional numbers like “If These Walls Could Talk” and Jim Lauderdale’s “King of Broken Hearts.”

7. Bulletproof – Reckless Kelly
Call it country or call it rock–Bulletproof is just outstandingly smart, hooky, hard-charging music that kicks off in high gear and doesn’t let up. Braun and the boys have never sounded more confident.

6. Coal – Kathy Mattea
The real highlight of this set is the strength of the narrative presence, with Mattea providing the voice of truth and compassion that binds together these disparate tales of life in the mines.

5. The Good Life – Justin Townes Earle
Earle the Younger has a remarkable gift for crafting songs that sound like they predate him and delivering them in a simple, unaffectedly retro style that’s as believable as it is charming.

4. Sleepless Nights – Patty Loveless
It hardly seems fair that Patty Loveless should deliver another career record just seven years after 2001′s Mountain Soul, but the always-estimable singer can’t help but astound when paired with some of the finest country songs ever written. The album’s subtitle–The Traditional Country Soul of Patty Loveless–is no mere marketing catchphrase: Loveless bares it all, offering a bit of herself in every syllable.

3. Trouble In Mind – Hayes Carll
Carll’s album mines the rich interior life of the traveling troubadour and barroom loser, finding room for remarkable expressions of regret, humor, and self-understanding. Handling rollicking rockers and reflective ballads with similar proficiency and his trademark wit still very much intact, Carll is one of the finest young singer-songwriters working today.

2. The Life Of A Song – Joey + Rory
Country radio programmers could do worse than to clear a permanent spot for Joey + Rory on their playlists. On their debut disc, the duo (wife Joey Martin on lead vocals and husband Rory Lee Feek on harmony) deliver fetching renditions of solidly country songs that stir up memories of everything that used to be good–and occasionally still is–about mainstream country music.

1. Rattlin’ Bones – Kasey Chambers & Shane Nicholson
She has been recording for years, but Chambers was little more than a blip on my radar until this fantastically gritty acoustic set, with husband and fellow artist Nicholson, became my musical epiphany of 2008. There’s an indefinable magic in the combination of their voices.

Best Country Albums of 2007

Still a few months away from creating this blog, I didn’t bother blurbing, but had apparently already been bitten by the listing bug. Happened to come across the text file on my computer a few years later.

10. Rhinestoned – Pam Tillis
9. Peace, Love and Anarchy – Todd Snider
8. Real Things – Joe Nichols
7. Balls – Elizabeth Cook
6. The Trailer Tapes – Chris Knight
5. Heartbreaker’s Hall of Fame – Sunny Sweeney
4. Last of the Breed – Ray Price, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson
3. Dwight Sings Buck – Dwight Yoakam
2. From the Cradle to the Grave – Dale Watson
1. Wagonmaster – Porter Wagoner

Best Country Albums of 2011
1. Pistol Annies – Hell on Heels
2. Hellbound Glory – Damaged Goods
3. Various Artists – This One’s for Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark
4. Matraca Berg – The Dreaming Fields
5. Reckless Kelly – Good Luck and True Love
6. LeAnn Rimes – Lady and Gentlemen
7. Justin Haigh – People Like Me
8. Hayes Carll – KMAG YOYO
9. Miranda Lambert – Four the Record
10. Dirt Drifters – This Is My Blood

(Complete list with comments only at Engine 145.)

