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In a year that lacked, for better or worse, the crossover appeal of acts like Mumford & Sons or the Lumineers, widely acclaimed artists such as Jason Isbell, or a breakout star like countryâs Sturgill Simpson, a number of events shaped the Americana musical landscape in 2014. Major labels tested the waters, hoping to polish rough edges and extend the genreâs reach into the mainstream. In August, Grammy winners, the Civil Wars officially ended speculation of their parting, effectively opening the door for new duos â married or otherwise â to contend with the likes of Shovels and Rope. Traditionalist poster boys Old Crow Medicine Show, coming off their 2013 induction into the Grand Ole Opry, released Remedy, further demonstrating how indebted artists of their ilk are to the matriarchs and patriarchs of traditional American music.
Often considered a genre for acts that donât fit within a specific marketing niche, roots artists and aging musicians no longer commercially viable in their respective genres, we still struggle to define âAmericanaâ. While we were able to segment Americana from bluegrass and country, the blurred lines that exist muddle more into a deeper shade of grey, with acts like Old Crow Medicine Show possibly bridging all three classifications. The artists on this yearâs list are predominantly singer-songwriters, upstarts, and veterans alike, ranging in age from 20 to early 60s. While we included returning alumni, there are a number of first-timers as well, signifying the genreâs continued growth and viability.
If forced to define Americana, I would be inclined to say itâs the one genre where honest craftsmanship is required, respected, and rewarded. Marketing hype, YouTube views, and commercial radio play all have their place in other genres; in Americana, the songs and music are what count. That being said, I feel our top 15 Americana albums of 2014 live up to such a billing. â Eric Risch
15. Goodnight, Texas â Uncle John Farquar (Tallest Man)
Formed by songwriters Avi Vinocur from San Francisco and Patrick Dyer Wolf from North Carolina, Goodnight, Texas, are named for the geographic midpoint between their respective homes. Despite the attempt (at least in designation) to point toward a middle ground, Wolfâs home seems to have an upper hand. The Appalachian ghosts of the groupâs first album (most memorably, that of Jesse, a coal miner trapped underground) haunt this album as well. Characters on Uncle John Farquar include Civil War specters, such as a woman who can sense the death of her husband from afar (âMany Miles from Blacksburgâ) and a soldier penning a letter to his wife (âDearest Sarahâ). Vinocur and Wolf have touched brilliantly here on a rich, weird vein of American folk nostalgia, and one can only hope that that they find more ghosts out there to channel. â Taylor Coe
14. HT Heartache â Sundowner (Independent)
Not a widely known musical entity yet a household face recognizable from her television commercial work, actress Mary Roth as HT Heartache quietly delivered this yearâs under-the-radar release with her sophomore album, Sundowner. Four years since her debut, HT Heartacheâs tales of cross-country escapism (âTrentonâ, âRoam Cold Highwayâ), confessional omissions (âDarksideâ), and noirish undertones (âCowboy Poetryâ, âRubyâ) are both beguiling and affecting. Backed by Christina Gaillard on guitar, the duo pairs celluloid imagery with weathered instrumentation, speaking to the wanderlust of post-war 1950s America, a promise that is itself these days a roadside relic most can only visit through the fiction of Jack Kerouac and photography of Robert Frank. Uncertain we will hear more from HT Heartache in the future, she has added her own marginalia to Americaâs musical history with the singular Sundowner. Even if time proves it to be only a footnote, itâs one worth referencing. â Eric Risch
13. John Cowan â Sixty (Compass)
