WNCW-FM Listeners Pick Top CDs of 2008
Annual poll heavy on regional favorites

By Jeff Eason

If you wanted to tell a stranger about the current musical climate of western North Carolina, you might want to steer them to WNCW-FM’s annual listener poll. The Spindale, N.C.-based radio station released the results of its 2008 listener poll and it’s an interesting indicator what fans of Americana, blues, country, bluegrass, jazz and other adult-oriented styles of music are listening to these days.

Over 1,000 listeners submitted their top ten releases of the year. From those results, WNCW formulated its Top 100 list for the year and played cuts from all 100 albums this past Monday and Tuesday.

For the second year in a row, North Carolina trio the Avett Brothers scored the number one album. Last year the band’s Emotionalism was the top vote getter while this year their album The Second Gleam topped the listener poll.

“We were to some extent surprised the Avett Brothers nabbed the number one slot, considering The Second Gleam was just an EP (extended play) and not a full-length,” said WNCW music director and morning host Martin Anderson. “But then, we also know the boys from Concord have gained a tremendously loyal following in the past few years, and their sound parallels that of WNCW in many ways.

“Since their terrific CD Emotionalism easily won top honors in 2007, we can see why they earned number one this year.”

Rounding out the top ten in the WNCW’s Top 100 List were Bob Dylan’s Tell Tale Signs: The Bootleg Series Vol. 8 (#2), Old Crow Medicine Show’s Tennessee Pusher (#3), Drive By Truckers’ Brighter Than Creation’s Dark (#4), Wood Brothers’ Loaded (#5), Lucinda Williams’ Little Honey (#6), James McMurtry’s Just Us Kids (#7), Alejandro Escovedo’s Real Animal (#8), Fleet Foxes’ White Winter Hymnal (#9) and Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet’s self-titled debut album (#10).

“We often see preference given to artists with household name status, so artists like Bob Dylan, Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris almost always rank in the Top 100, regardless of how strong their releases have been in sales, review or airplay,” said Anderson. “But then, these are also the core artists of WNCW. They’ve played a huge part in defining the WNCW sound since we began back in 1989.”

In addition to the big name national acts that made the list, there were several acts that have regional ties to western North Carolina and its immediate vicinity. Concord’s the Avett Brothers and former High Country residents Old Crow Medicine Show made the top ten, and both are primed for national breakout status having appeared on shows such as Late Night with Conan O’Brien.

Other regional acts making the Top 100 were the Belleville Outfit (with Spartanburg, SC origins) at #12, Asheville’s Tyler Ramsey at #14, Asheville’s Dehlia Low at #15, Donna the Buffalo (featuring former Boone resident Jay Sanders) at #20, Kingsport’s Blue Highway at #24, Brevard’s Nikki Talley at #27, Asheville’s Mad Tea Party at #28, Asheville’s Biscuit Burners at #53, East Tennessee’s Malcolm Holcombe at #54, western North Carolina’s High Windy at #55, Asheville’s Chuck Brodsky at #59, western North Carolina’s Earl Scruggs and Friends at #61, central North Carolina’s Chatham County Line at #73, Research Triangle’s Tift Merritt at #77, and Asheville’s Laura Blackley at #86.

Anderson stated that in addition to using the poll results to form the Top 100 List, the station uses the information to help form music programming in the future.

“We definitely enjoy analyzing the results to look for trends and preferences among our listeners,” said Anderson. “And using this valuable information to chart our programming choices for the next year.

“This year we have an added function of being able to compare overall listeners’ picks with those of just WNCW members, which might provide some interesting insights. In looking at this year’s results, we see that once again we attract fans with extremely wide tastes, from old-time to indie, Americana to pop.”

WNCW can be found on the FM dial in the High Country at 92.9 and off the mountain at 88.7. For more information, including the complete Top 100 list, visit www.wncw.org.