The most interesting thing about doing this list is that, for me, it’s disabusing myself of certain notions. For one, I’ve honestly felt in the last five years that I haven’t been enjoying the music I’ve been receiving as much as I did in the blog’s first five years.
That’s not true. The music has become more challenging, more pensive. Maybe it doesn’t make my heart well up – but that’s because it doesn’t yet have the gloss (or patina?) of nostalgia. In some ways, I think the music on this list represents far more sophistication than last week’s. And maybe – just maybe – I am beginning to understand the full weight of our collective depression and desperation under the Trump administration. And, of course, there’s nothing to indicate that weight will be lifted any time soon.
Something else that’s interesting to me is the complete about-face when it comes to gender balance. There is only one gentleman-led band on this list. Why? Well, part of it has to do with me. SOMEWHERE in the archives – I won’t say where because it’s too embarrassing – I tried to explain what I felt, at the time, was the difference between women and male vocalists (ca. The early 2010s) and why I kept finding myself gravitating to music by men, even though I was perfectly aware of the genre’s gender imbalance. I didn’t realize that my writing echoed a long and sexist history of rock criticism.
But there was something bigger. Frankly, publicists and record labels began to course correct. Even as I was opening my ears to more women artists, the industry’s gatekeepers began marketing people who weren’t previously considered marketable: women (especially brassy women like Margo Price and Ashley McBryde), BIPOC artists, and LGBTQ+ artists.
I am going to pat myself on the back for being – in whatever small ways – a part of this wave. Adobe & Teardrops has always always stood for underrepresented voices in what is now a commercial juggernaut of a genre. Americana as a genre barely existed by name in 2011, though the voices – including those belonging to BIPOC and LGBTQ+ artists – have always been with us. Here’s to making sure that wave doesn’t recede from the shore.
2016 (See the full list here.) – No Brand New Flag on Spotify? Bandcamp playlist maker when???
- Becky Warren – “Stay Calm, Stay Low” (War Surplus) – Warren’s dry wit turns what should be a heartbreaker of an album into country perfection. Sure, there are some ballads that’ll bring you to your knees, but for the most part Warren channels her subjects’ world-weary trauma responses into great – and catchy – songs.
- Anna Tivel – “Black Balloon” (Heroes Waking Up) – Something about this album caught me at exactly the right time and it has held me in its sway every since. Tivel’s hushed deliveries and disciplined storytelling create worlds that are as ominous as they are magical, asking us to consider those who are down and out and what they could bring to the table if we let them.
2017 (See the full list here.)
- Karen and the Sorrows – “The Price of the Ticket” (The Narrow Place) – There’s probably no other artist I’ve spent more time writing about and I’m so glad Karen doesn’t think it’s creepy. Karen’s organizing efforts have created the network of queer country musicians we all know and love today. As the band name suggestions, Karen’s repertoire is full of breakup ballads (it’s a good thing she’ll hopefully be playing at our wedding!) but “The Price of the Ticket,” to me, encapsulates her political work as an anti-racist queer Jewish organizer. (PS, you can hear Karen’s brand new song here and read her essay about her vision for the queer country community in Rainbow Rodeo.)
- Hurray For the Riff Raff – “Pa’lante” (The Navigator) – Speaking of queer New Yorkers, Hurray For the Riff Raff’s The NavigatorI is a tour de force all of its own. It’s a concept album based on a fictional music about the gentrification of the Bronx. I still haven’t seen anyone do a deep dive into the deep level of history and connection Alynda Lee Segarra put into the record, and I’m not sure I’m the person to do it. But as I watch literal supertowers dwarf the South Bronx waterfront, I can’t help but feel a chill and summon the Navigator to make them all disappear.
2018 (See the full list and listen to the episode here.)
- HC McEntire – “A Lamb, A Dove” (LIONHEART) – McEntire’s sweeping, oracular Southern rock comes to a crescendo on LIONHEART, her first solo record from Mount Moriah. I’m always drawn to the primordial deepness of McEntire’s compositions, but this song, light and hopeful, sweeps me away with its passion.
- Mariel Buckley – “I Wonder” (Driving in the Dark) – When I first started dating my fiancee, I wrote that if this album was a person I’d leave her for it – I just felt it understood me so much. Buckley’s career is poised to take off like a rocket – if only COVID would just fucking go away. In the meantime, “I Wonder”’s optimistic outlook in the face of homophobia and violence is my touchstone to get me through.
2019 (See the full list and listen to the episode here.)
- Jason Hawk Harris – “Giving In” (Love & The Dark) – Hawk Harris’s debut solo album Love & The Dark, is absolutely stunning. It finds Harris at a moment where he’s wrestling with a truly Job-ian lot: getting sober, settling down, the death of his mother. If squeezing those coals into lyrical diamonds wasn’t enough of a feat, Harris and his band delivery scorching-hot country fire and fury, giving the songs an accessible entryway into some of the most unimaginable pain any one person can go through.
- Abigail Lapell – “Sparrow For a Heart” (Getaway) – Like Tivel, I was absolutely taken by Lapell’s hushed mythologizing. Technically and lyrically, Getaway is a masterpiece. To be honest, I haven’t listened to it lately, but I don’t need to. Lapell’s storytelling is embedded into me.
2020 (See the full list and listen to the episode here.)
- Stephanie Lambring – “Daddy’s Disappointment” (Autonomy) – If you haven’t had a chance to listen to Lambring’s debut yet, put Autonomy on your to-do list. Lambring’s fiercely feminist album tackles all the things we’re scared to discuss: body image, abusive relationships, growing up queer in the Bible Belt – all done with an intensity of purpose that makes us all know that Lambring, after much searching, is exactly where she’s supposed to be.
- Angelica Garcia – “Jicama” (Cha-Cha Palace) – This one’s a bit of a dark horse because it’s not Americana by any stretch. (In fact, Garcia’s newest album is a feat of electronica engineering and vocal prowess – and I didn’t realize I’d adore it.) Garcia has an incredible swagger, intensity, and sense that she is being true to herself. You will not be able to listen to this album and not feel amazing afterwards.
I think that following me on Spotify is a thing you can do to make sure you get a new playlist from me every Friday! You can also follow Tuesday Teardrops, a playlist of new and exciting songs that refreshes every — you guessed it — Tuesday! As always, buy music and/or merch directly from the artists because Spotify is a horrible and exploitative platform!
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