Best Country Songs of 2011
1. Ronnie Dunn – “Cost of Livin’”
2. Matraca Berg – “Your Husband’s Cheating on Us”
3. Hellbound Glory – “Better Hope You Die Young”
4. Miranda Lambert – “Same Old You”
5. Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit – “Codeine”
6. Randy Travis w/ Jamey Johnson – “A Few Ole Country Boys”
7. Pistol Annies – “Trailer for Rent”
8. Sunny Sweeney – “Staying’s Worse Than Leaving”
9. Justin Haigh – “In Jail”
10. Pistol Annies – “Lemon Drop”

Best Country Singles of 2011
1. Ronnie Dunn – “Cost of Livin’”
2. Kenny Chesney w/ Grace Potter – “You and Tequila”
3. Sunny Sweeney – “Staying’s Worse Than Leaving”
4. Dirt Drifters – “Always a Reason”
5. Billy Currington – “Love Done Gone”
6. Pistol Annies – “Hell on Heels”
7. George Strait – “Here for a Good Time”
8. Jacob Lyda – “I’m Doing Alright”
9. Taylor Swift – “Mean”
10. Bradley Gaskin – “Mr. Bartender”

Best Bluegrass Albums of 2011
1. Chris Thile & Michael Daves – Sleep with One Eye Open
2. Dale Ann Bradley – Somewhere South of Crazy
3. Jimmie Dale Gilmore & the Wronglers – Heirloom Music
4. Various Artists – I’ll Take Love (from the Pen of Louisa Branscomb)
5. Charlie Sizemore – Heartache Looking for a Home
6. Gibson Brothers – Help My Brother
7. Alison Krauss & Union Station – Paper Airplane
8. Del McCoury Band – Old Memories: Songs of Bill Monroe
9. Sierra Hull – Daybreak
10. Junior Sisk and Ramblers Choice – The Heart of a Song

Best Live Albums of 2011
1. Todd Snider – The Storyteller
2. Byron Hill – Radio Songs
3. Slaid Cleaves – Sorrow and Smoke: Live at the Horseshoe Lounge
4. Newfound Road – Live at the Down Home
5. The Steel Wheels – Live at Goose Creek

Best Covers/Tribute Albums of 2011
1. Various Artists – This One’s for Him: A Tribute to Guy Clark
2. LeAnn Rimes – Lady & Gentlemen
3. Chris Thile & Michael Daves – Sleep With One Eye Open
4. Chris Isaak – Beyond the Sun
5. Suzy Bogguss – American Folk Songbook
6. Jimmie Dale Gilmore & The Wronglers – Heirloom Music
7. Various Artists – I Love: Tom T. Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow
8. Carrie Rodriguez & Ben Kyle – We Still Love Our Country
9. Willie Nelson – Remember Me, Volume 1
10. Del McCoury Band – Old Memories: Songs of Bill Monroe

(Hybrid covers or tribute albums containing a fair amount of new material, including those by Randy Travis and Nell Robinson, have been ruled out.)

Best Debut Albums of 2011
1. Pistol Annies – Hell on Heels
2. The Dirt Drifters – This Is My Blood
3. Erin Enderlin – Erin Enderlin (EP)
4. Andy Vaughan & the Driveline – Long Gone
5. Randy Montana – Randy Montana

Slaid Cleaves – “One Good Year”
from Sorrow and Smoke: Live at the Horseshoe Lounge
If 2011 didn’t pan out quite as you had expected, here’s your song for the new year. Let’s hope it’s never too late to turn things around. Key lyric: “Just give me one good year to get my feet back on the ground/I’ve been chasing grace and grace ain’t so easily found.”

George Strait – “Drinkin’ Man”
from Here for a Good Time
“Poison” seems the unanimous critical favorite, but I think this one will wear better with repetition.

Reckless Kelly – “I Never Liked St. Valentine”
from Good Luck & True Love
It’s a Todd Snider cowrite. What’d you expect me to do, not recommend it? Inconceivable.

LeAnn Rimes – “Sixteen Tons”
from Lady and Gentlemen
Rimes and producer Vince Gill swing the Merle Travis classic hard, big band style. And it works wonderfully. Also not to be missed: a wonderfully exposed reading of Hag’s “I Can’t Be Myself” and the updated version of “Blue.” In fact, the whole album is better than expected.

Sonia Leigh – “Ain’t Dead Yet”
from 1978 December
Leigh’s best shot at country radio outside of “My Name Is Money.” Nice and accessible.

