Download Country Music Albums
Manuel Medina
This is just the very beginning of the end-of-year assessments at Saving Country Music. Song of the Year, Single of the Year, Artist of the Year, and many other end-of-year considerations are forthcoming, as will more album reviews from 2023 albums as we close out the year.
Cast aside the calamitous nature of all the troublesome current events and the caustic thoughts they lend to, and cue up this fine specimen of authentic country music that will steal you away to a sublime place where all is right in the world like only the best of country music can do. Because this, ladies and gentlemen, is the best of country music.
With The Malpass Brothers though, none of these exercises are necessary. As if a rip in the space/time continuum appeared in North Carolina, and Chris and Taylor Malpass stumbled straight out of 1968, they actualize the most unvarnished version of country music one can consume from anyone under the age of 40.
I will do what is screaming to be done here. EVERYONE in these comments is ignoring the single most COUNTRY album of all, The Malpass Brothers Lonely Street. The fact that no one in the comments even acknowledges its on Trigs list, is very telling to me of what has happened. Im seeing truckloads of love for AMERICANA and ROCK inspired stuff but almost none for straight up COUNTRY no chaser. This album is pure stone cold, glorious traditional country music. Whats so great you ask? Heres some observations:
When I started listening to country a couple of years back,this list gave me some great stuff to listen to.Then I started to read the comments as well,and even more great stuff came up.So thank you Trigg and also all commenters here for helping me find some amazing country.
Lucero put out the best record of the year by a mile. Not really country though. A couple recent releases have dominated for me, with the brand new Kolton Moore and the Clever Few being at the top of the heap with the recent Tanner Usrey and Zach Russel releases close behind. The releases from Pony Bradshaw and John R Miller are also some favorites. Treaty Oak Revival is another interesting release, but a few songs are too pop sounding to me. Outside of Lucero the albums I streamed the most were the live releases from Moonpies and Red Clay Strays. HM to Turnpike and CWG.
Channing WIlson and Brennen Leigh both made enjoyable throwback-feeling albums where I dig the vibe and actively like more cuts than not, though not everything. Both have very easy to like personalities that shine through their music.
Just wondering.Do you also consider country from other continents?Ange Boxall has a wonderful album out this year and so does Saaga Helena.Maybe just unfamiliarity or not in contact with the record labels these artists are on?Just curious.
Ive got to keep or start listening to some of the other albums because for me Colter Wall and Little Songs is my favourite and it doesnt even get a mention. The Miles Miller one I thought was very good too.
Founding member of The Dixie Chicks and well-regarded bass player Laura Lynch has died in a car accident in Texas. Lynch founded The Dixie Chicks in 1989 as a bluegrass and traditional country band. She was 65 years old.
Make no mistake about it. Jelly Roll is not a country artist. The music he makes is not country music, with some minor exceptions. And not to be pedantic or arrogant about it, but this is pretty inarguable.
The only way the original roots of American country music have been able to endure in popular culture throughout all of these years is by finding willing hosts that allow the music to exist in their hearts.
R/Hiphopheads has a large list of essential albums for it's genre. I feel as though Country music needs its own list and it needs to be linked to on this page. Do we even have essential albums? Help me out. I would start us out with one album: Johnny Cash Live at Folsom Prison.
Trying to get into country music recently. I like Golden Hour by Kacey Musgraves; Metamodern Sounds in Country Music and A Sailor's Guide to Earth by Sturgill Simpson; and Pony by Orville Peck. Do y'all have any songs/albums that have this kind of influence?
Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her songwriting, artistry, and entrepreneurship have influenced the music industry and popular culture, and her life is a subject of widespread media coverage.
Swift began professional songwriting at age 14 and signed with Big Machine Records in 2005 to become a country singer. She released six studio albums under the label, four of them to country radio, starting with Taylor Swift (2006). Her next, Fearless (2008), explored country pop, and its singles "Love Story" and "You Belong with Me" catapulted her to mainstream fame. Speak Now (2010) infused rock influences, while Red (2012) experimented with electronic elements and featured Swift's first Billboard Hot 100 number-one song, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together". She departed from her country image with 1989 (2014), a synth-pop album supported by the chart-topping songs "Shake It Off", "Blank Space", and "Bad Blood". Media scrutiny inspired the hip-hop-flavored Reputation (2017) and its number-one single "Look What You Made Me Do".
