Check These Out Before 2009 is Over. Or in 2010, whatever.

Hello Driftites. After reading about a thousand best of 2009 lists, I wanted to list a couple of my favorite albums of 2009 from people I know and people around town. Give these dudes a chance and I think you will love them. We have played shows in 2009 with three of the bands listed below and we are really glad to have them as friends. So here they are...


King Wilkie – Wilkie Family Singers
A band named after Bill Monroe’s Horse became my favorite bluegrass band a few years ago with their EP Tierra del Fuego. I saw these guys at the Station Inn my first week in Nashville. I was glad to finally find a young bluegrass band with the same love of culture, style, and the Flying Burrito Brothers. Then they came out with their musical masterpiece Low Country Suite. Now everyone in the band is different except for Reid and I was first in line to hear what was next. This album definitely surprised me. It is a wide variety of things. Maybe a little too much variety at times, but the strong points are so strong that it makes up for it. Bluegrass purists seemed to turn their attention elsewhere when Low Country came out and this album doesn’t help in that category. It didn’t have the same effect of Low Country for me, but these guys still make beautiful music. It’s definitely not attempting to be bluegrass anymore. Reid has one of my favorite voices ever and I love this album more with every listen.


Michael Ford Jr. & Apache Relay - 1988

It is bands like these that make me love being a musician. I met these guys at their first show in Nashville and fell in love with their sound. Sort of a fusion of an indie-americana singer mixed in with an indie-bluegrass band. You’ll know what I mean when you hear it. Their lead guitar player Mike Harris and I did a show together afterwards which we both agree was the sloppiest and most hilarious show ever. Luckily everyone in the audience was from France and we told them that we are what Nashville Country sounds like (haha, in your face KenChe).

These dudes were just a bunch of Belmont music majors when we met them. Then they made an amazing album and quit school. My kind of dudes. Super accessible sound. This is the kind of bluegrass music you play for your indie loving girlfriend if you want to not feel like a total nerd for a change (ha). We will be pumping up the jam with these guys on the road in January if you are in the Carolina’s or Virginia.


Those Darlins – Those Darlins (self titled)

This Trio of gals from right south of us sound like punk mixed with Grandpa Music. I love it. I could listen to this album for days. They put it out themselves on their own label ”Ow Wow Dang Records” Super edgy country done by a bunch of super edgy gals. Sort of like Emmylou Harris with a black eye and a snaggle tooth. Their music gets in your head and gets stuck. It all has a genuine sing-a-long effect. Probably not for everyone, but I spent a lot of time listening to garage rock and old time country growing up and this is a nice blend.




Brian Lee and His Orchestra – Volume II
When I heard these dudes first album, I listened to it about a hundred times in a row. I thought Brian sounded a lot like an indie-rock Neil Young doing a modern mixture of old sounding music. This album is totally to the next level after his first one. They have the unique ability to be totally original, but accessible at the same time. Brian lived at my house for a month this summer and I spent tons of time playing mandolin while he wrote songs on my Great Grandfathers banjo. I got to play mandolin on this album on the track “Over the Hills.” The songwriting is brilliant and his voice is just as much of an instrument as his guitar. This is definitely one of my favorite albums of the year and you can get it for free on his website. I will be playing mandolin for a couple shows with him in Illinois in early January.