Del McCoury Band – “Brakeman’s Blues”
from Old Memories: The Songs of Bill Monroe
Any time you can get Del McCoury yodeling, I’m all for it.

Kenny Vaughan – “Hot Like That”
from V
Fabulous Superlative and guitarist extraordinaire offers fetching, playful tribute to a girl so fast she can “pitch it from the mound, run and smack it with the bat.” Ha.

The Dirt Daubers – “Get Outta My Way”
from Wake Up, Sinners!
Spunky as vocalist Jessica Wilkes sounds on this fast-shuffling tune, you’d be a fool to try to stop her.

Kyle Park – “I Think You’re in Love”
from Make or Break Me
Contemporary Texas country with a nice, lazy swing.

Tom Russell – “The Lonesome Death of Ukelele Ike”
from Mesabi
The saddest song here is also the sunniest sounding, as befits the tale of Cliff Edwards, vaudeville star and beloved voice of Jiminy Cricket who died “penniless and forgotten in the motion picture old folks’ home” after long battles with alcohol and drug addiction.

You can sample most of the songs below.

Shades of Kristofferson showed up in “The Saddest Love That’s Ever Been Made” on 2009′s New Songs for the Old Frontier. On Mulligan one year later, “It’s a Long, Long Way” recalled Todd Snider’s “My Generation, Part II.” Sadly humorous character sketch “Tia Maria” (also on Mulligan) seemed torn from the shared notebook of John Prine and Blaze Foley.

I’ll bet you didn’t even know they shared a notebook.

You’ll find all of the above influences saluted on Ronnie Fauss’ latest collection, Any Lovin’ Way But Wrong, a covers EP that finds the Dallas singer-songwriter tackling “Clay Pigeons” (Foley), “Just the Other Side of Nowhere” (Kristofferson), “Happy to Be Here” (Snider), and “Sabu Visits the Twin Cities Alone” (Prine). If Fauss hadn’t already proven himself capable of writing original material of similar quality, this might seem a desperate and uninspired measure. But arriving at this particular moment – three solid EPs under his belt, the artist is preparing to kick things into a higher gear in the months ahead with work on his first full-length album – it’s more like he’s grounding himself in the work of some of his heroes, setting the bar against which we (and he) should judge his future output. The tightly-focused set of songs, and the way Fauss is able to quietly yet confidently make each his own, suggest that he has a solid idea of where he’s headed and all the talent it’ll take to get there. It’ll be our pleasure to watch it happen.

Samples from the new EP are below. At the moment, you can grab a free download of Mulligan at Ronnie Fauss’ website; I don’t know how long that deal will last, so you’re encouraged to act quickly if interested.

We’ll do our best to hit September and October by the time this month is through, then it’s full speed ahead to the end of the year. Since the idea is to get caught up, I won’t take the time to comment on every last track. You can use the Amazon player to sample the selections and find what best suits your tastes.

As always, your comments are quite welcome.

Connie Smith – “Blue Heartaches”
from Long Line Of Heartaches

Jeff Bridges – “Maybe I Missed the Point”
from Jeff Bridges
Plainspoken, soul-searching poetry delivered in one of the livelier performances on the album: “I laid low when I could’ve stood high/I said nothin’ when I should’ve asked why/Saw somethin’ that I might’ve done but I didn’t/A chance to speak my truth and I hid it.” Story of my life, Mr. Bridges.

David Serby – “Poor Man’s Poem”
from Poor Man’s Poem

Trace Adkins – “Days Like This”
from Proud To Be Here

Wagons – “Save Me”
from Rumble, Shake And Tumble
It’s like a country-gospel Civil War sea shanty? Okay, I’m not sure what it is. But it’s good and you should hear it. Thank you, Australia.

