Rolling Stone's 40 Best Country and Americana Albums of 2018

Rolling Stone's 40 Best Country and Americana Albums of 2018

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40.

Kane Brown - Experiment
November 9, 2018
Critic Score
75
2 reviews

39.

Colter Wall - Songs of the Plains
October 12, 2018
Critic Score
78
7 reviews

The set walks a fine line with its retro-fetishism, but it manages to dodge hokey-ness thanks to Wall’s great voice, a low-key delivery, and invitingly haunted backdrops.

37.

Scotty McCreery - Seasons Change
March 16, 2018
Critic Score
80
1 review

36.

Donovan Woods - Both Ways
April 20, 2018
Critic Score
78
2 reviews

35.

Carson McHone - Carousel
October 26, 2018
Critic Score
65
2 reviews

31.

Aaron Lee Tasjan - Karma for Cheap
August 31, 2018
Critic Score
65
4 reviews

30.

Shooter Jennings - Shooter
August 10, 2018
Critic Score
71
7 reviews

27.

Ashley Monroe - Sparrow
April 20, 2018
Critic Score
82
7 reviews

25.

Devin Dawson - Dark Horse
January 19, 2018
Critic Score
80
1 review

23.

Joshua Hedley - Mr. Jukebox
April 20, 2018
Critic Score
79
6 reviews

22.

Rosanne Cash - She Remembers Everything
November 2, 2018
Critic Score
79
5 reviews

She remains hard to categorize, refracting country alongside rock, folk and other elements befitting a longtime resident of New York City’s melting pot. And her most beautiful work can lean into the abstract.

20.

American Aquarium - Things Change
June 1, 2018
Critic Score
70
4 reviews

19.

Willie Nelson - Last Man Standing
April 27, 2018
Critic Score
81
15 reviews

16.

Sarah Shook & The Disarmers - Years
April 6, 2018
Critic Score
83
6 reviews

15.

Dierks Bentley - The Mountain
June 8, 2018
Critic Score
71
3 reviews

12.

Erin Rae - Putting on Airs
June 8, 2018
Critic Score
77
3 reviews

10.

Brent Cobb - Providence Canyon
May 11, 2018
Critic Score
80
5 reviews

8.

Ashley McBryde - Girl Going Nowhere
March 30, 2018
Critic Score
85
5 reviews

McBryde’s got a big, vibrato-tinged alto, biker-chick style, and she wrote or co-wrote everything here, including “Dahlonega,” with a sharp eye for piercing detail. She has a serious gift.

7.

Amanda Shires - To the Sunset
August 3, 2018
Critic Score
81
14 reviews

The rising Americana singer-songwriter flips the script on her ambitious seventh LP, with help from husband Jason Isbell.

6.

Eric Church - Desperate Man
October 5, 2018
Critic Score
74
6 reviews

5.

Neko Case - Hell-On
June 1, 2018
Critic Score
82
27 reviews
Neko Case's clarion pipes remain the calling card, but on her 8th studio LP, between lyrics and vocal arrangements, they've never channeled more imagination or sense of purpose.

4.

John Prine - The Tree of Forgiveness
April 13, 2018
Critic Score
75
15 reviews
His first album of originals in more than a decade has all the qualities that have defined him as one of America's greatest songwriters

3.

Brandi Carlile - By The Way, I Forgive You
February 16, 2018
Critic Score
82
7 reviews
Cozy up to the year's early standout: On her sixth LP, veteran songwriter Brandi Carlile teams up with co-producers Shooter Jennings and Dave Cobb for a moving and righteous piece of Americana-infused pop.

2.

Pistol Annies - Interstate Gospel
November 2, 2018
Critic Score
82
6 reviews

The 14 songs on Interstate Gospel tell a tightly-woven story about adult restlessness, bittersweet farewells and hard-won independence. Several albums into their own individual and collective career, the Pistol Annies are less interested in singing about burning down their ex-husbands’ houses than in burning up their own dull lives in order to start anew.

1.

Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour
March 30, 2018
Critic Score
79
19 reviews

Though Golden Hour might take time to relax into, the set is a fine lava-lamp soundtrack, and if "country" suggests engaging American musical traditions with respect and pioneer spirit, then this album is as country as it comes.

Original Source: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country-lists/40-best-country-and-americana-albums-of-2018-767146/
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