Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#171 in the Series) is self-titled debut from, Court Yard Hounds. This was my surprise find of the year.  It’s one of my favorite albums of 2010. For those of you not familiar with Court Yard Hounds, they are Emily Robison and Martie Maguire from the Dixie Chicks. I’ve always liked the Dixie Chicks.  Taking their name from a Little Feat song got them going in the right direction from the start with me!  However, I never was a huge fan that saw them in concert or bought more than an album here or there. (I do think the single “Not Ready to Make Nice” is superb!) So one night I’m watching David Letterman...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day is David Grisman, “Hot Dawg.” What a wonderful sounding piece of music. Not really bluegrass, but pretty close. David calls his music, Dawg Music. This was an album that I could listen to front to back day after day. David, mandolin, was performing with a quintet during this period. Band members included, Tony Rice on guitar, Darol Anger on violin, Mike Marshall on violin and mandolin, and Tony Phillips on bass. All heavyweights! Highlights include ’16…16, Dawg’s Bull,Minor Swing’ and ‘Neon Tetra.’ But listen to the whole album. You won’t be disappointed. “Hot Dawg” reached #14 on the Billboard Jazz Charts early into 1979. Personnel David Grisman – mandolin Tony Rice – guitar...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day is the 1968 release by The Byrds, Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Quite simply, a masterpiece. Was it the first country rock album? That’s debatable. There has been so much written and discussed about this music that I’m not even going to try and invent an original idea. Just listen to the music. I’d have loved to have heard Roger McGuinn and Gram Parsons stay together longer. But then Gram might not have gone on to to record two other great pieces of music (Gram Parsons and GP). And maybe he wouldn’t have gone on to discover (along with Chris Hillman) EmmyLou Harris. The Byrds were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of...