Harley Allen – “In the Jailhouse Now”
from O Brother, Where Art Thou? Deluxe Edition

Eli Young Band – “Even If It Breaks Your Heart”
from Life At Best

Robert Earl Keen – “The Road Goes On and On”
from Ready For Confetti
Keen’s stunning takedown of Toby Keith, who charted a tepid rewrite of “The Road Goes On Forever” last year. Keen sings: “Yeah, you’re a regular jack in the box/In your clown suit and your goldilocks/All duded up in your cowboy crocs, singing the same old song.” Hilarious.

Jake Owen – “The Journey of Your Life”
from Barefoot Blue Jean Night

Pistol Annies – “Trailer for Rent”
from Hell On Heels
Any song on the album could make this list, but “Trailer for Rent” is especially great. Album of the year?

Sunny Sweeney – “The Old Me”
from Concrete

Duane Stephenson – “Suspicions”
from Reggae’s Gone Country
Turns out this Eddie Rabbitt classic is a better reggae song than country song. The rest of the album is better than you’d expect, too.

Girls, Guns and Glory – “Sweet Nothings”
from Sweet Nothings

Dale Ann Bradley w/ Steve Gulley – “Will You Visit Me on Sundays?”
from Somewhere South of Crazy
If you’re into Rhonda Vincent or Alecia Nugent or any other country-bluegrass singers of that ilk, you absolutely need to check this out. There isn’t a more natural singer out there than Dale Ann Bradley, a three-time IBMA Female Vocalist of the Year who isn’t as known in the country world as some of her peers.

The Bottle Rockets – “Lucky Break”
from Not So Loud: An Acoustic Evening with the Bottle Rockets

Glen Campbell – “Nothing But the Whole Wide World”
from Ghost On The Canvas
From the pen of Jakob Dylan (and the track list of his Women And Country album) comes one of the few classic-sounding cuts on Glen Campbell’s farewell disc.

Rodney Parker & 50 Peso Reward – “I’m Never Getting Married”
from Live in the Living Room
A restless, compulsively singable bachelor anthem.

Nu-Blu – “Roses and Rust”
from The Blu-Disc

Good stuff all around. Sample all the songs below.

If you’re good at multitasking, here’s a player for listening to samples while you read.

Rodney Hayden – “Sonora’s Death Row”
from Rodney Hayden
Hayden adds his name to the long list of guys who’ve covered this Kevin ‘Blackie’ Farrell story song: Robert Earl Keen, Michael Martin Murphey, Tom Russell, Dave Alvin, etc. Good thing it never gets old.

Ashton Shepherd – “That All Leads to One Thing”
from Where Country Grows
Think Reba McEntire or Bobbie Gentry.

Chris Young – “Neon”
from Neon
There’s never been any question that dude can sing, but it’s still a surprise every time he finds material worthy of his voice. See also: “Flashlight.”

Kasey Chambers – “Bring Back My Heart”
from Little Bird (US release)
The Australian wonder’s 2010 album finally hits the States, reminding us on songs like this and the title track that Taylor Swift doesn’t have any kind of monopoly on smartly-crafted country-pop.

Ronnie Milsap – “Cry Cry Darling’”
from Country Again
The king of country-soul tries on some bluegrass-style harmonies. They fit well.

Blake Shelton – “Red River Blue”
from Red River Blue
Miranda backs Blake up on a killer Ray Stephenson/Buddy Owens song of romantic longing, making for an indisputable album highlight.

David Bromberg w/ Levon Helm – “Bring It With You When You Come”
from Use Me
His second album in 20 years – the first, 2007′s Try Me One More Time, was Grammy-nominated – finds musician’s musician Bromberg collaborating with a host of talented friends, including Levon Helm on this funky jug band tune.

William Elliott Whitmore – “Lift My Jug”
from Field Songs (Deluxe Edition)
The backstory of an alcoholic bum shouldn’t sound this catchy.

Suzy Bogguss – “Shenandoah”
from American Folk Songbook
If you like beautiful things, grab the whole album.

