Saving Country Music’s 2023 Essential Albums List
Welcome to Saving Country Music’s most comprehensive guide to music in a given year: The Essential Albums List. It starts with the first 17 albums that are deemed the “Most Essential.” These were albums right on the bubble of being named Album of the Year nominees. Then there is an additional list of albums that were reviewed in 2023, and deemed worthy of recognizing. This list is meant to be a resource not just for 2023, but for future generations who may want to reflect back on this year in country music.
A few ground rules:
- This does NOT include the Album of the Year Nominees since they’ve already had a spotlight shined on them through the nomination process. In the spirit of highlighting what was overlooked, they are not included here.
- There is no specific order to the list, aside from the first albums being considered the “Most Essential,” or albums that just missed the bubble to be considered Album of the Year nominees.
- More albums will eventually end up on the Essential Albums List. More 2023 albums will be reviewed in the coming days into the first few weeks of January before 2024 releases start in earnest. Saving Country Music reviewed over 100 albums in 2023, so please no whining about was overlooked. Be thankful this free resource to music listeners continues to be offered every year.
- As always, suggestions of additional albums, lists of your essential albums, and opinions about this list are encouraged, and can be shared in the comments section below. Just please no “Hey, this list is entirely bunk because so and so wasn’t included!” or because “so and so WAS included.”
2023 Saving Country Music Album of the Year Nominees
• Amanda Fields – What, When and Without (review) • Gabe Lee – Drink The River (review) • Vince Gill and Paul Franklin – Sweet Memories (review) • Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit – Weathervanes (review) • Brent Cobb – Southern Star (review) • Lori McKenna – 1988 (review) • Charles Wesley Godwin – Family Ties (review) • Joe Stamm Band – Wild Man (review) • Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives – Altitude (review) • The Malpass Brothers – Lonely Street (review)
Most Essential Albums
MOST ESSENTIAL – Brennen Leigh – Ain’t Through Honky Tonkin’ Yet
We often like to say when listening to a great classic country song released in the modern day, “If it had been recorded back in the 60s or 70s, it would have been a #1 hit.” When it comes to Brennen Leigh’s new album Ain’t Through Honky Tonkin’ Yet, it would be like a Greatest Hits compilation of #1’s from a Golden Era country star if it was released 50 years ago. One song after another dazzles you with it’s classic country authenticity that speaks to the heart so much better than the country genre’s more modern modes.
In Brennen’s 2020 album Prairie Love Letter, she paid homage to her home in the Upper Midwest. With 2022’s Obsessed With The West, she toasted Western Swing and the time she spent in Texas earlier in her career. With this new album, Leigh centers her attention on the very kernel of what country music is supposed to be that’s informed by her recent era in Nashville, and serves it up with a honky tonk kick. If Brennen Leigh wants to honky tonk, you better damn well let her. (read full review)
MOST ESSENTIAL – Colter Wall – Little Songs
Of all the improbable achievements and benchmarks set by independent country in the last few years, none has been as astounding as the ascension of Colter Wall and his specific version of authentic Western songs. There was no economy for this music for him to enter into, no sizable audience to inherit, no immediate forebearers to piggyback on.
Colter Wall’s new album Little Songs is a continuation of the second phase of his career, which has been centered around reinterpreting classics from the Western music canon for a new and enthusiastic audience, while sliding in his original works in hopes they will eventually land alongside the old classics in the Western songbooks and recordings of the future. (read full review)
MOST ESSENTIAL – Jake Worthington – Self-Titled
If you want to hear true traditional country in its most pure form in 2023, listen to Jake Worthington. We’re talking Mark Chesnutt, Daryle Singletary country, where you can’t fit an index card between the true definition of “country music,” and what Worthington turns in here. It’s so country, it’s almost as shocking as it is welcome, especially when you consider the circumstances of how it came together.
The time for traditional country is right now. Big mainstream Music Row record labels like Big Loud, producers such as Joey Moi, and performers like Ernest all getting in on the game tells you all you need to know. It also tells you they think this is where the future of country music is headed. Jake Worthington wasn’t ready for the big time in country music when he won The Voice, and country music wasn’t ready for him either. Now, the stars have aligned, and the timing is perfect. (read full review)
MOST ESSENTIAL – Channing Wilson – Dead Man
Not for the weak or defibrillated, Channing Wilson doesn’t deliver songs, he pounds them into your chest like a battering ram. The power and punch of what he is serving up here should come with a warning label and require a stress test of the audience. Waylon gets all manner of credit for being the hard-edged country “Outlaw,” but anyone who actually knows his catalog can attest he sung all kinds of love ballads and such too. The closest thing you get to a love song here is the one where Channing talks about being crazy.
