#2 - GRETCHEN PETERS - BLACKBIRDS (RJ'S TOP 10 AMERICANA/COUNTRY ALBUMS OF THE YEAR)

Producer - Doug Lancio, Gretchen Peters and Barry Walsh

Released -February 10, 2015

My second favorite Americana/country album this year is Blackbirds by Gretchen Peters. Honestly, I struggled mightily to figure out the order to place her and Chris Stapleton in. I think just the darkness of these songs is what draws me to them so strongly. Well, that and her amazing voice. If you aren't familiar with her work, and I'm bettin' that you aren't, she is an American singer songwriter that was born in New York. She has released several albums and has been doing so for about 20 years now. What you also most likely do not know (I didn't either) is that she wrote Independence Day, a song recorded by Martina McBride that won the 1995 CMA Award for Song Of The Year. She also co-wrote George Straight's 1991 number 3 country hit The Chill Of An Early Fall. That's pretty impressive songwriting, but she has collaborated with many others as well.

As I mentioned earlier, what makes this album so intriguing to me is the level of darkness she attains. You find that out right off the bat on the title track. The protagonist's family has dark secrets, and the cane field and it's harvest season is the perfect time to cover up murder. Pretty Things has a very atmospheric feel to it, and that production really sets the stage for the song. After that she touches on domestic violence, particularly that perpetrated by a soldier returning from the desert. Even more atmosphere pulls you in on Everything Falls Away. I haven't quite figured out if the subject of the song has died or just left, but maybe that's the idea.

This stuff just goes on and on. Burning houses, prisons, running from something or somebody and the end of a relationship. It's all covered. Heck, the only bright song on the album is the duet with Jimmy LaFave called When You Comin' Home. And though it's a bit upbeat, it might not even be bright after all. Haven't figured that one out yet either.

Face it, you can't get this kind of music on today's country radio stations. What you need to do is spend just a little bit of money. Twenty bucks will get you my number 2 and number 3 albums of 2015. That not only gets you some great music to listen to, but it helps support these terrific artists as well. Remember that none of these guys are gettin' rich off of making new music. I'll step down from the soap box now. Thanks for reading.

Tracks:

1. Blackbirds

2. Pretty Things

3. When All You Got Is A Hammer

4. Everything Falls Away

5. The House On Auburn Street

6. When You Comin' Home (feat. Jimmy LaFave)

7. Jubilee

8. Black Ribbons

9. Nashville

10. The Cure For The Pain

11. Blackbirds (Reprise)