Americana Boogie Best of 2022 List

Posted on January 8, 2023 by

Here’s Bill Frater’s picks for the best music releases of 2022. As is frequently the case, my Top 10 ends up being more of a Top 20! Please send me your picks for best music and I’ll post some here. Here’s to a very happy new year!

Melissa Carper – Ramblin’ Soul  (MAE Music)
Lyle Lovett – 12th of June  (Verve Records)
Brennen Leigh – Obsessed with the West  (Signature Sounds)
Eli “Paperboy” Reed – Down Every Road  (Yep Roc Records)
Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway – Crooked Tree (Nonesuch Records)

Plains – I Walked With You A Ways Out  (Anti- Records
John Fullbright – The Liar  (Blue Dirt Records)
Charley Crockett – The Man From Waco  (Son of Davy Records)
Vince Herman – Enjoy the Ride  (LoHi Records)
Bonnie Raitt – Just Like That… (Redwing Records)

2nd 10

Cristina Vane – Make Myself Me Again  (self-released)
Harley Kimbro Lewis – Harley Kimbro Lewis
Sweet Megg – My Window Faces The South  (Turtle Bay Records)
Wilco – Cruel Country  (dBpm Records)
Adeem The Artist – White Trash Revelry  (Four Quarters Records)

Peter Rowan – Calling You From My Mountain  (Rebel Records)
Jake Blount – The New Faith  (Smithsonian Folkways Recordings)
Various Artists – Something Borrowed, Something New: A Tribute to John Anderson   (Easy Eye Sound)
Miko Marks & The Resurrectors – Feel Like Going Home  (Redtone Records)

 

Coming out soon… Whitehorse, Margo Price, Mile Twelve, Erik Vincent Huey, The Milk Carton Kids, The Mother Hips, The Gibson Brothers, Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley, Matt Hillyer, Doug Paisley, Pony Bradshaw, Eddie 9V, Mark Erelli and more!

 

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Boogie Best of 2021 List

Posted on December 22, 2021 by

Here’s Bill Frater’s picks for the best music releases of 2021. As is frequently the case, my Top 10 ends up being more of a Top 20! Please send me your picks for best music and I’ll post some here. Here’s to a much better new year.

1. Sierra Ferrell – Long Time Coming
2. Tim O’Brien – He Walked On
3. Melisa Carper – Daddy’s Country Gold
4. The Flatlanders – Treasure of Love 
5. James McMurtry – The Horses and the Hounds
6. Bill & the Belles – Happy Again
7. Allison Russell – Outside Child
8. Jackson Browne – Downhill From Everywhere
9. John Hiatt with The Jerry Douglas Band – Leftover Feelings
10. Margo Cilker – Pohorylle

And 10 more great ones!

Billy Strings – Renewal
John R. Miller – Depreciated
Malcolm Holcombe – Tricks Of The Trade
Mike And The Moonpies – One To Grow On
Watchhouse – Watchhouse
Brandi Carlile – In These Silent Days
Charles Wesley Godwin – How The Mighty Fall
Los Lobos – Native Sons 
Oliver Wood – Always Smilin’
AJ Fullerton – The Forgiver and the Runaway

 

Coming out in 2022…Punch Brothers, Eliza Gilkyson, Aoife O’Donovan, Eric Brace & Last Train Home, Whitmore Sisters, Greensky Bluegrass, North Mississippi Allstars, Julie Christensen, Maya De Vitry, Janis Ian, John Mayall, Shovels & Rope, Jamestown Revival, The Del McCoury Band, The Cactus Blossoms, The Band of Heathens and many more …

Check out Americana Boogie Radio station!

Bill Frater

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Americana Boogie Best Music of 2020

Posted on December 23, 2020 by

Here’s Bill Frater’s picks for the best music releases of 2020. As is frequently the case, my Top 10 ends up being more of a Top 15! Please send me your picks for best music and I’ll post some here. Here’s to a much better new year.

Brent Cobb – Keep ‘Em on They Toes
Dirk Powell – When I Wait for You
Sarah Jarosz – World On The Ground
Otis Gibbs – Hoosier National
Arlo McKinley – Die Midwestern
Shemekia Copeland – Uncivil War
Charley Crockett – Welcome To Hard Times
Sturgill Simpson – Cuttin’ Grass – Vol. 1 (Butcher Shoppe Sessions)
Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – Reunions
The Two Tracks – Cheers To Solitude

Jim White – Misfit’s Jubilee
Tessy Lou Williams – Tessy Lou Williams
John Craigie – Asterisk The Universe
Kristen Grainger & True North – Ghost Tattoo
Two Bird Stone – Hands and Knees

Check out Americana Boogie Radio!