What’s always been strange about Channing Wilson being so under-the-radar is not just how good he is with words, which is something fellow artists like Luke Combs, Sunny Sweeney, Travis Tritt, and Jason Eady have all recognized by putting his songs on their albums. It’s also the heartbreaking soul and sheer earth-shattering power with which Channing delivers them. That’s why it’s always felt scandalous that he wasn’t better known outside of Nashville songwriting rounds. And it’s what makes this Dead Man album so potent. Channing Wilson is a songwriter, and a performer. (read full review)
MOST ESSENTIAL – Pony Bradshaw – North Georgia Rounder
There is a discipline of Southern heritage deeply interested in the art of language, and not just for the stories and truths it may help tell, but writing and talking just for the sake of it, and finding beauty and wisdom in the words themselves, and how they relate to the Southern American experience. We’re talking about the realm of William Faulkner and other masters that the modern world has so unfortunately moved on from for the frenetic priority of now.
North Georgia native Pony Bradshaw is uninterested and your priorities though. Instead, he’s allured by the idea of resurrecting this proud art form in the musical realm with snapshot stories full of Southern vernacular and worthy aphorisms. It is mostly Americana in sound, but most importantly, it’s strongly literary, aided in this pursuit by a compelling voice reminiscent in some respects to the elusive Willis Alan Ramsey. (read full review)
MOST ESSENTIAL – Margo Cilker – Valley of Heart’s Delight
Sorry to those anticipating a sophomore slump from ol’ Cilker after her well-received debut Pohorylle. Now seasoned as a songwriter and performer, and with many more miles on her Michelins, she’s got even more skill and material with which to send hearts reeling and stir souls. Valley of Hearts Delight is the ideal mix of fun reels and killer heartbreakers all rendered in a country a style by Margo and producer/ drummer/songwriter Sera Cahoone.
Margo Cilker songs are always taking you somewhere, with the rich language evoking the places, landscapes, and characters in your mind in stark relief. The song “Lowland Trail” is about much more than finding your way through rugged terrain. But the visions it evokes in the mind’s eye primes the imagination to accept the song’s true meaning. (read full review)
MOST ESSENTIAL – The Steel Woods – On Your Time
The Steel Woods stand on stage as modern-day Southern rock Gods. On what’s now their fourth full-length album, there’s no reason to measure them against any other, no need to attempt to draw comparisons with the bands that came before them, or to ask where their place is in the music world. Their mix of country, rock, and metal is all their own. They’ve carved out a growing legacy, and now it’s the scrappy young newcomers looking up to them.
You don’t listen to an album by The Steel Woods for mere escapism or entertainment. It can be both of these things as well for sure. But this is a band who knows how to immerse you in an entirely other universe, and knows how to impart life wisdom through stories, often not saying anything especially revelatory or prophetic, but figuring out how to positively reinforce important lessons that we all already know, yet always seem to need to hear again. (read full review)
MOST ESSENTIAL – Willy Tea Taylor – The Great Western Hangover
A strongly collaborative album, The Great Western Hangover is not sparse and understated like some of Willy’s previous work. It’s purposefully full and electric. Tom Petty is cited as a similarity and influence for the album, but you also hear a lot of Neil Young’s Crazy Horse in songs like “Devil’s Taxidermy” and “Dangerously Beautiful.”
The Great Western Hangover is Willy Tea Taylor’s alt-country album, and hopefully, his breakout from a cult following to more widespread critical acclaim, and a bridge back to his back catalog for those that discover him through it. Willy Tea Taylor’s music is about healing. It’s about refusing to pass judgement, and willing to give forgiveness and understanding to all. It’s medicine as music. (read full review)
MOST ESSENTIAL – Daniel Donato – Reflector
Prepare yourself for one of the most interesting, omnivorous, and immersive experiences that you can discover in music that still claims an allegiance to “country.” It’s Daniel Donato’s Reflector, and it’s the realization of his “cosmic country” dream first envisioned years ago, but finally coming to fruition in its full form now.
Giving you warm recollections of some of the best cuts from the catalogs of greats like The Allman Brothers and The Grateful Dead, yet steeped fiercely in the traditions of take off Telecaster country, it’s all rendered with imagination and originality through Daniel Donato’s striking instrumental talent, surprising ear for melody, and enhanced aptitude for composition. (read full review)
MOST ESSENTIAL – Summer Dean – The Biggest Life
To sing and write it well, you first have to live it. By society’s cruel and arbitrary assessments—and Summer Dean’s own stock taking as articulated on this album—an unmarried child-less 40-something retired school teacher turned honky tonk singer isn’t exactly the resumé of someone setting the world on fire. But man, it sure does result in some excellent country music, and ultimately flies in the face of the idea that someone like Summer doesn’t have something of value to share with the world.
