Album of the year (2009 Challenge)

What's rocking your world?

Good question. I'm not a big album/CD purchaser. I generally find that, when I do buy something, I listen to it a time or two and then it gets dusty. Mostly I listen to XM in the car or online, or use Pandora.

That being said, the one CD I bought this year was Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away by Slaid Cleeves. I bought this directly from Slaid's beautiful hands and it bears his beautiful signature. Do I sound like I'm doting a bit? Maaayyybe.

Slaid is, in my opinion, amazing. He snagged me years ago when he sang this on his 2000 CD, Broke Down:

Sherry had a pawnshop band of gold
A sink full of dishes and a love grown cold

He says Rod Picott actually wrote the song and he just polished it up, but I don't know this Rod guy, so my loyalty goes to Slaid for that one.

The Broke Down CD also included the song Lydia, which was actually written by Karen Poston, but Slaid just did it so darn well. And, ahem, so did my sons. I swear, that song makes my eyes leak every time I hear it.

On this new CD, which includes some cool liner notes by Stephen King, Slaid manages to pull and bend my heart while not being too "twangy." (Yeah, tell Tom.) He's a self-proclaimed blues singer...because nothing he sings is upbeat in any way. He sings about battered wives, love gone wrong and dead children. But he does it so well.