More Overly Politically Correct Country Songs

 Folsom Carceral Unit Depressive Disorder - Johnny Cash

Deity Take the Wheel - Carrie Underwood

Migrant Agricultural Worker from Muskogee - Merle Haggard

Feathered Indigenous Americans - Tyler Childers

Intellectually Disabled CIS Young Woman - Keith Urban

Rhinestone Ranchhand - Glen Campbell

Kaw - Liga - Hank Williams

Louisiana Cisgender Woman, Mississippi Cisgender Man - Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn

You’re the Reason Our Offspring are Aesthetically Challenged - Conway & Loretta

War Dissenters and Cowpersons - Cody Jinks

Penis in Former Confederate States - Hank III

If You See Them, If You See Them - Reba

Xe Don’t Know Xe’s Attractive - Sammy Kershaw

Overly Politically Correct Country Songs

No serious commentary from either side of the aisle, please. Just having fun with language. 

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Birthing Person, My Partner is Mentally Ill - The Judds

Wichita Lineperson - Glen Campbell

C-O-N-S-C-I-O-U-S U-N-C-O-U-P-L-I-N-G - Tammy Wynette

Quing of the Road - Roger Miller

Good Hearted Adult - Waylon Jennings

Caucasian Tonkin’ - Hank Williams

Xe Stopped Loving Xir Today - George Jones

Seven Latinx Angels - Willie Nelson, Ray Charles

Parent Tried - Merle Haggard

Native American Person Impacted by the Justice System - Tim McGraw

If the Afterlife Isn’t a Lot Like the Southeastern United States - Hank Jr.

I Am a Person of Constant Sorrow - The Soggy Bottom Boys

Folically Blessed Rural Resident - David Allan Coe

You Ain’t Womxn Enough - Loretta Lynn

Gestational Parents, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowpersons - Waylon & Willie

Still More Worst Country Songs of the Last 4 Decades

By Bobby Peacock

I really didn't want to do this, because I feel that I've let negativity get the best of me lately. But I just found too many songs not to do a part three. This is the last one, I swear.

1980s

"Arab, Alabama" by Pinkard & Bowden

The only thing keeping me from also including "Libyan on a Jet Plane" is that I can only find a live version. This one's dated "jokes" about the PLO, Cubans hijacking planes, South Americans smuggling drugs, and Fidel Castro marrying "one of Loretta's sisters" read like a couple of racist hillbillies thumbing through the newspaper and riffing on everything they see. And that's before we get to them referring to Middle Easterners as "sheet heads"; a list of offensive stereotypes is just that. But what do you expect  from a couple buffoons who think that shoving the word "cock-sucking" into a song called "Censor Us" is a punchline? (And more importantly, how did one of these guys also write "You're the Reason God Made Oklahoma?”)

"Everybody's Sweetheart" by Vince Gill

I hate to do this to Vince Gill. But that one line, "shoulda kept her barefoot / Barefoot and pregnant all the time"... yeah, that's some really ugly sexism. There is no way to deliver that line correctly, and I'm surprised it wasn't more controversial even in 1988. And it's a shame that I'm letting it come down to that, because the central idea on its own -- the conflict one feels in a relationship where both people are touring musicians (in this case, Janis Oliver of Sweethearts of the Rodeo) is a great idea for a song. But to actively wish disdain on your own spouse's career, and in such a crass, misogynstic fashion to boot? Thankfully he treated the same topic more tactfully with "The Radio". And I really can't see him saying anything like this about Amy Grant.

"I Loved 'em Every One" by T. G. Sheppard

After the "worst of the '80s" list dropped, I had a DJ e-mail me and thank me for including "War Is Hell (On the Homefront Too)". He stated that he also dislikes how most T. G. Sheppard songs are "about getting laid" and I realized just how true this is. (His '70s songs, like "Devil in the Bottle", sound like a completely different artist.) Plowing through women like an allergy sufferer through Kleenex is bad enough when you're not even trying to assign any personality or emotion to them; outright admitting that not one, but several of them were prostitutes is just the added layer of squick. He may be hoping they had some fun, but I'm just hoping that everyone got tested for STIs.