The Biggest Life is a unique album in the Summer Dean catalog in how it includes some of those hard country honky tonk songs that she’s become known for, but they’re interspersed with stripped-down and more songwriter-based songs that range from strikingly candid to delightfully corn pone. Summer challenges the listener a little bit by starting off with two slow songs. But she ultimately turns in an album that says a lot, is musically diverse while staying distinctly country, and touches the entire range of human emotions. She keeps you on your toes for sure. (read full review)
MOST ESSENTIAL – The Wilder Blue – Super Natural
The Wilder Blue is a collective of souls with uncanny chemistry that reminds you why you’re a music fan in the first place. They cast a wide net of appeal that crosses genres, eras, and sensibilities, without feeling unoriginal or recycled. With an uncommonly good understanding of what people find so appealing in music and the capability to articulate it, they rekindle the ability for music to mean something more to an audience than mere distraction or escapism.
There is a joy and gratefulness for life embedded in everything The Wilder Blue does that lasts well beyond the last note, because their music reminds you of the things that are truly the most important, and centers your attention back on them. (read full review)
MOST ESSENTIAL – Turnpike Troubadours – A Cat in the Rain
The Turnpike Troubadours are one of the premier country music acts of our time. It may take some time for everyone to realize that, but the world is slowly waking up to it. They’ve been playing the long game since the beginning, and a Cat In The Rain falls right in line with the rest of their albums that will be enjoyed fondly in the present tense, and probably even more in the future.
One of the most impressive and uncanny attributes of Turnpike Troubadours music is how it tends to grow even better over time. This is a mark of craftsmanship and quality, and one that has graced their music from the very beginning. It’s one of the reasons they entered their hiatus in 2019 as a popular, but regional Red Dirt band, and exited headlining major festivals coast to coast. (read full review)
MOST ESSENTIAL – Tony Logue – The Crumbs
This is the sound of tattooed scars, cauterized wounds, and calloused hands. This is the sound of folks with sinewy muscles and bulging veins earned not from pumping iron, but from forging steel and beating back rust while punching a time clock. This is the sound of working men thrashing around in bed at night, tortured with the fear of not being able to feed their families.
Unlike some of his compatriots from the bluegrass state, Tony’s from the part of Kentucky that butts up against parts of the Rust Belt and the Midwest. That comes through in his music with a blue collar attitude and big influence from Springsteen and Heartland rock. Yet the way the steel guitar cuts through the mix and Logue’s Southern accent is so inescapable, it gives these songs a country music heart. (read full review)
MOST ESSENTIAL – Ward Davis – Sunday Morning EP
Generally speaking, EPs are the also-rans of recorded music, and for good reason. Ward Davis though, he understands that a short form album can present an opportunity to deliver a cohesive thought better than an individual song can, but stretching that thought out into a full album can dilute it and lessen the impact as well.
Sunday Morning is an involved and formidable stroke of songwriting mastery that once again establishes Ward Davis as a serious stalwart in the field, and decidedly underrated in this respect. Just like he did with his Saving Country Music Album of the Year-winning album Black Cats and Crows from 2020, he distinguishes himself here with his use of words to deliver meaningful moments, and the strong voice he uses to deliver them with. (read full review)
MOST ESSENTIAL – The War and Treaty – Lover’s Game
Country music has always been, and will always be a push and pull of both yearning for purity in the genre, while also wanting to be inviting to a wide sphere of influences and perspectives. The War and Treaty is just the kind of diversity country music needs—one with roots in the genre from the Gospel and blues influences in their sound, respect for country’s origins and institutions, while also instilling a level of talent that is frankly unparalleled by peers, and perfect for proving why being too rigid with genre borders can result in the loss of valuable voices.
No matter what you call them, The War & Treaty belong. And if the rest of the musical world is too busy to invite them into the fold, country music should be more than happy to have them. (read full review)
MOST ESSENTIAL – Nick Shoulders – All Bad
Nick Shoulders is the singing, yodeling, whistling, mulleted and mustachioed country music weirdo freak of our time. It’s a requisite that you instigate any discussion about him or his music with that introduction because it’s the best summation for what you’re in store for when you press play. Perhaps it’s not for everyone, but for those that want a dash of the surreal and silly in their country music topped with some deadly serious talent, Nick Shoulders is a hoot and a half.
