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2-year LastFM Anniversary stats

Two years: 23,472 plays, 2,387 artists
One year: 9,084 plays, 1,605 artists

Top 20 artists after 2 years [last year's rank]
1 The Pogues 538 [1]
2 Great Big Sea 243 [5]
3 Robert Earl Keen 227 [4]
4 Jimmy Buffett 224 [2]
5 Jim Lauderdale 208 [3]
6 Wilco 199 [8]
7 Steve Earle 190 [6]
8 John Prine 189 [7]
9 The Tossers 185 [12]
10 Carbon Leaf160 [9]
11 Gaelic Storm 159 [10]
12 Dwight Yoakam 154 [15]
13 Kelly Willis 150 [20]
14 The Decemberists 149 [19]
15 The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band 146 [14]
16 The Dillards 145 [16]
17 Robbie Fulks 143 [18]
18 Marty Stuart 138 [17]
19 House of Freaks 136 [13]
20 The Chieftains 132 [11]

Top 20 artists of last 12 months
1 The Pogues 315
2 Great Big Sea 149
3 Robert Earl Keen 127
4 Jimmy Buffett 119
5 Wilco 116
6 The Tossers 114
7 Jim Lauderdale 109
8 John Prine 104
9 Steve Earle 102
10 Kelly Willis 89
11 Dwight Yoakam 86
12 Gaelic Storm 85
13 The Decemberists 84
14 Reckless Kelly 82
15 Carbon Leaf 80
16 Robbie Fulks 78
16 The Dillards 78
18 The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band 77
18 Kevin Welch 77
20 Hal Ketchum 76

Top 18 albums:
1 The Pogues – Red Roses for Me 60
2 The Pogues – Rum Sodomy & the Lash 56
3 House of Freaks – Monkey on a Chain Gang 55
4 The Pogues – If I Should Fall From Grace With God 50
5 Steve Goodman – Anthology: No Big Surprise 47
6 The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – Will the Circle Be Unbroken, Vol. 2 44
7 Jimmy Buffett – Boats, Beaches, Bars & Ballads 43
7 John Prine – Great Days: Anthology 43
9 The Pogues – Just Look Them Straight In The Eye And Say Pogue Mahone! (Disc 5) 42
10 David Munnelly – By Heck 40
11 The Sky Kings – From Out of the Blue 39
12 House of Freaks – Tantilla 38
12 Steeleye Span – The Lark In The Morning 38
14 Uncle Tupelo – No Depression 37
14 Rodney Crowell – Fate's Right Hand 37
14 The Knitters – The Modern Sounds of... 37
14 The Tossers – Agony 37
14 The Pogues – Just Look Them Straight In The Eye And Say Pogue Mahone! (Disc 4) 37

It can take years for a singer’s career to build and grow before they become a major, chart-topping sensation. The end of that phase of a singer’s career can happen almost instantaneously. Sometimes it’s in the choice of albums they make. Patty Loveless was still producing Top 20 hits when she went into bluegrass mode. Since then, her singles have gone unplayed, and she’s now doing her own thing on an independent label. Sometimes it’s the fact that they refused to stay young. Dwight Yoakam’s career as a top-charting country singer essentially ended when he turned 40 years old, and I’m convinced that the two events are related. The Dixie Chicks (Saddam’s Angels) and Garth Brooks (Chris Gaines) require no further explanation. I suspect that in some sub-basement of a media empire headquarters, there are two lists of artists, “Relevant” and “Irrelevant.” Make one wrong move–put your artistic ambitions ahead of commercial demands, say something dumb, age another year–and you may find yourself on the wrong list and off the airwaves in a heartbeat.

Alan Jackson, this week’s top artist with 21 listeners, has managed to avoid these career killers. Not only has he had the audacity to be 50 years old in the Taylor Swift Era, but he’s also dared to record a covers album and a gospel album midway through a viable career instead of waiting until he got dropped from his major label record deal like you’re supposed to do. He even had an album produced by Alison Krauss in an era when country radio likes to pretend she doesn’t exist outside of Brad Paisley duets.

