the Top 10 Folk / Country Albums of 2024

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.

4-Waxahatchee- "Tigers Blood" 

 This album took some time to sink in. Katie Crutchfield is more of a country singer than not. Sure she is soulful. But there is an honest twang that offsets most of her indie sensibility. She has certainly settled into her skin as an artist. 

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

pst626

February's Top 10 Albums

Started this last month and now we continue on to February's top 10 albums. Staying abreast on the month's highlights might help casual readers see what they missed, and give this the option to check these artists out. I am not doing little blurbs on them, just linking the reviews. I think it will help me organize my lists for the end of the year, by listing the genre of music the album falls under. This does not mean that these albums have been released this month, but it is a list of new or upcoming albums I have enjoyed the most, I have albums in my in-box that are not coming out til June, so I am normally way ahead of the curve in this regard. They are ranked in order of what I have listened to the most. This month there is a wide variety from indie pop to punk to black metal, so perhaps you will find your new favorite among them. Here are the Top 10 albums for February 2024.

10-Vemod-"The Deepening" 

Black  Metal 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/02/black-metal-history-month-vemod.html

8-Oldspeak- "s/t" 

Sludge

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/02/oldspeak-st.html

7-the Dead South - "Chains & Stakes" 

Blue-grass 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/02/the-dead-south-chains-stakes.html

7-Allie X-"Girl With No Face"

Pop

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/02/allie-x-girl-with-no-face.html

6-Amigo the Devil - "Yours Until the War is Over" 

Folk

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/02/amigo-devil-yours-until-war-is-over.html

5-Benighted - "Ekbom" 

Grind-core 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/02/benighted-ekbom.html

4-Modern Witchcraft-"s/t"

Doom-gaze 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/02/modern-witchcraft-st.html

3-Chelsea Wolfe-" She Reaches Out To She Reaches Out To She"

Electronic 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/02/chelsea-wolfe-she-reaches-out-to-she.html

2-meth. - "SHAME" 

Blackened Hardcore 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/02/black-metal-history-month-meth-shame.html

1-Sleepytime Gorilla Museum - "Of the Last Human Being" 

Progressive Rock 

https://abysmalhymns.blogspot.com/2024/02/sleepytime-gorilla-museum-of-last-human.html

The Dead 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. The first song gradually gains momentum as their fleet fingers dance up the necks of their respective instruments. "Yours to Keep" has some swagger in its strut, while "20 Mile Jump" is slightly more upbeat. "A Little Devil" is one of the album's lead singles for good reason. It demonstrates what is most effective for the band and finds them firing it off perfectly. Punchy accent that brings an almost rock feel to instrumentation that is clearly not. The vocal harmonies are smooth with a touch of melancholy. 

They play a more conventional bluegrass version on the song "Son of Ambrose". While they are certainly skilled at it and even then bring their fingerprint to it, it leans closer to being too straightforward for my taste. But appreciate their ability to play by these rules, as you could play it for your hillbilly grandparents and they would be prone to dance a jig. There are a few instrumental interludes that I am not counting for the purpose of this review some of them carry sonic shade I wish would have been worked into actual songs. "Completely Sweetly" is another really strong contender for being the album's best song. The vocals sit just right in the darker groove of the song. 

The ballad " A Place I Hardly Know" works really well with the regaling drunken turns of fortune.  "Cured Contessa' is about how momma loves her bacon. "Tiny Wooden Box" is another one of the singles that preceded the album, and was also wisely chosen. "Father John" closes the album with a moody introspective that still works pretty well even if it is not the album's strongest song. Will give this album a 9.5, as it finds these guys remaining consistent in what they do which is already pretty great. 

pst71

The Dead South : " Sugar & Joy "

Have listened to these guys before , but this is my first time reviewing an album and really fully digesting it. "Diamond Ring" is driven by vocals that more country to me, though the upbeat music backing them is more blue grass, the harmony vocals are also more blue grass, but the lines blur with these guys. For a band that is generally dark for the kind of music they play "Blue Trash " is more on the celebratory side. The get back to draping more shadow over their sound with " Black Lung" takes on a slinky groove. There is some fun fleeting fingered banjo picking on "Fat Little Killer Boy". It's almost more rockabilly. There is a more straight forward acoustic strum to the more folk inflected "Broken Cowboy".  I like the heartfelt vocal melody to this one. The vocals have improved from what I have heard from these guys in the past.

There are little banjo interludes on this album, but for the purpose of this review I am sticking just to the songs. "Snake Man pt 2 " is a brisk uptempo jaunt that flows well. The bass line to  "Heaven in a Wheelbarrow" propels the song, which would normally be too happy for me, but it becomes effective and ends up working where it otherwise might not. "Crawdaddy Served Cold" is the first song that doesn't click with me on the first listen and might be too rooted in the kind of drunken country I do not normally listen to , and not dark enough for me.  I am skipping over "Alabama People" is it feel more like an interlude as it just works off the one thing for two minutes and is more of  an idea they are touching upon than a fully formed song. "Spaghetti" is moodier so it clicks with me where the "Crawdaddy Served Cold"  did not.

This album is a lot of fun and takes blue grass and gives it enough folk rock sensibility to make it more easily ingested by someone like me, who has an appreciation for country music but never knows what side of the cow pasture to start from when looking for it. I will give this album a 9 , the song writing is really solid and the vocals have improved, my only complaint was some of it is a little happy for me. that is however a common themes with the genre as it does not lend it self to sitting around in the dark and being depressed when performed.