"Red Neckin' Love Makin' Night" by Conway Twitty

Among an otherwise decent run of singles in the 80s, hampered only by some dubious cover songs ("The Rose"), we get him setting the stage for the chest-thumping boogie-country of Hank Jr. and the sleazy "drink beer with a hot girl in a truck" of bro-country. The only difference is since this is 1981, the music's on an 8-track instead. Conway's attempts at asides and breaking from meter only make the song sound more forced and drawn out than it needs to be -- not that the horribly-scanning lyrics ("I got a six-pack of longnecks in the trunk on ice / Ooh, but you sure look nice") do him any favors on this front. What a waste of the usually reliable Max D. Barnes and Troy Seals. Even "Tight Fittin' Jeans" manages to be a million times less sleazy.

1990s

"Better Than a Biscuit" by John Berry

For a long time, the three tracks off John Berry's two unreleased Capitol albums seemed to exist nowhere on the Internet. "The Stone" and "Over My Shoulder" are both good songs, but this one... oof. I'm not opposed to food songs -- hell, "Weird Al" Yankovic built a career on them -- but there has to be some thought put into them. While the production is looser than usual for him, it's wasted on some of the worst lyrics I've ever heard. "Somebody call the Colonel, she's finger-lickin' good" (dude, I don't want to know what she was doing to your fingers), "She'd make any turkey breast look like a can of Spam,” and let's not forget the hook: "she tasted better than a biscuit double-dunked in red eye gravy.” It reminds me of "Fancy Like" in just how blatantly un-dignified it is -- even if, unlike that song, it actually bothers to sound country.

"Don't Take the Girl" by Tim McGraw

As my disdain for "Humble and Kind" showed, I'm not afraid to go after some of Tim's more beloved songs. Even when I was 7, I thought this was hackneyed. From the forced name-drops in the first verse (Jimmy Johnson and Tommy Thompson? Really?) to the robber at the movie theater to the now-grown woman dying in childbirth, the melodrama just gets thicker and more contrived as it strains to match the hook. "Same chorus, three meanings" is such a common country music trope that can be done well or badly like anything else, but the lengths to which this one stretches are far beyond my suspension of disbelief. His whiny vocal does nothing but prove how much more nuanced he'd get in the coming years. It's not hard to see why I can only find one other charted single for either writer...

"Genuine Rednecks" by David Lee Murphy

How is this is the same David Lee Murphy behind such thoughtful songs as "The Road You Leave Behind" and "Dust on the Bottle"? Even worse is how blatantly he's ripping off his own "Party Crowd"; while that one had the setup of a likable everyman just wanting to ease his broken heart, this one lacks any semblance of setup other than "I want to party". There's an annoyingly judgmental tone to lines like "if you don't like them, you won't like me" and "where I do belong, it don't come with a crystal chandelier", combining with an overdone fake twang. It's not hard to see why this brought his singing career to a screeching halt, and it's only worse in hindsight when you follow the trail from this to his worst co-write by far, Josh Thompson's "Way Out Here.”

"The Man Song" by Sean Morey

My dad used to listen to The Bob & Tom Show when I was young. This was my first exposure to awkward foul-mouthed male comedian-singers whose work has mostly aged poorly, such as Tim Wilson (who, incidentally, co-wrote the aforementioned "Arab, Alabama"). From that same mold comes Sean Morey, who doesn't even really bother with the whole "singing" part. Instead, he recites rote non-jokes about a henpecked husband ("I wear the pants around here... when I'm finished with your laundry") that, even by 1998, seem extremely outdated, sexist, and not funny. But what do you expect from a man whose idea of a Christmas song is racist stereotypes, and whose apparent comedic pinnacle is called "The Hairy Ass Song?”

2000s

"Help Pour Out the Rain (Lacey's Song)" by Buddy Jewell

While the curiosity of a child is only natural, this song goes off the rails fast. No kid that isn't in the comic strip The Family Circus is going to think that the Milky Way Galaxy is literally a candy bar, or that angels "pour out the rain". (What you believe about Heaven is ultimately up to you, but I think most people -- even kids -- know that it's not just a visit.) And of course, this doe-eyed naïveté moves the narrator to pull over, cry, and pray about meeting Jesus, all while recounting the situation in a schmaltzy "la da dee" croon. Again, you can believe whatever you want as long as it's not harmful, because it's turtles all the way down the line. But this is the kind of over-the-top contrived schmaltz that doesn't even belong in a PureFlix movie.