Just check out some of our other Top 10 singers who are Jackson’s contemporaries: Loveless (20 listeners), Trisha Yearwood (19), Yoakam (17) and Brooks (17). He outlasted them all, radio-wise. It’s not that he’s more talented, though maybe he’s been more consistent in what he’s recorded over the last 20 years. Whatever he’s done, there is a very short list of modern singers who’ve had the kind of career he’s had and a lot of up-and-comers who’d love to know his secrets.

Additionally, as further proof that our group’s collective memory dates to well before 1989 or so, Merle Haggard (18 listeners) tied with the likes of Miranda Lambert, Paisley and Lee Ann Womack for 4th on the list.

Over on the Top Albums chart, Sounds So Good by Ashton Shepherd is #1 with 13 listeners. According to Billboard, the last time this album was on its Top Country Albums chart was March 28 of this year. It spent 54 weeks on the chart and peaked at #16. Is The 9513 group better than Billboard? Well, we’ve also got three Sugarland albums and Taylor Swift’s Fearless in the Top 5, so the answer is probably, “Not yet.” But the combination of those albums and things like the Dixie Chicks’ Taking the Long Way Home (#8 with 9 listeners) and Joey + Rory’s The Life Of A Song (#15 with 8) is a nicely balanced selection.

The singles chart is dominated by Lambert’s Dead Flowers, with nine listeners. I believe this is the first time that a song that’s currently unavailable on Last.fm has been at the top of the charts, so people must not mind the fact that downloading this song (legally) costs 30 cents more than most songs. George Jones‘ White Lightning and Martina McBride’s Independence Day are tied for #2 with six listeners each. Who says country music fans only care about positive, socially acceptable music these days? Ashley Monroe’s album, Satisfied, came out last week after a long debacle that you only find with a major label, and a couple of her songs, Pain Pain and That’s Why We Call Each Other Baby, were part of the #4 logjam with five listeners. We’ve got three Lambert songs, three Sugarland songs and two Swift songs in there also, along with Jackson’s Everything I Love, Jamey Johnson’s High Cost Of Living and Keith Whitley’s Don’t Close Your Eyes.

For the second week in a row, I’m writing about something Wilco related. I had the chance to see Jeff Tweedy and Jay Bennett perform as a duo at a Chicago festival a few years ago. They mostly focused on the Woodie Guthrie Mermaid Avenue songs, as well as a couple from the Summerteeth album. Knowing some of the behind the scenes drama that was taking place at the time, it’s a wonder that they shared the same stage together, but they were thoroughly professional. Tweedy did all of the talking, cracked a few jokes and played the worst harmonica solo I have ever heard from a professional musician. Bennett played what seemed like a different instrument for each song, and he played every single one of them like an ace. As someone who’s tried to play a guitar and struggled to get one chord to sound like it should, I’ve come to realize that there’s skill you can learn and talent you’re just born with, and Jay Bennett was blessed with God-given talent.

Just before I started writing this piece, I read his obituary online. He died over the weekend at the age of 45. So for the freebie of the week, here’s a Jay Bennett album, Whatever Happened I Apologize. I’ve only just downloaded it myself, so all I know about this album is what’s on Rock Proper’s Web site. The album was apparently written, arranged and performed by Bennett himself, with a few exceptions. Of the songs I heard, “The Engines Are Idle” starts off with a weird electronic percussion track, but Bennett’s guitar and vocals come in and turn it into a lovely and sad folk song. “Hank” is apparently his mandatory Hank Williams ode and is better than most iterations. He’s also got a couple of free tracks on his Last.fm page.

Thanks for reading.

Considering that The 9513 Group jumped up to 65 members this week, I was interested to see how that would affect the charts. Would we start to turn into every other group on Last.fm and have Radiohead among the top artists? Thankfully, no. Instead, the infusion of new blood created one of the best Top 10 charts we’ve ever had.

Sure, we’ve got our share of chart-toppers, with George Strait (22 listeners), Alan Jackson (19), Sugarland (18) and Martina McBride (17) all being well-represented. But right at the top, with 23 listeners, is Dwight Yoakam, who hasn’t had a Top 10 single on the Billboard charts since 1993 (sad, I know). I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for Dwight, as “Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc.” was the first cassette tape I ever bought with my own money, and he and Randy Travis introduced me to country music.

