Justin Townes Earle – Harlem River Blues
Steve Earle’s son moves out of dad’s shadow with this infectious set of Southern gospel rock.
Dr. Dog – Shame, Shame
Another great album from the throwback indie rockers from Philly. See these guys live when you can.
Chatham County Line – Wildwood
The Raleigh-based string band goes deeper into Americana and forest rock with this effort made at Echo Mountain Recording Studio in Asheville.
Cadillac Sky – Letters in the Deep
The Nashville string band gets experimental and finds elements of trippy folk and cerebral pop rock.
Black Keys – Brothers
The garage blues duo headed down to Muscle Shoals and crushed it—even if they sold these songs to too many commercials.
Drive-By Truckers – The Big To-Do
The Truckers got back to big rock bombast, and it never sounded better.
Anders Osborne – American Patchwork
The bluesy New Orleans tunesmith teamed up with Galactic drummer Stanton Moore and created a cool mix of funk, groove, and Crescent City rock.
Joe Pug – Messenger
The Chicago-based songwriter can paralyze you with his stark fingerpicking, smoky vocals, and soul-searching prose.
Mumford and Sons – Sigh No More
These Brits conquered every festival from Bonnaroo to Telluride and became the kings of the banjo-toting new school folk movement.
Trampled by Turtles – Palomino
Ragged Americana that shifts from furious strings to Townes Van Zandt-style balladry.