There was no real niche or appetite for Nick Shoulders music before he crawled out from under a rock in Arkansas and started stunning listeners. But since his talent is so innate, and his approach is so unique, he’s created an appetite for otherwise arcane and forgotten modes of country music. There is no competition, comparable, or peer to Nick Shoulders. He’s a subgenre all unto himself. (read full review)
MOST ESSENTIAL – Ray Scott – Billboards & Brake Lights
For many other artists, Billboards & Brake Lights would be like a Greatest Hits compilation of all of their quality songs. You hear a song like “Superman” and wonder how someone else hadn’t written this song before. But for Ray Scott, it’s just his latest studio record. He’s always had this in him. It just took a poignant moment to get it out of him.
Ray Scott is one of those country artists who feels super popular and completely unknown all at the same time. Those who know him swear by his music. For those just discovering him, Billboards & Brake Lights will be all you need to hear to believe he’s one of this generation’s greatest singers and songwriters who deserves significantly more attention. (read full review)
Essential Albums List
• Jason Hawk Harris – Thin Places – (read review)
• Cameron Wrinkle – In My Heaven – (read review)
• Vincent Neil Emerson – The Golden Crystal Kingdom – (read review)
• Mamma Coal – Dance Hall Crush – (read review)
• Mike and the Moonpies – Live from the Devil’s Backbone – (read review)
• Molly Tuttle – City of Gold – (read review)
• Lucero – Should’ve Learned By Now – (read review)
• Wyatt Flores – Life Lessons – (read review)
• Drayton Farley – Twenty On High – (read review)
• Tyler Childers – Rustin’ in the Rain – (read review)
• Brit Taylor – Kentucky Blue – (read review)
• Rodney Crowell – The Chicago Sessions – (read review)
• Myron Elkins – Factories, Farms & Amphetamines – (read review)
• Kyle Keller – The Great American Highway – (read review)
• Bobbie Nelson and Amanda Shires – Loving You – (read review)
• Kyle Nix & the 38’s – After The Flood Vol. 1 – (read review)
• William Prince – Stand in the Joy – (read review)
• Robert Henry and the Repeaters – The Way It Usually Goes – (read review)
• Ashley McBryde – The Devil I Know – (read review)
• Country Side of Harmonica Sam – Back to the Blue Side – (read review)
• Theo Lawrence – Chérie – (read review)
• Charley Crockett – Live from the Ryman – (read review)
• John R. Miller – Heat Comes Down – (read review)
• Emily Ann Roberts – Can’t Hide Country – (read review)
• Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley – Living In A Song – (read review)
• Terry Klein – Leave The Light On – (read review)
• Jaime Wyatt – Feel Good – (read review)
• Sean Burns – Lost Country – (read review)
• Zach Bryan – Self-Titled – (read review)
• Cody Johnson – Leather – (read review)
• Josie Toney – Extra – (read review)
• Willie Nelson – Bluegrass – (read review)
• Willie Nelson – I Don’t Know a Thing About Love – (read review)
• John Baumann – Border Radio – (read review)
• Whitney Rose – Rosie – (read review)
• Low Water Bridge Band – Back to the Valley – (read review)
• Posey Hill – No Clear Place to Fall – (read review)
• William Beckmann – Here’s To You. Here’s To Me – (read review)
• Miles Miller – Solid Gold – (read review)
• Slackeye Slim – Scorched Earth, Black Heart – (read review)
• The Watson Twins – Holler – (read review)
• Flatland Cavalry – Wandering Star – (read review)
• Brian Setzer – The Devil Always Collects – (read review)
• The Hunger Games: The Ballads of Songbirds and Snakes soundtrack – (read review)
• Tanya Tucker – Sweet Western Sound – (read review)
• Tim Goodin – True Stories and Flat Out Lies – (read review)
• Dale Watson – Starvation Box – (read review)
• Scott Southworth – Comin’ Round to Honky Tonk Again – (read review)
• Megan Moroney – Lucky – (read review)
• Sundy Best – Feel Good Country – (read review)
• Dallas Moore – No God in Juarez – (read feature)
• Slaid Cleaves – Together Through The Dark – (read review)
• Sam Munsick – Johnny Faraway – (read review)
• Luke Combs – Gettin’ Old – (read review)
• Colby Acuff – Western White Pines – (read review)
• Chancey Williams – One of These Days – (read review)
• Waylon Hanel – New Old Outlaws – (read review)
• Bella White – Among Other Things – (read review)
• Bloody Jug Band – How To Train a Spooky Horse – (read review)
