Anyone that has read Stephen King knows he’s got great taste in music. AC/DC did the soundtrack for his 1986 filmMaximum Overdrive and a Ramones song makes an appearance in Pet Sematary and they wrote a song for the movie and he wrote the liner notes for the Ramones tribute album We’re a Happy Family.

The King of Scream has released his top 10 songs of 2006. Some of the choices fit the mold for this site and some, not so much, but instead of picking and choosing I’ve decided to post the whole list. Considering the source I’d say this a soundtrack for your nightmares.

10. ”Drunk All Around This Town,” Scott Miller & the Commonwealth/”My Drinkin’ Problem,” Hank Williams III (tie)
I no longer drink, but I love songs about boozing, and these are beauts. The Hank III album is called Straight to Hell, and I imagine the Nashville establishment wishes young Mr. Williams would go there, posthaste. Me, I hope he sticks around. This is the real country: hollow of eye, pale of face, and bursting with the rhythm of the damned. Also, check out Hell’s ”Low Down.”

9. ”Over My Head (Cable Car),” The Fray
Old-school pop; for me, there’s nothing better. Another of its ilk is ”Rudebox,” by Robbie Williams.

8. ”Face the Promise,” Bob Seger/”Real Mean Bottle,” Bob Seger and Kid Rock
Not all of Seger’s new album is great — ”Wait for Me” is schmaltz — but these tracks are magnificent. They’re part of a specific hard-swing genre; see below.

7. ”I’m a Rat,” Towers of London
There is something to be said for straight puke-on-your-Dingo-boots rock & roll. Towers of London are mostly a joke, but this track — beginning with the shrieking air-raid siren — is, like those two priceless tracks on the Seger, the real deal.

6. Snake Farm, Ray Wylie Hubbard
Hubbard, an alt-country Southern rocker (his most memorable tune is called ”Screw You, We’re From Texas”), is one mean motorcycle. Snake Farm is a double-wide load of blues guitar and sly humor, your basic old-school boogie. Best tracks: ”Heartaches and Grease” and ”Live and Die Rock and Roll.”

5. Zoysia, The Bottle Rockets
The Bottle Rockets are often categorized as alt-country — by people who need categories — but what they really are is America’s premier bar band. Zoysia (I don’t know what it means either) is their best album ever — tuneful, soulful, and best of all, loud. Primo cuts: ”Better Than Broken,” ”Feeling Down.”

4. ”Chasing Cars,” Snow Patrol
Call me a sloppy sentimentalist if you want; I love this song. In fact, I never met a Snow Patrol song I didn’t like (runner-up: ”You’re All I Have”). If that makes you want to call me a sap, I can take it; that’s why they pay me the big bucks.

3. ”Hey Valerie!” The Derailers
The best country single of the year (from the album Soldiers of Love), but of course it got no airplay on the Top 40 country stations (duh). Country runner-up: a gorgeous love song, ”Would You Go With Me,” by baritone Josh Turner.

2. ”God’s Gonna Cut You Down,” Johnny Cash
You could argue that Cash saved the best for last and get no disagreement from me. This is the voice of an Old Testament prophet on his deathbed, eerie and persuasive, full of power and dust and experience. The entire album (American V: A Hundred Highways) is a masterpiece, but this and ”Like the 309” are the ones I keep coming back to.

1. The Animal Years, Josh Ritter
The best album of the year in a walk, and maybe the best album I’ve heard in the last five. Mysterious, melancholy, melodic…and those are only the M’s. Songs like ”Girl in the War” simply do not leave the consciousness once they’re heard, but the album’s real gem is the strange and gorgeous ”Thin Blue Flame.” This is the most exuberant outburst of imagery since Bob Dylan’s ”A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall,” in 1963. The Animal Years is an amazing accomplishment.

Well, Thanksgivings over and I’m out of excuses for not posting a new My Space Showcase…so here goes, and I’ve got a nice treat for all you bluegrass fans. I’m breaking the rules somewhat because these boys already have a record deal, but they’re my rules to break, and I can’t keep them under my Stetson.