Bill Frater

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Americana Boogie Best Music of 2019

Posted on January 2, 2020 by

Here’s Bill Frater’s picks for the best music releases of 2019. As is usually the case, my Top 10 ends up being more of a Top 20! Please send me your picks for best music and I’ll post some here. Here’s to a Happy New Year.

1. Tyler Childers – Country Squire (Hickman Holler Records/RCA Records
2. Yola – Walk Through Fire  (Easy Eye Sound/Nonesuch Records)
3. Chris Knight – Almost Daylight   (Drifters Church Productions)
4.  J.S. Ondara – Tales of America (Verve Forecast)
5. Gary Nicholson – The Great Divide  (Blue Corn Music)
6. The Highwomen – The Highwomen  (Low Country Sound/Elektra Records)
7. Hayes Carll – What It Is  (Dualtone Music)
8. Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley – World Full of Blues  (Compass Records)
9. Kelsey Waldon – White Noise/White Lines   (Oh Boy Records)
10. Josh Ritter – Fever Breaks (Pytheas Recordings)

Plus ten more….

Our Native Daughters – Songs of Our Native Daughters  (Smithsonian Folkways Recordings)
Rodney Crowell – Texas  (RC1 Records)
Mandolin Orange – Tides of a Teardrop (Yep Roc Records)
Mike and the Moonpies –  Cheap Silver and Solid Country Gold  (Prairie Rose Records)
Mavis Staples – We Get By  (Anti/Epitaph Records)
Ian Noe – Between The Country  (National Treasury Recordings)
Charley Crockett – The Valley  (Son of Davy Records)
Dori Freeman – Every Single Star  (Blue Hens Music)
TK & The Holy Know-Nothings – Arguably OK  (Mama Bird Recording Co.)
Karen & the Sorrows –  Guaranteed Broken Heart  (Ocean Born Mary Music)

Here’s Bill’s Best of 2019 Freight Train Boogie podcast…

Freight Train Boogie Show #459 (Best of 2019 Show)

Coming out soon…  Marcus King, The Secret Sisters, Dustbowl Revival, Della Mae, Terry Allen and the Panhandle Mystery Band, Last Train Home, The Wood Brothers, Drive-By Truckers, The Mastersons, Annette Wasilik, Bart Budwig, Supersuckers, Aubrie Sellers, Michael Doucet, John Moreland, Christopher Paul Stelling, Will Sexton, James Hunter Six, Darrell Scott, The Third Mind…

Check out Americana Boogie Radio station!

Bill Frater

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Americana Boogie Best Music of 2017

Posted on December 10, 2017 by

Here’s Bill Frater’s picks for the best music of 2017. As is usually the case, my Top 10 ends up being a Top 20, also I decided to select some favorite songs of the year. Please send me your picks for best music and I’ll post some here. Here’s to a great Christmas and holiday season and a Happy New Year.

 

1, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit –  The Nashville Sound
2. Margo Price –  All American Made
3. Marty Stuart and the Fabulous Superlatives –  Way Out West
4. John Moreland –   Big Bad Luv
5. Rhiannon Giddens – Freedom Highway 
6. Tyler Childers –  Purgatory
7. Lee Ann Womack –  The Lonely, The Lonesome & The Gone
8. Chris Hillman –  Bidin’ My Time
9.Steve Earle & The Dukes –  So You Wannabe an Outlaw 
10. Zephaniah OHora and The 18 Wheelers – This Highway 

 

also great…

Angaleena Presley – Wrangled
Colter Wall –  Colter Wall 
Jeremy Pinnell – Ties Of Blood And Affection
Lillie Mae –  Forever and Then Some
Amber Cross –  Savage on the Downhill
Bill Scorzari – Through These Waves
Travis Meadows – First Cigarette
Dori Freeman – Letters Never Read

 

Favorite songs of the year…

Bobby Bare – Things Change  Things Change
Lukas Nelson & Promise of The Real – Find Yourself  Lukas Nelson & Promise of The Real
Rodney Crowell – It Ain’t Over Yet  Close Ties
Dave Rawlings – Yup  Poor David’s Almanack
Chris Stapleton – Broken Halos  From A Room, Vol. 1
Rachel Baiman – Shame  Shame
Shelby Lynne & Allison Moorer – Not Dark Yet  Not Dark Yet
David Luning – Driftin’ Restless

 

Coming out early next year… Bob Livingston, Tommy Emmanuel, The Steep Canyon Rangers, The Ben Miller Band, John Gorka, Sam Lewis, Mary Gauthier, Brandi Carlile, Caleb Caudle, Lisa Morales, Calexico, J.D. Wilkes …

Check out Americana Boogie Radio station!