In the 1970s and 1980s, John Cowan helped redefine progressive bluegrass as the vocalist and bassist in the seminal band New Grass Revival. Since then, he has led his own band, a finishing school for the best young pickers in bluegrass, and most recently signed on as a full-time touring member of the Doobie Brothers. At age 60 (hence the albumâs title), Cowan went into the studio with fellow Doobie John McFee as producer and a long list of guests (Sam Bush, Leon Russell, Alison Krauss, etc.). The results play like a Best of Cowan, as the singer, whose titanic tenor remains as strong as ever, runs through strapping arrangements of country rock, midnight blues, jumping swing, and his signature electrified newgrass. As with everything Cowan touches, he makes these songs â classics from the likes of Marty Robbins, Jimmie Rodgers, and Charlie Rich â thoroughly his own, marking both a high point in a remarkable career and verifying a relentlessly creative spirit. â Steve Leftridge
12. Caleb Caudle â Paint Another Layer on My Heart (This Is American Music)
Road-weary songs of love, loss, and longing dot the distances spanned on Caleb Caudleâs Paint Another Layer on My Heart. Sullen and sentimental, Caudleâs lyrical imagery is accented by pedal steel provided by Whit Wright (American Aquarium), with harmony vocals on opener âHowâd You Learnâ and aching album standout âTrade All the Lightsâ provided by Lydia Loveless. Classic in sound and simplistic in delivery, Caudleâs contrition is refreshing on songs like âBottles & Cansâ and the swooning âAnother Nightâ; the promises of âMissing Holidaysâ and âCome on Octoberâ knowingly prove false, yet Caudle sells his exhausted apologies with a voice worn ragged by blind miles of county lines crossed year after year. With its earnest and lived-in songs, Paint Another Layer on My Heart firmly places Caudle amongst the ranks of hungry musicians everywhere with stories and lies to tell. In Caudleâs hands, both are worth hearing. â Eric Risch
11. Justin Townes Earle â Single Mothers (Vagrant)
Justin Townes Earleâs fifth full-length finds a sober and newly married Earle, who, rather than living in the grips of his former emotional turbulence, is now reflecting back on the trouble with which his fans are fully familiar. So ruinous relationships, personal demons, and deadbeat dads get plenty of play, but Earleâs lifestyle transitions have produced a paring down of his sound. The Memphis horns of his last release have been replaced by a sparer four-piece band, somewhere between his country-folk beginnings and Stax-influenced soul writing, replete with minor-key progressions and lonely pedal-steel embroidery. Things get occasionally peppy, as on the jukebox boogie of âMy Baby Drivesâ, but most songs come to terms with regret (âPicture in a Drawerâ) and disconnection (âWanna Be a Strangerâ). Consequently, the album sees Earle deepening as a songwriter, and if Single Mothers isnât the sound of an outright renewal, itâs JTEâs warmest and most focused album to date. â Steve Leftridge
10. Hiss Golden Messenger â Lateness of Dancers (Merge)
âI might get a little crazy,â M.C. Taylor sings on âSaturdayâs Songâ, a fair warning that the California-bred singer-songwriter is interested in letting off some steam. Taylorâs Hiss Golden Messenger has dedicated four records to dusky folk songs about the weary-hearted, but on Lateness of Dancers, his first album on the Merge label, Taylor crafts the sound of fighting through the muck and shambling into some soul fortification through sensual embraces: dancing, a beautiful woman, a glass of whiskey. Taylor has relocated to North Carolina, and his immersion into the South has helped to produce a vibrant new sound that incorporates 1975 Bob Dylan, twisted Appalachian balladry, Waylon-country thump, the Band circa Stage Fright, and some jam-leaning soul-blues. The spiritual sway in Taylorâs smart, groove-infused songwriting and crackling arrangements invokes new-day possibilities among a hybrid of American musical traditions. Steve Leftridge
9. Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis â Our Year (Premium)
Husband and wife duo Bruce Robison and Kelly Willis throwback to pure country gold on Our Year, their second album recording together. Composed of covers and originals written separately by Robison and Willis, the duo draw from the wellspring of 1960s and 1970s music, with Willis tackling Jeannie C. Rileyâs cheeky âHarper Valley PTAâ and the pair transforming the Zombiesâ piano-driven âThis Will Be Our Yearâ into a banjo and pedal steel duet of heartfelt devotion.
