Here’s some the best Americana and roots-type music releases for July 17th, 2026. Click the artist or album links to find out more. The artist’s names link to their websites and the CD title links go to either Amazon, iTunes, Bandcamp or the artist’s site for ordering or downloading. A + sign means although not a featured release, it’s a notable album that’s still worth checking out. Also, this page will be updated as I find out about other new releases so check back again.
Gary Stewart
One Track Mind (Delmore Recording Society)
Gary Stewart upended the Nashville scene in the mid-‘70s with a string of fierce honky-tonk singles powered by his wild abandon. Hits like “Drinkin’ Thing,” “Your Place or Mine,” and “She’s Actin’ Single (I’m Drinkin’ Doubles)” carry the same electric charge on the first hearing or the hundredth, thanks to his untamed voice, which yelped, wobbled, and soared with no clear logic, indicating a man on the verge of a total meltdown. Stewart’s golden era didn’t last long, but was glorious while it did. Consisting primarily of songwriting demos, One Track Mind is a fascinating survey of Stewart’s late-‘60s efforts, showing how he began transforming from a competent composer, often collaborating with Bill Eldridge, to an astounding singer. (edited from No Depression review)
Aaron Lee Tasjan
Get Over It, Underdog (Blue Elan Records)
Aaron Lee Tasjan makes horny, queer cosmic American music that treats The Beatles as a core roots band. His most upbeat songs — like “Lost & Alone” on his new release, hit with the soaring sheen of a smarter, more jaded Full Moon Fever-era Tom Petty. Tasjan’s wit — which can sound delightfully glib until leaning in and getting cut on the edge — comes in part from his mentor and friend, the inimitable Todd Snider.In that context, Tasjan’s album functions as an alternately celebratory and mournful coda to the life of a great artist who never stopped being an underdog. Tasjan is there to sing them weirdly infectious sad songs, either way. (edited from No Depression review)
Also new this week…
The Binoculars – Double Whammy (Jalopy Records)
CR & the White Lights – My Old Self (Magic Door Records)
John R. Miller – The Great Unknowing (Rounder Records) +
Neon Moons – Day Late And A Dollar Short (Basement Floods Records)
Waylon Payne – Wayward (Big Loud Texas) +
Cinder Well – A Blooming Body (Hen House Records)
Coming out soon… Maya de Vitry, Punch Brothers, Corb Lund, Elizabeth Cook, Owen Lake and the Tragic Loves, Silverada, Pokey LaFarge, Lindsay Lou, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Mountain Grass Unit, The Jayhawks, Billy Strings, Ruthie Foster, Admiral Radio, Riley Downing, AJ Lee & Blue Summit, Mr. Sun, Rhiannon Giddens, Buddy Miller, Jake Xerxes Fussell, Willi Carlisle and more!
