Presley holds her own here and works well with others. What a great year for music! Yola Carter’s mere presence—the rare Black artist amid the otherwise pale … Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit’s first album together in five years is an enjoyable ride through his career and the life he has lived. But as Presley discovered, she's too much of an outsider to ever be an insider. Here, then, are the women (and a few men) who represented the best in Americana in 2017. ... which has seen them trading the top spot on my annual ‘Best Albums of the Year’ list in the last few years. 1. If I had to pick one album from 2017 to introduce someone to this nebulous thing we call “americana,” it would be Jason Isbell’s The Nashville Sound.Producer Dave Cobb has helped him lay down a good roots base for these songs that is perfect for Isbell’s soulful earnest twang, His band, the 400 Unit, are deeply accomplished musicians and you feel the connection to roots music history. For most of 2 Comments. Best Americana Albums 2017. Segarra literally serves as The Navigator on this 12 track journey into the past where memory, poetry, myth, and reality mix to create a rich, spicy and hearty guisada. The album earned Isbell his first CMA Award nomination. 10. It’s a deeply personal and often autobiographical album that cuts right on the things Isbell, the band, and his family, confront in the world. These 12 tracks of love, passion, daily disappointments, and frustrations offer musical insights into the human condition. American Music - The Blasters 2. Pieces of The Sky - Emmylou Harris 6. The definition: Americana is an amalgam of roots music fused by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that make up the American musical ethos; specifically those sounds that are merged from folk, country, rhythm & blues, rock & roll and other external influential styles. The Official Americana Albums Chart is a weekly music chart based on physical sales of albums in the United Kingdom. Americana is popularly referred to, especially in print, as alt-country or sometimes alt.country. Highway Queen, she was returning to the forefront of the rising, women-led Americana movement while she was at it. The other identifiable trend amid a genre so diverse is the diversity itself of the artists and output. © 1999-2020 PopMatters.com. -- Neither did folky Americana acts like Josh Ritter, The Civil Wars or First Aid Kit, though we’re huge fans of all three. Major life events always seem to cause inner reflection and examination. Sarah Shook, a honky-tonk spitfire with a chip on her shoulder and a kickass back-up band, dedicates her Bloodshot Records debut to examining the beauty in the profane. But one of the band’s best album’s was a straight-up alt-country gem. It doesn't matter. -- Without a doubt it deserves to be in Album of the Year consideration, but there's not much chance of that happening these days, unfortunately. The 50 best albums of 2020, No 6: Waxahatchee – Saint Cloud Best music of 2020 The 50 best albums of 2020, No 9: Taylor Swift – Folklore Published: 8 Dec 2020 This album offers a varied dose of Americana recorded at the iconic Muscle Shoals studios. Angaleena Presley – Wrangled (Thirty Tigers) 13. Old #1 - Guy Clark 7. Musically, it all sounds assured and tasteful—a swirling organ, a drowsy clarinet, some junkyard percussion—on another impressive outing from one of Americana's most consistently reliable singer-songwriters. Hurray For The Riff Raff - The Navigator. Tagged: Americana, Best Americana Albums, Blind Boys of Alabama, Dori Freeman, Jason Isbell, Keb Mo, Taj Mahal. If a single moment best illustrates the current divide between Americana music and mainstream country music, it was Sturgill Simpson busking in the street outside the CMA Awards in Nashville. Her cowriters and special guests include Guy Clark ("Cheep Up Little Darling"), Chris Stapleton "Only Blood", fellow Pistol Annies' bandmates Miranda Lambert and Ashley Monroe ("Dreams Don't Come True") and Wanda Jackson ("Good Girl Down"). In Americana music the present is female. AllMusic Best of 2017 - From festival headliners like Kendrick Lamar, Lorde and Depeche Mode to rising acts such as Whitney Rose, Sheer Mag and Angaleena Presley, 2017 delivered outstanding releases from musicians of all recognition levels and font sizes. She'll draw you into her songs' scenarios like that cool friend who has done all the things your parents warned you not to do, telling stories of late-night bedlam and pocket drama about proud, wounded late night warriors. The title is "Americana," and I'm going to demand a recount if it doesn't win the Grammy for Best Americana Album of 2017. Valerie June follows-up a highly regarded debut with a stronger, tighter set of songs around the theme of time and its passing. -- Ed Whitelock, As his father spent the year honoring outlaw country forebears, Justin Townes Earle, on his eighth album, continued to forge his own unique songwriting path. The Grammy Award for Best Americana Album is an honor presented to recording artists for quality albums in the Americana music genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. The Americana Pulse is my weekly radio show devoted to Americana music that airs Wednesday nights on WDVX in Knoxville. Not only is her latest record possibly the most cohesive collection of outlaw-flavored roots rock tunes from the Greenville artist, yet, but a rallying call for female individuality and empowerment. … 157 