Look, Tiger is holding The Avett brother's trophy for them...

In year’s past, I haven’t done much a personal “Best-Of” list at year’s end. I have left that up to others, mainly due to the stress level inherent with such a task. This year, I contributed a list to multiple outlets, so I figure I would share my ballot with you here. What you see below is really a big group of my favorite albums, versus an actual list of albums I think are better than other albums. Over the course of the year, I listen to a few hundred records, easily. Rarely a day goes by where I don’t pop in a new disc that may or may not see some “ink” on this blog. From that large number of records, I actually enjoyed well over 100 of them, I imagine.

The sad fact of the matter, for many reasons, there were many records I liked that I never found the time to actually say much about here on The Gobblers Knob or over on Twangville. I said all that to say this. These 25 albums could’ve easily been higher or lower than they are here. On different days, I feel like certain choices were wrong, but this is what I’m going with…for now, at least.

1.  Avett Brothers – I and Love and You: Indie darling’s go big-time with major label and super-producer. The tight melodies and trademark, emotionally charged and poetic writing prove there was nothing to worry about.

2.  Phosphorescent - To Willie: Every tribute/covers album wants to be this one when they grow up. Matthew Houck made Willie’s songs his own while keeping the raw, real vibe intact.

Here are the rest of my favorites for the year (basically 3a – 3x)…

3.  Heartless Bastards – The Mountain
4.  Miranda Lambert – Revolution
5.  Allen Thompson – 26 years
6.  Telegraph Canyon – The Tide & The Current
7.  Deer Tick - Born on Flag Day
8.  Buddy & Julie Miller – Written in Chalk
9.  Ryan Bingham – Roadhouse Sun
10. Gina Villalobos – Days on Their Side
11.  Band of Heathens – One Foot in the Ether
12.  The Takers – Taker Easy
13.  Wilco – Wilco (The Album)
14.  Roman Candle – Oh Tall Tree In the Ear
15.  The O’s – We are The O’s
16.  Sons of Bill – One Town Away
17.  Drive by Truckers – The Fine Print
18.  The Gourds – Haymaker!
19.  Scott Warren – Quick Fix Bandage
20.  Patterson Hood - Murdering Oscar
21.   Charlie Robison – Beautiful Day
22.   Lucero - 1372 Overton Park
23.   Danny Balis - Too Much Living
24.   Chad Price – Smile Sweet Face
25.   Dawes – North Hills

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Being an obnoxious Texan, it’s often easy to assume that the majority of bands who know how to produce some seriously rockin’ country music reside within the boundaries of my great state. That’s as untrue as it is untrue, I admit. There are many guitar slingin’ outlaws that know how to cry in their beer right before throwing it at the head of another in a bar fight that they are likely to not remember the next day. Jacksonville Gainesville, Florida’s The Takers are a great example of what I am talking about here.

The Takers’ album, Taker Easy (Suburban Home), is an absolute force that doesn’t have one skip-worthy track on the entire record. Since I can’t seem to help myself, I will say that many might recognize that the burly southern-drawl in the vocals of Devon Stuart are strikingly similar to Texan Jesse Dayton’s. The subject matter of the songs is as simple as it is real. Tales of drinkin’, lovin’ and losin’ are delivered with a forceful sincerity. The song below, “Curse of a Drunk” is my favorite off of the album and displays the sorrow that is associated with those themes rather well. The labels of “Country Rock” or “Rockin’ Country” don’t really provide justice to The Takers’ brand of swagger, as I think these guys fit quite well into the “Country with Muscle” category that I discussed a while back. Of course, I cant help but think that The Takers would be stars of the scene if they were based in Austin or Dallas. I just cant help myself.

The Takers – “Curse of a Drunk”