Ricky Skaggs – “Lovin’ Only Me”
from Country Hits Bluegrass Style
The album title is a bit of misnomer – the differences between these and the original hit versions aren’t as pronounced as you’d expect – but we can’t pass up an opportunity to recommend a slightly rootsier rerecording of Skaggs’ final country chart-topper, 1989′s “Lovin’ Only Me.” It’s a good’un.

Dirt Drifters – “Married Men and Motel Rooms”
from This Is My Blood
They have so much faith in the album that they’re literally giving it away at shows, betting on the music’s ability to speak for itself and grow their following organically. One listen to “Married Men and Motel Rooms” and you won’t doubt the intelligence of that promotional strategy.

Angela Easterling – “Pocket”
from Beguiler
History and politics are obviously of considerable importance to her, but Easterling also writes a damn fine love song. Sample lyrics: “I may act like I know where I’m headed/Well, I don’t really even have a clue/I trap myself in secrets, then I give too much away/Oh, I wrestle with my darkness and my truth.” That’s solid.

Eric Church – “Jack Daniels”
from Chief
One of those times when Eric Church lives up to his own hype. See also: “Over When It’s Over.”

Terri Clark – “Lonesome’s Last Call”
from Roots and Wings
True to the first part of her album title, she wrote this one when she was 22. It’s country.

Pokey LaFarge & the South City Three – “Head to Toe”
from Middle of Everywhere
If you like Bob Wills and Jimmie Rodgers, you like Pokey LaFarge. Even if you don’t know it yet. Need an entry point? This fetching little call-and-response love song should do the trick.

Randy Montana w/ Emmylou Harris – “Last Horse”
from Randy Montana
Song of the year? It’s possible, especially with the gravitas added by those pluperfect Emmylou harmonies.

Well, here it comes… a big ol’ roundup of good stuff. A couple of the June selections actually date back into May, but we’re betting they’re obscure enough that they’ll be new to most of you anyway.

I’ll put the player up here so that you can hit ‘Play’ now and read along while you listen. That ought to help you plow through pretty quickly and identify the stuff that best fits your own tastes. Though, of course, I recommend giving all of it a chance.

Donna Ulisse – “Hand Me Down Home”
from An Easy Climb
Like an acoustic, bluegrassy spin on the “The House That Built Me” for those who never left their family homesteads in Appalachia.

Jeremy Steding – “Paint the Town Red When They’re Blue”
from I Keep On Livin’, But I Don’t Learn
This young Austin singer-songwriter raised an impressive $11,000 toward the recording of his third album through fan donations on Kickstarter, and it’s not difficult see why his music inspires such passion. Check out “Paint the Town Red When They’re Blue,” which sounds like a lost Don Williams hit. The Gentle Giant himself couldn’t have sung it any better.

Eilen Jewell – “Home to Me”
from Queen of the Minor Key
Patsy Cline meets surf guitar, to devastating (in a good way) effect.

Randy Travis w/ Jamey Johnson – “A Few Ole Country Boys”
from Anniversary Celebration
With Randy Travis stepping into the veteran part originally sung by George Jones, Jamey Johnson matches him with an authoritative vocal that ably demonstrates why he’s the right guy – and very possibly the only right guy – to receive the torch. Welcome to country music nirvana.

Cody Canada & the Departed – “A Little Rain Will Do”
from This Is Indian Land
Not sure if songs about farmers waiting on rain are always great or if I just have a particular soft spot for them, but this one from Cody Canada’s new band sounds pretty darn good to me.

David Adam Byrnes – “She Only Wanted Flowers”
from Premium Country
Like countless country protagonists before him, he didn’t realize what really mattered until it was too late. This is definitely at the more mainstream end of stuff you’ll find featured here, but it sounds like the arrival of a talent worth watching. And since Byrnes is a commercial country act on an upstart indie label, he’s not getting much attention from big media or too-cool alternative outlets. So, now you’ve heard of him.

