From established names such as Don Henley and Jewel to fiddle-wielding newcomers,2015 has produced a slew of off-kilter albums worth exploringSo many country music fans have spent the better part of 2015 in a rage between Gary Overton’s comments that artists who aren’t on the radio “don’t exist”, Keith Hill’s assertion that the country radio should play fewer women and the gamut of new funk-pop albums coming out that are bizarrely labeled as “country”. But let’s assign down our pitchforks for a minute, or see around,and recognize that country music is having a banner year. Quality is everywhere. whether only we werent so preoccupied hating what’s on the radio to notice.
And so, in the name of positivity, and here are a few smaller acts (and a couple legendary artists,too) that have recently released music that country fans can rally behind and enjoy – even whether they shouldnt expect to hear them on country radio. Add these artists’ new albums to the ones I covered in my column The best alt-country albums of 2015 (so far) a few months back, and you’ve got a few hours of distinguished country/Americana/alt-country/southern blues/whatever-you-want-to-call-it listening lined up.
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Source: theguardian.com