At age nine, Swift became interested in musical theater and performed in four Berks Youth Theatre Academy productions.[20] She also traveled regularly to New York City for vocal and acting lessons.[21] Swift later shifted her focus toward country music, inspired by Shania Twain's songs, which made her "want to just run around the block four times and daydream about everything".[22] She spent weekends performing at local festivals and events.[23][24] After watching a documentary about Faith Hill, Swift felt she needed to move to Nashville, Tennessee, to pursue a career in music.[25] She traveled there with her mother at age eleven to visit record labels and submitted demo tapes of Dolly Parton and Dixie Chicks karaoke covers.[26] She was rejected, however, because "everyone in that town wanted to do what I wanted to do. So, I kept thinking to myself, I need to figure out a way to be different."[27]
Following "Tim McGraw", four more singles were released throughout 2007 and 2008: "Teardrops on My Guitar", "Our Song", "Picture to Burn" and "Should've Said No". All appeared on Billboard's Hot Country Songs, with "Our Song" and "Should've Said No" reaching number one. With "Our Song", Swift became the youngest person to single-handedly write and sing a number-one song on the chart.[54] "Teardrops on My Guitar" reached number thirteen on the US Billboard Hot 100.[55] Swift also released two EPs, The Taylor Swift Holiday Collection in October 2007 and Beautiful Eyes in July 2008.[56][57] She promoted her debut album extensively as the opening act for other country musicians' tours in 2006 and 2007, including those by George Strait,[58] Brad Paisley,[59] and Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.[60]
In 2009, the music video for "You Belong with Me" was named Best Female Video at the 2009 MTV Video Music Awards.[83] Her acceptance speech was interrupted by rapper Kanye West,[84] an incident that became the subject of controversy, widespread media attention and Internet memes.[85] That year she won five American Music Awards, including Artist of the Year and Favorite Country Album.[86] Billboard named her 2009's Artist of the Year.[87] She won Video of the Year and Female Video of the Year for "Love Story" at the 2009 CMT Music Awards, where she made a parody video of the song with rapper T-Pain called "Thug Story".[88] At the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, Fearless was named Album of the Year and Best Country Album, and "White Horse" won Best Country Song and Best Female Country Vocal Performance. Swift was the youngest artist to win Album of the Year.[note 1] At the 2009 Country Music Association Awards, Swift won Album of the Year for Fearless and was named Entertainer of the Year, the youngest person to win the honor.[91]
In August 2010, Swift released "Mine", the lead single from her third studio album, Speak Now. It entered the Hot 100 at number three.[101] Swift wrote the album alone and co-produced every track.[102] It was released on October 25, 2010,[103] opening atop the Billboard 200 with over one million copies sold.[104] It became the fastest-selling digital album by a female artist, with 278,000 downloads in a week.[105] Critics appreciated Swift's grown-up perspectives;[106] Rob Sheffield of Rolling Stone wrote, "in a mere four years, the 20-year-old Nashville firecracker has put her name on three dozen or so of the smartest songs released by anyone in pop, rock or country."[107] "Back to December", "Mean", "The Story of Us", "Sparks Fly", and "Ours" became subsequent singles, with the latter two reaching number one on the Hot Country Songs[78] and the first two peaking in the top ten in Canada.[96] She dated actor Jake Gyllenhaal in 2010.[108]
At the 54th Annual Grammy Awards in 2012, Swift won Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance for "Mean", which she performed during the ceremony.[109] Swift won other awards for Speak Now, including Songwriter/Artist of the Year by the Nashville Songwriters Association (2010 and 2011),[110][111] Woman of the Year by Billboard (2011),[112] and Entertainer of the Year by the Academy of Country Music (2011 and 2012)[113] and the Country Music Association in 2011.[114] At the American Music Awards of 2011, Swift won Artist of the Year and Favorite Country Album.[115] Rolling Stone named Speak Now amongst its "50 Best Female Albums of All Time" (2012), writing: "She might get played on the country station, but she's one of the few genuine rock stars we've got these days, with a flawless ear for what makes a song click."[116]
In August 2012, Swift released "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together", the lead single from her fourth studio album, Red. It became her first number one in the US and New Zealand,[123][124] and became the fastest-selling single in digital history.[125] Other singles from the album were "Begin Again", "I Knew You Were Trouble", "22", "Everything Has Changed", "The Last Time", and "Red". "I Knew You Were Trouble" reached the top five on charts in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, New Zealand, the UK and the US.[126] "Begin Again", "22", and "Red" reached the top 20 in the US.[55] On Red, released on October 22, 2012,[127] Swift worked with Chapman and Rose, as well as the new producers Max Martin and Shellback.[128] It incorporated many pop and rock styles such as heartland rock, dubstep and dance-pop.[129] Randall Roberts of Los Angeles Times said Swift "strives for something much more grand and accomplished" with Red.[130] It opened at number one on the Billboard 200 with 1.21 million sales, making Swift the first female to have two million-selling first-weeks.[131][132] Red was Swift's first number-one album in the UK.[133] It earned several accolades, including four nominations at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards (2014).[134] Swift received American Music Awards for Best Female Country Artist in 2012, Artist of the Year in 2013,[135][136] and the Nashville Songwriters Association's Songwriter/Artist Award for the fifth and sixth consecutive years.[137] The Red Tour ran from March 2013 to June 2014 and grossed over $150 million, becoming the highest-grossing country tour ever.[138] Swift was honored with the Pinnacle Award, making her the second recipient of the accolade after Garth Brooks.[139] During this time, she briefly dated English singer Harry Styles.[140]
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