Lee Ann Womack Featured on the9513.com's "Top 100 Country Albums of the Decade"
Top Country Albums of the Decade
#2.There’s More Where That Came From (2005) – Lee Ann Womack
It was such a screwy decade for country music that going traditional was a risky career move. That Lee Ann Womack’s 2005 album got airplay at all seems a minor miracle, proof either that good songs are undeniable or, more likely, singing a graduation theme song like “I Hope You Dance” gives you license to wander a bit. Thankfully, Womack rose to the occasion, crafting an exquisite set of tough-love songs that dealt with country’s perennial themes of impossible loves and cold romantic comforts, in a style that sounded timeless in an industry that typically emphasizes timely. — Stephen M. Deusner
After the unholy success of “I Hope You Dance,” Lee Ann Womack suffered from a bit of a career slump, releasing the lukewarm Something Worth Leaving Behind in 2002. But three years later, she was back with a vengeance. There’s More Where That Came From is a record meant to recall the halcyon days of ’60s and early ’70s country music, right down to the compact disc and liner notes designed to resemble a vinyl album (it was also released as an LP for vinylthusiasts). This CMA Album of the Year (it edged out releases from Keith, Tim, and George) is chock full of excellent drinking and cheating songs, bolstered by pedal steel and fiddle and Womack’s rich, expressive voice. Lead single, “I May Hate Myself in the Morning” was her highest charting song since “Ashes By Now,” five years earlier. Womack, joined by Dean Dillon and Dale Dobson, stretches her writing muscles on the best-titled song of the decade, “Twenty Years and Two Husbands Ago,” about a woman longing for the days when she “had it all, just too young to know.” Ending with a hidden solo cover of the Porter and Dolly classic “Just Someone I Used to Know,” There’s More Where That Came From is both a throwback to one of country music’s finest eras, and the beginning of Womack’s return to her traditionalist roots. — Juli Thanki
#14.Call Me Crazy – Lee Ann Womack (2008)
As one of two artists with two albums in the Top 15, it goes without saying Lee Ann Womack is one hell of a singer. She can twist and tangle words and phrases to wring out every last drop of heartache unlike any other female country singer of the decade, and that quality is on full display here. Like the many drinks consumed on the album, Call Me Crazy is a carefully measured mixture of one part stark traditionalism (of There’s More Where That Came From ilk) and one part feel-good pop, as found on I Hope You Dance. Like the title implies, that can makes for a sometimes schizophrenic collection, but Womack proves her reputation as a master stylist and interpreter of modern country music. — Karlie Justus
#66.I Hope You Dance (2000) – Lee Ann Womack
Heartland dreamers and Hallmark execs clung to the poetic title cut, but this triple-platinum wonder is truly sparked by a pair of searing songs (the Rodney Crowell-penned “Ashes By Now” and a furious cover of Buddy & Julie Miller’s “Does My Ring Burn Your Finger”) that revealed Womack as a torch-bearing goddess for tradition-laced modern country. With her lively Dolly-like soprano, she sang her ever-hurtin’ heart out about the domestic dramas of faithful, strong-willed women. — Blake Boldt
User Comments
leeann womack
in my opinion there is no better singer in music -male/female than leeann womack and inhtese days of this so call country music , it is great to hear an artist that sings real traditional country music and lets hope leeann keeps putting out great music like she has for the past decade, if the music she puts out in the futrue is anything like thses 3 albums ya have listed , we all are in for a treat fluffy