More than another recorded coupling of spouses, rather, the songs on Our Year recall Janie Frickeâs pairings with the likes of Vern Gosdin and Moe Bandy on Robison originals âCarouselâ and âAnywhere But Hereâ, with Willis providing harmony vocals and the two trading verses on T Bone Burnettâs âShake Yourself Looseâ, reviving the flat, one-sided original into a touching yet contentious conversation between two lovers. Like the Ira Allen/Buddy Mize-penned âA Hanginâ Onâ, Our Year is as much a love letter shared between Robison and Willis as it is to the songs and artists covered on the album. Having no place in todayâs commercial landscape, Robison and Willis delight, demonstrating the timeless quality of traditional country music with ease and grace. â Eric Risch
8. Roseanne Cash â The River and the Thread (Blue Note)
Much like William Faulknerâs examination of the American South through his character Quentin Compson in Absalom, Absalom!, Rosanne Cash revisits the regionâs polarizing history on The River and the Thread, her first collection of original songs in eight years. Based in New York for more than two decades, Cash takes in familiar sights in locales like Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee with fresh eyes, assessing race relations on âMoney Roadâ, the Civil War on âWhen the Master Calls the Rollâ, and religion on âWorld of Strange Designâ.
Cash delivers a veiled meditation on our shared American experience, where, despite our collective progress â sides once divided along black and white lines are now split into red and blue â divisions remain, sadly serving as the thread that connects us all. As with music, rivers like the Tallahatchie provide a certain rhythm to life; singing on âMoney Roadâ, Cash notes, âYou can cross the bridge and carve your name / But the river stays the same,â subtly reminding us how little things have actually changed. â Eric Risch
7. Rodney Crowell â Tarpaper Sky (New West)
Rodney Crowell has been giving the world indelible melodies and graceful lyricism for decades. Lately, though, the Nashville Songwriting Hall of Famer has been content with collaborations, with Mary Karr in 2012 and with Emmylou Harris last year, without an album of his own originals in six years. Tarpaper Sky ends the drought with a set of terrific tunes that are both meticulously crafted and wholly relaxed. Crowellâs lived-in vocals front a crack band of veteran Crowell cohorts on a wide range of styles: the rockabilly of âFrankie Pleaseâ, the golden-age rock of âSomebodyâs Shadowâ, the sax-abetted two-step gospel of âJesus Talk to Mamaâ, the country-folk waltz of âI Wouldnât Be Me Without Youâ. Itâs an album of familiar wit and tenderness to longtime Crowell fans, but Tarpaper Sky also proves that the legendary troubadour still packs plenty of surprises. â Steve Leftridge
6. Hurray for the Riff Raff â Small Town Heroes (ATO)
Spanning multiple American time zones and musical epochs, Hurray for the Riff Raffâs Small Town Heroes is a collection of smart and spirited tales of lives spent wandering while always yearning for a sense of home. Incorporating a variety of styles and forms, Alynda Lee Segarra and band work with flavors local to their now-home base of New Orleans, Louisiana, drawing inspiration from and giving voice to those unable to speak for themselves on the feral folk of charged protest songs âThe Body Electricâ and âSt. Roch Bluesâ. A former musical vagabond, Segarra and Hurray for the Riff Raffâs previous recorded output hopped various genres and incorporated the influences of their musical forebearers; on Small Town Heroes, Segarraâs true voice rings profound, having found its ultimate sense of purpose and home in a world of still-disparate peoples. â Eric Risch
5. Shovels and Rope â Swimminâ Time (Dualtone)
Armed with a whole lot more than their metaphorical shovels and rope (thatâs âtwo old guitarsâ for those who have not yet been blessed by âBirminghamâ), the husband-and-wife duo of Cary Ann Hearst and Michael Trent burns bright on this third album. Their passion for the music and each other is evident on every track, displaying boundless energy and enthusiasm. Even though Hearst and Trent make great use of those old guitars and such, their voices are their greatest asset by far, yowling and harmonizing with reckless abandon. The territory covered is also impressive, as husband and wife veer from Black Keys-inspired blues-rock on âEvilâ to doo-wop rock on âCoping Mechanismâ all the way into Tom Waits territory on âOhioâ, with its bizarre, mournful New Orleans horn arrangement and droning synth line. Taylor Coe
