Favorite Roots and Americana Albums of 2025
It was a prolific year for roots and Americana music and a diverse one. That's reflected in our year-end list of favorite releases. We've got albums that range from old-time string band music to Southern rock to soul to queer country and everything in between. While we didn't get to hear every new release this year (hence us calling it “favorite” and not “best), these albums stood out from the pack. While we usually do ten albums, in honor of Rob Reiner, this year's list goes to 11. Where we reviewed the album, we have linked to the review. Where not, we've linked to a YouTube video of one of the album's best songs.
11. Mike Farris- The Sound of Muscle Shoals
How in the world has it taken Mike Farris this long to record an album in Muscle Shoals? The former Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies' frontman's mix of soul, southern rock, and country fits the style that put Muscle Shoals on the map like a glove. To further that connection, Farris recorded with the current edition of the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and collaborated with Rodney Hall, son of FAME studios founder Rick Hall.
10. Secret Emchy Society- Queen of Assholes
The Bay Area queer country standard-bearers released an album that tacked closer to classic country than their usual outlaw roots style, but songs like the call and response “Bears in the Lot” still retain enough outlaw swagger to make long-time fans happy while being accessible enough to draw in new fans.
9. Ashleigh Flynn & the Riveters- Good Morning Sunshine
It's been seven years since Ashleigh Flynn & the Riveters released their debut album, far too long to wait. Fortunately, that changed in April when the group released Good Morning Sunshine, which is equally as good as their first offering. From the honky tonk of “Drunk in Ojai”, with its guitar/harmonica duel that will be a staple of the band's live set for years to the environmentalist fiddle tune “Tilly Jane Ridge”, there's something interesting at every turn on Good Morning Sunshine.
8. Todd Snider- High, Lonesome and Then Some
When Todd Snider released High, Lonesome, and Then Some in October, no one knew that barely a month later, Snider would pass away, leaving this as his final contribution to the world of roots music. It's one hell of a way to go out, with an album full of world-weary blues rock tunes like “The Temptation to Exist” (with its eerily prophetic line “you gotta live a little. People die a lot”) and easy humor songs like “Stoner Yodel #2.”
7. Yola- My Way
There will be a lot of debate about whether My Way should be on a list of roots music albums at all. Yola's motto, emblazoned on t-shirts and koozies at her merch desk, is “genre fluid,” and My Way is certainly that, melding progressive R&B, electronica, pop, and broken beat to create something completely original. Is it roots music? It depends on whose roots you're counting. These genres have always been a part of Yola's musical DNA, and, for those willing to give it a shot, it's a big reward.
6. Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson- What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow?
Damn, it's good to hear these voices blend once again! Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson are two-thirds of the founding lineup of the trailblazing string band Carolina Chocolate Drops. With the level of expectations that surrounded What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow, it could easily have been a letdown. But there were no worries there. Giddens and Robinson's voices and instruments blend so seamlessly that it's like the Carolina Chocolate Drops never broke up.
5. Paul Thorn- Life is Just a Vapor
Paul Thorn is nothing if not consistent. When there's a new album from him, it's a near guarantee that he'll have a spot on this list. Life is Just a Vapor is no exception. The album contains everything fans love about Paul Thorn. Bluesy rockers (“Chicken Wing”), contemplative ballads (“Old Melodies”), and plenty of humor (“Wait”). But this collection of songs isn't just Paul Thorn consistent, it's his best album since Mission Temple Fireworks Stand.
4. Zdan- So What?
Like Yola, this is another album that can be debated about if it even counts as an Americana album. Full of rock guitar and punk attitude, So What? drives hard, owing more to The Runaways than to John Prine. But punk has been folded neatly into the Americana umbrella for years (thanks in no small part to X, whose influence can also be heard in this album). It's a brief album, clocking in at just over a half hour, but then a roller coaster ride doesn't last that long either, and that's exactly what So What? feels like.
3. Jason Isbell- Foxes in the Snow
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit are another band that live firmly in the rock section of Americana, but on Foxes in the Snow, Isbell truly goes solo, with only his own flawless guitar work to accompany him. The result is a lulling acoustic masterpiece that further proves the fact that Jason Isbell is the strongest lyricist to come out of the Americana scene since Todd Snider.
2. The Kentucky Gentlemen- Rhinestone Revolution
I had no idea who The Kentucky Gentlemen were when I saw them at Americanafest 2024. They came away my find of the fest. When I saw they were releasing Rhinestone Revolution, I worried they'd be like so many Americana bands who can't recreate the energy of their live shows in the studio. I needn't have been concerned. The Kentucky Gentlemen are the most innovative Americana band to come out since Gangstagrass, blending rock, country, soul, disco, and a half-dozen other genres into something completely original.
1. I'm With Her- Wild and Clear and Blue
Any one of Sarah Jarosz, Sara Watkins, or Aoife O'Donovan releasing a new album would have likely been cause to see them near the top of this list. Put them together in the supergroup I'm With Her, and everything they touch is magic. Seamlessly and selflessly trading leads while the others supply the kind of virtuosic instrumentation all three are known for, there are no filler songs on Wild and Clear and Blue. Top to bottom, it's the best thing to come out of the Americana world in 2025.