#1 – Crazy Ex-Girlfriend – Miranda Lambert
The previous nine entries in this hindsight top ten list weren’t surprises. Every one of them was in at least the top five of the year of release, and while a couple of them leap-frogged other albums, they all pretty much landed in the same place.
Funny, then, that my number one entry didn’t even make it on a list the year of its release.
To be fair, that’s not due to some major reassessment on my part but simply because I didn’t hear the album until two years after its release.
You can argue that it should therefore be ineligible for this list, but I did look at every album I own from the 2006-2010 period, including the ones I bought later on. This was just the only one to make the cut.
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is not just Miranda Lambert’s best album, it’s one of my favorite albums, period. It has so much personality, and such a blend of heartbreak, humor and badassery. It’s the kind of album that after one listen makes you an instant fan of not just the artist but the person.
I know some folks around these parts don’t appreciate country music, and neither did I five or six years ago. Brad Paisley’s American Saturday Night did a lot to change that, but Crazy Ex-Girlfriend shattered my preconceptions about what a country album could be.
Pain is what I’m showin’
Love is what I’m takin’
Hearts are what I’m breakin’
There’s a strong man lives up in Jackson Hole
He took my heart and he broke my soul
Left a dark place in my chest
I sleep but I don’t rest
I sleep but I don’t rest
So down is where I’m goin’
Pain is what I’m showin’
Love is what I’m takin’
Hearts are what I’m breakin’
Met a little boy in Baton Rouge
His eyes were clear and his heart was true
I made that boy’s heart scream my name
But he didn’t know the game
No he didn’t know the game
So down is where I’m goin’
Pain is what I’m showin’
Love is what I’m takin’
Hearts are what I’m breakin’
You don’t want to be standing there
When the storm hits you won’t have a prayer
My wind will blow you to your knees
Stay away from me
Stay away from me
Stay away from me
Oh yeah down is where I’m goin’
Pain is what I’m showin’
Love is what I’m takin’
Hearts are what I’m breakin’
Hearts are what I’m breakin’
Meet Me In Montauk 
Well, as I have said before, not all country music is the same and there are styles within the genre I do like, including the more muscular modern sound coming from the likes of Carrie Underwood, Paisley and Lambert. Given your high praise for Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, I would certainly be interested in checking it out.
Still, while I like today’s song and get where it might get under one’s skin, it just doesn’t get quite under mine in that visceral way other genres and other artists I adore do. Maybe that would change if I gave these country albums more attention as it has for you, but I doubt it. When I first heard Lyle Lovett’s “Here I Am,” I was hooked in about 30 seconds and I knew spiritually I would adore every song he put out in that bluesy jazzy style. I just don’t get that feeling all that often from these country songs and country artists.