Going into this year if someone had asked me what albums I was most looking for I would have said the new Walkmen album, the debut from TV on the Radio would've been high on the list as well. Dizzee Rascal, Cee-Lo, Kanye West and Ghostface Killah also would've been pretty high on the anticipation-meter. If someone asked me on Monday what the best album of the year (so far) is I probably would've said either Kanye West's or Franz Ferdinand. Ask me that question right now and I'll give you a completely different and pretty much unexpected answer.

Ask me what the best album I've heard all year is and I'd say it's "Van Lear Rose" from 69 year-old country diva Loretta Lynn. That's right, Loretta Lynn.

I'll admit, I don't really know much about Loretta Lynn. I know her life was the basis for the Sissy Spacek movie "Coal Miner's Daughter." I know she's practically country royalty. But before this week I wouldn't know a Loretta Lynn song if it came up and spit in my eye.

Now, I do know a bit about Jack White. I know he's one-half of the dynamic rock duo the White Stripes. I know he's a beast of a guitarist and one of the most talented rock stars around. I also now know that the man's a freaking genius.

Why's that? Because it's Jack White who has produced this transcendent album and despite what some may think Jack White and Loretta Lynn are a match made in rock-n-roll heaven. Despite being more than twice Jack's age, Ms. Lynn proves more than capable of keeping up with young pup. Whether it be a good old rockabilly rave-up like Have Mercy or Mrs. Leroy Brown or the knee-slappin' High on a Mountain Top, Lynn delivers.

Now, I don't want to suggest that the only reason this album works is because of the stellar production by White. Luckily, for us, White's smart enough to slow things back and let Ms. Lynn take center stage in the touching Miss Being Mrs., God Makes No Mistake and the spoken word Little Red Shoe. Ms. Lynn also gets a chance to take a page out of the Johnny Cash book with the breathtaking Women's Prison.

The album works (and does so with great effect may I add) because both White and Lynn have drawn the best out of each other. I guess it's the thrill of working with one of your idols as well as the excitement of collaborating with one of rock's great new talents that makes this team work so well. Perhaps Kill Bill progenitors Quentin Tarantino and Uma Thurman are the only recent male/female artistic pairing that have proven to be as electrifying a combination as this.

Where Rick Rubin stripped things down in his work with the late Johnny Cash to create a sense of intimacy, Jack White says "@#$% that we're going to rock out when we have to" and I guess Lynn was absolutely down for whatever 'cause when White and the band rock the house, Lynn fearlessly rolls right along with them. It's easy to see why White wanted to work with the old gal, Lynn's gusto is inspiring.

There may be better records to come this year but the bar has been raised extremely high by the most pleasantly surprising of sources.