Top 45 Arctic Cactus Hour Discs of 2010

The Arctic Cactus Hour continues to be a great excuse to preview new music and then share the best with you.  Most of what we play comes directly from bands or from independent and regional labels - the best music often being the least known.  2010 saw more great Americana releases and you can’t go wrong buying any of the artists listed in our Top 45 below.


Based on airplay, here are the top Arctic Cactus Hour discs of 2010… all 45 of them.


Top 10 Arctic Cactus Hour Discs for 2010

#1 Rosanne Cash – The List (Manhattan)
#2 Robert Earl Keen – The Rose Hotel (Lost Highway)
#3 Blue Rodeo – The Things We Left Behind (TeleSoul)
#4 Reckless Kelly – Somewhere In Time (YepRoc)
#5 Will Kimbrough – Wings (Daphne)
#6 Tom Gillam – Had Enough? (Smith Entertainment)
#7 Rosie Flores & The Pine Valley Cosmonauts – Girl Of The Century (Bloodshot)
#8 The Texas Sapphires – As He Wanders (Ike)
#9 The Beautiful Loser Society – The Long Slow Decline (self-released)
#10 Charlie Robison – Beautiful Day (Dualtone)

The Next 10

Sara Petite – Doghouse Rose (self-released)
Mars Arizona – High Desert (Big Barn)
Jim Lauderdale –Patchwork River (Thirty Tigers)
Susan Cowsill – Lighthouse (Threadhead)
Great American Taxi – Reckless Habits (Thirty Tigers)
Ernie Hendrickson – Walking With Angels (self-released)
Texas Tornados – Esta Bueno! (Bismeaus)
Hot Club Of Cowtown – Wishful Thinking (Thirty Tigers)
Corb Lund – Losin’ Lately Gambler (New West)
Eilen Jewell – Butcher Holler: Loretta Lynn Tribute (Signature Sounds)

25 More

Marty Stuart – Ghost Train(Sugar Hill)
Tim O’Brien – Chicken & Egg (Howdy Skies)
Bob Cheevers – Tall Texas Tales (Berkalin)
Tift Merritt – See You On The Moon (Fantasy)
Exene Cervenka – Somewhere Gone (Bloodshot)
Shelley King – Welcome Home (Lemonade)
The Steel Wheels – Red Wing (self-released)
Ray Wylie Hubbard – A.Enlightenment B.Endarkenment (Bordello)
Sons Of Bill – One Town Away (Gray Fox)
Lyle Lovett – Natural Forces (Lost Highway)
John Fogerty/Blue Ridge Rangers – Rides Again (Verve Forecast)
Those Darlins – Those Darlins (Oh Wow Dang)
Chip Taylor – Yonkers NY (Train Wreck)
Mark Stuart & The Bastard Sons – Bend In The Road (Texacali)
Guy Clark – Somedays The Song Writes You (Dualtone)
Two Tons Of Steel – Not That Lucky (Smith Entertainment)
Elizabeth Cook – Welder (31 Tigers)
Elliott Brood – Mountain Meadows (Six Shooter)
Bill Kirchen – Word To The Wise (Proper American)
Allison Moorer – Crow (Rykodisc)
Great Lake Swimmers – Lost Channels (Nettwerk)
Eleven Hundred Springs – This Crazy Life (Smith Entertainment)
Deer Tick – Born On Flag Day (Partisan)
Cold Country – Cold Country (self-released)
Angela Easterling – Blacktop Road (De L’Est Music)