This year I thought I would shake things up a bit and take a consensus of nine esteemed persons in the blues business and give them a chance to select their favorite ten blues albums from 2014. These folks come from three continents and four times zones in the United States. You can learn more about these “nominees” in the section of our site that reads, Dave’s Top Nine List of Top Ten Lists. Each of the participants took this task very seriously, as I knew they would.  

Here is how we came up with this list. I added a point value to all ten entries from all nine participants. For example a first place vote is equal to ten points, second place nine points and so on. The total point tally appears right after the name of the album. Next to the point tally, in parentheses, is the number of ballots in which each artist was listed. All of this went on a spreadsheet and we came up with a winner. There happened to have been one tie in the top ten. No one likes a tie, but we let it ride and the numbers stand.

For my part, I had to get my two cents worth in and I would suspect our readers would expect nothing less. Any album in bold print is an editor’s favorite and something I consider recommended listening.

As far as the process is concerned, I am open to suggestions and I already recognize where a little tweaking might be in order. For the record, live albums, greatest hits packages and some of the great historical re-issues that came out this year were not eligible.

It was very close but the winner is (insert drum roll please) BIG JON ATKINSON and his album Boogie With You Baby. Big Jon overcame some big odds and some big names to claim this year’s Album of the Year. For winners in other categories please check out the tab that reads The Best of 2014.

1)     Big Jon Atkinson Boogie with You Baby 44 (6) *

2)     Dave Alvin and Phil Alvin Common Ground 43 (7)

3)     Sugar Ray and the Bluetones Living Tear to Tear 37 (7)

4)     Lynwood Slim Hard to Kill 36 (4) *

5)     Jim Liban I Say What I Mean 34 (6) *

6)     The Mannish Boys Wrapped up And Ready  27 (5) *

7)     Denilson Martins Big D  21 (3)

8)     Al Blake Blues According to Blake  20 (3) *

8)     Mud Morganfield / Kim Wilson For Pops 20 (3) 

10)   Bob Corritore Taboo 19 (4)

11)   Dave Specter Message in Blue  18 (3)

12)   Billy Boy Arnold The Blues Soul of Billy Boy Arnold 15 (2) great CD produced and backed by Duke Robillard and band...*

13)   Kai Straus Electric Blues 13 (2) German guitarist w/ ringers Sugar Ray Norcia & Darrell Nullisch...great stuff

14)   R.J. Mischo Everything I Need 12 (3) 12^th album by Mischo... he just can’t make a bad one. It made my top 10

15)   Ronnie Earl Good News 12 (2)

16)   Mississippi Heat Warning Shot 10 (2)

17)   Janiva Magness Original 10 (1)

18)   Dave Keller Soul Changes 10 (1)

19)   John Nemeth Memphis Grease 10 (1) As a long time fan I admit this might be the weakest entry in his catalogue. Still Nemeth can do little wrong in my book.   

20)   Sean Costello In The Magic Shop 9 (1) This might not belong on this list, but it is Sean so I let it fly. He left us a few years ago but thanks to this CD his legacy lives on.

21)   Nathan James  7 (30) James is one of my favorites and simply put one of the busiest hardest working guys in the blues. If you are not hip to this guy... get hip.

22)   Albert Castiglia Solid Ground 9 (1)

23)   Missy Anderson In the Moment 8 (1) a young talent worth keeping an eye (ear) on...

24)   Linsey Alexander Come Back Baby 7 (1)

25)   Kyle Jester After All This 7 (1)

26)   The Chris O’Leary Band Live at Blues Now 7 (1)

27)   Joe Louis Walker In the Hornets Next 7 (1)

28)   Billy Branch Blues Shock 6 (2)

29)   Raoul and the Big Time Hollywood Blvd. 4 (2) Let’s see... Canadian Harp/vocalist backed by the very cream of the L.A. scene... this CD is cooler than Don T-Bone Erickson’s back porch right about now.

30)   Mark Hummel The Hustle is Really On 6 (1) backed by the Golden State/Lone Star Revue... Big Kid, Little Charlie and Anson on guitar... YEEE HAW...dude. Good album that I thought would poll higher.

31)   Mickey Junior Travelin’ South 6 (1)

32)   Josh Hoyer and the Shadow Boxers 6 (1)

33)   Madison Slim Close But No Cigar 6 (1) Chicago harp legend backed by Doug Demming and the Jewell Tones with Billy Flynn, Barrelhouse Chuck & Sax Gordon. If you don’t like this one, it’s only because you haven’t heard it yet.

34)   The Butanes Twelve Frozen Favorites From the Upper Bayou 5 (1)  

35)   Rob Stone Gotta Keep Rollin’ 6 (1)

36)   Elvin Bishop Can’t Get Wrong Right 4 (1)

37)   Devon Allman Dirty and Ragged 4 (1) ...used go fishin’ with Derek Trucks

38)   Steve Dawson Rattle Snake Cage 4 (1)

39)   The Tony Vega Band Shakin’ at the Easy 3 (1)

40)   The Knickerbockers All-Stars Open Mic Night at the Nick 3 (1) ...or the East Coast version of the Mannish Boys. Great core band with too many guest stars to name. We have been playing the heck out of this one at the JUNCTION.

41)   E.G. Kight A New Day 3 (1)

42)   Matt Schofield Far As I can See 2 (1)

43)   Joakim Tinderholt and His Band You Gotta Do More 2 (1)

44)   Selwin Birchwood Don’t Call No Ambulance 1 (1) ...or an English teacher

45)   Toots Loraine Make it Easy 1 (1)

46)   Dana Robbins 1 (1)

47)   Markus James Head For The Hills 1 (1)

48)   Rip Lee Pryor  Nobody But Me 1 (1)

49)   Rod Piazza Emergency Situation 1 (1) Rod has been accused of making the same record for 40 years. Fair enough at least it’s a pretty good record.

Editor's Note: *indicates there is a full album review of this album in the archive section of our site.