"I Don't Know What She Said" by Blaine Larsen

I admit that I never cared for Blaine Larsen. Most of his songs (I'll give him "How Do You Get That Lonely") felt as if others were forcing this suave Southern gentleman style onto him against his will. But the only one that actively annoyed me was this one. Thankfully it isn't overtly racist like "Illegals" or "This Ain't Mexico,” and it at least bothers to get the Spanish mostly correct (outside a couple jokey lines like "señor blah blah blah blah"). But it still has a smug, condescending, and borderline creepy tone toward the attractive Mexican woman. It's hard not to read this as a horny 20-year-old trying to get laid. And cringeworthy "no one actually says that" lines like "J.Lo had nothing on her" don't help, either.

"I Got My Game On" by Trace Adkins

Most of Trace Adkins' novelties didn't bother me much. I'm not gonna say that "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,” "Swing,” or "Ladies Love Country Boys" are good, but they at least seem like plausible everyman scenarios. This is just a rich cocky asshole bragging about his Cadillac, platinum credit card, Armani suit, and alligator boots, not to mention all the tail he's getting. Exactly what part of this is supposed to be entertaining or even relatable to anyone not among the elite? Maybe it catered to the people who would later watch him on The Apprentice. But for those of us who want no part of testosterone-fueled power fantasies, I'm just left wondering why he was so anxious to withdraw "I Wanna Feel Something" for new music if this is what he had to offer.

"I'll Walk" by Bucky Covington

This one almost feels like a parody of the old "use the chorus in three scenarios" trick. How do they go from having a fight on prom night, to her getting hit by a drunk driver, to him suddenly turning around any marrying her? The setup is so contrived, not to mention downright manipulative by dismissively framing the woman in the song as the vehicle for a horribly predictable outcome. There's no other emotion -- no guilt on his part, no anger on either of theirs. "The Walk" by Sawyer Brown was a million times better at recontextualizing different "walks" between two people, and "The Impossible" by Joe Nichols a million times better at handling someone overcoming a handicap.

"Lost" by Faith Hill

Faith's bombastic country pop diva shtick was never my cup of tea outside "Cry,” and it was pretty passé by 2003. While Fireflies relegated the bombast to the deep cuts and went with an okay-to-great batch of singles, I guess she just had to get one last awful power ballad out of her. (I would expect no less out of a "hit factory" style songwriter such as Kara DioGuardi.) There's no semblance of originality to be found in this already outdated and sterile approach: "if it's a dream, don't wake me up,” "with me everywhere I am,” "can't believe we've come this far" are all belted to the rafters as if they're the most important truisms in the world when they're barely good enough to even put in a Hallmark card. At least "Red Umbrella", love it or hate it, had flavor.

"Maybe She'll Get Lonely" by Jack Ingram

This one came out at the same time as Lee Brice's "Happy Endings,” another song in which the narrator hopes that his ex will have a change of heart. A lot of songs have done it, and maybe if there weren't a much better take on the same premise out at almost exactly the same time... nah, this one would still be just about the least amount of imagination given to this premise. Screen door, kicking up dust, praying, turn that wheel around, love her/need her/can't live without her, too far gone -- there isn't a single original or interesting line that has even the tiniest bit of personality. There's barely even setup, and the hook is just weak-willed at best. This was around the same time that Pat Green was getting all of his edges sanded off in a failed attempt at going more "mainstream,” and for both him and Ingram, the results were just pitiful pandering that pleased nobody.

"Nothing Catches Jesus by Surprise" by John Michael Montgomery

What... is this song? One of the last credits for Waylon Jennings before his death, the first major misfire for Tom Douglas, and the first song that inspired me to write a part three to this list. Each couplet is just baffling in how random it is:"Catching Babe Ruth, catching Roger Maris / The way you caught my eye in Paris, Tennessee.” Every line afterward seems to be at least trying to aim at a parallel between worldly contradictions and an unlikely marriage working out, but misses its mark by a country mile. And what does Jesus have to do with any of it? How is any of this mishmash suggesting that anyone is trying to catch Jesus by surprise?

"The Obscenity Prayer (Give It to Me)" by Rodney Crowell

What a step down from his best song "Earthbound.” The "satire,” if you can call it that, is of a rich right-wing douchebag who wants a hot wife, a good body, booze, etc. -- but doesn't want to work for it. And it's delivered with no sense of subtlety, irony, or humor. Line after line is on-the-nose to the point of cringe: "I despise all bleeding hearts / I don't patronize the arts.” "You're tryin' to get me to show some compassion / Man, that's so outta fashion.” "The Dixie Chicks can kiss my ass / But I still need that backstage pass.” The song just drones on and on, long after it's made its thuddingly obvious point. I really hated to do this to the usually very talented and smart Rodney, but thankfully this and the equally navel-gazing "Sex and Gasoline" were the only missteps of his entire career.

