2004 saw a plathora of great roots albums, but there wasn't much originality coming out of Nashville, writes Joe Breen
It says a lot about the state of country music that the leading release this year was from a legend discarded by the Nashville leisure-suit elite. Loretta Lynn turned to Jack White, as in the White Stripes, for Van Lear Rose (Interscope), her triumphant return to form. Johnny Cash was forced to do something similar in his last years, and the full story of that rebirth was told in a five-CD box set, Unearthed Music (American), a comprehensive trawl through that golden final period in his career.
The dearth of ideas coming out of Nashville has spread to bluegrass. Although bands like Open Road, whose In the Life (Rounder) was delightfully old-fashioned, continue to exemplify the virtues of tradition. But Alison Krauss and Union Station's keenly awaited Lonely Runs Both Way (Rounder) was too safe a confection by some distance. Krauss's voice is a wondrous thing, but she seemed stuck in the same gear for most of the album.
Yet on the margins there were some interesting things happening. Grey De Lisle released The Graceful Ghost (Sugar Hill), a brilliantly conceived, haunting collection of songs inspired by the period of the American civil war. Another American with a stunning voice, Natalie Merchant, also looked to the past for The House Carpenter's Daughter (Myth), breathing new life into a bunch of well-known folk songs.
Major new singer and songwriter Jolie Holland actually released two albums during the year, her "demo", Catalpa (Anti), paved the way for Escondida (Anti), an imaginative and off-kilter journey through the roots of Americana.
Steve Earle and Eliza Gilykson had a more direct message. The Revolution Starts Now (Artemis) came out waving its fist in the air, while Gilykson's appealing Land of Milk and Honey took well-aimed shots at the ruling class. Another veteran, Rodney Crowell, returned to mighty form with Fate's Right Hand (Epic).
We have yet to see Tift Merritt this side of the Atlantic, but she followed up her impressive 2002 country rock début, Bramble Rose, with Tambourine (Mercury), a sassy, sexy, Southern blend of country/soul that owed more to Memphis than the Ole Opry.
In the rockier vein of Americana were found three of the year's best albums. Buddy Miller's Universal United Church of Prayer (New West), Wilco's A Ghost Is Born (Nonesuch) and Richmond Fontaine's Post to Wire (ElCortez Records).
Finally, country guitar hero Miller returned to top form with a Christian-themed album which features the year's most telling anti-war message, a passionate reworking of Dylan's With God on Our Side.
Away from roots music, Rufus Wainwright justified all the hype on the brilliant Want One (DreamWorks); while John Martyn's On the Cobbles (Independiente) was a welcome return to form. Elliot Smith's farewell to this world, From a Basement on the Hill (Domino), was fittingly beautifully bleak.
The world could be a happier place, and certainly was when Algerian Khaled's Ya-Rayi (Wrasse) was playing. The sun also shone when the remarkable Mory Kante from Guinea released Sabou (Riverboat), and stayed that way for Issa Bagayogo's equally impressive Tassoumakan (Wrasse). Certainly some of the most exciting and interesting sounds in music are coming from Africa.
