For some time I've combined country and folk music into this list since they are on the fringe of what is normally reviewed here. The two genres have a great deal of stylistic overlap since pop country is not my thing, and I like folk music that is darker and more melancholy. These albums do not really give a damn about the Nashville status quo even when it comes to the artists in the more commercial spotlight. These are not the coolest albums, but the best, fuck what other blogs say.
After I sort through the top 10 albums of all the respective genres, I use those lists to compile the top 10 albums of 2024 list. The very fact that these bands made it on the list speaks to how great these albums are, so it's not a slight that the number 8 album is above the 9th album; there is something that just gives it an edge that makes me want to listen to it more. After all, we can try to look cool and pick the hippest bands for a list, but at the end of the day, what makes an album the best is that it makes you want more, you look forward to listening to it again. Perhaps you can find your next favorite on this list. I've included links to reviews of these albums if you want to check out the audio on these guys. Anyway here are the top 10 country and folk albums of 2024
10-Hovvdy-"s/t"
If Justin Vernon had grown up in a trailer park listening to country music, Bon Iver might have sounded like this. The twang is subtle, meaning if they were trying to be country, it would be more upfront, as that is the act they are putting up. It's detectable, but I think they are trying to make indie pop, but that is what comes out. It's not pop country though I think they recorded this in an actual studio and not their bedroom, like the sometimes lo-fi Soundcloud quality tries to emulate. Though this is their 5th full-length album they have taken enough trips into the studio to settle into their skin.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/12/hovvdy-st.html
9-the Death South - "Chains & Stakes"
One of the best modern bluegrass quartets is back with a collection of songs that finds them moving back in a darker direction. They move back in the direction of Murder Ballads. They remained consistent in what they do which is already pretty great so that works for this album.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-dead-south-chains-stakes.html
8- 49 Winchester -"Leaving This Holler"
This Virginia-based band plays a traditional style of country, that is a little more upbeat than what I normally listen to, but it's well done. All the instrumentation fits in the lush mix. Lyrically the outlook is pretty bright, making up home that the drink it up songs go south so I can hear songs about alcoholism. At the end of the day the great guitar playing and singing won me over .
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/10/49-winchester-leavin-this-holler.html
7-the Decemberists -" As it Ever Was, So it Will Be Again"
The songwriting has been streamlined, and though they get really progged out on the last song, the album is typically an eclectic mix of bard-like folk. as they dip their toes into styles, sometimes taking you back to the 70s as flutes wander around.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/06/the-decemberists-as-it-ever-was-so-it.html
6-Amigo the Devil -"Yours's Until the War is Over"
Danny has been playing big rock festivals for a few summers now, and we are beginning to hear how that is influencing him. There is more of an edge here. There are depressing songs that ponder suicide, and by and large, this album is a continuation of the Murder Ballad theme that has driven the bulk of his music. He colors these with different influences, like the touch of Tom Waits which can be felt at times.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/02/amigo-devil-yours-until-war-is-over.html
5-Faye Webster -"Undressed at the Symphony"
She could have also crossed over into the top 10 pop albums list that I have yet to finish, but if this was Joni Mitchell doing the exact same songs it would be folk so, here we are. In the 70s there was a genre called adult contemporary. It was the kind of organic loungy music that was not the bubble gum of pop but found artists in the middle of country and jazz. There was none of the country twang, nor the complex excursions in jamming that jazz ventures off into. More produced than folk;, but many former folk artists would cross over into this for radio play. Mellow is certainly a fitting word to describe it. There are no aspirations to induce dancing. This is what Webster's music invokes.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/03/waxahatchee-tigers-blood.html
3-Kacey Musgraves -"Deeper Well"
This is the singer's 6th album. Funny enough the title track is about how she quit smoking pot, but it sounds like still was hitting the bong when she wrote the opening track. It has a 60s ambiance to it. The title track also carries more atmosphere than what you might expect from a country musician who is not smoking pot. From her past work, I would never have taken her as a pot smoker, so it's funny that the album she is not smoking sounds like the one she's smoking the most on.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/08/kacey-musgraves-deeper-well.html
2-Johnny Blue Skies- "Passage Du Dasir"
Not sure why Sturgill Simpson needs an alter ago as this is more country than some of the albums he's released under his name. Strong guitar playing throughout, sometimes it's touched with a bit of 70s soul, and sometimes he jams closer to what Pink Floyd does. His voice sounds great and it's another testament to his songwriting, where else are you going to hear country songs about fairies?
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/07/johnny-blue-skies-passage-du-desir.html
1-Chelsea Wolfe -"Unbound"
If She said the versions of these songs found on this EP were how they were originally written, before being re-mixed into what was presented on "She Reaches Out to, She Reaches Out to..." it would make perfect sense as this sounds more like who she is. This is emotionally powerful and feels like true expression of who she is.
https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/10/chelsea-wolfe-unbound.html
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