This year’s best country albums spring from hard-country bands to traditional true believers and from alternative country renegades to pop-country superstars.
With Rustin’ in the Rain, Tyler Childers and the Food Stamps have dropped one of the year’s more vital pure country albums. The rich production is impressive.
Ambitious yet gimmicky, Tyler Childers’ Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven? is all dressed up in its Sunday best, but it’s mostly an empty suit.
The artists in this year's list all use their music to create a sense of unity. Whether it is the acknowledgment of shared oppression, or in contrast, the visibility of identity, Best of Folk Music 2020 is defined by its ability to form a musical common ground.
This was a major year for country music. With Lil Nas X, the world saw the shift. But others are helping to move country from near homogeneity to a diverse pastiche.
With Country Squire, Tyler Childers creates a feel-good country record to close out the summer. It's not too late to throw a party, and Childers will keep you swinging.
The best new artists of 2017 mash up genre dividers and take popular music in new and exciting directions.
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