GRAMMY WATCH: BEST AMERICANA ALBUM

Out of all the categories in this year's Grammy Awards, the most difficult for me as a voter was the Best Americana Album category. All five of the albums are incredible.

First is Rosanne Cash's The List, which came out in early 2010. The title is a reference to an actual list that her father, Johnny Cash, made for her of some of the greatest songs of all time, like "Long Black Veil," "Motherless Children" and "I'm Movin' On." It's mostly a solo album, but there are duets with Bruce Springsteen, Rufus Wainwright, Jeff Tweedy and Elvis Costello. It's a really great and moving album (and kind of seems made for the Grammys, I was kind of surprised it didn't get more nominations, but the fact that it came out so long ago probably worked against it).

Los Lobos' Tin Can Trust was one of my favorite albums of 2010, I've written about it before. I'll just say that Los Lobos never seem to get their due. I love this album, I love the band. In 2011, I'm planning on completing my Los Lobos CD collection. I've never seen them live, this year I hope to change that. It shouldn't be hard, they seem to tour very frequently.

Willie Nelson's T-Bone Burnett-produced Country Music was another album that I loved, and I'm sorry that it didn't get more attention. I guess part of Willie's problem is that he is so prolific, people can hardly keep up with all of his albums. Country Music really was great... of course, it wasn't "country" in the current mainstream Nashville sense, but it did have great songs like "Dark As A Dungeon," "House Of Gold," "Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down" and "House Of Gold." Willie and T-Bone's regulars cooked up a great brew (among other things, probably) of amazing music.

Robert Plant's Band Of Joy was another of my favorite albums of 2010. I listen to it all the time, and am still amazed by it. Also amazing is the strength of his vision and his commitment to it. At this point, he's not only turning down lucrative Led Zeppelin tours to do his own thing, he's turing down the follow up to his multi-Grammy winning collab with Alison Krauss, Raising Sand.

Ultimately the album I loved the most was my second favorite album of 2010, Mavis Staples' You Are Not Alone... the title track was my favorite song of the year and one of my favorite songs of all time. Also - I don't vote based on this - I was surprised to learn that Mavis has never won a Grammy! This is a career record for her, and I'd love to see her get the recognition, so here's hoping she wins on Sunday.

WILLIE NELSON - COUNTRY MUSIC - TIE FOR #11

One album that I felt was really overlooked and underrated in 2010 was the latest from Willie Nelson, Country Music. Produced by T-Bone ("Him Again") Burnett, The name of the album may seem odd or obvious, as Willie is kind of synonymous with country music, but he often makes excursions into other genres: in 2009, he released an album of standards (American Classic) and Texas swing (Willie & The Wheel, a collaboration with Asleep At The Wheel, which I loved). So, in one regard, it's a return to classic country music.

But the title can also double as a reminder to Nashville that this is country music. The Nashville establishment respects Willie, but don't ever support his new music (the same is true for Merle, it was true for Cash and Waylon during the last few decades of their lifetimes).

Actually, "country music" may be a bit deceptive, unless you consider the roots of the genre, which were tied to gospel music. The album features some old gospel numbers like "Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down" (coincidentally, former Burnett client Robert Plant covered it on his latest album, Band Of Joy), "Satisfied Mind," and Hank Williams' "House Of Gold."  Other country classics include Merle Travis' "Dark As A Dungeon," Doc Watson's "Freight Train Boogie" and "You Done Me Wrong," written by Ray Price and George Jones. The album isn't some gimmicky marketing project though, it is a collection of well-chosen songs that Willie takes and makes his own.

Willie Nelson is so prolific it can be hard to keep up with all of the albums that he puts out (I am a huge fan of his more recent music).  This album isn't a stretch into different waters for him, as (you could argue) his forays into standards, blues, children's music or  reggae have been.  (Let's forget that reggae album ever happened, actually.) This is a master artist picking songs that are classics but not overplayed, and he actually brings new life to all of them.  Highly recommended.

WATCH: JAMEY JOHNSON AT THE CMT AWARDS

Not that No Expiration is becoming a southern rock (or Outlaw Country) blog, but there's a lot of music in that genre that is worth getting excited about. I've written a lot about my favorite album of the year - The Drive-By Truckers' The Big To-Do. And I've also written about Reckless Kelly's Somewhere In Time.  But I'm also really excited about Jamey Johnson's next album, The Guitar Song, coming out in September. He performed the first single, "Macon," at the CMT Awards last week (see the performance below, and buy the single on iTunes). I am a big fan of Jamey's last album, That Lonesome Song, and I agreed with Rolling Stone magazine's feature about 40 reasons to be excited about music in 2010: I also think that Jamey Johnson is a good reason to be excited about music. Dude is the real deal, and I urge you to check him out.

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