Gary Nicholson – “A Woman in Texas, A Woman in Tennessee”
from Texas Songbook
Two-timing is a dangerous balancing act, even for a guy as smooth as Gary Nicholson sounds. Technically, though, he’s the voice of reason to a two-timing friend in this jaunty cautionary tune.

Dave Alvin – “Two Lucky Bums”
from Eleven Eleven
Situated cruelly at the end of the California roots hero’s new album, this sweet, jazzy duet with the late Chris Gaffney will be stuck in your head for the rest of the day. Or week.

Dolly Parton – “Better Day”
from Better Day
Bluesy, gospel reassurance from country’s still-reigning queen of ebullient optimism.

The Greencards – “Adelaide”
from The Brick Album
Our lone instrumental selection, a Celtic jig that somehow evokes the Old West.

Jim Lauderdale – “Reason and Rhyme”
from Reason and Rhyme
Lauderdale joins forces with Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter for a third time, bringing his own distinctive melodic sensibilities to bear on Hunter’s equally quirky lyrical ones. At their best, as on this title track, the results of the collaboration sound oddly timeless.

Gene Watson & Rhonda Vincent – “Gone for Good”
from Your Money and My Good Looks
Gene Watson plus Rhonda Vincent on the precipice of a break-up is a ‘can’t miss’ formula for classic country duet goodness. The whole album is well worth checking out.

Joe Ely – “Not That Much Has Changed”
from Satisfied at Last
Sounding vital as ever in his 60s, Ely ably evokes the feel of seeing your hometown again after years away: “The grass is a little drier/The trees are a little higher/But the dust still blows on the range/The schoolyard seems smaller/The church steeple seems taller/But not that much has changed.”

Justin Haigh – “In Jail”
from People Like Me
The rare story song that’s as musically enjoyable as it is narratively compelling. The whole album is reviewed here… but to summarize, it’s pretty darn excellent.

Lindi Ortega – “Dying of Another Broken Heart”
from Little Red Boots
The Canadian singer-songwriter tends toward elaborate, clamorous arrangements, but this stripped-down gem of a heartbreak song makes it clear that those stylistic choices are built on a core of serious lyrical and vocal talent. Comparisons to Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris aren’t completely out of order.

Nick 13 – “Restless Moon”
from Nick 13
The frontman of California psychobilly band Tiger Army is stunningly sincere in his solo country outing, enlisting Lloyd Green and Greg Leisz on steel and Sara Watkins on fiddle and drawing inspiration from decades of country music history (namely, the 40s through 60s) all but ignored by recent generations of the genre’s own stars. Why does it so often take an outsider to show us what we’ve forgotten of our own legacy?

Ronnie Dunn – “Cost of Livin’”
from Ronnie Dunn

Grayson Capps – “Highway 42″
from The Lost Cause Minstrels
If you’re thinking of bailing on a bad relationship, you’ll need a cool leaving song. This’ll do the trick.

John Howie Jr. and the Rosewood Bluff – “Back to Basics”
from Leavin’ Yesterday
Burly-voiced Two Dollar Pistols frontman John Howie Jr. picks up right where he left off with his new band The Rosewood Bluff, laying into a slice of Bakersfield honky tonk so good it’d curl Buck’s toes.

Erin Enderlin – “You Don’t Know Jack”
from Erin Enderlin EP
I’m going to have to write more about this talented gal soon, but if you like Jamey Johnson or Lee Ann Womack you should do yourself a favor and get a head start by grabbing her whole eight-song EP (including acoustic versions of Enderlin originals “Monday Morning Church” and “Last Call”) right now. Up there with Justin Haigh as one of my favorite discoveries of the year.

Sweetback Sisters – “Don’t Put Her Down, You Helped Put Her There”
from Looking for a Fight
Emily Miller and Zara Bode aren’t actually sisters, except in the way that Alice Gerrard and Hazel Dickens – whose cutting “Don’t Put Her Down, You Helped Put Her There” they cover here – were sisters. But as the two lead voices of Brooklyn country-swing outfit The Sweetback Sisters, they sure do sound fine together.

