100 Best Americana or Country Songs of 2025

by Julian Spivey

Photos: Southeastern, Bossier City Records, One Riot Records & New West Records

The First 50
*these are listed alphabetically by artist

Song: "Looks Like the End of the Road" by Alison Krauss & Union Station
Album: Arcadia
Songwriter: Jeremy Lister 

Song: "Ain't Enough Cowboy Songs" by Ashley McBryde
Album: Non-Album Single
Songwriters: Ashley McBryde, Chris Harris & Patrick Savage

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Song: "Let's Be Ghosts" by Bleu Edmondson
Album: To The End
Songwriters: Bleu Edmondson & Neil Lemons

Song: "Dumpster Diving" by Brennen Leigh
Album: Don't You Ever Give Up On Love
​Songwriter: Brennen Leigh 

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Song: "In Lieu of Flowers" by Bryce Leatherwood
Album: Bryce Leatherwood
Songwriters: Adam Craig, Jacob Davis & Matt McKinney 

Song: "Lonely Mountain Town" by Charles Wesley Godwin
Album: Lonely Mountain Town EP
Songwriter: Charles Wesley Godwin

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Song: "Crucified Son" by Charley Crockett
Album: Dollar A Day
Songwriters: Charley Crockett, Kyle Madrigal & Taylor Grace

Song: "Better Than the Bottle" by Cody Jinks
Album: In My Blood
Songwriters: Cody Jinks & Tom McElvain

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Song: "1800 Miles" by Colter Wall
Album: Memories and Empties
Songwriter: Colter Wall 

Song: "Rain or Shine" by Drew & Ellie Holcomb
Album: Memory Bank
Songwriters: Drew Holcomb & Ellie Holcomb

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Song: "Little Richard's Bible" by Elton John & Brandi Carlile 
Album: Who Believes in Angels?
Songwriters: Andrew Watt, Bernie Taupin, Elton John & Brandi Carlile 

Song: "Lula" by Evan Bartels
Album: To Make You Cry EP
Songwriter: Evan Bartels

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Song: "Good Times Go" by Grayson Jenkins & Pony Bradshaw
Album: Country Parables
Songwriter: Grayson Jenkins 

Song: "I Don't Want You" by Hailey Whitters & Charles Wesley Godwin
Album: Corn Queen
Songwriters: Hailey Whitter, Gordie Sampson & Jon Nite 

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Song: "I'm the One" by Jake Worthington feat. Marty Stuart
Album: When I Write The Song
Songwriters: Jake Worthington, Jenna LaMaster & Marty Stuart

Song: "Why Don't You Love Me" by Jesse Welles
Album: Middle
Songwriter: Jesse Welles

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Song: "Goodbyes Are Hard to Listen To" by Joe Nichols
Album: Non-Album Single
Songwriters: Jacob Lyda, James LeBlanc & Jen Stegall

Song: "How to Quit" by Joe Stamm Band
Album: Little Crosses
Songwriter: Joe Stamm

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Song: "Talkin' to Your Picture" by Josh Ward
Album: Same Ol' Cowboy, Different Rodeo
Songwriters: David Lindsey & Lee Bach

Song: "Up There with the Angels" by Justin Wells
Album: Cynthiana
Songwriter: Justin Wells

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Song: "Jenni" by Kashus Culpepper
Album: Non-Album Single
Songwriters: Kashus Culpepper, Jacob Durrett & Jordan Dozzi

Song: "Comanche" by Kelsey Waldon
Album: Every Ghost
Songwriter: Kelsey Waldon

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Song: "Hungover Thinkin'" by Lola Kirke
Album: Trailblazer
Songwriters: Lola Kirke, Liz Rose & Caitlin Rose

Song: "Tied to You" by Lori McKenna feat. Medium Build
Album: Non-Album Single
Songwriter: Lori McKenna

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Song: "Dark House of Fools" by Luke Bell
Album: The King is Back
Songwriter: Luke Bell

Song: "I Wish You Would" by Mackenzie Carpenter feat. Midland 
Album: Hey Country Queen
Songwriters: Mackenzie Carpenter, Chris Tompkins, Jamie Moore & Jonathan Hutcherson

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Song: "Don't Let the Bastards Get You Down" by Margo Price
Album: Hard Headed Woman
Songwriters: Margo Price, Jeremy Ivey, Rodney Crowell & Kris Kristofferson

Song: "Lonely Train" by Matt Daniel 
Album: The Poet
Songwriters: Matt Daniel, Ben Chapman & Nate Frederick

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Song: "The Party is Over" by Morgan Wade
Album: The Party Is Over (recovered)
Songwriter: Morgan Wade 

Song: "How Sunday Feels" by Nicholas Jamerson feat. Rachel Baiman
Album: The Narrow Way 
Songwriters: Nicholas Jamerson & Rachel Baiman

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Song: "You" by Olivia Ellen Lloyd
Album: Do it Myself
Songwriter: Olivia Ellen Lloyd 

Song: "Drift Away" by Orville Peck
Album: Appaloosa EP
Songwriters: Orville Peck, Danny Presant, Dillon Casey & Kyle Connolly 

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Song: "You Should Be Worried About Me" by Reid Haughton
Album: Non-Album Single
Songwriters: Reid Haughton, Matt Alderman & Chris Gelbuda 