Ft. Worth Based progressive Bluegrass phenomenon Cadillac Sky is the most recent signing to Skaggs Family Records. I allways thought that bluegrass is prog-hillbilly music and Cadillac Sky just reaffirms my brilliant (you heard me!) hypothesis.

Cadillac Sky is made up of two national champion pickers, a respected guitar veteran, an upright bass prodigy and an award winning songwriter and have built a reputation as an amazing live band - leaving fans, as well as fellow musicians clamoring for more at every performance. Cadillac Sky will make their first big splash onto the progressive Bluegrass scene when their debut Skaggs Family full-length “Blind Man Walking” lands in stores on January 23, 2007.

Twang says check ‘em out!

A nice conversation with banjo picker and soul and whiskey voiced William Elliot Whitmore. An excerpt:

HH:: You have very diverse musical influences. Most people wouldn’t expect someone who plays the banjo to be into Minor Threat and Public Enemy. Are there any artists you still hope to play with?
WEW:: There’s lots of great music to soak up isn’t there? I’ve had the good fortune of having been exposed to a wide variety. Everything from Ralph Stanley to The Coup. The Coup’s new record is great. Another one of my new favorites is that Lupe Fiasco record. I would love to play shows with him. My dream list of bands to tour/collaberate with would be; The Evens, Lupe Fiasco, Animal Collective, Mike Watt and Ramblin’ Jack Elliott.

The Dallas Morning News did a nice write up on my dad, Jerry Max Lane and his wife Jeannie for their song which was included on the soundtrack for the new Naomi Judd movie “Come Early Morning.” From the article: After more than 20 years together, Jeannie and Jerry Max Lane are singing a new tune.

The south Irving couple is celebrating the release of their new song on a movie soundtrack that also includes popular country artists Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris and Willie Nelson.

“It’s a love song, and I think the melody draws the listener’s ear to the lyrics,” said Mr. Lane, who noted he wrote it in about 15 minutes.

Titled “What’s Done Is Done,” the song is featured in Come Early Morning, the recently released independent film written and directed by actress Joey Lauren Adams and starring Ashley Judd. In the film, Mrs. Lane can be seen performing the song with a house band in the background while Ms. Judd dances with co-star Jeffrey Donovan.

“I love her [Jeannie's] voice; it’s so powerful,” said Ms. Adams, well known for her roles in Big Daddy and Chasing Amy. “Their song sort of sums up the movie without being too much.”

Okay, that last bit was me reading Gentry’s tiny mind. What does a wanna be country singer do for a hobby? Why play at being hunter and kills a captive bear named Cubby. I don’t think barring him from hunting is really punishment since he’s not a fucking hunter in the first place. I say they drop him in a hungry grizzley den greased up with bacon fat.

From CMT: Country singer Troy Lee Gentry admitted Monday that he shot and killed a domesticated black bear in a 3-acre penned area and not in the wild, as he had claimed when he registered the animal with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Gentry pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Duluth to the misdemeanor crime of submitting a false hunting registration form after killing the bear.

Gentry, 39, of Franklin, Tenn., a member of the country singing duo Montgomery Gentry, had been scheduled to stand trial starting Monday but reached a plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

He agreed to pay a $15,000 fine and forfeit the mounted bear, the bow he used to kill the bear, and all hunting, fishing and trapping privileges in Minnesota for five years.

The singer admitted that he set up a hunting stand in a 3-acre pen that was surrounded by an electric fence. [U.S. Attorney Michael] Dees told the court that Gentry had registered the bear as being shot in the wild six miles east of Sandstone.

If you’re in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area and want to see some great Country or Tejano music in front of a full scale replica of the Alamo (with 9 foot standing armadillos no less), want to enjoy great food, or want to rent a great Western place or rent Western themed props for your event then give the Silverado Ranch in Irving a call. The Siverado Ranch is located in old Irving out by the train tracks at 101 N. Rogers Rd. Irving, Texas 75061 - 972-253-5555. Ask for Arnold and tell ‘em Twang Nation sent you. And if you live in Irving, TX. give the city council a call and tell them to let this great venue have a liquor license!