• Hank Williams IV – Honky Tonk Habit – (read review)
• Jason Eady – Mississippi – (read review)
• Caitlyn Smith – High & Low – (read review)
• Tommy Prine – This Far South – (read review)
• Whitehorse – I’m Not Crying You’re Crying – (read review)
• Joshua Ray Walker – I Opened for the Killers… – (read review)
• Matt Hillyer – Glorieta – (read review)
• Them Dirty Roses – Lost in the Valley of Hate and Love – (read review)
• Chris Stapleton – Higher – (read review)
• Dillon Massengale – Buckleshines – (read review)
• Old Crow Medicine Show – Jubilee – (read review)
• Parker McCollum – Never Enough – (read review)
• El Dorado – Unincorporated – (read review)
• Robbie Fulks – Bluegrass Vacation – (read review)
• Laid Back Country Picker – Go West – (read review)
• Lance Roark – Better Man EP – (read review)
• Jon Pardi – Merry Christmas from Jon Pardi – (read review)
• Royce Johns – Thank Ya Kindly – (read review)
• Billy Don Burns – I’ve Seen a Lot of Highway
Other Albums Receiving Positive Reviews:
Riley Green – Ain’t My Last Rodeo – (read review)
Dierks Bentley – Gravel & Gold – (read review)
Chase Rice – I Hate Cowboys… – (read review)
Stephen Wilson Jr. – bon aqua – (read review)
Stephen Wilson Jr. – søn of dad – (read review)
Elle King – Come Get Your Wife – (read review)
HARDY – The mockingbird and THE CROW – (read review)
The Rolling Stones – Hackney Diamonds – (read review)
Taylor Swift – Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) – (read review)
Other Reviewed Albums:
Morgan Wallen – One Thing at a Time – (read review)
Ryan Bingham – Watch Out For The Wolf – (read review)
Shania Twain – Queen of Me – (read review)
December 30, 2023 @ 9:31 am
Thanks for including my album on the essential albums list, Trigger! The review you did brought a lot of folks my way. It’s much appreciated.
December 30, 2023 @ 9:39 am
Once again, I appreciate ya Trigger! Nice to be in great company here.
December 30, 2023 @ 9:52 am
What did Larry Fleet do wrong?
December 30, 2023 @ 10:53 am
When you have upwards of 30+ albums coming out in country music every week, it shouldn’t be taken as an insult to an artist just because their album isn’t featured. I posted 100 album reviews this year, and featured many more in other coverage, including Larry Fleet’s. But even if I had reviewed 220 albums, or 330, there would still be albums that did not receive reviews. In fact, the more albums reviewed, the more people take it as an insult if an album isn’t featured. So it’s an impossible paradigm to solve.
Then when you have so many double albums like Larry Fleet’s, it compounds the issue even more.
December 31, 2023 @ 9:15 am
In the amount of time it took you to write that reply you could have reviewed that album 😉 kidding bruh. Keep up the good work and happy new year!! Looking forward to another great year of album reviews & hot takes.
December 30, 2023 @ 10:01 am
Ya know what’s funny when you’re scrolling through these? I’m trying to remember what my thoughts were on all or many of them, whether they made my rotation or not, and it can be quite the memory tester…….but these 7 got many spins here at the mansion…as Trig would say in no particular order……..except the first………..
Jake Worthington
Brit Taylor – Kentucky Blue
Tyler Childers – Rustin in the Rain
Myron Elkins – Factories, Farms, and Amphetamines
Channing Wilson – Dead Man
Posey Hill – No Clear Place to Fall
Them Dirty Roses – Lost in The Valley of Hate and Love
December 30, 2023 @ 10:56 am
Tanner Usrey -Crossing Lines
Grady Spencer & The Work – Live from Tannahill Tavern
Low Water Bridge Band – Back to the Valley
December 30, 2023 @ 11:01 am
This is a great list, thank you!! Brennen Leigh was my top album & one of my top artists this year, & I was happy to see her live a few months back. I’m mostly old school country (Merle Haggard, Connie Smith, etc.), but I found a gem that’s essential to me in more of the folk/acoustic category of country that I’d like to recommend for others (may or may not be your cup of tea):
“Turtle Cottage” by Campbell Jensen (Ashley Campbell & Thor Jensen.)
For the more country tracks, try listenting to: “If I’m Gonna Live a Long Time,” “Goodbye Cowboy,” & “Tank & Babe.” + “Edge of the World & “Exit Zero” are great insutrmentals too.
Personally, my favorite tracks are “At Long Last” & “P&P,” but I wouldn’t call them country. It’s a solid album if you like the banjo & stretching the country genre a bit.