Speaking of, Travis is also in our Top 10 with 15 listeners, and he’s had exactly one Billboard Top 10 song in the 21st century. To go even further back into country music’s history, Johnny Cash (who charted on the Modern Rock chart better in this century than he did on country charts) and George Jones (no Top 10s since 1988) also crack the Top 10 with 17 listeners each. It’s nice to see a little bit of every decade from the 1950s through the 2000s represented here.

The Top Albums chart is a little more topical, with two of Sugarland’s albums, Enjoy The Ride and Love On The Inside having 9 and 8 listeners, respectively. Also with 8 listeners are Some Hearts from Carrie Underwood, Time Well Wasted by Brad Paisley and Shine from Martina McBride. The bottom part of the Top 10 gets more eclectic, with albums from Ashton Shepherd, Dixie Chicks, Emmylou Harris and Cash appearing. And the 4 of you who listened to something off of Beyonce’s I Am… Sasha Fierce need to report to the Dale Watson School of Reeducation immediately.

As has been pointed out on this site and elsewhere, we’re at the 20th anniversary of Keith Whitley’s death, and some people took the time to replay some of his greatest moments, with “When You Say Nothing at All” (5 listeners) and “I’m No Stranger To The Rain” (4 listeners) both appearing in the upper half of the Top Singles chart. Leading the way with 6 listeners was Jones’ “The Race Is On,” Sugarland’s “The Last Country Song” and Taylor Swift’s “You Belong With Me.” That would be your “one of these things is not like the others” moment for the week. Also in the Top 10 are something old and something new from Reba McEntire (“Fancy” and “Strange” respectively), a couple more Sugarland tracks and “That Kind Of Happy” by Emily West. Jim Malec’s review of West’s single asked country radio to play it and country fans to buy it. So far, half his mission is being accomplished.

Every now and again, I like to add a recommendation for free music. Sometimes it’s a couple of free tracks offered by Last.fm or elsewhere. This week, it’s a free album brought to you by a couple of Bloodshot Records veterans. Deano Waco Meats the Purveyors is a Dean Schlabowske (singer/guitarist for the Waco Brothers and Dollar Store) solo album backed by the Meat Purveyors, a Texas kinda-bluegrass group — maybe punkgrass would be more appropriate. Their epic “Madonna Trilogy” was a highlight of a Bloodshot singles compilation released a few years ago.

The album isn’t the least bit bluegrassy, as Deano’s electric guitar is front and center. The mandolin and acoustic guitar strumming in the background help keep things on the country side, but it’s got more than a few rocking moments. Deano’s bar-band growl of a voice isn’t radio-ready, but it’s warm and inviting just the same. The combination of the two acts works pretty well, though a few songs would definitely benefit from a full band.

A few of my favorites are “Workin’ For The Devil”, “Maid Of The Mist” and “Box Store.” Download it for free at www.deanowaco.com. Thanks for reading, and we’ll be back next week.

This evening I finally got around to something I'd been meaning to do for a while, namely scanning the contents of an envelope of old gig tickets. And making web pages of same.
http://www.maiga.net/tix_1.htm

There's some very vivid memories in there. Mastodon and Dwight Yoakam two days apart was really good, but London was a weird place at the time as the public transport system had just been bombed. Isis playing through the whole of Oceanic was really sonically intense. There's tickets for gigs where I got lost my specs in the mosh pit. Or got really extraordinarily drunk.

It's a solidly Metal bottomed collection, which is possibly surprising if you look at the list of stuff I scrobble. I love live Metal, I love the atmosphere and I love the people who go- there's a funny kind of love that's found in the sweat- and beer-soaked black holes like the late and lamented Astoria. The band I've seen the most is Slayer, and even if (I'm sure they exist) you're not a fan but have seen them in concert, you'd know what a heap of fun they are. And their fans too, by and large. A few of us went to the Opeth Roundhouse gig that turned into a fine live album. I generally listen to the heavy stuff on my stereo anyway (I still think MP3s are fundamentally crap), and preferably on vinyl. Which sounds wonderful, but doesn't scrobble too well. One of my most prized LPs is a copy of Number of the Beast with the '80s mail-order merchandise catalogue still tucked inside the sleeve. But I digress. Good Country acts are fantastic live as well, especially if they've got a pedal steel player, with that sound that makes me want to jump for joy and cry into my beer at the same time. I think Lucinda Williams was exemplary in concert.

