Favorite Americana and Roots Albums of 2024

Another year has passed, and it's been another great one for roots music. From releases by perennial favorites like Sarah Jarosz to rising stars like Sierra Ferrell to a surprise release from John Moreland, there was much to talk about and listen to in 2024. Here are the 15 albums that stood out most to us this year. Where we reviewed the album, we have linked it to the longer review. Where we didn't, we have included a YouTube link to a song.

15. John Moreland- Visitor
After some time away from touring and the spotlight in general, the always-surprising John Moreland surprised us again in April with the sudden release of Visitor, his sixth album. Everything you could want in a Moreland album is here. A lyricist's lyricist, Moreland goes from introspective to political and back and we're here for all of it.

14. Will Kimbrough- For the Life of Me
One of the godfathers of Nashville's rock and Americana scenes, Will Kimbrough can always be counted on to bring the goods. On For the Life of Me, he turns his eye to a divided world and casts a plea for civility while examining both the uncivil (a Deadhead turned Jan. 6 Seditionist on “I Don't Want to Start a War”) and the balancing light (the John Lewis ode “Rivers of Roses.”)

13. ISMAY- Desert Pavement
The best compliment I can pay to Desert Pavement is that it's interesting. Albums are often well-written or well-sung. Some are even excellent or, less often, transcendent. But it isn't often that the superlative I land on first when describing an album is “interesting.” Nevertheless, that's the best way to describe Desert Pavement. And that's what makes it a strong recommendation for me. Good albums come along fairly often. Interesting albums? That's less common.

12. Kitchen Dwellers- Seven Devils
Bluegrass has a lot of common themes. Liquor, poverty, infidelity manual labor, and the devil are just a few. Dante Alighieri's epic poem “The Divine Comedy” isn't one of those common themes. But perhaps it should be. Many of those common bluegrass themes can be found in the Seven Deadly Sins, a large part of Aligheri's work. On their new concept album Seven Devils, Kitchen Dwellers explores the seven deadly sins, and some others, with gusto. It's a gutsy undertaking, concept albums in the roots music world being hit or miss. Seven Devils is most definitely a hit.

11. Strung Like a Horse- Dirt
Strung Like a Horse calls the music they make “Hillbilly Stompgrass” and that's as good a name for it as any. While Strung Like a Horse changes up their sound a bit from their previous releases, the core of their music remains true, and it's a fun, well-played, and jammy album, just what the band's fans are looking for.

10. Sierra Ferrell- Trail of Flowers
Ferrell is Americana's “it girl” of the last couple of years, racking up numerous accolades as well as AMA trophies. All of the accolades are well-deserved. Ferrell combines the traditional with a splash of the modern, giving her a Loretta Lynn meets Kacey Musgraves vibe.

9. Tami Neilson- Neilson Sings Nelson
A New Zealander by way of Canada Tami Neilson scored a major coup when she got Willie Nelson to duet with her on “Beyond the Stars” from her 2022 dynamite album Kingmaker. In 2024, Neilson returned the favor by recording an album of covers by Outlaw country’s original outlaw. The mix is key here, putting old favorites alongside deeper cuts. Throughout, Neilson's huge voice shows why she's the best vocalist in roots music today.

8. Amelia White- Love I Swore
A friend and fellow journalist once called Amelia White “The Queen of the East Nashville Underground”, a moniker that White has adopted happily. It fits. The intentionally oddball cousin of Nashville's musical establishment, East Nashville has had its share of standard bearers over the years. On Love I Swore, Amelia White makes her case to carry that flag forward into the future of the East Nashville musical scene.

7. Grayson Capps- Heartbreak, Misery, & Death
Some artists seem to pull the names of their albums out of a hat, the titles seemingly having no relation to the songs contained within. Not so with Grayson Capps. On Heartbreak, Misery, and Death you get just that, covers of some of the saddest songs ever recorded by the likes of Leonard Cohen, Doc Watson, and even some old standards like “Barbara Allen.” They're all delivered in Capps' signature drawl and you can feel the love in every cover of songs he used to sing with his family.

6. Karen Jonas- The Rise and Fall of American Kitsch
There's a duality in Karen Jonas' The Rise and Fall of American Kitsch that keeps things interesting throughout. On the surface, much of the album is an upbeat celebration of America's obsession with kitsch, a Norman Rockwell portrait of a '50s household. But beneath that is a commentary on the same consumerism bred in that era and the late-stage Capitalism that it fostered in today's society. The album covers a lot of ground, dark and light, without ever losing its sense of humor.

5. Gillian Welch and David Rawlings- Woodland
Damn, is it nice to hear Gillian Welch and David Rawlings make new music again? For the first time in over a decade, the pair has released an album of original songs and it was worth the wait. If you're a fan of roots music, you know what you're getting with Welch & Rawlings and this is more of the same. Why shouldn't it be? When something is this level of not broken, why would you ever fix it?

4. Amigo the Devil- Yours Until the War is Over
If you take a look at the tour dates for Amigo the Devil, you’ll find a lot more shows at rock festivals or supporting rockers than roots-related performances. It might seem a strange fit for a guy whose primary weapons are banjo and acoustic guitar to rub elbows with Pantera or Flogging Molly. But listening to Yours Until the War Is Over, his new album, reveals an almost fatalist outlook that fits well with those acts. Combine that with a penchant for obscure literary references and you’ve got an album that is more Tom Waits than John Prine.

3. Aaron Lee Tasjan- Stellar Evolution
Sometimes an eclectic album will be called “genre-defying.” Stellar Evolution, the new album from Aaron Lee Tasjan, isn't genre-defying. That implies an acknowledgment that genres exist, something Tasjan refuses to do throughout this record. Stellar Evolution pinballs from synthwave to power pop, classic rock, glam to Americana, and elsewhere, sometimes within the same song. It's a glorious pansexual feast of an album and it's the year's bravest.

2. Sarah Jarosz- Polaroid Lovers
Sarah Jarosz released her first album in 2009 and, in the decade and a half since that time she has become the most consistently excellent artist in the world of roots music. Polaroid Lovers features co-writes with Nashville songwriting heavy hitters like Ruston Kelly and Natalie Hemby but it's Jarosz's generational talent that made this album spend most of the year as my favorite Americana album of 2024. It got nosed out of the #1 spot by a hair, but it's an angel's hair.

1. Amythyst Kiah- Still + Bright
A major step forward for Kiah, Still + Bright is the year's most surprising album, taking influences from as far-ranging genres as grunge and symphonic metal, while always retaining the roots music grounding of Kiah's Appalachian upbringing. It's a socially charged album with some pointed shots across the bow of religious intolerance and self-righteousness. Collaborations with S.G. Goodman and Billy Strings only serve to push this album from its already great heights to the best album of 2024.