"Redneck Anthem" by Ty England

Highways & Dance Halls seemed to finally mature Ty England after two mediocre hat-act albums, so how did he end up backsliding this hard? Sounding far weaker than ever, he plows through some of the worst redneck clichés on the planet in a manner that makes his previous groaner "Redneck Son" sound like Merle Haggard in comparison. He crams the phrase "jacked up" twice in the first verse alone, then lists off such things as sleeveless shirts, aggressive jingoism, "mow our lawn with a billy goat," guns, daddy, Skoal, NASCAR, and even a name-drop of Larry the Cable Guy's "git-r-done" catch phrase. The album leans into this caricature all the more with "The NRA Song,” "Stick to Your Guns,” and "Texans Hold 'Em.” I think even Jeff Foxworthy would tell this guy he's making rednecks look bad.

"Tail on the Tailgate" by Neal McCoy

You can hate "The Shake,” but ultimately I find that one too goofy to be bothersome. This, on the other hand, does not get a free pass. This guy gets a beat up old truck from his brother, who points out the one thing I don't want to know: "hey, I fucked a lot of women in this truck.” At that point, the only reaction should be "eww!" But instead, this sleazy little pervert takes the truck and does exactly the same thing with an already cliché party in the woods. While he tries to dismiss it with a "that ain't what you're thinkin'", how else am I even supposed to interpret that hook? It's fitting that this was an early Rodney Clawson co-write, because it fits right in with all the bro-country songs he'd later write.

"Whistlin' Dixie" by Randy Houser

Having "Dixie" in the title isn't even a concern when at least half the lyrics are a billion times worse. Let's start with "learn how to talk straight, not back / Or my little white butt get a whippin'" for some parenting as horrible as the grammar. Add to the pile shotguns, naked Southern women, drugs, and food, and then scream it over an overly-loud mishmash of guitars, and the result is headache-inducing on so many levels. At least "I'm All About It" seemed more lighthearted, but it's not hard to see why his second album got delayed. Thankfully, the downward slide from the very good "Anything Goes" would later be reversed in favor of the much better "Like a Cowboy" and "What Whiskey Does.”

2010s

"Fly" by Maddie & Tae

Hey, look, another motivational cliché song with a nonsensical hook. I thought we stopped doing those in 2002. "You can learn to fly on the way down" is not an inspiring image. If you're falling, it's too fast for you to suddenly learn how to fly; instead, you're just gonna face-plant into the ground. And now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's count off the clichés: "heart's a mess,” "find a way to make it,” "keep on climbing" (wait, weren't we just flying? Why are we now climbing?), "we've come this far,” "more to this than just the breath you're breathing.” While the song does sound less processed than others like it, that's not saying much when the lyrics are this bad. And why does it randomly shift from third to second person halfway through?

"High Class" by Eric Paslay

This song sounds like if "Uptown Funk" shat itself. As he tries to come off as the country boy who's still "street" enough to crash even the ritziest of parties, Eric Paslay does nothing but embarrass himself. What the hell does "Cadi up that Lac" even mean? Is he listening to the Lacs in his Cadillac? (The closed captioning on the official YouTube upload says it's "cattle up this 'Lac", which makes even less sense.) Not to mention the zero copula (that's the technical term for omitting verbs, as in "tonight we high class") that tiptoes dangerously close to "white person using AAVE". Add in the most forced name-drop of Justin Timberlake since "I'm a Saint,” and the result proves that you can't spell "high class" without "ass.”

"Hope You Get Lonely Tonight" by Cole Swindell

If I were to rank songs for "worst production choices,” this would be neck and neck with "Bob That Head.” The loud-ass drum machine that sounds like driving over rumble strips, the overdriven muddy guitars, and Cold and Rainy's wallpaper-paste voice all combine into sound (but no fury), signifying nothing. Maybe better production and a different vocalist might make this at least tolerable -- actually, no, it'd still be about drinking and kissing on a tailgate, drunk late-night sexting, and two white-trash doofuses screwing. So yeah, Michael Carter, I think you're off the hook with this one. Cole, however, can just go back to being the Save-a-Lot brand mayo that he is.