4. Lucinda Williams â Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone (Highway 20)
Although it may not ultimately rank as Williamsâ magnum opus, the 144-minute Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone is her grittiest and most heartfelt album in years. Working on her own label and co-producing the album, Williams felt free to explore her sound. From âCompassionâ, which sets one of her fatherâs poems to music, to the muted bitterness of âWest Memphisâ, Williams goes where her artistic muse takes her. Boasting a stellar supporting cast, including Tony Joe White and Bill Frisell, the album hits an earthy, bluesy vibe, sometimes downright swampy, as on the foreboding âSomething Wicked This Way Comesâ. In some ways, this is well-trodden ground for Williams â but sheâs more than artist enough always to be finding something new under the sun. Taylor Coe
3. John Fullbright â Songs (Blue Dirt)
It might seem pretentious to name an album Songs, especially on just your second studio effort. Still, when the songwriter is John Fullbright, and the compositions are this stellar, the title makes perfect sense. On Fullbrightâs 2012 debut, this Oklahoma boy established himself as a sly composer of greasy folk blues and lilting piano ballads, both of which revealed Fullbright as a writer beyond his years with a musical alacrity that separated him from the rest of the coffeehouse set. Fullbright strips away nearly all musical accompaniment but his acoustic guitar or piano on the bulk of Songs.
Whatâs left are songs. Gorgeous, instantly captivating, emotionally resonant, compositionally adroit songs. While comparisons fly linking Fullbright to the pantheon of great writers â and youâll hear echoes of Waits, Simon, Van Zandt, Newman, McCartney, and others on Songs â Fullbright takes excellent strides on his sophomore album in confirming his own distinctive voice and, at just 26, has earned a seat at the table with our top tunesmiths. â Steve Leftridge
2. Parker Millsap â Parker Millsap (Okrahoma)
Itâs shocking to me how sure of himself this kid sounds. Even looking beyond that confident and weathered voice, how is it that this 20-year-old from Purcell, Oklahoma, has the guts to jump right into the guise of the classic country troubadour? Some of the tunes on this album â all originals, mind you â sound so patently authoritative that itâs hard to believe they werenât copped from some old folk record. And a song like âDisappearâ must have been borrowed from one of the early Avett albums, right? Or one of those early Justin Townes Earle tracks?
Then thereâs âQuite Contrary,â which features a mishmash of different childrenâs rhymes and fairy tales set to a rollicking blues guitar, which sounds like weirdness that could only have been dreamed up by a Delta blues singer in a drug reverie. Where this stuff comes from, an intoxicating mix of country, folk, blues, honky-tonk, and Western swing, itâs hard to know, though itâs safe to say that everyone is left wanting more. Taylor Coe
1. Old Crow Medicine Show â Remedy (ATO)
If I can say one thing about Remedy, it is that Secor, Fuqua, and company have given me a new barometer with which to measure my life: the ownership of eight dogs and eight banjos. After all, who wouldnât want to live out the pure joy of â8 Dogs 8 Banjosâ, an Appalachian stomp celebrating hot coffee, hard times, and corn whiskey, among other things? With Remedy, Old Crow has delivered an album embracing all kinds of human experience, from one soldier mourning the death of another to a cruel prison warden to a Tennessean making his way home to his daughter. And I havenât even mentioned the lovelorn cowboy of âSweet Amarilloâ, the sweet country shuffle co-written with Bob Dylan, which one can only hope signals further future collaboration. One can only hope that Bob keeps sending boxes of fragments their way. â Taylor Coe
Editorâs Note: This article was originally published on 4 December 2014.
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PopMatters Staff
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