Song: "Taking Flight" by Rodney Crowell & Ashley McBryde
Album: Airline Highway
Songwriters: Rodney Crowell & Ashley McBryde

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Song: "Monte Carlo/No Limits" by Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band 
Album: New Threats From The Soul
Songwriter: Ryan Davis 

Song: "Texas 42" by Silverada 
Album: Texas 42
Songwriters: Michael Harmeier

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Song: "Diamonds and Divorce Decrees" by Sunny Sweeney
Album: Rhinestone Requiem
Songwriters: Sunny Sweeney, Buddy Owens & Galen Griffin

Song: "Cry Baby" by Sunny War & Valerie June
Album: Armageddon In A Summer Dress
Songwriter: Sunny War 

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Song: "Don't Let Go (Hold Me Close)" by Tanner Usrey 
Album: These Days
Songwriters: Tanner Usrey & Raina Wallace

Song: "Same Old Song" by The Lumineers
Album: Automatic
Songwriters: Jeremiah Fraites & Wesley Schultz

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Song: "The River Knows" by The Steeldrivers
Album: Outrun
Songwriters: Daniel Ethridge, Tammy Rogers King & Tom Douglas

Song: "Chainsmokin' Memories" by Thelma & James
Album: Starting Over
Songwriters: Jordan Reynolds, Parker Welling, Jake Etheridge, Jordan Minton & MacKenzie Porter 

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Song: "A Father & A Daughter" by Tony Kamel
Album: We're All Gonna Live
Songwriter: Tony Kamel

Song: "Honey Suckles" by Tony Logue
Album: Dark Horse
Songwriter: Tony Logue

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Song: "Leaving Town (Woody Guthrie Festival)" by Turnpike Troubadours
Album: The Price of Admission
Songwriters: Evan Felker & Dave Simonett

Song: "Wouldn't Want to Be Me Right Now" by Ward Davis 
Album: Non-Album Single
Songwriters: Ward Davis, Elizabeth Elkins & Vanessa Olivarez 

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Song: "Sweet Misery" by Will Hoge
Album: Sweet Misery
Songwriter: Will Hoge

Song: "Whiskey Lies & Alibies" by William Beckmann
Album: Whiskey Lies & Alibies
Songwriters: William Beckmann, Jesse Frasure & Jessie Jo Dillon

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Song: "Country Boy Blues" by Zach Top
Album: Ain't In It For My Health
​Songwriters: Zach Top & Carson Chamberlain

Song: "South of Sanity" by Zach Top
Album: Ain't In It For My Health
​Songwriters: Zach Top, Carson Chamberlain & Mark Nesler

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The Top 50

50. "It's the Little Things" by Charles Wesley Godwin
Album: Lonely Mountain Town EP
Songwriter: Charles Wesley Godwin

Charles Wesley Godwin, one of my favorite up-and-coming singer-songwriters on the outskirts of mainstream country, didn’t even release a new album in 2025, and still placed multiple songs on this year-end list. My favorite of those was “It’s the Little Things,” which sees the down-to-earth West Virginian, opining about never taking the little things in life – like a day’s first sip of coffee or a loving look from your significant other – for granted. ​​
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49. "Four on the Floor" by Adam Hood & Brent Cobb
Album: Non-Album Single
Songwriters: Adam Hood, Brent Cobb & Jason Saenz

Adam Hood and Brent Cobb are a great fit together on “Four on the Floor,” which they co-wrote with Jason Saenz. “Four on the Floor” has soulful guitar licks all the way through, with Hood and Cobb taking turns on lines that ooze with Southern swagger. It’s a whole lot of fun, like the two are just in a room jamming together. 
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48. "Bad Girls" by Steve Earle & Reckless Kelly
Album: Non-Album Single
Songwriters: Steve Earle & Reckless Kelly 

Steve Earle and Reckless Kelly weren’t a collaboration I ever saw coming, but I’m damn sure glad it happened. Earle and the veteran Texas country band share a similar country-rock style, and Earle was no doubt an influence on the kind of music Reckless Kelly has recorded for nearly 30 years. The collaboration brought two singles in 2025, “Bad Girls” and “Dead or Gone to Dallas,” both excellent, but “Bad Girls” is the one that made this list with Earle and Reckless Kelly frontman Wily Braun trading off lines about having a thing for the bad girls - the kind who like to hang out in bars and honky tonks and listen to artists like, well, Steve Earle and Reckless Kelly. 
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47. "Trailblazer" by Lainey Wilson, Miranda Lambert & Reba McEntire
Album: Non-Album Single
​Songwriters: Lainey Wilson, Miranda Lambert & Brandy Clark

“Trailblazer” is one of the collaborative highlights of 2025 in country music with two of today’s finest and brightest country female vocalists, Lainey Wilson, the current CMA Entertainer of the Year, and Miranda Lambert, the most honored female in CMA history paying tribute to the great female country singers that came before them and paved the way like Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette and Loretta Lynn. The song truly becomes incredible when Reba McEntire, essentially the torchbearer from that generation to today’s generation, joins in to help show that the future is in good hands. 
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46. "Nothing Like You Nowhere" by Walker Montgomery 
Album: Non-Album Single
Songwriters: Mitch Oglesby & Phil O'Donnell