Thanks again for this list & all the work you do! I’ve discovered so many solid artists & albums because of this site.
December 30, 2023 @ 11:05 am
i’m normally a honkytonk/traditional country/Ameripolitan person-
but Slackeye Slim’s Scorched Earth Black Heart is a masterpiece for tackling topics that people rarely cover- the grievance spiral that so many people fell down in recent years, child abuse, religious family cults, and the choices that face us when there’s that kind of horror in our pasts. It rekindled my interest in gothic country to see how well he uses the genre to talk about such real-world issues (and the album inspired me to work on something in this genre myself) after I’d mostly written it off as “amusing word salad about the devil” in the past.
For me a close second was probably Lindeville, obviously for totally different reasons.
This is the year I decided I dont need to listen to any more solo acoustic, and that I think folk is almost ‘songwriting on easy mode’ because the structure is so simple once you don’t worry about making full-band country music. This will hopefully make it slightly easier to keep up with the flood of new albums. I just don’t listen to the stuff more than once or twice much as I respect the people writing.
December 30, 2023 @ 12:31 pm
For the record, Lindeville was a 2022 release.
December 30, 2023 @ 1:09 pm
ooh that makes more sense now, thanks.
December 30, 2023 @ 1:56 pm
Cofused here. Why are you listing Album of the Year nominees as 2022.
December 30, 2023 @ 2:39 pm
Typo. Those are the 2023 nominees.
December 30, 2023 @ 11:39 am
We’re so honored to be listed! Thank you to everyone who listened, shared our music with their friends and came to our shows. 2023 was an incredible year for country music!
December 30, 2023 @ 11:41 am
First and foremost Trigger – Congrats and thank you for your tireless work this year. This website means a lot to me and I am sure countless others – despite the handful of knuckleheads that throw bombs in the comments just to get a rise out of people. Several of the albums listed brought some great new music to freshen up my playlists this year – Tony Logue being one of my favorite finds from SCM. Others that got a ton of play around the non-mansion (JB must be living like a king) include Teenage Dixie by Muscadine Bloodline and Won’t Die this Way by Erin Viancourt. And I will find a way to get you singing the praises of Ben Chapman when he follows up Amber Sound Vol. 1 with the expected Vol. 2 coming soon I hope so you can review them together. Happy New Year to you and all the non-knuckleheads that make SCM so enjoyable.
PS – kinda pisses me off because you were right – “Outlaws and Mustangs” is a banger and I was less than luke warm on it when it dropped. The Ranch is playing the crap out of it and now I’m turning the volume up when I hear it.
December 30, 2023 @ 11:59 am
Amen to that Muscadine record! Loved Dispatch to 16th Ave, and thought this was another step up for them.
December 30, 2023 @ 12:47 pm
Believe me Rich, I’m NOT living like a king….lol “The Mansion” is an inside joke between me and someone who’s a regular reader and an incredible songwriter. They learned from me during the pandemic that my “castle” or “mansion” is a euphemism for my small, humble suburban abode with an 80″ screen and a way too powerful sound system that neighbors complain about on “concert night” here where I crank my latest and greatest vids on “11”. It’s a comedic bit that I know they get a kick out of when they read the word that’s all. I’m lovin’ both Cody songs too after a few spins, it should be a good one!
December 30, 2023 @ 11:42 am
Nice work my friend
December 30, 2023 @ 11:47 am
I humbly request if you have not already, that you give Ritch Henderson and his “Fallacies and Four Letter Words” release a spin. It came out right after the first of the year and time tends to fade one’s memory of just how damn good that album is, especially for a debut independent release. It is full of songs that, in my mind and those music people I am around, will stand the test of time, especially as his name recognition continues to grow.
December 30, 2023 @ 8:15 pm
For the record, Ritch Henderson’s album made it on to one of the “Release Radar” posts before it was released, and Henderson was also covered here as part of the Healing Appalachia event in September. I had his album on the radar for a review, but a few weeks ago he lashed out at SCM and No Depression on X/Twitter for not covering his music. When I explained that I had covered him and apologized for not doing an album review yet, he gave me a bunch of attitude and told me he didn’t want me to review his record … even though he was criticizing me for not reviewing it.
I might eventually review it anyway, but the guy needs to appreciate that independent music outlets not named Risky Whiff that didn’t get a check from Ryman Hospitality for $25 million don’t have unlimited resources. Nobody even formally submitted his album for review. I learned about it from a reader.
