Top 10 National

1) Lucinda Williams, Little Honey (Lost Highway)

2) Metallica, Death Magnetic (Warner Bros.)

3) Bun B, II Trill (Rap-a-Lot)

4) Graveyard (Tee Pee)

5) Wovenhand, Ten Stones (Sounds Familyre)

6) Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! (Anti-)

7) Steve Cropper & Felix Cavaliere, Nudge It Up a Notch (Stax)

8) Deerhunter, Microcastle/Weird Era Cont. (Kranky/4AD)

9) The Black Keys, Attack & Release (Nonesuch)

10) MGMT, Oracular Spectacular (Columbia)

Top 10 Local

1) Alejandro Escovedo, Real Animal (Back Porch)

2) James McMurtry, Just Us Kids (Lightning Rod)

3) Hayes Carll, Trouble in Mind (Lost Highway)

4) The Sword, Gods of the Earth (Kemado)

5) Grupo Fantasma, Sonidos Gold (Aire Sol)

6) The Ape-Shits, La Pollution Culturelle (Super Secret)

7) When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth, Not Noiice (Chalk Circle)

8) Eliza Gilkyson, Beautiful World (Red House)

9) Lions of Tsavo, [Firelung] (Ovrcast)

10) Dan Dyer (Fat Caddy)

10 Local Alternates

1) San Saba County, … Though Cheating Was Never an Option (Wagonmaker)

2) The Lovely Sparrows, Bury the Cynics (Abandoned Love)

3) Ariel Abshire, Exclamation Love (Darla)

4) Horse + Donkey, Dreams

5) Warren Hood (Good Dinner)

6) Kacy Crowley, Cave (Stable)

7) Joe Ely & Joel Guzman, Live Cactus! (Rack ‘Em)

8) Danny Schmidt, Little Grey Sheep (Waterbug)

9) South Austin Jug Band, Strange Invitation

10) Broken Teeth, Electric (Tex-Tone)

This article appears in 2008.

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San Francisco native Raoul Hernandez crossed the border into Texas on July 2, 1992, and began writing about music for the Chronicle that fall, debuting with an album review of Keith Richards’ Main Offender. By virtue of local show previews – first “Recommendeds,” now calendar picks – his writing’s appeared in almost every issue since 1993.