Walker Montgomery has neo-traditional country music in his veins as the son of ‘90s hitmaker John Michael Montgomery. It seems the apple didn’t fall too far from the tree with a song like “Nothing Like You Nowhere,” a beautiful love song written by Mitch Oglesby and Phil O’Donnell that feels like it couldn’t have come out anytime in the last 35-40 years. “Nothing Like You Nowhere” talks about some of the great things the narrator has seen, like Merle Haggard at the Ryman Auditorium and Dale Earnhardt finally winning the Daytona 500 in 1998, but how none of it compares to the sight of the one he loves. 
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45. "Los Diablos Tejanos" by The Wilder Blue
Album: Still in the Runnin'
Songwriter: Zane Williams

Zane Williams, songwriter and lead vocalist for the Texas country band The Wilder Blue, has been one of the genre's finest storytellers for a while. The band’s latest album, Still in the Runnin’, features a handful of terrific story songs with “Los Diablos Tejanos,” a story about Texas Rangers battling with outlaws at the Texas/Mexico border, standing out as a nice country-rocker with Paul Eason on lead guitar and Lyndon Hughes on drums as particular standouts.   
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44. "Big Money" by Jon Batiste
Album: Big Money
Songwriters: Jon Batiste, Mike Elizondo & Steve McEwan

The term Americana comes from the melding of roots music that developed in the United States, much of it coming from African American traditions. Jon Batiste’s music combines many of these roots genres: blues, soul, R&B, etc., into one big melting pot that sounds glorious, and makes you want to get up on your feet and dance. “Big Money,” off his latest album of the same name, is a joyous number about a mama’s advice to her son, most importantly about how “you can be living the life but not living the dream.” 
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43. "Hands of Time" by Eric Church
Album: Evangeline vs. The Machine
Songwriters: Eric Church, Jay Joyce & Scooter Carusoe

Eric Church has been worrying some longtime fans, whether rightly or wrongly, because his sound has leaned more toward soul and gospel lately. “Hands of Time,” the first single from his latest album Evangeline vs. The Machine should’ve gone a long way in quelling those worries, as the North Carolina country-rocker feels in his sweet spot with a tune about helping him remain young by reliving all the great moments and songs of his past with terrific name and song drops of Bob Seger, Tom Petty, Waylon and Willie and more. 
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42. "Game I Can't Win" by Charley Crockett
Album: Lonesome Drifter
Songwriter: Charley Crockett

Charley Crockett’s output is unmatched among his peers. He released two albums in 2024, including one of my favorites of the year, $10 Cowboy. He released two more albums in 2025: Lonesome Drifter and Dollar A Day. “Game I Can’t Win” was one of the standout tracks on Lonesome Drifter. It’s not a stranger of a theme for Crockett as he croons about the state of the music business and relationships with the quip: “I’ve always loved a game I can’t win.” 
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41. "Yellow Rose" by Tony Logue
Album: Dark Horse
​Songwriter: Tony Logue

If there were one singer-songwriter under the radar I’d love to see break out the most, it would be Tony Logue, who has released some of my favorite songs over the last few years, but still seems to be flying under the radar. His fourth album, Dark Horse, has been one of my favorites this year with a heartland rock sound and real-life grittiness in his songs that is striking, like “Yellow Rose,” an ode to a stripper who is doing what she has to to provide for her family while her man scrapes and struggles to find ways to make a living, so that one day she can lay the fishnet hose and that life behind. 

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40. "Bible Belt" by Vandoliers
Album: Life Behind Bars
Songwriters: Jenni Rose, Dustin Fleming, Cory Graves, Mark Moncrieff, Trey Alfaro & Travis Curry

​How hard must it be growing up in a strict, religious community when you’re a different kind of person – one that some Christians who don’t follow Jesus’s words and hold more conservative viewpoints don’t accept? That’s what Vandoliers sing about in “Bible Belt,” off their latest album Life Behind Bars, the group’s first since vocalist Jenni Rose came out as a trans woman. The lyrics find Rose singing about some of the worst moments of her youth in lines like: “I was hurt/I was broken/I was everything that you hate,” with Cory Graves, the band’s keyboardist/organist, wailing on an organ sound that mixes Elvis Costello’s “Radio, Radio” with the sound of church. It’s a terrific bit of cowpunk. 

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39. "Solitary Tracks" by Kip Moore
Album: Solitary Tracks
Songwriters: Kip Moore, Dan Couch & Brett James

​Kip Moore broke out in the mainstream country music world in 2012 with his debut album Up All Night, which featured a No. 1 hit in “Somethin’ ‘Bout a Truck” and a top-10 hit in “Beer Money.” I liked those songs; there was a bit of heartland rock in them that reminded me of John Mellencamp, and not some of the bad ‘80s hair bands many country stars were trying to emulate around that time. Following the debut, Moore’s music drifted a little bit outside of the mainstream; he hasn’t had a top-20 hit in the last half-decade, but he built up a loyal fan base. There wasn’t much in his work that stuck with me, until the title track of his most recent album, Solitary Tracks, which I loved from the outset. “Solitary Tracks” feels like an anthem for Moore, a lone wolf trying to do things his own way. He wrote on his Facebook page in February: “This record was accepting and finding comfort in living on the fringe away from the crowd. It’s being OK with choosing to not walk with the pack.” It might be the best song of Moore’s career.  