December 30, 2023 @ 12:28 pm
Great list. I’d only add Jason Eady, Mississippi my personal album of the year. Thanks Trig.
December 30, 2023 @ 12:32 pm
“Mississippi” is definitely on there, near the bottom.
December 30, 2023 @ 1:18 pm
My mistake. Thanks Trig.
December 30, 2023 @ 2:39 pm
JD Clayton
December 30, 2023 @ 1:28 pm
That is just a killer list Trigger, thanks. It was obviously a great year for the music we SCM folks all love.
December 30, 2023 @ 2:12 pm
Valley of Heart’s Delight is the one I keep coming back to. It wouldn’t normally be my thing, and I probably don’t agree with her on everything (such that I can tell), but the songs, the performance, and the production are so good. I’m surprised it’s “only” essential.
December 30, 2023 @ 2:32 pm
Love that record as well.
“I probably don’t agree with her on everything (such that I can tell)“
Care to elaborate on that statement for sake of clarification?
December 30, 2023 @ 9:54 pm
Nah it’s not worth it, and she’s not a condescending prick like……..Anyway, it’s great, and my AOTY.
December 31, 2023 @ 5:24 am
I was actually interested in why you wrote that and what you meant by it. Happy new year.
December 31, 2023 @ 8:42 am
Same to you!
December 30, 2023 @ 2:21 pm
So we just gonna ignore jd graham. That’s what’s happening here?
December 30, 2023 @ 2:25 pm
A couple excellent albums not mentioned:
Kassi Valazza – Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing
Eilen Jewell – Get Behind the Wheel
December 30, 2023 @ 2:27 pm
Great lists, y’know I read these and get down a bit not seeing Waylon’s name listed. Yeah I dam well know its impossible but I must be somewhat strange for I continually, subconsciously, think something will pop up, like a surprise.
Trig a great list considering with so many great releases throughout 2023, this Brennen Leigh “Ain’t Through Honky Tonkin’ Yet” is brilliant.
December 30, 2023 @ 3:16 pm
Great list. I’d add…
Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley: Living in a Song
Royce Johns: Thank Ya Kindly
Malcolm Holcombe: Bits & Pieces
December 30, 2023 @ 3:48 pm
The first two are on here, though I have not posted a review of the Royce Johns album just yet.
December 30, 2023 @ 3:49 pm
“This list is meant to be a resource not just for 2023, but for future generations ….”
Future generations–Heck, THIS generation–may miss the fact that “Saving Country Music’s 2023 Essential Albums List” does not contain any of SCM’s 10 best albums (or “Album of the Year” nominees of 2023.
Might be worth listing those at the top, even without additional commentary.
December 30, 2023 @ 5:33 pm
Cracking list Trig! Love all your reviews! Logan Ledger’s “Golden State” is another album that could be on this list.
December 30, 2023 @ 10:35 pm
For me, the MOST ESSENTIAL Country/Americana album is definitely Pony Bradshaw – North Georgia Rounder (though Gabe Lee’s Drink the River is a very, very close #2 and nominated elsewhere). I’m thrilled to have tickets to see him play live in March. Megan Moroney – Lucky is really good too.
Luke Combs – Gettin’ Old, Ray Scott – Billboards & Brake Lights, Channing Wilson – Dead Man, and Brennen Leigh – Ain’t Through Honky Tonkin’ Yet are all in my CD collection as well and recommended. Some other stuff on this list I’ll need to check out…
December 31, 2023 @ 3:54 am
Lots of great music this year. My favourite is probably the War and Treaty album. Brennen Leigh, Turnpike Troubadours, Charley Crockett at the Ryman, Chis Stapleton, Cody Johnson are high on my list which keeps changing. Album of the year, not an easy question. Plenty of worthy contenders. I have ready enjoyed Saving Country again this year. Thank you. Happy new year to all.
December 31, 2023 @ 6:05 am
…whether country music has been “saved” this year may be up for never ending debate. however, one thing is certain: there were a lot of fine attempts to do so coming from all corners of the country universe. it was probably the most enjoyable year in quite some time. heck of a job you did reviewing such a share of the 2023 output. great job, trigger.
December 31, 2023 @ 6:34 am
Michael Cleveland’s Grammy-nominated album Lovin’ of the Game.
December 31, 2023 @ 8:16 am
Trig, I Wish Once in awhile, You Would Look Into Praise and Worship Music. I Think You Missed One who’s name is Cory Asbury.”Pioneer”, Released in 2023 Should have Been a Cross-Over Lp. Thank You, Sir.