Gillian Welch – “Down Along the Dixie Line”
from The Harrow & the Harvest
Gillian Welch and David Rawlings provide a typically timeless-sounding endnote.

From the first few lines of self-penned album opener “All My Best Friends (Are Behind Bars),” it’s clear that Haigh is working in the same Texas honky tonk vein that produced ’90s stars Tracy Lawrence, Mark Chesnutt, and Tracy Byrd. Yet the breadth and quality of material on People Like Me suggest a seriousness and intent of purpose at odds with the pejorative connotations of the term “hat act.”

In fact, Justin Haigh is anything but just another hat act. Not just any schmuck in a Stetson is entrusted with top-shelf songs from Bobby Pinson, Kelley Lovelace, Erv Woolsey (George Strait’s longtime manager), Mary Gauthier, and Jamey Johnson on his sophomore album. Especially not without name recognition or major label backing. And not just any schmuck in a Stetson can do as much with such songs as Haigh does here.

While “All My Best Friends,” “Jack Daniels on Ice,” and “People Like Me” prove Haigh’s mettle with good-timing dance songs, “I Ain’t Leaving” (Mary Gauthier/Travis Meadows) and “Is It Still Cheating” (Jamey Johnson/Randy Houser/Jerrod Niemann) show him equally capable with uber-intelligent contemporary ballads and visceral Vern Gosdin-style heartbreak songs.

Waylon Jennings gets his due with a cover (a “Rose in Paradise” to equal the original) and title-centric tribute song, but the album is marked even more strongly by a different Texas singer-songwriter. Kevin Higgins, with whom I was not familiar before finding his name in the credits, contributes two of the album’s strongest tracks in “Monahans” and “In Jail,” both evocative story songs rich with dusty detail and sly humor. He wrote them, along with album closer “Gathering Dust,” solo. As a performer, Higgins fronts a Texas band called The Dust Devils. Here, he’s sort of the Billy Joe Shaver to Haigh’s neotrad Honky Tonk Heroes. If the album gets the attention it deserves, both men stand to benefit.

If smart traditional country with mainstream appeal is what you’re after, People Like Me does it better than any of the high-profile releases from Chris Young, Blake Shelton, or Ashton Shepherd due next week. I wouldn’t be surprised to see it show up on some Best of 2011 lists.

Artist Website | Amazon

Here are the ten current country singles most deserving of that fate. Most are from major labels or established indies with some history of placing singles on the chart. Some are already hits. Others have seemingly everything it takes to become hits, save for that bit of influence or alchemy or money or whatever it is that makes some recordings pop off like rockets while others fizzle quietly away.

You can listen to each of our picks in its entirety using the corresponding link.

• Billy Currington – “Love Done Gone”
  George Strait had the first hold on it, but Currington ended up getting it for his Enjoy Yourself album. Sounds like summer.

• Bradley Gaskin – “Mr. Bartender”
  A fairly by-the-book honky tonk lament enlivened by an astonishingly soulful vocal performance. This sounds like the introduction of a major talent.

• Corey Smith – “Twenty-One”
  I wasn’t initially sold on the voice, but good storytelling has a way of winning me over.

• Dirt Drifters – “Always a Reason”
  Roots-rock stories of small-town life. Like Steve Earle or Chris Knight if they were interested in getting played on country radio.

• Jacob Lyda – “I’m Doing Alright”
  Strait and Jackson are the obvious touchstones, but this guy doesn’t sound like either of them. In fact, he doesn’t sound like much of anyone. It’s nice to hear so little pretense on a debut single.

• Justin Haigh – “All My Best Friends (Are Behind Bars)”
  It’d odd that the song here with the slightest chance of mainstream success (outside of Texas, anyway) is the one that would have been an absolute shoo-in during the ’90s.

