Ambient Americana was a new phenomenon in the last few years. It's a sound that has roots in Ennio Morricone's spaghetti western scores like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Ry Cooder's Paris, Texas soundtrack. Later examples include Brian Eno's Apollo, Bruce Kaphan's Slider and Moodswings' Horizontal.

This year, Lanterna's spaghetti western, surf guitar, ambient tone poems were a favorite on both lists with his album, Highways. And BT's Monster soundtrack, with its rustic minimalism and haunting melodies and textures, also scored high on both polls. BT is a veteran of the trance ambient and dance scenes, but Monster marked his first appearance on Echoes.

Bass player Viktor Kraus's solo debut, Far From Enough, exemplified Ambient Americana with his earthy rhythms, minimalist textures, and lovely melodies blown in off the range. Even Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer got in on the act a bit with their more chops-heavy and acoustic approach on Music for Two.

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