Got to break in here. My new second favorite song is Drift Away, by Dobie Gray. I’ve heard it before, years ago, but I listened to it the other night and fell in love with the guitar parts, the groove and of course Dobie’s voice.
Updated 09/22/2020
I was thinking of the movie, High Fidelity with John Cusack and Jack Black among others and how they were always talking about their top five lists. I listened to their top five lists but they didn’t work for me.
I created a desert island disc list years ago and four out of the five albums were live albums, so I decided to create a Top Five Live Album list and a new Top Five Studio Album list. I added “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” to my desert island disc list, because I couldn’t imagine not hearing some roots/bluegrass music but it doesn’t make it on my top five lists for favorite album. Definitely in my top twenty.
The Lists
Original Desert Island Disc list:
- Waiting For Columbus – Little Feat
- Will The Circle Be Unbroken – Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
- Rattle And Hum – U2
- Mirror Ball – Sarah Mclachlan
- Eat A Peach – The Allman Brothers
Now Eat A Peach is mostly a studio album, and even though there are three live songs on the album that add up to 41:47 minutes, I’m going to remove it from my Live list but it will be on the top of my Studio list as well as Blue Sky being on my Top Five Perfect Song list.
It came down to CSNY, Four Way Street, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit, Live At The Ryman, and The Allman Brothers Band, At Fillmore East, and it was a hard choice but I had to go with The Allman Brothers to add to my Top Five Live Album List.
Top Five Live Album List
- Waiting For Columbus – Little Feat
- The Last Waltz – The Band
- Rattle And Hum – U2
- Mirror Ball – Sarah Mclachlan
- At Fillmore East – The Allman Brothers Band
Top Five Studio Album List
- Eat A Peach – The Allman Brothers
- Don Quixote – Gordon Lightfoot
- Saturate Before Using – Jackson Brown
- Let It Bleed – Rolling Stones
- Gravity – Alejandro Escovido
Next Top Five Studio Album List
- Hotel California – The Eagles
- Remember Me – Otis Redding
- The Nashville Sound – Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit
- The Freewheelin Bob Dylan
- The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars – David Bowie
Top Five Perfect Songs
- Blue Sky – The Allman Brothers
- If You Were To Wake Up – Lyle Lovett
- Mainstreet – Bob Seger
- Blue on Black – Kenny Wayne Shepherd
- Broken Hearted Savior – Big Head Todd and The Monsters
Next Top Five Perfect Songs
- Black Velvet – Allanah Myles
- May All Your Favorite Bands Stay Together – The Dawes
- I’ll Take You There – The Staple Singers
- Tuesday’s Gone – lynyrd Skynrd
- Oh My Sweet Carolina – Ryan Adams
Top Five Favorite Songs
- Blue Sky – The Allman Brothers
- If You Were To Wake Up – Lyle Lovett
- This Is Us – Mark Knopfler & Emmylou Harris
- Choctaw Bingo – James McMurtry
- Heavenly Day – Patty Griffin
Got to give big honorable mention to Southern Cross – Crosby, Stills and Nash, which still gives me goose bumps like the first time I heard it.
Top Five Live Songs
- Compared to what – Eddie Harris, Les McCann
- I still haven’t found what I’m looking for – U2 – Rattle and Hum Version
- Tied to the whipping post – The Allman Brothers Band – At Fillmore East
- You got to me – James McMurtry
- This is us – Mark Knopfler & Emmy Lou Harris – Real Live Roadrunning
Artists I have been turned onto lately that I like:
- Michael Kiwanuka
- Nick Drake
- Blue Highway
- Turnpike Troubadours
- Margo Price
- Highway Women
- Taimane
- Chris Knight
- Andrew Bird
- Tyler Childers
- Amanda Shires
- Rose City Band
- Strand of Oaks
I got to say my favorite artist/musician today is Jason Isbell.