Rolling Stone's 40 Best Country Albums of 2016

Rolling Stone's 40 Best Country Albums of 2016

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40.

Dwight Yoakam - Swimmin' Pools, Movie Stars…
September 23, 2016
Critic Score
70
1 review

39.

Dolly Parton - Pure & Simple
August 19, 2016
Critic Score
62
12 reviews
Generally tasteful and acoustic, Dolly Parton's 43rd studio album is most effective at its most effortless.

38.

Mandolin Orange - Blindfaller
September 30, 2016
Critic Score
75
4 reviews

37.

William Tyler - Modern Country
June 3, 2016
Critic Score
80
15 reviews

32.

Parker Millsap - The Very Last Day
March 25, 2016
Critic Score
80
4 reviews

31.

Hiss Golden Messenger - Heart Like a Levee
October 7, 2016
Critic Score
75
15 reviews

30.

The Record Company - Give It Back To You
February 12, 2016
Critic Score
60
1 review

28.

Robert Ellis - Robert Ellis
June 3, 2016
Critic Score
75
6 reviews

27.

John Paul White - Beulah
August 19, 2016
Critic Score
72
5 reviews

26.

case/lang/veirs - case/lang/veirs
June 17, 2016
Critic Score
81
29 reviews

25.

Randy Rogers Band - Nothing Shines Like Neon
January 15, 2016
Critic Score
70
2 reviews

24.

Cody Johnson - Gotta Be Me
August 5, 2016
Critic Score
70
1 review

23.

Paul Cauthen - My Gospel
October 14, 2016
Critic Score
65
2 reviews

22.

Shovels & Rope - Little Seeds
October 7, 2016
Critic Score
79
8 reviews

21.

Lucinda Williams - The Ghosts of Highway 20
February 5, 2016
Critic Score
80
21 reviews
Yeah, it's literary; yeah, it's the polar opposite of cosmetic-surgery pop. As such, it's not for everyone. But its jazzy rawness represents a high point of emotional craft in a career defined by it.

20.

Carrie Rodriguez - Lola
February 19, 2016
Critic Score
80
3 reviews

19.

Keith Urban - Ripcord
May 6, 2016
Critic Score
66
5 reviews

18.

Vince Gill - Down to My Last Bad Habit
February 12, 2016
Critic Score
70
3 reviews

15.

Robbie Fulks - Upland Stories
April 1, 2016
Critic Score
80
6 reviews

14.

Jonny Fritz - Sweet Creep
October 14, 2016
Critic Score
79
4 reviews

13.

Aubrie Sellers - New City Blues
January 29, 2016
Critic Score
75
2 reviews

12.

Lydia Loveless - Real
August 19, 2016
Critic Score
77
14 reviews

10.

Jon Pardi - California Sunrise
June 17, 2016
Critic Score
70
1 review

9.

Loretta Lynn - Full Circle
March 4, 2016
Critic Score
80
18 reviews
Fittingly, just as Lynn brought frankness to other topics, she brings it here to mortality.

7.

Brothers Osborne - Pawn Shop
January 15, 2016
Critic Score
80
2 reviews

6.

Brandy Clark - Big Day in a Small Town
June 10, 2016
Critic Score
82
7 reviews
Its sequel, and proper major label debut, ups the ante: It's music tooled alternately for stadiums and songwriting circles, commercial and public radio, line-dance bars and coffee shops.

5.

Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth
April 15, 2016
Critic Score
85
23 reviews

Sailor's Guide is classic album length – nine songs, 39 minutes – and best heard in one sitting; this is Nashville craft less as pop science than as expansive headphone storytelling.

4.

Drive-By Truckers - American Band
September 30, 2016
Critic Score
86
17 reviews
It's political rock that never confuses passionate commitment with smug certainty, asking more questions than it answers on a hero's journey into our darkest national impulses, and maybe in some small way, beyond them.

3.

Margo Price - Midwest Farmer's Daughter
March 25, 2016
Critic Score
83
13 reviews

Midwest Farmer's Daughter is the first full-on country release on Third Man, the Nashville based label run by suspect carpetbagger Jack White, and dude was smart to wait ‘til he had an act this undeniable.

2.

Miranda Lambert - The Weight of These Wings
November 18, 2016
Critic Score
83
11 reviews

The Nashville star's most ambitious LP, a range-y two-disc set ditching country's mainstream playbook for the sort of Great Album rock acts used to spit out regularly back in the day.

1.

Maren Morris - Hero
June 3, 2016
Critic Score
80
3 reviews
Original Source: http://www.rollingstone.com/country/lists/40-best-country-albums-of-2016-w452950
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