I'm also sad that I've lost so many ticket stubs over the years. I got to see Nasum who were magnificent. I missed their last gig before Mieszko died 'cos I was in hospital with a broken back, but I swapped my ticket for a t-shirt. The Ozzfest in '98 was one hell of a party at Milton Keynes Bowl; Sabbath, Pantera, Soulfly, Fear Factory, Slayer, Therapy?, ozzy, Foo Fighter, Pitchshifter and a loada other stuff. I hope that ticket will turn up some day to add to the pile. There's a couple of Slayer tickets missing also, alas.

But enough remorse- time to go gigging and get some more!

Type O Negative / Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All) / Bloody Kisses (3) / Aug 1993

sablespecter's Album of the Year for 1993 (RDF: 100%)

The first 100% RDF album of the 1990s and the first since 1987. This was my first album from the Drab Four, discovered that fall after I'd graduated from college and still looking to start a career. What to make of that cover?! As interesting as it is, it tells you nothing directly about what the music inside will sound like. Maybe kinda sexy...erotic? But once you listen, you get it: it's all gothic sarcasm! Even going as far as giving a droll, depressing, dirge-like treatment to an originally light, happy song like Summer Breeze!

Today's selection just totally takes the piss out of the whole gothic scene, and another favorite, We Hate Everyone, answers accusations of racism by basically saying, "Oh, no no no! That's not true! No worries! We'd never single out any particular race...we hate everyone!" Classic. I could listen to Peter Steele sing the telephone book...and he usually sounds like he is. Be sure to get the original release of this album if you can, because the reissue does away with "We Hate Everyone."

--------
Rounding out the Top Five of 1993 (in order of descending RDF):

ØClutch: Transnational Speedway League (81.8% RDF)
Once I did discover Clutch in the early 00's it didn't take long for me to want to get everything, working backward through the catalog to the beginning and finding no disappointment along the way. How can you resist songs with names like 12 Ounce Epilogue and Walking in the Great Shining Path of Monster Trucks ("I got spurs that jingle, jangle, jingle!!!" Neil growls menacingly...). Even the EPs are worth tracking down.

Monster Magnet: Superjudge (72.7% RDF)
A massive dose of spacey stoner rock, complete with a cover of Brainstorm from the original space rock kings. Favorite moment: the guitars just kick up and pound your mind about five minutes into the title track, but it's all just a big, sprawling, psychedelic morass that can take you across the universe even without pharmacological assistance. You could do worse that spending an entire evening just tuning in and dropping out with a playlist of nothing but Monster Magnet.

Tool: Undertow (55.5% RDF)
Tool emerged just at the right time, along with the second incarnation of Pantera, to carry the flag of metal through the tough times that came with the dominance of grunge. They each managed to do it by bringing something different to the masses. In Tool's case, their dark, technical, progressive metal would have - still does - stand out from the rest even if it wasn't a tough time for metal. Add in those creepy, headtrip videos, menacing lyrics, and multiple interpretations and you have classic material to keep your head busy for quite some time.

Anthrax: Sound of White Noise (54.5% RDF)
The first of the four albums with Jon Bush, and this was the end of the line for many fans. Not me. I like the John Bush era just as much as the earlier eras. It's just different, not worse. Songs like Only, Hy Pro Glo, and This Is Not an Exit are among my favorites in all of the Anthrax catalog. The only downside is this was the last one with Dan Spitz, leading to a revolving door of guitarists on the next three. Although that door did bring in Dimebag for some of the songs, including another one of my favorites, "Riding Shotgun" from the next album.

Honorable Mentions (in roughly alphabetical order by band/artist name):
ØBurzum: Det Som Engang Var
Dwight Yoakam: This Time
ØEntombed: Wolverine Blues
ØSleep: Sleep's Holy Mountain

Is your favorite album from 1993 on this list? Are there any others you would add?

\m/ (ò_ó) \m/

Ø: For the 1990s AotY Awards, albums which were discovered after the 1990s have been noted with an "Ø" This provides a perspective on how much thinner the album lists were at the time.

