Entertainment, Music - Army Times

And the best country albums of 2006 are ...

It’s not that 2006 was a bad year for music; it just didn’t feel like a particularly great one.

Sure, it had its high points.

Folks you’ve come to trust made vibrant, bar-raising records — like Bob Dylan’s classically folk-poetic “Modern Times,” Tom Petty’s solidly trucking “Highway Companion,” Neil Young’s fiercely topical “Living With War,” and Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Last Man Standing.” Pearl Jam shut a few folks up, too.

Some other quick-climbers continued to rise as expected. Cat Power teamed up with some talented Memphians and made “The Greatest,” her greatest yet. Boy-band survivor Justin Timberlake showed off further dance-pop adventurousness on “FutureSex/LoveSounds” and, like everyone else who released an album this year, managed to best the quasi-musical adventures of Britney’s other recent ex, Kevin Federline.

Ray LaMontagne, man, he made another gut-wrenching soul-folk disc, and Radiohead head Thom Yorke showed off a pretty great electronic-pop solo disc called “The Eraser.”

But there was precious little in the way of the fresh surprise, save for a few notable exceptions: Gnarls Barkley drove a whole lot of people giddily “Crazy,” a little Texan indie band called Midlake channeled Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumours”-era glory, and a folk musician named Dan Reeder made “Sweetheart,” one of the year’s coolest, weirdest records.

So 2006 wasn’t so bad, it just wasn’t marked by many innovations, new ideas or unabashed triumphs. Many standbys and new faces (The Strokes, Tool, Ray Davies, Toby Keith, Badly Drawn Boy) offered little more than mediocrity. And the specter of some tough 2006 losses, Syd Barrett, Buck Owens and CBGB among them, cast a pall.

But good artists released some good records this year.

Here are the 10 — wait, make that 11 — best country albums of 2006.

Gary Bennett, “Human Condition”/ BR549, “Dog Days”

Bennett and BR549 leader Chuck Mead may always be linked to each other, having helped bring BR549 to attention in the short-lived, much-loved Lower Broadway revival of the 1990s. Bennett is now a solo artist, and his “Human Condition” is as lean, tough and true as anything he ever recorded with the BR fellows. Meanwhile, Mead and his BR549 pals continue to weather significant lineup changes and put out superb honky-tonk music.

Solomon Burke, “Nashville”

Soul veteran Burke came to Buddy Miller’s home studio in Nashville and recorded splendid versions of splendid songs. The results are... duh, splendid. Burke sings with purpose and strength and empathy, revealing new textures and emotions in songs from Tom T. Hall, Jim Lauderdale, Gillian Welch, Dolly Parton, Paul Kennerley and other Nashville luminaries.

Dixie Chicks, “Taking The Long Way”

Lyrically, “Lubbock Or Leave It” and “Bitter End” walk the line between open-heartedness and audience-baiting, and “The Long Way Around” and “Not Ready To Make Nice” sound downright self-congratulatory, but the Chicks score with tender, melodic moments such as those found on “Voice Inside My Head” and “Everybody Knows.” And though Natalie Maines’ skills as a public speaker have been questioned, her singing voice is a practically inarguable joy. The Chicks are all the poorer for a lack of country radio exposure, and country radio is all the poorer for the lack of this accomplished band. Poor Chicks, poor radio. As for us, we’re richer for listening.

Vince Gill, “These Days”

A little time off from CMA Awards hosting duties apparently left Gill with the time and energy to record 43 songs, ranging from hard country to jazzy pop. Lack of a classical number or hip-hop excursion prevents Gill from trying to be all things to all people, but he covers considerable ground on this, the most satisfying release of his career. I prefer the country and bluegrass portions of this program, but there’s more than enough here to go around.

Alan Jackson, “Like Red On A Rose”

Jackson’s reliability has been much-lauded in a career of meat-and-potatoes triumphs, but he’s even better when he’s unreliable. He enlisted producer Alison Krauss to help him break from a mold he helped create. I’d buy this album just to hear Jim Cox’s keyboard work or to hear the words and melodies created by songwriter Robert Lee Castleman, who has credits on four of these compositions. But the shining star is Jackson’s voice, which is as effective conveying merlot sensuality as it has always been with cold beer country.

Jim Lauderdale, “Country Super Hits, Vol. 1”

The title is a joke, at least for now, as these are new songs rather than radio triumphs. But Lauderdale is Music Row’s top melodist and one of its most soulful singers, and his collaborations with co-writer Odie Blackmon are worthy of wearing out whatever the digital equivalent is of a record needle. Smart, hooky, traditional country.

Willie Nelson, “You Don’t Know Me: The Songs of Cindy Walker”

Nelson’s tribute to Country Music Hall of Fame songwriter Cindy Walker spotlights her tremendously influential and enjoyable songs. It also spotlights the extent to which Nelson is still capable of recording timeless music. How does he keep a 73-year-old voice in that shape? I’ll have whatever he’s having.

George Strait, “It Just Comes Natural”

There’s a reason Strait is a Hall of Famer who still connects with No. 1 hits: His voice is wise and easy and cowboy-righteous, and he continues to record definitive versions of great country songs. With 32 platinum-selling albums, Strait is like the music equivalent of the New York Yankees, if the Yanks won every year and weren’t owned by a questionable fellow like Steinbrenner. Thank you, sir. Can’t wait for the next one.

Trent Summar, Horseshoes & Hand Grenades

Folks along Music Row keep rummaging through demo CDs hoping to find the kind of whiskey-soaked songs that fall naturally from Summar’s pen and sound natural in Summar’s voice. Onstage, he’s a frenetic terror. On this album, he’s the embodiment of everything that all those chin-out, tough-guy country young ‘uns on CMT would try to become if they borrowed a clue from Hank Jr. or any of the other real dudes.

The Wreckers, Stand Still, Look Pretty

Critics tend to rail against sugar-coated country-pop, but that’s just because most sugar-coated country-pop is so gosh-awful trite and boring. The Wreckers, though, offer sugar-coated country-pop with enough snarl to sound real and enough melody to sink in. In a year of radio sound-alikes, The Wreckers gave us something foot-tappingly different.

Guy Clark, Workbench Songs

One of Nashville’s masters of songwriting returns with his best album of new material in more than a decade. “Walking Man,” “Magdalene” and “Funny Bone” are all sparkling examples of Clark’s gruff, literate charm.

Peter Cooper and Nicole Keiper write for The (Nashville) Tennessean.