157 16541761 6 y2017m12d03. With a total departure from his usual rock … Los Lobos: Kiko (1992) Kiko is now such a certified classic that it’s easy to forget how profoundly … Americana/Folk Albums (formerly Folk Albums) is a music chart published weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks the top selling "current releases by traditional folk artists, as well as appropriate titles by acoustic-based singer-songwriters" in the United States. We are moving to WordPress and a new host, but we really need your help to fund the move and further development. The album's personal call for individuality is a poignant staple in what is otherwise an altogether gritty, sassy, and smooth collection of infectious numbers. Ed Whitelock, Some might consider singer-songwriter Angaleena Presley more of a country than an Americana artist because she has sang and spoken openly about her desire to go mainstream. Sputnikmusic's list of the best Americanaalbums of 2021, rated by users. Best Americana albums of 2017. Clearly, that spirit is alive and well in the hundreds of releases each year that could be filed under Americana's vast umbrella. A wide range of styles are on offer from lonesome country to raucous honky tonk and soulful songs complete with horns and great funky grooves. While Simpson played his guitar and sang in a sort of renegade-outsider protest, Garth Brooks was onstage lip-syncing his way to Entertainer of the Year. If anything, in Americana, the present is female: Two-thirds of our year-end list is comprised of albums by women. Steve Horowitz, There are many perspectives on just what constitutes "Americana". She sings in a voice that resonates growing up along dusty roads and seeing a bit too much too young, but hers is not a gun in the purse persona, more a knife in the boot. AUK writers’ best albums of 2017. Always a sonic chameleon, Prophet calls the amalgamation "California noir" and from the seductive "Your Skin", through the wry "Jesus Was a Social Drinker" to the raw "Alex Nietro", Prophet adds another collection of chapters to what could be termed an ongoing west-coast-gothic novel in song, stretching back to 2012's sublime The Best Americana of 2011 - PopMatters ›, The Best Americana of 2013 - PopMatters ›, The 15 Best Americana Albums of 2016 - PopMatters ›, The Best Americana of 2015 - PopMatters ›, The Best Americana of 2012 - PopMatters ›, The Best Americana of 2014 - PopMatters ›, The 10 Best Americana Albums of 2007 - PopMatters ›, The 15 Best Americana Albums of 2015 - PopMatters ›, Americana Music Association to Host Online Panel on Black Equity in Americana - PopMatters ›, The 20 Best Americana Albums of 2019 - PopMatters ›, The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne on Worry, Freetime, and His Band's New "Head" Trip, Post-rocker Chris Brokaw Is Onto Something with 'Puritan', Paul McCartney Goes Back to the Home Studio for 'McCartney III', Buzzcocks Beat the Bootleggers with 'Late for the Train', Heart's Nancy Wilson Takes Solo Turn for 'You and Me', Sleaford Mods' 'Spare Ribs' Offers a Rich and Welcome Catharsis, The Bug and Dis Fig Soundtrack Lockdown with 'In Blue', On Jean-Luc Godard's Game of Despair, 'Pierrot le fou', Star Wars Alternate Endings That Give Padmé Dignity, The Artless Losers: Trump and Monty Python's Black Knight, Why Racially Diverse British Period Dramas Matter, Amanda Gorman's History Lesson: An Inaugural Poem in the Shadow of White Supremacy, Stefano Mancuso's 'The Nation of Plants' Gives the Green Party a Podium, The Mandalorian's Political Allegory: Diversity Is the Way, Pretend It's a City Proves Once Again, You Can't Argue with Fran Lebowitz. Without a doubt it deserves to be in Album of the Year consideration, but there's not much chance of that happening these days, unfortunately. Each week, the show features interviews, new releases, a classic album spotlight, and only the best in Americana music. I believe 2017 is Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit’s time to top the list with the simply perfect The Nashville Sound. Sarah Shook and the Disarmers - Sidelong (Bloodshot) Sarah Shook, a honky-tonk spitfire with a chip on her shoulder and a kickass back-up band, ... 14. 81 20 reviews. Yola: Walk Through Fire. But one common aspect of the music that Simpson appeared to be championing during his bit of street theater is the independence, artistic purity, and authenticity at the heart of Americana music. Two-thirds of our year-end list is comprised of albums by women. Bruce Springsteen ‘Western Stars‘ (2019) An easy choice. Chuck Prophet - Bobby Fuller Died for Your Sins, Shelby Lynne & Allison Moorer - Not Dark Yet, Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - The Nashville Sound, https://www.popmatters.com/best-americana-2017-2515674227.html, Alternative Press's 50 Best Albums of 2020. "Nail", "Heal Me", and the title track should all resonate with listeners, but it's a song like "Dwight Yoakum" that could open up the doors to a Hall of Fame-level career. It is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) on behalf of the Americana Music Association UK.The launch of the chart came at a time when Americana music was growing in popularity in the UK. You can listen to The Americana Pulse Wednesday nights from 6-11 Eastern, or On Demand anytime on wdvx.com. Temple Beautiful. Av: Chris Griffy AXS Contributor Dec 3, 2017. The Gilded Palace of Sin - The Flying Burrito Brothers 5. 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