"REDNECKER" by HARDY

HARDY really started off on the wrong foot. I ended up hating this song so much that I also hated "ONE BEER" entirely by proxy until I finally analyzed it on its own merits. I get that he's at least trying to deconstruct the "list off redneck clichés" trope by one-upping them, but just like "The Worst Country Song of All Time" (which he also had a hand in), just doing the thing you're riffing on louder isn't the same as subverting it. And there is literally no reason for any song to include a lyric as gross as "I piss where I want.” Just like most Joey Moi productions, this one is all processed guitar and Auto-Tune. HARDY has had a few flashes of brilliance on there, but he started off so thoroughly on the wrong foot that I almost dismissed his entire career by proxy.

"The Rest of Our Life" by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill

I'm gonna be honest: I've never liked most Tim and Faith collabs because I find their vocal styles too dissimilar. And it's especially bad here, because Tim is way out of his range, straining and shaking to catch up to Faith's bellowing (especially on the chorus). And I can tell that Ed Sheeran wrote this, because it has his whimper-y sweet little nothings all over it. Other than jarringly out-of-place names for their kids (which has zero buildup, by the way) and somehow working in the word "waistline" (seriously, not even "Weird Al" Yankovic's "Fat" did that), it's just a bunch of mushy platitudes with no narrative connection. This just sounds like an even more embarrassing "Shape of You" clone.

"Honey Jack" by 17 Memphis

The intro to this, which sounds like a vaporwave remix of Kiiara's "Gold,” is probably the worst way to start out a song since "Bob That Head.” Then come the trap snares, played on quite possibly the same broken-as-fuck drum machine used on "Hope You Get Lonely Tonight.” Underneath this extremely ugly interior are laughably juvenile lyrics that take on backroads, whiskey, trucks, phones, etc. Both members of the duo actually have decent voices and there is some chemistry on the recording, but it's hard to tell with the farting synths, jackhammer drum machines, and Auto-Tune doing everything to drown them out. It's easy to see why these two didn't go anywhere.

"21" by Hunter Hayes

When your song's hook is "gonna party like we just turned 21" and you still sound like you're in kindergarten, what other reaction should I even have? I legitimately laughed out loud the first time I heard this. I want to like Hunter Hayes because of his child prodigy nature, but for the most part, his discography has leaned way too far into Disney Channel-esque teeny-bopper fluff for me to care. "Wanted" pissed me off by being extremely stale and one-dimensional, but this one annoys me for the opposite reason. It calls for an edge that Hunter just does not have. His musical image was already too squeaky-clean, and the song is just too lethargic for lyrics about "going crazy". This just sounds like a slower version of Rascal Flatts' "Summer Nights,” which itself is just an only slightly-less-bad rewrite of Hot Chelle Rae's "Tonight, Tonight.” And you know what they say about copies of copies.

"You Look Good" by Lady Antebellum

No, this isn't about the naming controversy. However, that whole scenario did make me reassess this duly lamentable group who does almost nothing but blandly emulate the worst of cheesy soft rock. Charles is as stuffy as ever, Hillary is as pitchy as ever; put them together, and you're just mixing two different bottles of warm water. Even with the horn section behind them, these two are just way too bland to even begin to convey the flash of spending New Year's in a penthouse or head-turning dudes in black jeans and shades. This is less outwardly offensive than Eric Paslay's attempts to crash upscale big-city parties, but it's almost more embarrassing in just how out of place they seem. (Fun fact: both "duly lamentable" and "blandly emulate" are anagrams of "Lady Antebellum.”) 

Predicting 2022 in Mainstream Country Music

By Bobby Peacock

• Russell Dickerson revealed to actually be a deepfake

• Bobby continues to be the only person on the entire Internet not to like Lainey Wilson

• Luke Combs hits #1 with "Beer,” which is just him singing the word "beer" over and over again for four minutes

• Walker Hayes gets his second #1 with a cover of the "Chili's Baby Back Ribs" jingle

• Niko Moon runs crying to his mom when his next single fails to chart at all; claims radio PDs called him a poopyhead

• In an unprecedented move, Lauren Alaina records a duet with herself

• Kelsea Ballerini and HARDY propose to record a duet; plans canceled when they can't agree on which letters in the title should be capitalized, if any

• Jordan Davis buys dirt; realizes he can't find the one he can't live without; sells dirt