• Kenny Chesney – “You and Tequila”
  The best Chesney ballad on radio since “Down the Road” or, more likely, “Anything But Mine.” Those were three and six years ago, respectively, so he should deliver another good one by 2014.

• Pistol Annies – “Hell on Heels”
  We were about due for a great girl trio, and Miranda Lambert + Ashley Monroe + Angaleena Presley delivers. This song’s pretty good, but imagine what they could do with something truly exceptional.

• Ronnie Dunn – “Cost of Livin’”
  I’ll be very surprised if this doesn’t go down as one of the best singles released in 2011. But with many listeners in the exact soul-sucking predicament reflected by the lyrics, will the jobless care to be reminded of their plight every time they turn on a radio? It could be that this one’s too honest with not enough of a silver lining to garner all the airplay it deserves.

• Sunny Sweeney – “Staying’s Worse Than Leaving”
  After nearly two months on the charts, this still hasn’t cracked the Top 40. I don’t get it.

(The letter X is here meant to stand in for “Jason Aldean rapping with Ludacris.”)

To that end, here are Country California’s picks for the best tracks on new albums released in May. In keeping with the awards show theme, we’ve swapped the usual mini-reviews for the titles of the made-up categories we think each song would sweep. Let us know of your own picks in the comments.

Blind Boys of Alabama – “I Know a Place”
from Take the High Road
Best Proof That the Blind Boys Don’t Need Fancy Guest Vocalists to Excel

Amanda Shires – “Detroit or Buffalo”
from Carrying Lightning
Best Song Suggesting Relocation as a Means of Escaping Heartache

Mandy Barnett – “Faded Love”
from Sweet Dreams
Best Use of Slightly Altered Phrasing to Improve on a Patsy Cline Classic

Burns & Poe – “Is This Lonely?”
from Burns & Poe
Best Imitation of a Trisha Yearwood/Don Henley Collaboration Not Featuring Trisha Yearwood or Don Henley

Chris Thile and Michael Daves – “Sleep With One Eye Open”
from Sleep With One Eye Open
Best Thrillingly Energetic Revitalization of a Flatt & Scruggs Classic

Jimmie Dale Gilmore w/ The Wronglers – “I’m Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes”
from Heirloom Music
Best Use of Pinched Nasal Tone to Reinforce a Wistful Lyrical Message

Ted Russell Kamp – “If I Had a Dollar”
from Get Back to the Land
Best Catchy Song About Love and Money That Sounds Like It Belongs on a Rodney Crowell Hits Collection, Sung by a Guy Who Plays in Shooter Jennings’ Band

Town Mountain – “Diggin’ on the Mountainside”
from Steady Operator
Best Eco-Minded Rural Activism in a Bluegrass Song

Jim Quick – “Rewind”
from Down South
Best Ronnie Milsap Hit That Ronnie Milsap Forgot to Cut

Laura Cantrell – “I Gave My Wedding Dress Away”
from Kitty Wells Dresses: Songs of the Queen of Country Music
Best Gateway Drug to Kitty Wells and/or Old-Timey Recitations

Matraca Berg – “Your Husband’s Cheating On Us”
from The Dreaming Fields
Best Slithering, Sassy Story Song in Which a Cheater Is Brought to Justice by Unlikely Accomplices

Sarah Jarosz – “Old Smitty”
from Follow Me Down
Best Instrumental That Makes Me Self-Conscious About Not Having Accomplished More at a Younger Age

Brad Paisley – “A Man Don’t Have to Die,” “Toothbrush,” “Life’s Railway to Heaven”
from This Is Country Music
Best Proof That Brad Paisley Should Stop Writing His Own Songs for a While

Buddy Miller – “Sneaky Snake”
from I Love: Tom T. Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow
Best Funky Reworking of a Children’s Song Featuring Guitar Legend Duane Eddy

Sample most of the tracks below.