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Americana Boogie Best CD’s of 2016

Posted on December 22, 2016 by

Here’s my Top Ten CD releases for 2016, plus a few more…

  1. Parker Millsap – The Very Last Day
  2. Margo Price –  Midwest Farmer’s Daughter
  3. Sturgill Simpson –  A Sailor’s Guide to Earth
  4. The Stray Birds –  Magic Fire
  5. John Prine –  For Better, Or Worse
  6. The Cactus Blossoms –  You’re Dreaming
  7. Various Artists –   Southern Family
  8. Shawn Colvin & Steve Earle –   Colvin & Earle
  9. Brent Cobb –   Shine On Rainy Day
  10. The Honeycutters –  On The Ropes

Amanda Shires –  My Piece Of Land
Austin Lucas –  Between the Moon & the Midwest
Lucinda Williams – The Ghosts of Highway 20
Robbie Fulks – Upland Stories
Paul Simon –   Stranger To Stranger
Dori Freeman –  Dori Freeman
Courtney Granger – Beneath Still Waters
The Devil Makes Three – Redemption and Ruin
Yarn – This is the Year
Darrell Scott – The Couchville Sessions

 

 

Due in early 2017… The Infamous Stringdusters, The Wood Brothers, John Craigie, Kasey Chambers, The Show Ponies, Dead Man Winter, Mac Wiseman, Rose Cousins, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings, Natalie Hemby, Brigitte Demeyer & Will Kimbrough, Tift Merritt, Ryan Adams, The Sadies, Scott H. Biram, The Old 97’s, Rhiannon Giddens, Chuck Prophet, Wesley Stace, Valerie June, Hurray for the Riff Raff  …

Check out Americana Boogie Radio station!

Bill Frater

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Freight Train Boogie Best Music of 2015

Posted on December 17, 2015 by

isbell-j-freeAs always, it’s tough to narrow it down to only 10… my list could change day to day, especially as the more recent releases “settle in.”  The Jason has been there since the day it came out and I have a soft space in my heart for the Bottle Rockets, McMurtry and the Wheel.

 

  1.  Jason Isbell –  Something More Than Free
  2.  The Bottle Rockets –  South Broadway Athletic Club
  3.  James McMurtry –  Complicated Game
  4. mcmurtry-james-complicated Chris Stapleton –  Traveller
  5. Rhiannon Giddens  – Tomorrow Is My Turn
  6. John Moreland –  High on Tulsa Heat
  7. Sam Outlaw – Angeleno
  8. The Supersuckers –  Holdin’ The Bag
  9. Kacey Musgraves –  Pageant Material
  10. Asleep At The Wheel – Still The King: Celebrating The Music of Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys

Plus 10 more great ones!

Andrew Combs –   All These Dreams 
The Deslondes –  The Deslondes
honeycutters-myomyKevin Gordon- Long Gone Time
Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell – The Traveling Kind
The Honeycutters – Me Oh My
Lindi Ortega – Faded Gloryville
Joan Shelley – Over and Even  (iTunes)
Willy Tea Taylor – The Very Best  Knuckleball Prime
The Turnpike Troubadours – Turnpike Troubadours
Various Artists –  Cold & Bitter Tears: The Songs of Ted Hawkins  (iTunes)

Freight Train Boogie Best of 2015 podcast.

 

Check out the new Americana Boogie Radio station!

Bill Frater

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Freight Train Boogie Best Music of 2014

Posted on December 16, 2014 by

cash-r-7As always, it’s tough to narrow it down to only 10… my list could change day to day, especially as the more recent releases “settle in.”  Rosanne’s album has held firm for the whole year. I’ve always been a fan but husband John Leventhal’s guitar and songwriting contributions make this a masterpiece, in my humble opinion. I love Sturgill Simpson’s work and I applaud his success and Grammy nod but I wasn’t knocked out by his psychedelic experiments, so he’s in the bottom 5.