• Jason Aldean, Toby Keith, John Rich, Travis Tritt, and Aaron Lewis record a collab called "Red Voters with Blue Balls (Let's Go Brandon)"; song's lyric video gets deleted from YouTube for hate speech

• Brantley Gilbert actually does release the worst country song of all time -- oh wait, he already did that with "Bottoms Up"

• All four members of Parmalee discovered working at the same Arby's in Nashville

• Man previously caught sporting public erection due to Turnpike reunion hospitalized for priapism

• Cole Swindell gets his first celeb endorsement: his own personal line of Miracle Whip

• In an even more unprecedented move, Morgan Wallen releases a cover of Western Flyer's "Cherokee Highway"

• Bobby makes another stupidly long"best of the decade" list largely composed of songs that neither Trailer nor any Farce the Music reader has ever heard before

Top Albums Every Year of Our Existence

It's almost Year-End List season, (Our 2021 albums list should be ready around mid December) so it's time for a recap of which albums topped our lists in past years. 

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No links, no summaries, no pretty album covers, just lists.

Who knows? 

Maybe you'll see something you've been forgetting to check out.

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2020

1. American Aquarium - Lamentations

2. The Wilder Blue - Hill Country

3. Tennessee Jet - The Country

4. Zephaniah Ohora - Listening to the Music

5. Chris Stapleton - Starting Over

6. Ward Davis - Black Cats & Crows

7. Ruthie Collins - Cold Comfort

8. Futurebirds - Teamwork

9. Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - Reunions

10. Tami Neilson - Chickaboom!

11. Sturgill Simpson - Cuttin’ Grass Vol. I

12. Run the Jewels - RTJ4

13. Waylon Payne - Blue Eyes, The Harlot…

14. Arlo McKinley - Die Midwestern

15. Jaime Wyatt - Neon Cross

16. Ashley McBryde - Never Will

17. Jesse Daniel - Rollin’ On

18. Margo Price - That’s How Rumors Get Started

19. Elizabeth Cook - Aftermath

20. Kathleen Edwards - Total Freedom

2019

1. Vandoliers - Forever

2. Ian Noe - Between the Country

3. Tyler Childers - Country Squire

4. Charles Wesley Godwin - Seneca

5. Mike & The Moonpies - Cheap Silver & Solid Country Gold

6. Kelsey Waldon - White Noise / White Lines

7. Jade Bird - s/t

8. Jason Hawk Harris - Love and the Dark

9. Dalton Domino - Songs From the Exile

10. Whiskey Myers - s/t

11. Molly Tuttle - When You’re Ready

12. Cody Jinks - The Wanting

13. Sturgill Simpson - Sound and Fury

14. Black Pumas - s/t

15. The Highwomen - s/t

16. Caroline Spence - Mint Condition

17. Emily Scott Robinson - Traveling Mercies

18. (Tie) Tom Russell - October in the Railroad Earth

18. (Tie) Left Lane Cruiser - Shake and Bake

20. Hayes Carll - What It Is

2018

1. Lucero - Among the Ghosts

2. Jamie Lin Wilson - Jumping Over Rocks

3. Brandi Carlile - By the Way, I Forgive You

4. Kacey Musgraves - Golden Hour

5. Cody Jinks - Lifers

6. Joshua Hedley - Mr. Jukebox

7. American Aquarium - Things Change

8. Ruston Kelly - Dying Star

9. Whitey Morgan & the .78s - Hard Times & White Lines

10. Dallas Moore - Mr. Honky Tonk

11. Shooter Jennings - Shooter

12. Sarah Shook & the Disarmers - Years

13. Brent Cobb - Providence Canyon

14. Ashley McBryde - Girl Going Nowhere

