ACCORDING TO MICHAEL McCALL (NASHVILLE SCENE)
1. The Mavericks, Trampoline (MCA) Nashville's hippest band reinvented itself, transforming the lean, cool twang of old into an impassioned form of horn-driven, string-laden, Latin-flavored pop. No Music Row album received more of an advance buzz this year; weeks before its official release, advance tapes of Trampoline were the hottest, most traded, and most talked about recording in years. Country radio, however, refused to give the quartet a chance, although they're certainly no more pop-oriented than Shania Twain or Faith Hill. Since then, The Mavericks have announced their intention to pursue a career outside of Nashville. As with Lyle Lovett, k.d. lang, Rosanne Cash, Nanci Griffith, and Steve Earle, country has missed another opportunity to broaden its ill-defined borders.
2. Vince Gill, The Key (MCA) To bare-boned yet beautifully melodic support, Gill stripped away the pop leanings of his music to concentrate on simple songs that cry with heartbreak and rapture. Again, radio programmers didn't respond well, but it was their loss: This album will likely stand as one of the crowning achievements of Gill's career, and he should be applauded for showing such nerve at a time when everyone else is acting so careful and calculating.
3. Mike Ireland and Holler, Learning How to Live (Sub Pop) Taking on everything from Bakersfield-styled honky-tonk to lush '60s country-pop, Ireland and his band managed to transform personal heartbreak into universal songs that touched an emotional chord.
4. Bad Livers, Industry and Thrift (Sugar Hill) Although this Texas-based acoustic duo remains whimsical, they've moved beyond cutting punk-bluegrass novelties into creating an original hybrid of roots music that encompasses bluegrass, swing, polka, blues, and rock. Highly entertaining.
5. Emmylou Harris, Spyboy (Eminent) On this fine live album, Harris merged the provocative tension of her moody 1996 outing, Wrecking Ball, with the gentler, more conventional style of her earlier hits.
6. Robert Earl Keen, Walking Distance (Arista) Working for the first time with coproducer Gurf Morlix--best known for his work with Lucinda Williams--Keen spins colorful, epic tales without ever sounding excessively wordy or unduly complex. At this point, he has emerged as one of the best story-song writers of the '90s.
7. Chris Knight, Chris Knight (Decca) Though uneven, Chris Knight's debut was the strongest artistic statement by a Nashville newcomer in 1998. In vivid stories of stubborn rural folk, he knows how to set a scene and capture the complex desires and insecurities shared by loners, lovers, miscreants, and regular guys.
8. Ralph Stanley and Friends, Clinch Mountain Country (Rebel) At age 71, bluegrass patriarch Ralph Stanley challenged a long list of famous guests (including Bob Dylan, Vince Gill, and Alison Krauss) to match him as he soared into his distinctive brand of stark, driving mountain music. With only a couple of exceptions, his presence brought out the best in all concerned.
9. Dwight Yoakam, Long Way Home (Reprise) After broadening his artistic scope through most of the '90s, Yoakam put his honky-tonk boots back on and kicked his way through a set of barroom songs and mournful country ballads.
10. Paul Burch and the WPA Ballclub, Wire to Wire (Checkered Past) On his second album, Burch took an artistic leap from fine country-music traditionalist to gifted musical iconoclast. A few traits carry over from his first collection: He still sports shrewd humor, melancholy wistfulness, and clever storytelling, and he still delves deeply into '40s hillbilly swing and '50s honky-tonk. But in arrangements, lyrics, and overall tone, he is now forging a more modern, more distinctly personal, and more engaging sound of his own.
The next 10: Willie Nelson, Teatro (Island); Various Artists, Real: The Tom T. Hall Project (Sire); Bobby Hicks, Fiddle Patch (Rounder); The Fly-Rite Boys, Big Sandy Presents the Fly-Rite Boys (HighTone); Gary Allan, It Would Be You (Decca); Shane Stockton, Stories I Could Tell (Decca); Blue Highway, Midnight Storm (Rebel); Salamander Crossing, Bottleneck Dreams (Signature-Sounds); Heather Myles, Highways and Honky Tonks (Rounder); Allison Moorer, Alabama Song (MCA)
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