  1. Rosanne Cash – The River & The Thread
  2. gibbs-o-youthParker Millsap – Parker Millsap
  3. Otis Gibbs – Souvenirs Of A Misspent Youth
  4. Lucinda Williams – Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone
  5. Doug Seegers – Going Down To The River
  6. Nikki Lane – All Or Nothin‘
  7. Sturgill Simpson – Metamodern Sounds in Country Music
  8. Jesse Winchester – Reasonable Amount of Trouble
  9. Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives – Saturday Night/Sunday Morning
  10. seegers-doug-river (200x200)JP Harris & The Tough Choices – Home Is Where The Hurt Is

Honorable mentions…

Cory Branan – The No-Hit Wonder

The Earls Of Leicester –The Earls of Leicester

frontcountry-1Front Country – Sake Of The Sound

Hiss Golden Messenger – Lateness of Dancers

Hurray For The Riff Raff – Small Town Heroes

Cahalen Morrison & Country Hammer – The Flower of Muscle Shoals

Doug Paisley – Strong Feelings

Freight Train Boogie Show #281 (Best of 2014) podcast

Happy holidays!

Bill Frater
Twitter: @Fratrain
Flipboard: Americana Boogie Music

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Freight Train Boogie Best Music Releases of 2013

Posted on December 18, 2013 by

isbell-5Here’s FTB and Americana Boogie editor Bill Frater’s picks for the best music of 2013. The order is pretty flexible, all twenty albums are great. Click the artist or album links to find out more.  The artist’s names link to their websites and the CD title links go either Amazon or CD Baby for easy ordering.  I will post some of the reader’s Top Ten picks soon. Your comments and suggestions (and votes) are welcome!

1. JASON ISBELL – Southeastern

2. DELBERT McCLINTON & GLEN CLARK – Blind, Crippled and Crazy

willis-bruce-23. KELLY WILLIS & BRUCE ROBISON – Cheater’s Game

4. THE DEVIL MAKES THREE – I’m A Stranger Here

5. PATTY GRIFFIN – American Kid

6. STEVE EARLE – The Low Highway

7. THE BLACK LILLIES – Runaway Freeway Blues

8. blacklillies-3TIM O’BRIEN AND DARRELL SCOTT – Memories & Moments

9. NICKI BLUHM AND THE GRAMBLERS – Nicki Bluhm and The Gramblers

10. STURGILL SIMPSON – High Top Mountain

11.  MANDO SAENZ – Studebaker

harris-rodney-112. EMMYLOU HARRIS & RODNEY CROWELL – Old Yellow Moon

13. PAUL BURCH – Fevers

14. WILLIE SUGARCAPPS – Willie Sugarcapps

15. AUSTIN LUCAS – Stay Reckless

16. GUY CLARK – My Favorite Picture of You

simpson-s-117.ROBBIE FULKS – Gone Away Backward

18. Various Artists – The Big E: A Salute to Steel Guitarist Buddy Emmons

19. GREG TROOPER – Incident on Willow Street

20. BRENNEN LEIGH & NOEL McKAY – Before The World Was Made

Below are a few of the Freight Train Boogie readers’ year-end lists…

Here are the albums I listened to most this year:

fulks-6Kenny Roby – Memories and Birds
Aoife O’Donovan – Fossils
Neko Case – The More….
Robbie Fulks – Gone Away Backwards
Kelly Willis/Bruce Robison – Cheater’s Game
Jason Isbell – Southeastern
Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell – Old Yellow Moon
Chris Stamey – Lovesick Blues
Willie Sugarcapps
Bob Dylan – Another Self Portrait

(Mark Plott, Greensboro NC)

williesugarcapps-11) Willie Sugarcapps – Willie Sugarcapps
2) Darrell Scott & Tim O’Brien – Memories and Moments
3) Slaid Cleaves – Still Fighting The War
4) Sam Baker – Say Grace
5) Reckless Kelly – Long Night Moon<
6) Ned Van Go – Lost In The Trouble
7) D B Reilly – Cross My Heart and Hope To Die
8) Guthrie Kennard – Cross Your Heart
9) Holly Williams – The Highway
10) Steve Earle – The Low Highway

That’s a really difficult thing to do from so much great music. Thanks again for another great year of shows.
All the best,
Rob

Bill Frater
Freight Train Boogie

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Best Americana Music of 2012

Posted on December 31, 2012 by

knight-c-7It’s the end of another year and time to collect our thoughts and memories and favorite songs and albums…

Here’s Freight Train Boogie editor Bill Frater’s list for 2012… subject to change…