15. Caleb Caudle - Crushed Coins

16. John Prine - The Tree of Forgiveness

17. Great Peacock - Gran Pavo Real

18. Blackberry Smoke - Find a Light

19. Sleep - The Sciences

20. High on Fire - Electric Messiah

2017

1. Tyler Childers - Purgatory

2. Turnpike Troubadours - A Long Way From Your Heart

3. Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit - The Nashville Sound

4. Colter Wall - s/t

5. Chris Stapleton - From A Room, Vol. 2

6. Gregg Allman - Southern Blood

7. Jason Eady - s/t

8. John Moreland - Big Bad Luv

9. Shinyribs - I Got Your Medicine

10. Travis Meadows - First Cigarette

11. The Steel Woods - Straw in the Wind

12. J.D. McPherson - Undivided Heart & Soul

13. Chris Stapleton - From A Room, Vol. 1

14. Zephaniah OHora - This Highway

15. Steve Earle - So You Wannabe An Outlaw

16. Lee Ann Womack - The Lonely, The Lonesome and The Gone

17. Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires - Youth Detention

18. Hellbound Glory - Pinball

19. Lillie Mae - Forever and Then Some

20. Margo Price - All American Made

2016

1. Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth

2. Cody Jinks - I'm Not the Devil

3. Lori McKenna - The Bird and the Rifle

4. Brent Cobb - Shine On Rainy Day

5. Austin Lucas - Between the Moon and the Midwest

6. Justin Wells - Dawn in the Distance

7. Flatland Cavalry - Humble Folks 

8. Drive-by Truckers - American Band

9. Blackberry Smoke - Like an Arrow

10. Caleb Caudle - Carolina Ghost

11. A Tribe Called Quest - We Got it From Here…

12. (tie) Jeff Shepherd & the Jailhouse Poets - s/t

12. (tie) The Sword - Low Country

14. Luke Bell - s/t

15. Car Seat Headrest - Teens of Denial

16. Brandy Clark - Big Day in a Small Town

17. Elizabeth Cook - Exodus of Venus

18. Rodney Parker & 50 Peso Reward - Bomber Heights

19. Arliss Nancy - Greater Divides

20. Quaker City Night Hawks - El Astronauta

2015

 (2015 was the first year we did a staff-voted list)

1. Turnpike Troubadours - s/t

2. James McMurtry - Complicated Game

3. Jason Isbell - Something More Than Free

4. Chris Stapleton - Traveller

5. Whitey Morgan - Sonic Ranch

6. American Aquarium - Wolves 

7. The Yawpers - American Man

8. Ray Wylie Hubbard - The Ruffian's Misfortune

9. John Moreland - High on Tulsa Heat

10. Jonathan Tyler - Holy Smokes

11. Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear (tie)

William Clark Green - Ringling Road (tie)

Jason Boland and the Stragglers - Squelch (tie)

2014

1. Sturgill Simpson - Metamodern Sounds in Country Music

2. The War on Drugs - Lost In the Dream

3. Adam Faucett - Blind Water Finds Blind Water

4. Hiss Golden Messenger - Lateness of Dancers

5. Old 97's - Most Messed Up

6. Lydia Loveless - Somewhere Else

7. Run the Jewels - RTJ2

8. Kelsey Waldon - The Goldmine

9. Pallbearer - Foundations of Burden

10. Lee Ann Womack - The Way I'm Livin'

11. Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires - Dereconstructed

12. Stoney Larue - Aviator

13. Tami Neilson - Dynamite!

14. Cory Branan - The No-Hit Wonder

15. Fire Mountain - All Dies Down

16. St. Paul and the Broken Bones - Half the City

17. Don Williams - Reflections

18. Matt Woods - With Love From Brushy Mountain

 19. Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives - Saturday Night/Sunday Morning