December 31, 2023 @ 12:01 pm
It’s surprising to see Tyler Childers all the way down on the list, almost as an afterthought. His quality and popularity should have had him right next to Jason Isbell and Turnpike Troubadours for biggest albums of the year. Instead, I forgot he even had an album in 2023.
Hoping for bigger and better outputs in the future from him…
December 31, 2023 @ 12:11 pm
Trig, curious if you ever listened to or considered reviewing Easton Corbin’s album “Let’s Do Country Right” from early 2023? One of his older songs came up on Spotify, and I was curious what he was up to and put it on. It’s not great, but it’d probability fit in well with the current state of pop country radio (similar to Riley Green or Scotty McCreey).
I feel like Easton Corbin was ahead of his time. 2013-2018 was a mess for artists like him on country radio. Radio is certainly more country now, but Easton Corbin may be old news at this point.
December 31, 2023 @ 9:10 pm
I breezed through the Easton Corbin album, but with so many other releases, it didn’t get my undivided attention. I agree that he seems to be a bit lost in time at the moment.
December 31, 2023 @ 3:25 pm
Great lists though I haven’t listened to a lot of those and probably wouldn’t agree to the most essential regardless. The only album I bought was charley crocketts live album and consider it the most essential. Really I consider it the best but that’s just my opinion. Far as a couple others on there, I really liked old crowes album and molly tuttles though it a little less. But that’s ok, I don’t give a lot of stock to list like these anyway. Not knocking it or Trigger. Music is a personal experience.
December 31, 2023 @ 4:39 pm
Thanks for the great resource. Makes my life so much easier. Funny though, I had the opposite reaction to the Margo Cilker record. Really wanted to like it, but didn’t feel the songs rated with her first album. Too much jibberish for my liking, specifically, but maybe it will sink in eventually.
December 31, 2023 @ 6:25 pm
Off-topic sorry, but it appears CT40 truncated their year-end countdown from 50 slots to 40 this year just to avoid having to play “Down Home”. Don’t know if that’s worthy of an article or anything but thought it was worth pointing out
January 1, 2024 @ 3:35 am
How can you leave off Randy Houser??? Probably the best live voice in music??? Note To Self is an absolute classic. Most songs wrote or co-wrote by the artist.
January 1, 2024 @ 8:24 am
“Note To Self” was a 2022 release, and was featured here last year.
January 1, 2024 @ 6:47 am
Hey there! Love what you do, and I look to your site to provide me with insight into what’s happening in country music today along with what’s happened in the past. I’ve listened to several on the list and will get to the ones I didn’t soon enough. My personal essential album of the year is jon byrd’s all your mistakes. Keep those reviews coming, I appreciate what you do.
January 1, 2024 @ 10:58 am
Dan Tyminksi put out a great album, God Fearing Heathen.
January 1, 2024 @ 1:41 pm
Great list and great work, Trigger, as always. One notable omission to me : I’m disappointed that we finally got a Logan Halstead album and it wasn’t good enough to make this list. I think you’re correct to have left it off, and therein lies the real disappointment. I still have pretty high hopes for that kid but the album failed to deliver.
January 2, 2024 @ 1:54 pm
I really wanted to like the Logan Halstead album. I did not find it bad or anything, I just wasn’t engaged by it. I also saw him perform in Nashville in September, and though everything was in proper order, he just wasn’t engaging with the crowd, and folks were talking over the music. Then again Hoptowntiger who weighs in often has it as his #1 album of the year.
He’s still very young. I just think he needs to find the heart of his sound. He went viral with a solo acoustic performance, but ultimately you often need a little more to keep people engaged. Hopefully he finds his footing.
January 7, 2024 @ 8:24 am
Album Of The Year: Honky Tonk Time Machine (Artist – George Strait)
Song Of The Year: God And Country Music (Artist – George Strait)
King George Strait the Philanthropist: Since COVID-19 Mr. Strait (Sr.) has been working in Texas. He sang at the 2021 Austin City Limits Festival and Las Vegas NV to happy cheering fans. He has continued to raise money for the Americas’ Wounded Project which gives away homes to deserving warriors. He has made the lifelong commitment to keeping the memory of his daughter alive through the non-profit “Jenifer Strait Memorial Foundation.” God bless George Strait, his family and Texas, Amen.
January 7, 2024 @ 8:42 am
Appreciate your passion for George Strait. But “Honky Tonk Time Machine” was released in 2019.
January 7, 2024 @ 8:52 am
Thanks Trigger,
Precisely my point!. “Honky Tonk Time Machine” was released in 2019 and was not the Album of the Year nor any of the singles from the Album win a song of the year? How tragic for country fans like Me!