THE THREE BEST CDs SO FAR THIS YEAR Listening With The Redneck Road Dogs Brenda Kippa Your Faithful Road Dogs have been running the roads, listening to the best music available within 130 miles or so, and having great fun at it. This week, it's time to stop and tell you what we like to listen to while we travel. When we're on our way to a concert, we generally like to listen to whoever we will be seeing that night. This supplies a refresher, reminds us of what we love, and amps up the excitement about the performers we will be seeing. But what do we listen to when we are just in the car, going about the business of the day? We've found that the answer, for both of us, is easy. Our Number One choice is by a band that we have never seen in concert. This CD is a first album release, by a group that we predict you will be hearing a lot of in the future. The name is Jamestown Revival, and the album is called Utah. Mark that down. Or better yet, just go ahead and order it. It will be the best thing you've done for yourself in awhile; that's a promise. From the day it arrived by mail (ordered from Amazon), it took it's place in my car's CD player, and it has not budged from that place for more than a handful of half-hour intervals in the three months since. This CD is masterfully laid out, with each song leading perfectly into the next one, yet with each song standing beautifully by itself. The urge to jump to the next song just never hits. Essentially, Jamestown Revival is a union of childhood friends Zach Chance and Jonathan Clay. They left their homes in Magnolia, Texas for Austin when they were both about 22; after awhile they moved on to Los Angeles. Within a year, they wrote all of the material for Utah. The recording of the songs took place in a cabin in the Wasatch Mountains of Utah. The tranquility of the setting is represented in  the sounds of the birds, which can be heard on songs that were recorded on the cabin's porch. From there, the music went back to L.A., where it was edited and mastered by some of the best in the business. The excitement around this group of songs is akin to what swirled around The Eagles when they entered the scene a few decades ago. The beautiful harmonies, plus the great guitar and keyboard work show their influences, which they've said include The Everly Brothers, Credence Clearwater Revival and Guy Clark. Simply put, there's not a bad one in the bunch on this CD. Second and third choices are both so good that we can't decide which is second and which is third. That being said, we'll start with the Band Of Heathens. We became fans of this band upon release of their fourth studio release One Foot In The Ether. We were still enjoying it like a new record when their new one - Sunday Morning Record – was released. It features a fine anthem-style song called Records In Bed, along with a great array of new material that is brought into music out of upheavals in the life of the band and it's members over a period of a year or so. Known for their energy on stage - they have released four “Live at.....” albums to date - they never disappoint. In addition, they often record their concerts and offer them for sale to the audience at the end of the evening. (We can attest to the fact that this is always a wise purchase, since they rarely deliver a song the same way twice). Principals in the Band Of Heathens are vocalists Ed Jurdi and Gordi Quist. They began in 2006, quickly gaining a large and loyal following. The lineup now includes Trevor Nealon on keys and Richard Milsap on drums; all are also vocalists, but the lead vocals are mostly carried by Ed and Gordi. While most of our favorite bands show a clear influence and kinship with   70's-era's The Band, it's the Band of Heathens that most echoes The Band's memory, mostly because of the keyboard work by Trevor Nealon. Fans of The Band can close their eyes and swear they're hearing Garth Hudson's masterful keyboard work once again. Finally, but not last, is Midnight River Choir. We reviewed this band in one of our earliest columns. Now their second album is out, and it's a beauty. Called Fresh Air, it's full of the incredible lead vocals of Eric Middleton, plus the harmonies and great instrument work of Justin Nelson, Bob Driver III and Mitch Pyeatt.  Something wonderful has happened to or for this band since we last saw them. While they were the kind of musicians that excite us and keep us interested, they seem to have undergone some kind of cosmic zap since we last saw them many months ago. When we saw them over the weekend, they were delivering each song with showstopper energy. Eric's vocals were mesmerizing, and all of the harmonies showed us the kind of love-of-the-music intensity that keeps the desire for this music burning brightly today. If you strip away the differences between our Top Three groups, what you have is  fabulous lyrics, mid-century harmonies, plus the rhythms and song structure of the new millenium. It's a winning combination!