Country music in 2018 was in a weird place: After close to three years of dominance from Chris Stapleton, and “He’s doing things the right way” talk about Sturgill Simpson, there wasn’t really a giant lightning-rod album that gave the year it’s defining statement. The new Eric Church album was solid, but it had less heat than his revealing Rolling Stone cover story. Sam Hunt still didn’t put out a new album. Stapleton, Simpson, Isbell et. al., mostly sat the year out, or performed live a bunch. Florida Georgia Line had a song at No. 1 for a whole-ass calendar year, but everyone kind of shrugged about it. The main issue in country music — which has been the issue since at least 1963 — is that radio programmers are still being openly sexist, and refusing to play women artists for reasons basically boiling down to a bunch of men being afraid of women.
Without a unifying story, this list of the 10 Best Country and Americana Albums of the year doesn’t have a narrative arc of any kind, but that allowed for a variety of albums, from pop country kings and legends to Canadian boys making C&W records and three women reuniting to deliver their best album yet. Here are the 10 Best Country and Americana Albums of 2018.
尽管佛罗里达乔治亚线和 Bebe Rexha 的合唱称霸了2018年的歌曲榜单,没有哪位乡村艺术家像 Kane Brown 那样成为商业巨人,他的2016年首张专辑在乡村专辑榜上连续10周排名第一。今年他推出了新专辑 Experiment,正如标题所示,这张专辑展示了 Brown 不同的风格,他能和最好的乡村巨星一起演绎大而愚蠢的兄弟乡村歌曲(“Short Skirt Weather”),也能演唱带有政治色彩的歌曲,这对大多数A-list乡村明星来说是巨大的风险(“American Bad Dream”),并成为乡村版 Ty Dolla Sign(“One Night Only”)。兄弟乡村浪潮开始减退,多亏了像 Brown 这样的艺术家,他们利用兄弟乡村的工具和机会,创造更好的音乐。
尽管传统主义者会告诉你什么属于乡村音乐但不属于,突破界限是必要的:如果不突破,我们现在还在听着汉克·威廉姆斯对着罐头做的演绎。自从 Pageant Material 以来,Kacey Musgraves 一直是乡村音乐保守主义者的焦点,他们认为她“不属于乡村音乐”的主要原因是她出现在了 Fader 的封面上。她的新专辑 Golden Hour 更是引发了更多的争论,这张2018年早期的专辑中竟然有一首真正的迪斯科歌曲(“High Horse”)。但 Musgraves 拒绝迎合任何类型而是忠于自己的灵感,这让她成为了当今最具反叛精神的真诚乡村艺术家之一,而 Golden Hour 是她最好的时刻之一,这张专辑捕捉到了新爱情的悸动——它是在她的分手和新恋情过程中创作的——是2018年中让人感觉最好的专辑之一,而这一年我们都需要这种感觉。
Colter Wall 去年凭借 他的首张同名专辑 占据了这个位置,而这张专辑感觉像是一个巨大的进步。不知怎的,他的上一张专辑是一个简单的、人与吉他之间的对话,而这张专辑则扩展了他的音调,呈现出 Marty Robbins 和 Tex Ritter 的西部专辑的现代演绎。Wall 的歌曲创作一直是他的秘密武器,但他将自己的声音变成一种更为多变的乐器是这里的亮点,他从一个悠扬的牛仔到一个低沉的旅人,再返回来。Songs of the Plains 是对我们从哪里来以及我们如何塑造那里的一种颂歌,是乡村音乐中一个新力量的到来。最难以置信的是,Wall 的杰作可能还要等上几年和多张专辑。
Andrew Winistorfer is Senior Director of Music and Editorial at Vinyl Me, Please, and a writer and editor of their books, 100 Albums You Need in Your Collection and The Best Record Stores in the United States. He’s written Listening Notes for more than 30 VMP releases, co-produced multiple VMP Anthologies, and executive produced the VMP Anthologies The Story of Vanguard, The Story of Willie Nelson, Miles Davis: The Electric Years and The Story of Waylon Jennings. He lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
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