Well, I thought doing the top ten CDs for this past year was going to be easy, but it turned out to be a lot of thought and work. I printed out all of the releases from this year, indies, country, bluegrass, newgrass, and I said to myself ,well, wow, there is a lot of new music this year and good stuff too. 

I am very fortunate to be here at CountryStarsOnline.com with all of the great writers that we have, Cheryl, George, Brianna, Jolene, Penny and Amy. Jim Weaver is a great boss and gives me a lot of liberty, but he is a very good editor too. So here goes with my top ten CDs for '07; 

	1. Raising Sand - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss: A T-bone Burnette production that really takes both artists to another genre.
	2. Translated From Love - Kelly Willis: Easily her best release, her last CD "Easy" was all acoustic, this is a great selection of great songs.
	3. 5th Gear - Brad Paisley: For me this finally turns the corner for Brad and turns him from being just a great guitarist who can sing into the full package, way to go Brad.
	4. Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby: This CD was a lot of fun to listen to, most of the influence  sound-wise, was from Hornsby.
	5. It Don't Hurt - Lisa O'Kane: This is O'Kane's third CD and it is, in my opinion, by far her best. She has always had great songs, but there is just something about the sound quality here that is major league.
	6. Viridian - The Greencards: This newgrass group does it again, a lot of terrific songs and more great pickin' and singing.
	7. Blind Man Walking - Cadillac Sky: This group puts out a superb performance in their CD, a great touch of newgrass and bluegrass.
	8. Carrie Hassler and Hard Rain: This gal has a great voice plus a bunch of pickers that can flat out pick, great material too, can't wait to hear what she does next!
	9. Gaining Wisdom - Donna Hughes: Produced by guitarist Tony White, this CD has a smooth textured sound to it, White's guitar playing is smooth as butter.
	10. Sweet Danger - Suzy Bogguss: This is a true jazz, swing CD that is very well done using both New York and Nashville sessions guitarists.

Honorable mentions: The Mickeys, The Marshall Tucker Band, The Cherryholmes, Terri Hendrix

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