Americana Music Association Releases the Top 100 Albums of 2015
The Americana Music Association has compiled their year-end list of the Top 100 albums of 2015. Unlike many of the other lists you’re bludgeoned with this time of year, this one isn’t based off on anyone’s opinion. It’s based on the reporting to the Americana Airplay Chart during the period of December 2, 2014 through November 30, 2015. The list also a good tool to see what you may have missed in 2015.
Leading the pack is Jason Isbell’s album Something More Than Free. It spent a record-setting 20 weeks at the top of the chart in 2015. Isbell’s previous release Southeastern from 2013, and Robert Plant’s Band of Joy album both spent 15 weeks at the top of the charts, and were the co-record holders previously. Major label country artists such as Chris Stapleton and Ashley Monroe also made the list, as did bluegrass artists such as the Yonder Mountain String Band and the Steeldrivers, Texas country acts like the Turnpike Troubadours and Stoney LaRue, and Southern rock bands like Blackberry Smoke, illustrating the diversity and wide tent approach of Americana.
The Americana Top 100
- Jason Isbell – Something More Than Free
- JD McPherson – Let The Good Times Roll
- Brandi Carlile – The Firewatcher’s Daughter
- Alabama Shakes – Sound & Color
- Steve Earle & The Dukes – Terraplane
- Ray Wylie Hubbard – The Ruffian’s Misfortune
- Kacey Musgraves – Pageant Material
- Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell – The Traveling Kind
- Chris Stapleton – Traveller
- Mavericks – Mono
- Robert Earl Keen – Happy Prisoner, The Bluegrass Sessions
- Ryan Bingham – Fear And Saturday Night
- Dwight Yoakam – Second Hand Heart
- Willie Nelson & Merle Haggard – Django and Jimmie
- James McMurtry – Complicated Game
- Richard Thompson – Still
- Rhiannon Giddens – Tomorrow Is My Turn
- Asleep at the Wheel – Still The King, Celebrating The Music of Bob Wills
- Calexico – Edge Of The Sun
- Eilen Jewell – Sundown Over Ghost Town
- Amy Helm – Didn’t It Rain
- Dale Watson – Call Me Insane
- Dave Alvin & Phil Alvin – Lost Time
- Houndmouth – Little Neon Limelight
- Allison Moorer – Down To Believing
- Watkins Family Hour – Watkins Family Hour
- Rhett Miller – The Traveler
- Various Artists – Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes
- Pokey LaFarge – Something In The Water
- Sonny Landreth – Bound By The Blues
- Patty Griffin – Servant Of Love
- Kasey Chambers – Bittersweet
- Uncle Lucius – The Light
- Ashley Monroe – The Blade
- Warren Haynes Featuring Railroad Earth – Ashes & Dust
- Leon Bridges – Coming Home
- John Moreland – High On Tulsa Heat
- Punch Brothers – The Phosphorescent Blues
- Blackberry Smoke – Holding All The Roses
- Drew Holcomb & The Neighbors – Medicine
- Sam Outlaw – Angeleno
- Don Henley – Cass County
- Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams – Self-Titled
- Joe Ely Panhandle Rambler
- Nathaniel Rateliff and The Nightsweats – Self-Titled
- Jimmy LaFave – The Night Tribe
- Lucinda Williams – Down Where The Spirit Meets The Bone
- Los Lobos – Gates Of Gold
- Statesboro Revue – Jukehouse Revival
- Mark Knopfler – Tracker
- The Bros. Landreth – Let It Lie
- Josh Ritter – Sermon On The Rocks
- Bottle Rockets – South Broadway Athletic Club
- The Mike & Ruthy Band – Bright As You Can
- Gretchen Peters – Blackbirds
- Whitey Morgan & The 78s – Sonic Ranch
- Will Hoge – Small Town Dreams
- Jorma Kaukonen – Ain’t In No Hurry
- Whitehorse – Leave No Bridge Unburned
- Langhorne Slim – The Spirit Moves
- Justin Townes Earle – Absent Fathers
- Turnpike Troubadours – Self-Titled
- The Deslondes – Self-Titled
- Milk Carton Kids – Monterey
- Nora Jane Struthers & The Party Line – Wake
- Leftover Salmon – High Country
- Shelby Lynne – I Can’t Imagine
- J.J. Grey And Mofro – Ol’ Glory
- Laura Marling – Short Movie
- American Aquarium – Wolves
- Honeycutters – Me Oh My
- Daniel Romano – If I’ve Only One Time Askin’
- Jonathan Tyler – Holy Smokes
- Black Lillies – Hard To Please
- Shakey Graves – And The War Came
- Jackie Greene – Back to Birth
- Anne McCue – Blue Sky Thinkin’
- Wood Brothers – Paradise
- Nicki Bluhm & The Gramblers – Loved Wild Lost
- The Grahams – Glory Bound
- Sugarcane Jane – Dirt Road’s End
- Glen Hansard – Didn’t He Ramble
- Steeldrivers – The Muscle Shoals Recordings
- Sister Sparrow & The Dirty Birds – The Weather Below
- Stoney LaRue – Aviator
- Sam Lewis – Waiting On You
- Honey Honey – 3
- Della Mae – Self-Titled
- Darrell Scott – 10 Songs of Ben Bullington
- Dar Williams – Emerald
- Yonder Mountain String Band – Black Sheep
- Ryan Adams – Self Titled
- William Clark Green – Ringling Road
- Whitney Rose – Heartbreaker Of The Year
- Underhill Rose – The Great Tomorrow
- Liz Longley – Self-Titled
- Shawn Colvin – Uncovered
- Waifs – Beautiful You
- The Lone Bellow – Then Came The Morning
- Kentucky HeadHunters – Meet Me In Blues Land
December 15, 2015 @ 7:48 pm
Congrats jason.
December 15, 2015 @ 8:58 pm
Lots of good stuff, there… I have 9 of those albums (including Richard Thompson and Dar Williams) and have heard at least a few others in their entirety. 🙂
December 15, 2015 @ 9:42 pm
No Sundy Best?
December 15, 2015 @ 10:13 pm
Cody Jinks?
December 16, 2015 @ 6:01 am
cass country is a bit low
December 16, 2015 @ 7:28 am
Charlie Parr’s “Stumpjumper”.
December 16, 2015 @ 8:21 am
Good List, but where is:
Lucero – All A Man Should Do
Jeffrey Foucault – Salt As Wolves
Shovels & Rope – Busted Jukebox Vol.1
December 16, 2015 @ 8:29 am
Agreed completely with Salt As Wolves. I’d go as far to say it should be in the top 30
December 16, 2015 @ 10:37 am
Just the fact that the heading of your review is ” Top 100 ” is a scary thought , Trigger . We’re awash in a sea of sound no matter the genre . The pie is divided up into so many pieces now its a wonder ANYBODY is actually making ANY money . And then there’s Stapleton .
December 16, 2015 @ 10:40 am
How did Ryan Adams’ self-titled album make this list? That album sounds like a cheap knock off of Jeff Buckley . Lots of whiny, mellow dramatic vocals and electric guitars. Nothing very “Americana” about that album.
December 16, 2015 @ 2:21 pm
I’m surprised/excited to see Liz Longley on here!
December 17, 2015 @ 10:18 am
I’ve got 12 of these titles in my musical library. I’m somewhat surprised four of those titles are in the Top 10 for the year. Up until 10 years ago, I used to buy 10-12 albums (CDs and vinyl albums before that) each month. In those days, I generally had 7 or 8 of the top 10 country and rock albums each week. These days, due to my musical tastes, I rarely buy any CD that charts in the top 20.