20. Jimbo Mathus - Dark Night of the Soul

2013

1. John Moreland - In the Throes

2. Jason Isbell - Southeastern

3. Sturgill Simpson - High Top Mountain

4. Arliss Nancy - Wild American Runners

5. Drew Kennedy - Wide Listener

6. Run the Jewels - RTJ

7. Brandy Clark - 12 Stories

8. Austin Lucas - Stay Reckless

9. Fifth on the Floor - Ashes and Angels

10. Ashley Monroe - Like a Rose

11. The National - Trouble Will Find Me

12. Kacey Musgraves - Same Trailer, Different Park

13. Shooter Jennings - The Other Life

14. Queens of the Stone Age - …Like Clockwork

15. Ha Ha Tonka - Lessons

16. Son Volt - Honky Tonk

17. Guy Clark - My Favorite Picture of You

18. Possessed by Paul James - There Will Be Nights When I'm Lonely

19. Vince Gill and Paul Franklin - Bakersfield

20. Todd Farrell Jr. and the Dirty Birds - All Our Heroes Live in Vans

2012

1. Lee Bains III & The Glory Fires - There is a Bomb in Gilead

2. Marty Stuart - Nashville, Vol. 1 Tear The Woodpile Down

3. Chris Knight - Little Victories

4. The Pollies - Where the Lies Begin

5. Turnpike Troubadours - Goodbye Normal Street

6. The Departed - Adventus

7. Dwight Yoakam - 3 Pears

8. Uncle Lucius - And You Are Me

9. Kendrick Lamar - good kid, M.A.A.D. City

10. The Trishas - High, Wide and Handsome

11. John D. Hale Band - More Than I Can Handle

12. Killer Mike - R.A.P. Music

13. Lindi Ortega - Cigarettes & Truckstops

14. Shooter Jennings - Family Man

15. Alabama Shakes - Boys & Girls

16. Arliss Nancy - Simple Machines

17. Darrell Scott - Long Ride Home

18. Jason Eady - AM Country Heaven

19. Matt King - Apples and Orphans

20. Lucero - Women and Work

2011

1. The Damn Quails - Down the Hatch

2. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit - Here We Rest

3. Hellbound Glory - Damaged Goods

4. Hayes Carll - KMAG YOYO

5. Jimbo Mathus - Confederate Buddha

6. Cary Anne Hearst - Lions and Lambs

7. Butch Walker and the Black Widows - The Spade

8. The Black Keys - El Camino

9. Adele - 21

10. Ponderosa - Moonlight Revival

11. Austin Lucas - A New Home, In the Old World

12. Kasey Anderson and the Honkies - Heart of a Dog

13. Stoney Larue - Velvet

14. Drew Kennedy - Fresh Water in the Salton Sea

15. Ryan Adams - Ashes and Fire

16. Pistol Annies - Hell on Heels

17. Wilco - The Whole Love

18. Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears - Scandalous

19. Mastodon - The Hunter

20. Will Hoge - Number Seven

2010

1. Jamey Johnson - The Guitar Song

2. Cee-Lo Green - The Lady Killer

3. Two Cow Garage - Sweet Saint Me

4. Austin Collins & The Rainbirds - Wrong Control

5. Big Boi - Sir Luscious Left Foot: The Son of Chico Dusty

6. Joe Pug - Messenger

7. Trampled by Turtles - Palomino

8. Kasey Anderson - Nowhere Nights

9. Rodney Hayden - Tavern of Poets

10. Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings - I Learned the Hard Way

11. Paul Thorn - Pimps and Preachers

12. Truth & Salvage Co. - s/t

13. Dirty Sweet - American Spiritual

14. The Black Crowes - Croweology

15. Band of Horses - Infinite Arms

16. The Dillinger Escape Plan - Option Paralysis

17. Randy Houser - They Call Me Cadillac

18. Hellbound Glory - Old Highs and New Lows

19. The Black Keys - Brothers

20. Drive-by Truckers - The Big To-Do

2009

1. Charlie Robison - Beautiful Day

2. Ben Nichols - Last Pale Light in the West

3. Buddy and Julie Miller - Written in Chalk

4. Magnolia Electric Company - Josephine

5. Lucero - 1372 Overton Park

6. BettySoo - Heat Sin Water Skin

7. Wrinkle Neck Mules - Let the Lead Fly

8. Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels

9. Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears - Tell 'em What Your Name Is

10. Drew Kennedy - An Audio Guide to Cross Country Travel

11. The Black Crowes - Before the Frost...Until the Freeze

12. Justin Townes Earle - Midnight at the Movies

13. Son Volt - American Central Dust

14. The Devil Makes Three - Do Wrong Right

15. Slaid Cleaves - Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away

16. Joshua James - Build Me This

17. Switchfoot - Hello Hurricane

18. Miranda Lambert - Revolution

19. Krizz Kaliko - Genius

20. Mastodon - Crack the Skye

2008 

1. Drive-by Truckers - Brighter Than Creation's Dark

2. Jamey Johnson - That Lonesome Song

3. Kasey Chambers and Shane Nicholson - Rattlin' Bones

4. Kathleen Edwards - Asking For Flowers

5. Hayes Carll - Trouble in Mind

6. Sun Kil Moon - April

7. The Hold Steady - Stay Positive

8. The Felice Brothers - s/t

9. Two Cow Garage - Speaking in Cursive

10. Fleet Foxes - s/t

11. NQ Arbuckle - XOK

12. Blitzen Trapper - Furr

13. Chris Knight - Heart of Stone

14. Metallica - Death Magnetic

15. Reckless Kelly - Bulletproof

16. The Gaslight Anthem - The '59 Sound

17. Justin Townes Earle - The Good Life

18. Bruce Robison - The New World

19. The Steeldrivers - s/t

20. Drag The River - You Can't Live This Way