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38. "Average American" by Colby Acuff
Album: Enjoy the Ride 
Songwriters: Colby Acuff, Chandler Brown, Noah Gunderson & Holden James Potter
 
​A lot of country music stars strive to come off as an “average American” to their legions of fans, but their view of an “average American” doesn’t really seem realistic. It at least glosses over the hardships. Colby Acuff doesn’t gloss over the real. He knows life for an “average American” isn’t always roses, and he gets honest in his song, “Average American.” The song realizes the American dream isn’t as easy as we were led to believe, and it includes struggles like debt, divorce, never being wealthy enough to own a home, etc. Written by Acuff, Chandler Brown, Holden James Potter and Noah Gunderson, it’s nice to see someone in step with what it’s actually like for many of us hard-working folks out here in the real world. 

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37. "Bury Me" by Jason Isbell 
Album: Foxes in the Snow
Songwriter: Jason Isbell 

Jason Isbell’s solo album Foxes in the Snow, surely one of the Americana candidates for Album of the Year, is just his voice and guitar, featuring some of his career's most emotional songwriting and singing, with tracks split between his divorce and his new relationship. “Bury Me” opens with Isbell's fantastic voice alone for the first verse, before his guitar accompanies him on the second. It might be the countriest (particularly country & western) of his discography, with images of swinging bar doors, windy plains and typical Western iconography. However, he admits he’s neither a cowboy nor an outlaw. 
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36. "Dollar Store" by Ben Kweller feat. Waxahatchee 
Album: Cover The Mirrors
Songwriters: Ben Kweller & Jonny Schoen

Ben Kweller has been around the indie-rock, indie-folk, etc. circles for a long time – more than two decades, in fact – but his music hadn’t yet caught my ear or attention. Then I heard “Dollar Store” early this year (probably because it features Waxahatchee on guest vocals, and my algorithm knew I’d want to listen to it), and the pain of the lyrics from a narrator who seems stuck in life without much inspiration hit me, as well as opening with this wonderfully jangly guitar tone that instantly piqued my interest, and by the end finds itself in a full-throttle barrage, as if it’s make or break time.  
 

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35. "Anything But Me" by Jesse Welles
Album: Middle
Songwriter: Jesse Welles 

​Jesse Welles, a folk singer from Arkansas, has burst upon the scene relatively quickly, thanks to some songs that have gone viral on social media apps like TikTok. Don’t let the way he’s found stardom fool you, though; he’s the real deal when it comes to songwriting. My favorite track from his album Middle is “Anything But Me,” which is about everything he wishes he could have been, but himself. It includes the excellent chorus: “I should’ve been a bird/a sparrow or an eagle/a crow or a seagull/flyin’ over the sea/I should’ve been a sailor/a cowboy or a jailer/anything but me.” The chorus's vocal flow is beautiful. 

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34. "Born Runnin' Out of Time" by Lukas Nelson
Album: American Romance
Songwriters: Lukas Nelson, Jon Decious & Nate Ferraro

Lukas Nelson’s “Born Runnin’ Out of Time,” which he co-wrote with Jon Decious and Nate Ferraro for his most recent album American Romance, sees the singer-songwriter (and son of legendary Willie Nelson) battling with life as a traveling musician, where it’s hard to juggle home life with road life. There’s a driving feel to the song that makes it sound like it could’ve been on an album from someone like Tom Petty or Bob Seger, and Nelson’s urgent vocal is one of the best of his career. 

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33. "Returning to Myself" by Brandi Carlile 
Album: Returning to Myself 
Songwriter: Brandi Carlile  

​I wasn’t aware that Brandi Carlile needed to return to herself. Things seemed to be better than ever for the beautifully voiced singer-songwriter after years of Grammy-nominated and winning records and of performing with and becoming friends with her heroes like Joni Mitchell and Elton John. But maybe somewhere in performing with and making music with her heroes, she lost her own music and voice. “Returning to Myself,” also the name of her latest album, sees her going more inward, “returning to myself/is such a lonely thing to do/but, it’s the only thing to do.” Carlile has moments on all of her work where she hits notes that make you marvel at her vocal gift, and when she hits, “Oh, keeper, how I love you/I love you and you and you,” we feel it. 

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32. "Found" by Cody Jinks 
Album: In My Blood
Songwriters: Andrew Peebles, Brett Sheroky & Ward Davis

​Cody Jinks has never shied away from being open about his fight with demons in his work, and “Found,” off his latest album In My Blood, sees him open and honest about fights he’s had in his life with the bottle, religion, etc. and wondering, “how lost is a sinner like me gonna have to be before he gets found?” Ward Davis, Andrew Peebles and Brett Sheroky wrote “Found,” but you can hear in Jinks’ performance that he’s been down this road. It’s this willingness to be open about dark matters in life that has earned Jinks a loyal fan base, and it’s nice to see he’s overcome some of his demons.  

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31. "Away It Goes" by Amanda Shires
Album: Nobody's Girl
Songwriters: Amanda Shires & Lawrence Rothman

​One of Americana’s most recent tragedies was the divorce of Jason Isbell and Amanda Shires, who were basically the Americana “It” couple. Both artists laid their souls bare this year with their most recent albums: Shires’ Nobody’s Girl and Isbell’s Foxes in the Snow. There’s sadness throughout both albums, but none probably as tear-jerking as “Away It Goes” by Shires, which tells the story of a love just fading away, vanishing into thin air, with a beautiful melody and music that sort of flutters away itself and Shires’ vocal quiver fitting the emotion of the track perfectly. 

