HONORABLE MENTIONS

King Sunny Adé
"Gems From the Classic Years 1967-1974" (Shanachie)
A few downshifts too thoughtful for the non-Yoruba ("Sunny Spiral [four-song medley]"; "John Ali").

Paul McCartney
"Memory Almost Full" (Hear Music)
"I hope it's not too late/Searching for time that has gone so fast" ("Ever Present Past," "Nod Your Head").

Eric Church
"Sinners Like Me" (Capitol)
Master craftsman of high good-old-boy convention ("Before She Does," "What I Almost Was").

Elizabeth Cook
"Balls" (31 Tigers)
Accounting B.A. accounted a Loretta Lynn for our time by no less an assessor than Nanci Griffith and not without reason! ("Sunday Morning," "Sometimes It Takes Balls to Be a Woman").

Arctic Monkeys
"Leave Before the Lights Come On" (Domino)
Nuanced original, one-note original, sweet cover ("Leave Before the Lights Come On," "Baby I'm Yours").

Stella Chiweshe
"Double Check: Two Sides of Zimbabwe's Mbira Queen" (Piranha)
To obtain a best-of that'll get you going, you need only make an additional purchase of nine "trance hits" that'll put you to sleep ("Chachimurenga," "Mese Maikwana").

Various Artists
"The Rough Guide to the Music of South Africa" (World Music Network)
Folked-up travelogue that sidesteps most of postapartheid's actually existing pop escapism and political complexity (Busi Mhlongo, "Yehlisan' Umoya Ma-Afrika"; Solomon Linda's Original Evening Birds, "Mbube").

Various Artists
"Singing for Life: Songs of Hope, Healing, and HIV/AIDS in Uganda" (Smithsonian Folkways)
Village instructional music, usually engaging and occasionally much more (Vilimina Nakiranda and the Bakuseka Majja Group, "Olumbe lubiibi [Death Is Bad]"; Kibaale Village Embaire Ensemble, "Olumbe lwamala abantu [Death Killed All the People]").

Papa Noel
"Café Noir" (Tumi)
His rumba more African and less Cuban, and less catchy for it ("Lolita," "Sandokan").

Bole 2 Harlem
"Bole 2 Harlem, Vol. 1" (Sounds of the Mushroom)
Ersatz world-music fusion -- Ethiopian emigre, "Stomp" percussionist, Manhattan Malian, hotelier bizzer s son, some rap -- only this one has tune, groove and charm ("Bole 2 Harlem," "Quralew").

Brad Paisley
"5th Gear" (Arista Nashville)
Getting set in his ways -- "Online," ugh -- but still smarter than the Nashville norm ("Ticks," "Letter to Me").

Blake Shelton
"Pure BS" (Warner Bros.)
Committed to cliché rehab with all his country soul ("The More I Drink," "I Don't Care").

John Anderson
"Easy Money" (Warner Bros.)
Aided by his godson John Rich, he achieves "funky country" once again -- but not when he puts it that way ("Brown Liquor," "A Woman Knows").

Big Lazy
"Postcards From X" (Tasankee)
"Boy, have we been keeping busy! Hope we see you real soon!" ("Thy Name Is Woman," "France").

The La Drivers Union Por Por Group
"Por Por: Honk Horn Music of Ghana" (Smithsonian Folkways)
Squeeze-bulb horns and wrenches banging tire rims provide the highly indigenous bed for their songs of trotro transit ("Otsokobila," "M.V. Labadi").

Sally Nyolo and the Original Bands of Yaoundé
"Studio Cameroon" (Riverboat)
Zap Mama grad conducts nationwide talent hunt (Bidjoï Sisters, "Chantal"; Sally Nyolo, "Bikoutsi").

Gretchen Wilson
"One of the Boys" (Sony/BMG)
Catchy enough for the job, too perky for the lifestyle ("You Don't Have to Go Home," "If You Want a Mother").

CHOICE CUTS

Taylor Swift
"Tim McGraw,"
"Picture to Burn"
("Taylor Swift" [Big Machine])

Rodney Atkins
"Cleaning This Gun (Come on in Boy)"
("If You're Going Through Hell" [Curb])

Arctic Monkeys
"Despair in the Departure Lounge"
("Who the F**k Are Arctic Monkeys?" [Domino])

Andy Palacio & the Garifuna Collective
"Baba"
("Wátina" [Cumbancha])

Carrie Underwood
"Don't Forget to Remember Me,"
"Before He Cheats"
("Some Hearts" [Arista Nashville])