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Top 10 Country, March 2013

Top 10 Country Albums, March 2013

by Linda Ryan

Well, March Madness is here! Even if you aren’t a basketball fan, there are plenty of other events that help make this month one of the craziest times of the year. First, there’s that whole spring forward time-change thing that never fails to throw me out of sorts for at least a week. There’s like a two-week sweet spot right before it changes where it’s light when you wake up in the early morning, and still light when you come home from work. And then … poof! It’s gone.

Then there’s St. Patrick’s Day, which is its own special brand of madness. You’ve all been there, I know. And darn it if we don’t go back there year after year after year. But hey, this is one of the few days of the year where we all get to drink like Blake Shelton, right?

And what about SXSW, a week-long string of nonstop parties, showcases and a few panels to boot? Between the beer and the Texas barbecue lies more than just a little madness. It probably takes Austin an entire year to recover. It’s like spring break for music lovers.

Did I just say spring break? Talk about madness! The King of Spring Break, the Tsar of Tailgating, the Prince of Parties -- aka Luke Bryan -- has parlayed his yearly spring break parties into one very fine and aptly titled album, Spring Break … Here to Party. Read about it, and other fine new country releases, below.

Spring Break...Here To Party

Luke Bryan

Shuffling 14 songs from four digital EPs released every March from 2009 to 2012, Spring Break is all frat-and-sorority fun in the sun: Miller Lite towels with nothing beneath, "Bad to the Bone" ringtones, bouncers at a zydeco bar, drunk asses being taken home, even ice fishing (for cold ones in the cooler, duh). In the first verse of the first song, Bryan pulls onto the beach blasting rap; "Little Bit Later On" opens as a sort of human-beat-boxed hick-hop hoedown. Cleverest line: "We'll loosen up a notch in the Bible Belt." Meanest songs: "Buzzkill" and "Spring Break-Up," both aimed at women.

The Other Life

Shooter Jennings

Has Shooter Jennings joined ELO? The country scion kicks off his sixth album with the prog fantasia "Flying Saucer Song," but fear not: Soon we're on to the familiar, raucous Southern rock of, yes, "The White Trash Song." Kid Rock remains his lodestar, though "Mama, It's Just My Medicine" is pure Steve Miller Band and "The Outsider" boldly updates "The Gambler." Your crabbiest moments are F-bomb-dropping, sax-solo-rocking closer "The Gunslinger" and the anti-pretty-boy tirade "Outlaw You," the second verse of which gives daddy Waylon credit for, among other things, freeing the slaves. OK!

Like A Rose

Ashley Monroe

Behold the year's first critically adored country album -- deservedly so. Best known for her tenure in Miranda Lambert's throwback trio Pistol Annies, Ashley Monroe's tart, fearless twang lights up these sharp tales of tragedy (first line: "I was only 13 when Daddy died"), marital negotiation ("Weed Instead of Roses," possibly NSFW), room-spinning intoxication ("The Morning After") and heartbreak ("She's Driving Me Out of Your Mind"). In the feisty closer, "You Ain't Dolly (And You Ain't Porter)," Blake Shelton boasts, "I'm the guy they wrote about in Fifty Shades of Grey." Awesome.

The Stand-In

Caitlin Rose

Her mom won a Grammy for writing with Taylor Swift, but the Arctic Monkeys covers Caitlin Rose did on a 2012 Record Store Day single might better prepare you for her sound on this 2013 album: Tasteful, jangly, evanescent, shy-voiced, vaguely shaped, usually spare but occasionally embellished in gray washes of sound, this is indie pop in country clothes. Rose perks up some on "Menagerie," its lyrics seemingly referencing "I Love the Sound of Breaking Glass" by Nick Lowe, whose tribute album she led off in 2012. Then she closes with a sultry, lounge-horned show blues about dialing an old flame.

Miracle Temple

Mount Moriah

With sure footing in both indie-folk and alt-country realms, North Carolina's Mount Moriah will hit a soft spot for all who enjoy a good wallow. Heather McEntire's voice rings with a haunting tone that conjures up sepia tone images of tumbleweeds and Dust Bowl hardships with as much depressing depth as a Steinbeck novel. "Union Street Bridge" is a dark and brooding "Ode to Billie Joe" for the new millennium; "Younger Days" yearns for the return of a loved one who left town, drawn to the big city lights. None are what you'd call "feel-good" songs -- unless you feel good moping.

In Time

The Mavericks

The Mavericks' effortless blend of Tex-Mex rhythms, rockabilly rev and country roots is as deliciously enigmatic as ever, anchored by the Orbison-esque vocals of frontman Raul Malo, undaunted here by the band's seven-year layoff. On opener "Back in Your Arms Again," he chastises himself as a "lovesick fool" for returning to an ungrateful lover, and if his ardent vocals don't snare you, the lively mariachi horns definitely will. Other highlights include the slithery noir beauty "Come Unto Me" and the positively chilling "(Call Me) When You Get to Heaven."

Ride On the Train

Hollis Brown

Hollis Brown's gritty Americana cozies up to classic rock in a lovefest straight out of Haight-Ashbury. "Ride on the Train" highlights everything good about this band: Mike Montali's gravelly voice, a crisp-yet-shuffling rhythm section, and a timelessness that defies modern convention. "Down on Your Luck" features more tight rhythms, twangin' guitar riffs and some catchy background ooooh's -- all of which bring to mind Exile on Main St.-era Stones. Other gems include the bluesy "When the Weather's Warm," the soulful "Faith and Love" and the soft, countrified rocker "Nightfall."

A Place at the Table (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

The Civil Wars

In a last hurrah before throwing in the towel, The Civil Wars teamed up with producer T-Bone Burnett for this soundtrack to A Place at the Table. The collection is filled with rich, sepia-toned songs that are both timely and timeless. "Uptown Brown's" is an instrumental that gives off an intoxicating, eerie glow, and just when you think things couldn't possibly get any creepier, the ghostly strains of "Focus (Rosie's Theme)" fill the air. It's a powerful one-two punch. "Long Time Gone," one of the few songs with vocals, imparts a wistful feel that fits nicely with the instrumentals.

Honky Tonk

Son Volt

These alt-country godfathers take their seventh album's title very seriously -- mostly by shedding the "alt" part. Honky Tonk opens with a lilting Cajun waltz, luxuriates in twin fiddles and luminous pedal steel, and steeps itself in the classic Bakersfield sound so thoroughly that there's actually a song called "Bakersfield." But frontman Jay Farrar's sharp, sympathetic songwriting prevents it all from lapsing into period-piece languor, keeping it sweet and simple: "There's a world of wisdom inside a fiddle tune/ Throw this love down the highway/ See where it takes you."

Old Yellow Moon

Emmylou Harris

Need a good cry? Proceed directly to "Back When We Were Beautiful." Geez. That spare, wistful, devastating ballad highlights the gentle mastery and easy chemistry of these critic-beloved all-timers, softly bleeding into every classic-country note here. Expert musical touches -- fiddle, pedal steel, accordion, roadhouse piano and such -- insure that even a winking tune like "Open Season on My Heart" never devolves into cornpone self-parody; fans of recent Americana-duet smashes like Raising Sand and Living for a Song will flip. And seriously: "Back When We Were Beautiful." Geez.