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30. "Rushmere" by Mumford & Sons
Album: Rushmere
Songwriters: Marcus Mumford, Dave Cobb, Greg Kurstin & Natalie Hemby

​It might not be 2010 anymore, but Mumford & Sons are still out there, playing their terrific brand of folk-rock, featuring excellent instrumentation and anthemic vocals. “Rushmere,” the title track on the band’s fifth studio album – its first in seven years – sounds like classic Mumford & Sons with Marcus Mumford belting nostalgically about the band’s origins – Rushmere being a pond in Wimbledon Common in southwest London where Mumford, Ben Lovett and Ted Dwane first conceived the idea of forming a band. It’s a rousing good time that will make you want to scream along. 

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29. "Chickasaw Church of Christ" by Muscadine Bloodline 
Album: ... And What Was Left Behind
Songwriter: Gary Stanton

​Muscadine Bloodline – the country duo of Charlie Muncaster and Gary Stanton from Southern Alabama – feels like a group that should have hit songs on mainstream country radio and be nominated for ACM and CMA awards. I’m not sure why they aren’t there yet, but they have a loyal fan base they’ve earned with real-life inspired songs like “Chickasaw Church of Christ,” a highlight of … And What Was Left Behind, one of the duo’s two albums of 2025. The song is a slice of life many have experienced with a teenage, high school love, forced to go their separate ways by impending adulthood and life changes that come with graduation. Muncaster and Stanton sound terrific together on the chorus. 

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28. "Oneida" by Tyler Childers
Album: Snipe Hunter
​Songwriter: Tyler Childers  

​“Oneida” is a song Tyler Childers has had in his bag for a while. In fact, he first played it nearly a decade ago during one of his Red Barn Radio sessions in 2016. The ode to a lover who is much older than the narrator finally received a proper recording on Childers’ Snipe Hunter this year. The tune, one of the more stripped-down tracks on the album, is a lovely song about a young man learning a thing or two from a woman who is “referencing movies I’m too young to know” and remembers when Cyndi Lauper had radio hits. It’s mostly Childers and his guitar until this beautifully cacophonic of strings and horns hits near the song’s midpoint with a wondrous instrumental that exudes joy, like a boy experiencing romance for the first time. 

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27. "Cerulean Skies" by Telander & Kaitlin Butts
Album: Non-Album Single 
Songwriters:  Zack Telander & Kaitlin Butts

​One of my favorite duets of 2025 was “Cerulean Skies,” by Austin-based band Telander with Oklahoma country queen Kaitlin Butts, which finds Zack Telander and Butts musing about ambition and a will to break into something bigger than their small-town life. The lines that Telander and Butts trade off on in the verses are beautiful little summations of burgeoning love like “you’re a lit cigarette when the beers are hitting me just right” and “you’re a faint little star poking through cerulean skies.” 

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26. "Elderberry Wine" by Wednesday
Album: Bleeds
Songwriters: Ethan Baechtold, Karly Hartzman, MJ Lenderman, Xandy Chelmis & Richard Miller 

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25. "Progress of Man (Bitcoin & Cattle)" by Hayes Carll 
Album: We're Only Human
Songwriter: Hayes Carll & Aaron Raitiere 

​Hayes Carll has been one of the best singer-songwriters in the Americana/outskirts of mainstream country music world for two decades now. His best track off his latest album, We’re Only Human, is the pointed “Progress of Man (Bitcoin & Cattle),” which he wrote with Aaron Raitiere, and explores how the “progress of man” might not actually be very progressive, hence great lines about “the world’s getting’ turned on by assholes and racists.” ‘Progress of Man’ is classic tongue-in-cheek Carll songwriting and will likely be among his many greatest works when it's all said and done.   

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24. "Sailing Away" by James McMurtry 
Album: The Black Dog & the Wandering Boy
​Songwriter: James McMurtry 

​James McMurtry is known as a great songwriter with novelistic lyrics. He’s a great storyteller, but I don’t know if he gets enough credit for his melodies. “Sailing Away,” off his latest album The Black Dog and the Wandering  Boy, is an excellent example of a song in which the chorus has this terrific melody that worms its way into your head in the best way and stays there. The verses of the song tell of a weary musician having a war within themself about whether it’s even worth continuing to do what they do (“wonderin’ if I’m even worth the paper I’m printed on/it’s a judgment call”). McMurtry lays bare the mundanities of a touring musician with the type of specificity only a songwriter of his caliber can achieve. 

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23. "Eileen" by Jason Isbell 
Album: Foxes in the Snow
​Songwriter: Jason Isbell 

​I suppose “Eileen” sounds better in a song than “Amanda”? Jason Isbell’s Foxes in the Snow, the first album since his divorce from fellow musician Amanda Shires, features some devastating songs undoubtedly about the harshness of the ending of a marriage. There are no heroes or villains in this quiet breakup song, just a dead relationship both played a hand in. Isbell has always been an intimate, vulnerable songwriter, but never as heartbreakingly so. 

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22. "Memory Bank" by Drew & Ellie Holcomb 
Album: Memory Bank
Songwriters: Drew Holcomb, Ellie Holcomb & Cason Cooley 

​One of the best, and surely underrated, musical couples today is Drew and Ellie Holcomb, who both have successful singer-songwriter careers solo, but have made magic coming together with Memory Bank. The title track sees the husband-and-wife duo singing about how moments spent together create long-lasting memories that make a relationship fun and successful. I particularly like the opening lines: “Singing Fleetwood Mac, reading Kerouac/with an old Kodak on the dashboard.” 