*Since Transnational Speedway League wasn't discovered until after the 1990s, had I assigned the awards at the conclusion of 1993, This Time would have would have slipped into the fifth slot with a 54.5% RDF. Everything else on the honorable mentions list wasn't discovered until after the 1990s either, and as I said in the awards for 1992, I didn't discover Monster Magnet until 1998. This shows just how weak a year 1993 turned out to be.

We're getting to the point that the three constants in life are death, taxes and Sugarland at or near the top of the 9513 charts. That's no different this week, as 17 listeners listened to the duo. Following them, it's a veritable who's who of neo-traditionalists, most notably Martina McBride and Trisha Yearwood with 16 plays apiece.

Excavating down further into the charts, you get some interesting strata. A little further past the neo-trad layer, you start to see elements of pop-country appear, with Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift among the artists in 9th place. Beyond that, you get a layer of pretty traditional music, with Johnny Cash, Dwight Yoakam, Patty Loveless and Dolly Parton packed closely together. Alt-country starts to make an appearance around 8 plays, with Reckless Kelly and Hayes Carll showing up. Beyond that, it's a total free-for-all, with any genre you can think of making an appearance. Three people in this group listen to The Ditty Bops? Fantastic.

Over on the albums side, Ashton Shepherd is dominating with Sounds So Good. Its 15 plays place it well over Swift's self-titled debut, which came in second with 11 plays. The Underwood fans put her two albums, Some Hearts and Carnival Ride, into a tie for 3rd with Tim McGraw's Let It Go.

The top tracks for the week were Lee Ann Womack's Last Call and George Strait's I Saw God Today. If you favor the drinking & depression or the God & family side of country music, you're got your options.

As long as this recap is becoming a regular thing, let's add a little something to it. There's a lot of free music available here on LastFM, so I'll recommend some when I come across something worthwhile (or I get a recommendation from one of you, *hint hint*). This week, I'd like to direct you to Blanche, an alt-country, rather gothic band out of Detroit. Lead vocalist Dan Miller has been kicking around the alt-country scene for some time, in a few different bands (Goober & The Peas, Two Star Tabernacle). He shares vocals with his wife Tracee, with other members joining in on occasion. Bass player Jack Lawrence also plays with Jack White (a one-time Tabernacle member) in The Raconteurs.

Blanche has released a couple of albums, and they've got a bunch of free music available. The World I Used to Be Afraid Of puts a spin on the traditional country murder ballad, and I'm Sure of It and Another Lost Summer are two of my personal favorites. The World's Largest Crucifix is a good example of why my little girl refers to them as "spooky music", while I Can't Sit Down uses multiple singers on a pretty faithful version of the gospel standard. Check them out if you like, especially if you're a fan of Neko Case or The Sadies, and we'll see you next week.

1) Shonen Knife
2) Led Zeppelin
3) Simply Saucer
4) Leadbelly
5) M.I.A.
6) Rogue Wave
7) Candye Kane
8) Sugababes
9) The Specials
10) The White Stripes
11) The Cars
11) The Beatles
13) T. Rex
14) Dizzee Rascal
15) Grayson Capps
16) Dengue Fever
17) Fleet Foxes
18) The Rolling Stones
18) The Sea and Cake
20) The Tough Alliance
21) Stina Nordenstam
22) Tinariwen
22) Beck
24) Dwight Yoakam
25) Augie March
25) Jamie Lidell
25) Josh White
25) Califone
29) Radiohead
30) Black Lips
30) The Shins
30) Japanther
30) Cody ChesnuTT
34) The Black Keys
34) Yoav
36) Johnossi
37) Neil Young
37) Buddy Holly
37) N*E*R*D
37) Kelis
41) Tricky Woo
41) The Who
43) OutKast
43) Tom Petty
45) Mississippi Sheiks
45) Danko Jones
45) the pillows
45) Missy Elliott
49) Spoon
49) Soulwax

JC’s Top Americana Music 2008
(the not-all-new-music edition)

Most Top Albums lists concentrate on New Music released that year. I would, too, but I’m not. For one, I discovered a good bit of old music via lost.fm this year’s that’s still new to me. I also finished up my exercise to listen thru all the CDs in my music library. Again, a good deal of my old music is new to my digital ears. There’s also the fact that last.fm got the scrobble-thing to work to track iPod tracks on synch, so that more accurately reflects my listening habits for the year.