1. IRIS DeMENT – Sing The Delta  (Flariella)
2. CHRIS KNIGHT – Little Victories (Drifter’s Church)
3. BUDDY MILLER AND JIM LAUDERDALE – Buddy & Jim (New West)
4. JUSTIN TOWNES EARLE – Nothing’s Going to Change The Way You Feel About Me Now … (Bloodshot)
5. CORB LUND – Cabin Fever (New West)
6. WORLD FAMOUS HEADLINERS – World Famous Headliners (Big Yellow Dog)
7. CAROLINA CHOCOLATE DROPS – Leaving Eden (Nonesuch)
scott-d-58. DARRELL SCOTT – Long Ride Home (Full Light)
9. Phil Madeira and Friends – Mercyland: Hymns for the Rest of Us (Mercyland/Tone Tree)
10. SAM LEWIS – Sam Lewis (self released)
11. THE TIME JUMPERS – The Time Jumpers (Rounder)
12. MALCOLM HOLCOMBE – Down the River  (self released)
13. BRANDI CARLILE – Bear Creek (Columbia)
14. JOHN FULLBRIGHT – From the Ground Up (12th Street)
15. JP HARRIS & THE TOUGH CHOICES – I’ll Keep Calling  (Cow Island)
16. FIRST AID KIT – The Lion’s Roar (Wichita)
17. THE TRISHAS – High, Wide & Handsome (self released)
18. MOOT DAVIS – Man About Town (Highway Kind)
19. THE WANDERING – Go On Now, You Can’t Stay Here (Songs Of The South)
20. KASEY CHAMBERS & SHANE NICHOLSON – Wreck & Ruin (Sugar Hill)

You can also listen to my Spotify Best Americana music of 2012 playlist with many of my favorite tunes from the year.

timejumpers-1Here’s a nice list from Portland FTB reviewer Brad Price…

  • The Time Jumpers – The Time Jumpers
  • Bonnie Raitt – Slipstream
  • Dr. John – Locked Down
  • First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar
  • Abigail Washburn – City of Refuge
  • Tedeschi/Trucks Band – Everybody’s Talkin’
  • Anais Mitchell – Young Man In America
  • Bruce Springsteen – Wrecking Ball
  • Bob Dylan – Tempest
  • The Lumineers – The Lumineers

Dan Ferguson, host of Boudin Barndance on WRIU-FM in Kingston, Rhode Island contributes the occasional fine review to the FTB site… Here are his favorite new releases & reissues of 2012…

hogan-k-3 mcpherson-jd-1Kelly Hogan – I Like to Keep Myself in Pain (Anti)
Heartless Bastards – Arrow (Partisan)
J.D. McPherson – Signs & Signifiers (Rounder)
Alabama Shakes – Boys & Girls (ATO)
First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar (Wichita)
John Fullbright – From the Ground Up (Blue Dirt)
Winterpills – All My Lovely Goners (ATO)
Patterson Hood – Heat Lightning Rumbles in the Distance (ATO Records)
Jon Spencer Blues Explosion – Meat + Bone (Boombox)
Dead Fingers – self-titled (Big Legal Mess)
Mark Cutler – Sweet Pain (75orless)
Lambchop – Mr. A (Merge)
Amy Allison & David Scott – Turn Like the World Does

 

Here’s a list from FTB fan Don Parsons from Spring Valley, MN

fullbright-1!.  John  Fullbright – From the Ground Up
2.  Shovels and Rope – O’ Be Joyful
3.  Justin Townes Earle – Nothing’s Gonna Change the Way You Feel About Me Now
4.  Sons of Bill – Sirens
5.  Uncle Lucius – And You Are Me
6.  Chris Ross – Halfway to Wonderland
7.  Whitehorse – The Fate Of The World Depends On This Kiss
8.  Jason Isbell And The 400 Unit – Live From Alabama
9.  Ray Wylie Hubbard – The Grifter’s Hymnal
10.  Otis Gibbs – Harder Than Hammered Hell

Wim Tijskens checks in from The Netherlands

herring-c-41. Caroline Herring: Camilla
2. Cahalen Morrison & Eli West: Our Lady of the Tall Trees
3. Darrell Scott: Long Ride Home
4. John Wort Hannam: Brambles and Thorns
5. The Pines: Dark So Gold
6. Iris DeMent: Sing The Delta
7. Old Man Luedecke: Tender is the Night
8. Ben Bedford: What We Lost
9. Black Prairie: A Tear in the Eye is A Wound in the Heart
10.The Stray Birds: The Stray Birds
Bill Frater
Freight Train Boogie

 

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