Favorite Americana Albums of 2022
Every year, trying to nail down my favorite Americana albums of the year is a chore. This year I didn't get a chance to listen to as many albums as I usually do, hence a Nigel Tufnel approved 11 instead of my usual 20, but that didn't make it any less difficult. Weeding down to 11 left out some stellar albums like River Whyless' 'Monoflora', Marcus King's 'Young Blood' and Erin Rae's 'Lighten Up.' They're all worthy, but just got pushed out by albums that just clicked for me slightly more.
This year's list is notable for the number of smaller acts on it. A lot of America's heavy hitters (Isbell, Yola, Giddens, Jarosz) didn't release albums in 2022, which let some artists who might have gotten pushed down the list to shine.
Like always, this isn't a list of the “best” albums, but just my favorite. The ones that spent the most time in my shuffle. Where I reviewed the album I've included a link to the full review. Where not, I've included a Youtube link to a standout song from the album.
11. Jake Blount- The New Faith
The genius of Jake Blount's 'The New Faith' is that it's a concept album made up in large part of songs written by other people across a wide range of times. To tell a tale of a people navigating a world devastated by climate change, Blount found the apocalyptic potential of songs like Rosetta Tharpe's “Didn't It Rain” and made the most of them with just his vocal inflection. Bonus points for being the latest to incorporate a rapper into Americana music, an increasing trend that I am totally behind.
10. Leyla McCalla- Breaking the Thermometer
The last of Our Native Daughters to knock it out of the park with a solo album, Leyla McCalla also went semi-concept with her Breaking the Thermometer. The result of a commission by Duke University involving Radio Haiti, the pirate radio station broadcasting messages and traditional music to a nation beset by oppressive regimes, McCalla uses clips from the station to set the tone for an album that traces her own Haitian roots. As would be expected from McCalla, the instrumental aspect is near perfection.
9. Aoife O'Donovan- Age of Apathy
Aoife O'Donovan is as consistent as any artist in Americana music. The gentle fingerpicked melodies and almost fragile sounding voice match perfectly with the themes of Age of Apathy, an exploration of the devices and means we have to become more connected than ever, and how they took away the quiet spaces where contemplation and peace happen. A guest sit in from Allison Russell certainly doesn't hurt.
8. Keb' Mo'- Good to Be
Keb' Mo's blues has been pulling tinges of Americana and folk music in for over a decade now. The mix fits Keb's style, which has always been much more bright and positive than your typical bluesman. On Good to Be, Keb' Mo' bounced between his current home of Nashville and his childhood home in Compton (literally. He bought his childhood home and turned it into a studio). The result is an album that touches on old-school blues (“All Dressed Up”, “Good Strong Woman”), breezy California soul (“62 Chevy, “Sunny and Warm”), and the album's highlight, “Louder”, Keb's channeling of David Bowie's “Changes” in which he assures his fellow boomers that the young are ready to assert themselves. “It's about to get louder. It's about to get real,” he croons, sounding like a proud papa.
7. Secret Emchy Society- Gold Country/Country Gold
California's Secret Emchy Society is a leader in the increasingly public Queer Country movement. But SES doesn't rep Queer Country with preachy message songs. Instead, they endeavor to out-sing, out-booze, out-fight, and out-party the best of the outlaws and dare you to tell them they don't belong at the table they just drank you under. Take “I Murdered Your Bourbon” with its “Well they say ole Jesus turned water to wine. If he'd tried a bit harder, could have turned it to rye.” It's not subtle. It's not a gentle exploration of the human condition. It isn't supposed to be. This is a jumping honky tonk in CD format.
6. Colin Hay- The Now and the Evermore
Former Man at Work Colin Hay has always been known for his comedic timing, enough so that he once played the comedy tent at Bonnaroo. So when he says he's releasing an album dealing with themes of mortality, my immediate thought was “this is Colin's pandemic album. It's going to be dark. But it's still going to be fun.” I was right. There is a melancholy that persists on The Now and the Evermore that is mitigated by Hay's gentle croon and eternal optimism. Throughout he faces mortality, both of friends and his own, with a sly sense of humor that seems willing to invite Death in for tea before chatting up the mysteries of the ever after.
5. Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway- Crooked Tree
I've seen some people say that Molly Tuttle's new bluegrass band project, Golden Highway, is her true form. I'm not ready to go that far because I still love Molly's more Americana output but there's no doubt that Tuttle's having fun with the project and she shines here. It's not something you can feel on studio albums often but Tuttle's joy is in every note and her status as a monster of acoustic guitar remains. I've give the hot take here and say Molly is a better guitarist than Billy Strings.
4. Miko Marks and the Resurrectors- Feel Like Going Home
Miko Marks was my find of Americanafest 2022, her performance just before her new album Feel Like Going Home was released. Lucky me. Like her performance, the album is impressive. Marks is the best since Yola at mixing country, gospel, Memphis blues, and Muscle Shoals soul sounds into one cohesive vision. Throughout, Marks' voice soars above gospel choirs while her band, the aptly named Resurrectors, throw rock and roll licks that could raise the dead.
3. Regina Spektor- Home, Before and After
Nobody does a balance between wistful and playful like Regina Spektor. Both are prevalent throughout Home, Before and After, whether on the schoolroom rhyming “Loveology” or the epic journey that is her almost 9 minute “Spacetime Fairytale.” Her exploration of the nuances of relationships leaves no stone unturned, delving into obsession, devastating loss, and even love of convenience (the last delivered with chuckle-inducing frankness on album standout “Sugarman”).
2. John Moreland- Birds in the Ceiling
John Moreland has always been an artist who mastered the art of the understatement. You won't find strident calls to action or snarling protest songs on Birds in the Ceiling (somewhat ironic considering Moreland came to Americana from the punk scene). As is his wont, Moreland takes on a divided nation, the loss of friends to cultish political demagoguery, and late stage capitalism (on the album's best song, “Cheap Idols Dressed in Expensive Garbage”) with an even and rough hewn voice that makes lines like “I told you the truth and you told me it was treason” all the more impactful. This is easily John Moreland's most mature, most cohesive, and most well-produced album of his career.
1. Tami Neilson- Kingmaker
Most years I have a pretty solid idea of what my favorite album is, but the gap between it and #2 is rarely so wide. 2022 was the year of Tami Neilson and it wasn't even close. The New Zealander by way of Canada had an entire pandemic to process the #metoo movement that immediately preceded it and answered with Kingmaker, an album full of feminist ferocity. The adage may go “behind every good man is a good woman” but Neilson makes it clear that the women who populate the songs on Kingmaker are not interested in being behind anyone. From “Mama's Talkin'” with its “he cries cancel culture anytime anyone calls him out” to album standout “Careless Woman” which finds Neilson looking at the kind of woman warned against in all those '50s educational films and admiring her, noting that “I wanna care less.” But it's not all rockabilly feminism as Neilson and Willie Nelson duet on a touching tribute to family lost on “Beyond the Stars.” It's a particularly topical song in a time when tens of thousands lost loved ones to a pandemic. Taken as a whole, it's an album that would be a career album for most artists. Neilson shows no intention of slowing down, though, so who knows what's to come?