Tough road to 10

With roughly three months left in the year to select my annual top-10 albums list, I've come to two depressing conclusions:

1. 2006 has been a killer, and I have acquired an alarming number of new releases this year.
2. I have no idea how I'm going to winnow the excellent albums I've heard this year down to my favorite 10.

First, the staggering heavy-rotation pile. I keep the new stuff I get each year in a separate stack, not filed in the library, which makes sorting through the new music for my top 10 an easier task. Since the new releases sit directly across the room from my easy chair, I also get a fairly regular reminder to keep them in heavy rotation. For shits and giggles, I jotted down all these titles in my trusty, coffee-stained notebook where many of my HickoryWind post ideas begin as inky chicken scratches. To my astonishment, I discovered that the missus and I had put our greasy mitts on 87 releases from 2006. And there are nearly 90 days left in the year. I guess I can refer to this missive when wondering why I'm rolling pennies to put gas in my truck.

Even more depressing news: There still are a boatload of CDs scheduled for release this year. This week alone, I passed on new Los Lobos, Duhks and Madeline Peyroux discs to keep spending in check. But I'm going to have to figure out a way to at least hear them if I want the top-10 list to be all that it can be. And there are still releases on tap from Jay Farrar & Anders Parker, Mindy Smith, Brian Setzer, Solomon Burke and, as far as I know, Gillian Welch before the year is out.

Even without those discs, I've got my work cut out for me. I always have a hard time choosing the top 10, but last year they were chosen from a field of about 20 contenders. Looking over my list, and putting marks next to the strongest top-10 candidates, I've narrowed the list to about 45 albums still in the running, including the latest from Bruce Springsteen, Josh Ritter, BR549, Gary Bennett, Dion, Alejandro Escovedo, Tim Easton, Cat Power, Roseanne Cash, Sarah Harmer, Neko Case, Johnny Cash, Slaid Cleaves, Tom Petty, Guy Clark, Chatham County Line, Dave Alvin and Bob Dylan. If you've heard any of those discs, you can appreciate what a huge undertaking this will be.

But I do it all for you, dear reader. Because I know you'll be here on Thursdays, waiting to hear the rest of the story, I'll park my fanny in front of the stereo and start spinning these discs.

Just as soon as I get back from the record store.