The liner notes for The Chicks’ third album, Home, included a photo of a marquee with giant block letters declaring, “We are changing the way…
Kingmaker is Neilson’s finest record yet, and a strong argument that she might herself be the current king of country music. Kingmaker, the sixth studio…
Tape is a full-circle moment for Griffin, harkening back to her first album while demonstrating how her craft has lost none of its initial potency or…
Chicamacomico is another sturdy and workmanlike collection from an act that’s been awfully great for nearly two decades. With Turnpike Troubadours still in an apparent…
Orville Peck’s sophomore album Bronco proves he isn’t just a sideshow gimmick — he’s in on the joke. Because he’s released a continuous stream of new…
High proves that Caitlyn Smith elevates contemporary country. The narrative around Caitlyn Smith — that she kicked around Nashville for several years as a highly regarded…
River Fools & Mountain Saints is a risk-taking record that rewards listeners with one of 2022’s best albums. Kentuckian Ian Noe’s debut album, 2019’s Between the…
By 2004, a few distinct options were available to veteran country artists. The B- and C-listers could count on regular performance slots at either the…
Over 20 years on, I Am Shelby Lynne’s reissue reasserts the record a lynchpin in the artist’s catalog, and produces bonus material that matches the…
Despite covering well-tread ground, Hell on Church Street is full of surprises. A terrific standalone album that’s perhaps done a disservice by its concept, Punch…
With And Now, Let’s Turn the Page…, Cobb shares a brand of southern gospel keenly focused on a particular shared experience. Thinking back on my…
#19. Her approach to the blues has always bucked tradition, but Adia Victoria fully develops an inimitable aesthetic on A Southern Gothic, on which she embraces…
#22. Offhand, it’s tough to recall another “event” album release that seemed to confound the mainstream music press in the ways that Olivia Rodrigo’s SOUR did.…
With Bright Lights, Susanna Hoffs continues to have some of the sharpest instincts in pop music. A pop classicist of the highest order, Susanna Hoffs…
Miko Marks’ EP — a confrontation with outmoded country normatives — might be even better than her exceptional LP debut. After Music Row had silenced…
You Get It All is Carll’s best work since his debut, every track here an outright winner. An artist whose rapturous reception in his early career…
Renewal perfectly articulates Billy Strings’ wunderkind facility with both traditional and progressive bluegrass bona fides. Bluegrass remains the most doggedly conservative — from a formalist perspective,…
29: Written in Stone is the best mainstream country album of the year and feels like the moment where Carly Pearce has come into her own…
Sam Williams’ major label debut proves he possesses his family’s talent, but also suggests he hasn’t yet asserted his own musical identity. If nothing else,…
Wanda Jackson deserved a far better party than Encore for her send-off. Recorded in 2019, before she announced her official retirement, Encore will most likely be the…
Connie Smith’s excellent The Cry of the Heart is proof that traditional country in 2021 doesn’t have to be mere museum curio. While many of country…