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Greg Grant's Top 10 Albums of 2004.

My favorite albums of the year are listed below in alphabetical order by artist name. If you feel that it's a copout by not ranking them, well then that's too bad. Get your own blog.

• Anonymous 4: American Angels - stunning shape note singing
• Chuck Brodsky: Color Came One Day - his best yet, even without a baseball song
• Iris DeMent: Lifeline - finally, a new release from Iris, and she excels at singing the old-time gospel
• Eddie From Ohio: This is Me - their best in several years. New producer LloydMaines made a big difference for this CD in their sound - it's much more polished.
• Hem: Eveningland - lush arrangements and beautiful vocals
• Peter Himmelman: Unstoppable Forces - it would truly have to be a stunningly fantastic year in music for a new Peter Himmelman release not to make my Top 10. Thoughtful, with consistent quality andpassion, plus a rarities bonus disk.
• Lori McKenna: Bittertown - she just keeps getting better. The new female poet of small town life.
• Tift Merritt: Tambourine - not what I expected given her first CD, but I still love her voice, and dig the Memphis soul feel. This is the best Lone Justice CD not made by Lone Justice.
• Buddy Miller: Univeral United House of Prayer - Buddy's best yet, and the combination of the alt-country instrumental feel with the gospel background singing is inspired.
• Susan Werner: I Can't Be New - I've thought since hearing her live several years ago that she should do an album exactly like this, of standard-like tunes performed primarily on piano, and now that she has and it's so good, I feel vindicated in some small and trivial manner.

Honorable Mention (also in alphabetical order by artist)

• Greg Brown: In the Hills of California
• The Clumsy Lovers: After the Flood
• Grey DeLisle: The Graceful Ghost
• Patty Griffin: Impossible Dream
• John Wesley Harding: Adam's Apple
• Kate Jacobs: You Call That Dark
• Kieran Kane and Kevin Welch: You Can't Save Everybody
• Alison Krauss and Union Station: Lonely Runs Both Ways
• Bill Mallonee: Dear Life
• Eleanor McEvoy: Early Hours
• James McMurtry: Live in Aught Three
• Carol Noonan: Somebody's Darling - Songs of War, Loss and Remembrance
• Railroad Earth: The Good Life
• Todd Snider: East Nashville Skyline
• Tempest: The 15th Anniversary Collection
• U2: How to Dismantle an Atom Bomb