Mostly, tho, is the fact I was broke and was more judicious in my new music purchases this year—part of that 20% decline in CD sales this year. Doing my part for fiscal discipline. Plus now four years gone from my DJ gig, the world goes on and they’re not sending me many comp CDs for me to review. Just saying.

Top Artists Scrobbled thru Last.fm in 2008
1. Alison Krauss / Alison Krauss & Union Station – Alison continues to rock my world, even tho I don’t really “get” her collaboration with Robert Plant (and I'm a Zep head, too).



2. Emmylou Harris – Again, not that I was impressed with her new release (I can’t even think of the name of the album w/o looking it up). I’ve just plain got a lot of Emmylou in my iPod, and the fact last.fm figured out how to scrobble iPod spins ups this number.

3. Dwight Yoakam – Dwight got loaded into digital at the end of the year.

4. Lyle Lovett – I did give Lyle’s 2007 release a lot of love this year, but again I’ve just plain got a lot of Lyle in my iPod. Also brings up the Alison Krauss/Union Sta issue above: I list “It’s Not Big It’s Large” as the packaging indicates: “Lyle Lovett & His Large Band” Sometimes music brainz changes one artist for the band, sometimes not. So is Lyle also Lyle Lovett & His Large Band? Maybe, maybe not.

5. Johnny Cash – The Man Comes Around.

6. Graham Lindsey – Graham is the man. The man in Montana these days. Great new release “We Are All Alone In This Together” late late in the year, coming out for general distribution in January 2009. Hope he doesn’t get penalized by radio for the early direct mail effort.

7. Tom Russell – Still giving a lot of love to Tom after his small venue concert in St. Cloud, Minnesota. The man knows how to write a song I can relate to.

8. Cadillac Sky – A new fav late in the year thanks to Sacha72 recc. Saw them at MBOTMA summer bluegrass festival. Would drive far to see them jam again. Their first release heads up my Album list below, because I had it before the new album Gravity’s Our Enemy.

9. Townes Van Zandt – A new old favorite. I still have a lot to learn from Townes.

10. Cowboy Junkies – Old favs, reveled in Trinity Revisited over the summer.

11. Sand Sheff
12. Patty Griffin
13. Vince Gill
14. Drag The River
15. Gillian Welch
16. Hank III
17. Hank Williams
18. Nels Andrews
19. Brennen Leigh
20. Halden Wofford & The Hi-Beams

Top Albums Scrobbled in 2008.
1. Cadillac Sky - Blind Man Walking



2. Various Artists - For a Decade of Sin: 11 Years of Bloodshot Records
3. Hank Williams - 20 Of Hank Williams' Greatest Hits
4. Buck Owens - 21 #1 Hits: The Ultimate Collection
5. Michael Martin Murphey - Cowboy Songs
6. Tom Russell - Indians Cowboys Horses Dogs
7. Buick Audra - Singer*
8. Pop Wagner - Forty A Month And Found
9. Patty Loveless - Mountain Soul
10. Graham Lindsey - Famous Anonymous Wilderness

This list relies on lost.fm recognizing albums—they got A LOT better at that this year, but still have sometimes significant time lag for lesser-known new releases. Also, technically, A Very Special Acoustic Christmas is Album #3, but I’m inclined to follow radio SOP and discount holiday tracks. Not typical play.

*OK, I relent, top albums released in 2008 by spins (with above disclaimer):
Buick Audra - Singer


Cadillac Sky - Gravity’s Our Enemy
Drag The River - You Can't Live This Way
Nels Andrews - Off track betting
Owen Temple - Two Thousand Miles

Special mention for best album title of 2008: Charlie Louvin Sings Murder Ballads and Disaster Songs

Top Tracks Scrobbled in 2008.
1. Choctaw Hayride – Had a bit of nostalgia for the theme song for my old radio show.



2. Cold, Cold Heart
3. If I Was a Horse
4. Plaid-lined Jacket
5. Tonight We Ride
6. Snowing on Raton
7. Born Lonesome
7. The Ballad of Edward Abbey
7. No Way Out but Down
7. Firewater
7. Pancho And Lefty

Looking Forward to 2009
I have no idea. Surprise me 2009. Surprise me.

-jc