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21. "Casseroles" by Hailey Whitters 
Album: Corn Queen
Songwriters: Hillary Lindsey, Tom Douglas & James Slater 

​I don’t understand how Hailey Whitters hasn’t broken through as a star in mainstream country music yet, but it might have something to do with how her songwriting (though she didn’t have a hand in this one) and performance are true to real life, both the good and the bad. She has the tragedy down pat with “Casseroles,” off her latest album Corn Queen. “After the casseroles stop coming” is a terrific line about how life follows a tragedy, and such a small-town way of putting it, with the tradition of neighbors and friends bringing over food like casseroles in the aftermath of devastation. Written by Hillary Lindsey, James Slater and Tom Douglas, this can be understood by anyone who has suffered a loss. 

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20. "Catch Me If You Can" by Ketch Secor 
Album: Story the Crow Told Me
​Songwriters: Ketch Secor & Jody Stevens

It’s actually somewhat surprising that Ketch Secor, the leader of Old Crow Medicine Show, took more than 25 years into his music career before releasing a solo effort. His debut album, Story the Crow Told Me, was a bit surprising in how different it sounded from his work with O.C.M.S. It’s a bit more polished in sound. That polish works well for “Catch Me If You Can,” which Secor co-wrote with Jody Stevens, and features former O.C.M.S. members Critter Fuqua and Willie Watson on backing vocals. The song both came out of old childhood nicknames and a long career on the road as a touring musician. Secor told mxdwn.com: “Ever since I was young, people have inevitably made a pun with my name. One phrase I always heard was ‘Catch Me if You Can.’ Well, last spring when I was going through this catharsis of playing back the hands of time in the proverbial rearview mirror, I sat down with Jody Stevens and wrote this song in a short bittersweet burst. I was to explore the feeling of sacrifice that it takes to love someone like me. Someone who probably is going to miss your birthday party because I’m going to be playing a show.” 

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19. "Nobody Knows Your Love" by Madison Hughes & Brent Cobb
Album: All That I Am
Songwriters: Lucie Silvas, Abe Stoklasa, Daniel Tashian, Josh Jenkins & Ryan Griffin

​This has been an outstanding year for Americana/country duets. My favorite was “Nobody Knows Your Love” by Madison Hughes and Brent Cobb from Hughes’ All That I Am album. It contains one of my favorite and lovely choruses of the year: “We can be in the middle of the dance floor/fiddle and the guitar strumming along/and the raindrops drippin’/and I can’t stop trippin’ on my two left feet/and every song is you/nobody knows your love like I do.” There is such a soulful intimacy between Hughes and Cobbs, making for one of the loveliest tracks you’ll hear all year. 

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18. "The Others" by Cody Jinks 
Album: In My Blood
Songwriters: Cody Jinks, Tennessee Jet & Ray Wylie Hubbard 

Cody Jinks has always found himself a champion of the “others” – the underdogs, the hard-working blue collar crowd, the cowboys and the hippies. “The Others” is his ode to all of these types who may not completely fit into the mainstream, but there are legions of them just wanting to share a moment, and they can do so at a Cody Jinks show. He told American Songwriter: “We recorded a video for that song in Chattanooga, and we had such a cool time. We had all kinds of people. You name the kind of person, and we had them. We had cowboys and punks and metalheads and goths. We had business people and just regular-looking Joes and fans.” All of these folks belong at a Cody Jinks show. 

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17. "Cinnamon Blonde" by Tony Logue
Album: Dark Horse
Songwriter: Tony Logue 

​Tony Logue had one of my favorite songs of 2023 with “Thundertown,” a Bruce Springsteen-esque tune off his album, The Crumbs. He’s returned this year with another terrific album of heartland country-rock called Dark Horse. “Cinnamon Blonde” is about thinking of the one you love back home, while you’re out on the road making a living for the two of you. If you’re a fan of early Steve Earle records, you’ll enjoy this. 

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16. "Bleed on Paper" by Eric Church 
Album: Evangeline vs. The Machine
Songwriters: Tucker Beathard, Casey Beathard & Monty Criswell 

Eric Church has always done things his own way – I think this is why he’s managed to carve out a little niche in mainstream country music, where he’s been able to be popular, but his music still stands out as better and different than the other popular bros of the genre. “Bleed On Paper,” written by Casey Beathard, Tucker Beathard and Monty Criswell, off Church’s latest album Evangeline vs. The Machine, is probably how he's been able to accomplish that – by putting his heart and soul into his work and never being afraid to be honest and adapt. It’s a bit surprising that Church didn’t have a hand in penning this tune (it’s the only non-cover on the album he didn’t write/co-write), but, no doubt, he identified with its message.  

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15. "Bad As I Used to Be" by Chris Stapleton 
Album: F1 The Album
Songwriter: Chris Stapleton 

Chris Stapleton’s kickass bluesy-rocker “Bad As I Used to Be” was the perfect anthem for Brad Pitt’s Formula 1 driver character Sonny Hayes in this summer’s movie blockbuster, “F1,” directed by Joseph Kosinski. In fact, the scene where Pitt is testing an F1 car, with this song playing over the footage, was my favorite in the movie. “Bad As I Used to Be” sees Stapleton at full bravado, a song about knowing you’re a badass and reveling in it, and, like many Stapleton tracks, it comes equipped with terrific guitar work and solos. 

