Over the past eleven years of playing music, I have come across lots of different genres and found amazing music within every one of those facets of music. Today, I have set an impossible mission to name my top 10 favorite albums of all time, including any genre of music. There will surely be a ton of incredible music left out of this list, but here goes nothing. To be clear, this list is in no particular order, since all these artists are amazing in their own right, and it was impossible enough to pick just ten albums.
1. Bound To Ride - Jim Mills I remember this being one of the first "straight ahead" bluegrass albums I ever listened to, and have memories of rocking out to this on the bus ride to high school. Back when I was first taking fiddle lessons with Patrick McAvinue, he started getting me to learn the fiddle solos on all these songs. Nowadays, I have the title track, "Bound To Ride", set as my alarm to wake me up every morning. 2. Charm City Junction - Charm City Junction My first fiddle teacher, Patrick McAvinue, is a founding member of this band, which was started just around the same time I started learning from him. Over the years, I've seen this group play countless times, and I bought their album just when it was released. 3. The Streets Of Baltimore - Del McCoury Band After being a scholarship student at Delfest Academy in 2016, and not knowing who the Del McCoury band was at the time, my mind was totally blown. I added this album to my rotation of listening material, and it never got old. 4. Chapusongs - Árbol While spending time learning Spanish last year, I asked one of my friends, who is from Argentina, to recommend me some music in Spanish to listen to. He recommended me this album, which I have now been listening to on repeat for the past year. The style is Argentinian Rock, and it's the kind of music that gets you jumping up and down and scream singing at the top of your lungs. 5. Life Between The Lines - Fireside Collective After being invited to see this band play live in Baltimore, I fell in love with their music and started listening to their music all the time. This album (and all of their music) is incredible because it's almost all original, but still has that core bluegrass sound that just makes you want to dance and sing along. 6. Turmoil & Tinfoil - Billy Strings Since Billy Strings has a deep understanding of both bluegrass and rock music, his albums and performances are a healthy mix of the two. This is an album of originals, and demonstrates Billy's dexterity on the guitar as well as his vocal ability. 7. The Travelin' McCourys - The Travelin' McCourys The Travelin' McCourys is "spinoff" group (for lack of a better term) of the Del McCoury Band, and they play a slightly more modern style with some pop and some grateful dead, without forgetting about the straight ahead bluegrass. This album could be appealing to lovers of many genres of music, and I think it can turn people on to bluegrass that have never heard it before. 8. Historias De Un Embarque - Siempre Puente Out of all the albums I'm mentioning today, this is the most recent one, having been released in May of 2021. It's pretty short, only five songs, and about 15 minutes long in total. However, this music is some of the most beautiful I have ever heard. I totally recommend it. 9. Rearrange My Heart - Che Apalache This is the second album of the "Latingrass" band, Che Apalache. It was recorded in Bela Fleck's basement recording studio, and was nominated for a grammy. The music fuses traditional music from the United States, including bluegrass and old time, with traditional styles of Argentinian music, with the occasional sprinkle of Mexican music and even a song in Japanese. 10. Manzanita - The Tony Rice Unit This is one of the quintessential albums for people of love bluegrass music, so of course I had to include it. Tony Rice contributed so much to the world of bluegrass, particularly when it comes to flatpicking guitar, and vocal styles. This is one of his more famous albums with his band, The Tony Rice Unit. I hope everyone enjoyed hearing about my top 10 favorite albums, and a little bit of my personal connection with each one of them. I recommend listening to each of these albums, but be careful, they will probably blow your mind!
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Alani SugarAlani Sugar is a young fiddle and mandolin player from Maryland. She has been involved in the region's music scene since she was 15 years old, and has the attention of musicians and music lovers alike in the area. She currently works as a professional musician and teaches fiddle and mandolin lessons online via Skype Archives
January 2024
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