This new feature has now been running for approximately four months. During that time, I have simultaneously sympathised with my fellow writers at the magnitude of the challenge they have faced and marvelled at the array of fantastic songs that have continuously been offered up. Has any of it helped me with the task at hand? Not in the slightest. For, as has been mentioned on numerous occasions, these lists, if nothing else, are very personal.

Having been a fan of americana music for over fifty years, way before the genre had its own title, the amount of possible songs for this list was simply unfathomable, so some sort of structured approach was required. I initially thought of going alphabetically, but found that I had already acquired far more songs than required before I’d got past the Bs. Then I thought about going chronologically, except that by 1968, I had already amassed enough possible candidates to supply all the staff here at AUK. Therefore, some lateral thinking was clearly needed.

As many of you may well know, AUK celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, so I have decided to honour this auspicious occasion by choosing my Top 10 songs from this period. In doing so, I was surprised how quickly my list came together, with each song chosen having stopped me in my tracks the first time I heard it, and has continued to have the same effect to this day. Those who know me well will know how much emphasis I put on lyrics, the narrative, the poetry, call it what you like, but to me, the craft of a great songwriter lies in the art of great storytelling. Someone who, in the space of five minutes, often less, can transport the listener to a different time or place with all the drama and emotion of an epic film or a bestselling novel. However, the musicality is often just as important. The accompaniment and the arrangement all help to lift the poetry and provide the perfect conduit for the story to unfold. With each of these songs in this Top 10 list, that criterion, in my personal view, has more than been met.

As always, with these lists, there are painful omissions, to which I can only apologise in advance, and all the usual caveats still apply. Nonetheless, I feel, at least for the moment, surprisingly confident with my selection. So, here’s hoping you enjoy the article, and as ever, I look forward to reading your responses.

Number 10. Ryan Adams ‘NewYork, New York’ from “Gold” (2001)

‘New York, NewYork’ was both the opening track and the lead single for Adams’ second solo album “Gold”. However, because the music video for the single, which featured Adams performing in front of the city’s skyline, was filmed just four days before the September 11 attacks, it was not released for a full two months after the album. On its eventual release, the song charted in both the UK and US single charts and was seen by many as an inspirational anthem of healing for the city. However, immediately after the attacks, Adams decided to stop playing the song live and requested that the song should not be licensed for media, as he did not want people to feel as if he was exploiting the tragedy for his own personal gain. Lyrically, the song is about his former girlfriend Amy Lombardi, with whom Adams had moved to the city to be in a relationship some two years earlier. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award in 2002, and in 2009, ‘The Guardian’ newspaper included it in its “1000 Songs Everyone Must Hear”, while the closing saxophone solo was played by Kamasi Washington (at the time just twenty years old) in one of his very first studio session appearances. Over the following years, Adams has recorded and released around thirty albums, garnering much press coverage, not all of it positive, and arguably more than deserved. However, despite those failings, it should never be forgotten that he has written some of the finest songs of the genre, of which ‘New York, New York’, to these ears at least, is still his best and most memorable.

Number 9. Jason Isbell ‘Elephant’ from “Southeastern” (2013)

By the time “Southeastern” was released, Isbell was already respected as one of the finest writers of his generation. Having spent six years as a member of the legendary Drive By Truckers, during which time he appeared as singer, songwriter and guitarist on three of their finest albums, he then followed that up with three excellent solo albums. However, one always felt that the demon drink that had been the root cause of his being fired from DBT, was also holding him back from making that classic album that his talent was clearly capable of. So before going into the studio to record his fourth album, he spent a stint in rehab, and then with legendary producer Dave Cobb at the helm, set about recording his masterpiece. And there, amongst a dozen of the finest tracks to be found on one album, covering some of the darkest and most difficult subject matters imaginable, was the song ‘Elephant’. During a later interview, Isbell stated that cancer is “something that everyone has had an experience with, or they will have. It can be difficult, but it’s supposed to be. You’re supposed to give enough of a damn about the songs you’re singing that you might get choked up”. The request from Cobb that Isbell record his vocals in one take is key to the emotional connection here, and despite the difficult topic, the singing is never sentimental but instead is delivered with an uncompromising stoicism that echoes the empathy cocooned within this heartfelt poetry. If, in hearing this song for the first time, you weren’t pinned to the spot, then may I suggest you check your pulse, or better still, read the lyrics to the song that appear on the video below.

Number 8. Diana Jones ‘If I Had A Gun’ from “Better Times Will Come” (2009)

Diana Jones had originally caught the attention of the singer-songwriter and folk music fans with her 2006 album “My Remembrance Of You”, though she had already released two albums during the previous decade. Laced with instant classics such as ‘Pony’, the album immediately received high praise from critics and yet it was a song from her album “Better Times Will Come” released three years later that stopped me dead in my tracks on first listen. Beginning with the plaintive cry from a rustic fiddle against a gently picked acoustic guitar, Jones wastes no time setting the scene as she sings the opening line, “If I had a gun you’d be dead. One to the heart, One to the head”. This song about domestic abuse pulls no punches, and with Jones’ distinctive vocal delivery, captures the cold, stark reality encountered by far too many women. Such is the impact of the narrative and the intensity with which it is delivered that it is easy to feel a sense of guilt just by listening. Add to this the eye for detail within the poetry and the graphic imagery that it generates, and you have a song that unapologetically embeds itself within the memory. The inclusion of an exquisite mandolin solo offers the listener a temporary island of respite before the vocals return to deliver the definitive final line, “If I had a gun, I’d drive away, I’d drive away”. Two of the finest songwriters, regardless of genre, Gretchen Peters and Tom Russell, neither of whom needs to record anybody else’s song, didn’t just cover ‘If I Had A Gun’, they made it the title track for their 2009 duet album, simply choosing to use the second line from the opening verse rather than the first.

Number 7. David Olney ‘Who&...

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