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14. "Easy Money" by Charley Crockett
Album: Lonesome Drifter
​Songwriter: Charley Crockett 

Charley Crockett’s output of releasing two albums per year over the last couple of years is unmatched by anyone, especially when it comes to the quality of said releases. Lonesome Drifter was my favorite of his two this year (though this list also includes a track from Dollar A Day). My favorite track on Lonesome Drifter is “Easy Money,” which draws inspiration (at least in part) from John Schlesinger’s 1969 Oscar Best Picture winner “Midnight Cowboy” and from an old friend of Crockett’s sister, who was a stripper in Dallas. Crockett told Billboard: “It all hit me, this idea of ‘easy money,’ but if you’re poor, there’s no such thing as easy money.” Crockett’s laconic Texas drawl fits such a song perfectly. 

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13. "On the Red River" by Turnpike Troubadours
Album: The Price of Admission
Songwriters: Evan Felker & Ketch Secor

​Fans of the Turnpike Troubadours know that frontman and primary songwriter Evan Felker went through Hell with alcoholism and came out on the other side a better man, and one who’s potentially more introspective than ever before. “On the Red River,” off the band’s sixth studio album The Price of Admission, sees Felker reminiscing in a country waltz on memories – some lovely, some hurtful – about living a simple life of a rancher, and how recovering from the hardship of that life and celebrating the end of the day often meant drinking. It’s not specifically a true story, but it feels as if a good amount of realism from his life snuck through. Felker told Holler: “That was based on some real people, a bunch of them, it’s not any one real story per se, but a mixture of those and my life and people I’ve known as well.” It ends with a man remembering his father after his death – thankfully for Felker, that part is fictional.  

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12. "True Believer" by Jason Isbell
Album: Foxes in the Snow
Songwriter: Jason Isbell 

​Like most of the best songs on his latest album, Foxes in the Snow, Jason Isbell’s “True Believer” is an honest telling of the end of his marriage. “True Believer” mixes the many feelings that come with the end of a marriage, the sadness with the anger, the bitterness with the nostalgia. It’s Isbell at his most raw.  

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11. "The Black Dog & the Wandering Boy" by James McMurtry
Album: The Black Dog & the Wandering Boy
Songwriter: James McMurtry

​“The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy,” the title track off James McMurtry’s 11th studio album, has its origins in something tragic to McMurtry and his family: his father, the legendary novelist Larry McMurtry’s aging and failing health. The mysterious figures of the title appeared to his father in hallucinations brought on by dementia before he died in 2021, and according to James’s stepmother, Faye, they were his favorite hallucinations. James McMurtry took the bit of truth and applied it to a fictional story about a character who seems to be losing his grasp on reality. 

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10. "Truest Colors" by Jason Boland & the Stragglers
Album: The Last Kings of Babylon
Songwriter: Jason Boland 
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​Jason Boland & the Stragglers have been one of the best, and for my money the most underrated, acts in Red Dirt country music for the quarter-century they’ve been active. With each new album, Boland has at least one track that will last amongst the best work of his career, and for his latest album, The Last Kings of Babylon, that song is “Truest Colors.” “Truest Colors” sees Boland with some venom in his words and vocal on a great “screw you” song about someone or something (or both) in his life that did him wrong. Mainstream country music might be one of the devil's Boland is writing off with a line like: “to tell the truth I hate the business/it praises people I despise.” 

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9. "Territory Town" by Joe Stamm Band 
Album: Little Crosses
Songwriter: Joe Stamm

​Joe Stamm Band is one of the best acts today to capture that heartland rock sound that emerged in the ‘80s, thanks to artists like John Mellencamp, which capture the highlights and lowlights of small-town life. “Territory Town,” my favorite track of the group’s latest album Little Crosses, is one of the most infectious, fun songs of the year – sort of like a modern take on Hal Ketchum’s ‘90s country hit “Small Town Saturday Night.” “Territory Town” is the tale of kids, probably late teens/early twenties, just having a blast during the summertime when there isn’t much to do but try to avoid getting into trouble. 

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8. "Under a Big Sky" by Bruce Springsteen
Albums: Track II: The Lost Albums
​Songwriter: Bruce Springsteen 

​Bruce Springsteen released A TON of new music in 2025, though it was all old. Tracks II: The Lost Albums, released in June, featured 83 previously unreleased songs – all in album form (seven complete albums)- suddenly available to his avid fan base. It’s such an expansive output that I have only scratched the surface, and he’s my all-time favorite artist. The album in the compilation I spent the most time with was Somewhere North of Nashville, which would’ve essentially been Springsteen’s “country record” had it been released in the ‘90s, as initially planned. “Under a Big Sky,” a ballad that tells the tale of a man who consistently leaves behind his loved ones for the Western skies and ranching work, is the standout track. Springsteen’s vocal is one of his best, perfectly matching the plaintive cry of the steel guitar and harmonica, and the feel of the lyrics.   

