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The 30 Best Country and Americana Albums of 2020

Ashley McBryde, Chris Stapleton, and others rise to meet an uncertain year

Photographs by Amy Harris/Invision/AP; Bridgette Aikens*; Remi Theriault*; Becky Fluke*

Songwriting, songwriting, songwriting: The albums on our year’s-best list all raised the bar with their lyricism. Whether artists were writing and singing about serious subjects like addiction and family strife (Waylon Payne, Ashley McBryde), or just coming up with a fresh way to describe getting stoned (The Cadillac Three, Brent Cobb), they reached new heights in their craft.

But let’s not overlook the production of our entries either. Chris Stapleton recharged his sound with an assist from two of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers, Margo Price gave classic rock a bear hug, and Lilly Hiatt dove headfirst into R.E.M. indie rock. Sturgill Simpson, meanwhile, dialed it way back, returning to his roots with a pair of bluegrass albums.

Of course, the narrative of this 2020 was uncertainty and strife. But our artists met the moment, showing persistence and resilience in the face of a paralyzing threat to creativity. Kathleen Edwards returned from a lengthy hiatus with a stunning collection, while some performers, like Kelsea Ballerini, even released multiple LPs, finding solace and comfort in the rhythms of productivity. These are the 30 best.

From Rolling Stone US

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Elizabeth Cook, ‘Aftermath’

With some of the best songs of her career, her band Gravy at her side, and producer Butch Walker behind the console, Nashville singer-songwriter Elizabeth Cook headed to L.A. to make a banger of an album. While it may be more West Coast shine than Tennessee dirt, the country livin’ in the lyrics is unmistakable. She writes of playing loose with the truth in “Two Chords and a Lie,” drops redneck bon mots like “Don’t go selling crazy/We’re stocked up here” in “These Days,” and puts you right in the room with her and her ailing father in “Daddy I Got Love for You.” Egged on by Walker in brawny tracks like “Bones,” Cook even reveals her inner rock goddess. The results are glorious. —J.H.

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Ashley McBryde, ‘Never Will’

Never Will was this year’s most adventurous mainstream country album, drawing on everything from old-timey mountain music (“Velvet Red”) and storming country rock (“Martha Divine”) to the Fleetwood Mac-indebted glimmer of the title track. On “Voodoo Doll” and “One Night Standards,” McBryde firmly establishes herself as a razor-sharp chronicler of forbidden pleasure and hardboiled lust. “You’d think a girl on fire,” she sings, “would stay away from gasoline.” Never Will is an extraordinary document that chronicles — with empathy, grace, and humor — what happens when men and women pour gasoline onto their own bad decisions. It also re-creates the trick that McBryde pulled off on her stellar debut: proving that honest-to-goodness country songs can have commercial appeal. —J.B.