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7. "Old Melodies" by Paul Thorn 
Album: Life Is Just a Vapor
​Songwriter: Paul Thorn 

I’m not sure there was a line from a song this year that exemplified 2025 more than: “’Amazing Grace’ used to be our favorite song, but now it’s ‘We Shall Overcome’.” The line from Thorn’s “Old Melodies,” the final track on his latest album Life Is Just a Vapor, blew me away the first time I heard it, and it has ever since. It’s a perfect statement about the country we’re currently living in, but came out of something experienced in Thorn’s life, according to his website: “We had a family problem a long time ago, a relative that ran off the tracks with drugs and everything. When my dad was dealing with the pain of the heartache that somebody he loved was in a dark hole, he was just standing there, crying. And he said, ‘Man, ‘Amazing Grace’ used to be my favorite song, but now it’s ‘We Shall Overcome.’ Boy, that just hit me right between the eyes. They’re both great songs, but ‘Amazing Grace’ is more like a praise song. ‘We Shall Overcome’ is, ‘We got something we gotta deal with, and we’re gonna deal with it, and we’re gonna get past it.’ I thought that was a beautiful thing he said.” 

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6. "Melt in the Sun" by Mason Via
Album: Mason Via
Songwriters: Mason Via & Charlie Chamberlain

​Mason Via’s “Melt in the Sun,” off his debut, self-titled album, is one of the most beautiful songs of the year, both lyrically and instrumentally, and shows the young fella, who began his career with a stint in Old Crow Medicine Show, might be a force to be reckoned with in roots genres. The song finds Via singing about an undying, timeless love over some of the year’s best picking and playing, featuring a beauty of a mandolin solo from Aaron Ramsey. The instrumentation featuring Ramsey, Via on guitar, Jason Davis on banjo, Jim Van Cleve on fiddle and Jeff Partin on dobro all meld in an intertwining glory. Via told American Songwriter: “I was inspired by watching The War on Drugs shred a sunset performance at Bonnaroo for my first time, I wanted to write something in a similar psychedelic indie rock vein of music.” 

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5. "Outlaw Country" by Dylan Earl 
Album: Level-Headed Even Smile
​Songwriter: Dylan Earl 

​Ain’t it funny how many folks in this country who view themselves as “outlaw” are, in fact, a bunch of bootlicking sycophantic authority worshippers. That’s not what the Outlaw Movement in country music of the ‘70s was all about. So, I was tickled pink when I first heard Dylan Earl’s “Outlaw Country,” which torches the idea of the MAGA American male and the absurdity and hypocrisy run amok in this country. It’s a twangy, honky tonk song with a bunch of punk ethos behind it in its openness to others. It’s also a great example of how being from somewhere – as Dylan is from Arkansas and identifies with the Deep South – doesn’t mean you’re a stereotypical type of person, as folks from other regions might assume.  

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4. "Sugar in the Tank" by Julien Baker & TORRES
Album: Send A Prayer My Way
Songwriter: Julien Baker & Mackenzie Scott

​Some would call the collaboration between Julien Baker and TORRES indie-rock, but I saw the term “queer country” published somewhere earlier in the year about the duo and would prefer to label, at least, “Sugar in the Tank” that. The vocals of the two meld beautifully in this tune about completely giving yourself over to another in a romantic sense, in a way that might actually be life-saving. 

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3. "Heaven Passing Through" by Turnpike Troubadours
Album: The Price of Admission
Songwriter: Evan Felker

​My favorite tracks from the most recent Turnpike Troubadours album, The Price of Admission, the band’s sixth studio release, find frontman and primary songwriter Evan Felker perhaps quieter and more introspective than he’s ever been, which is interesting because this band has had many barn-burners among their best work throughout their tenure. On “Heaven Passing Through,” Felker reflects on life’s little pleasures, like stargazing with his three-year-old, and realizes that it is these moments that mean the world, and that “living in the here and now” is all one really needs sometimes. It’s beauty in simplicity, something Felker has always managed to do among the best of anyone in his field.  

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2. "Raised by Wolves" by Lola Kirke
Album: Trailblazer
Songwriters: Lola Kirke & Daniel Tashian 

​Lola Kirke is cool as hell. That’s a realization I’ve come away with from listening to her music in the last few years, culminating on one of the year’s best albums, Trailblazer. Her voice has a warm, husky quality that gives it a soulful feel, which I’d consider to be indie-country. My favorite track from her excellent album is “Raised by Wolves,” which she wrote with Daniel Tashian on their first collaboration. Kirke told The Line of Best Fit about working with Tashian: “I’m a huge fan, so I was extremely nervous for our session and weirdly decided to break the ice by forcing him to let me read the first chapter of my then unfinished book, in which I say, ‘I was raised by wolves in the wildnerness, but the wolves in question repurposed vintage nightgowns as dinner dresses and the wilderness consisted of various brownstones scattered below 14th Street.’ Fortunately, he found this inspiring, not self-indulgent, and we wrote the song.” It’s a beautiful song about feeling like an outcast and finding solace in someone from a similar background. 

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1. "Gravelweed" by Jason Isbell 
Album: Foxes in the Snow
​Songwriter: Jason Isbell

​No lyric hit me as hard this year as “now that I live to see my melodies betray me/I’m sorry the love songs all mean different things today” from Jason Isbell’s “Gravelweed.” Isbell and Amanda Shires were the “it” couple in the Americana musical community that I’ve loved since the first time I heard Isbell’s music more than a decade ago. They were “goals,” as the kids like to say. But the marriage ended, leaving a fan base unsure how to listen to terrific songs like “Cover Me Up” and “If We Were Vampires.” That line seems to be written just as much for Isbell’s legions of fans as it was for him and his ex-wife.