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Ashley McBryde’s small-town concept album, Adeem the Artist’s candid songwriting and Willie Nelson’s celebration of the restless spirit were among the highlights of a year that saw country music push its boundaries even further
Flashes back to this year’s CMA Awards in November, the consensus was that it was one of the “more country” shows in recent memory. The same can be said for the music that came out of Nashville, Texas, and is in between in 2022. Kelsea Ballerini, Joshua Headley, Lainey Wilson, Ashley McBride, Charlie Crockett and Hayley Withers have incorporated elements of bygone eras into their albums. : were they from the harsh seventies, the golden eighties or the shiny nineties. (Lainey Wilson even wrote this era’s “Strawberry Wine” into “Watermelon Moonshine,” a hallmark of her superb Bell Bottom Country album.) Yet no matter how distant or recent each album is, it manages to sound fresh and contemporary.
Of course, country music can also be most effective when it dares to take risks. Kane Brown released a long-playing record with fiddle and trap sounds, Paul Cauthen put together a country-funk collection made for the club, and Miranda Lambert made a record that sounded a little bit country and a lot like seventies rock (plus The B-52s!).
Yet the lyricism of country music and its cousin Americana continue to define the genre. In 2022, names like Zach Bryan, Adim the Artist, Jimmy Allen and the ever-consistent Willie Nelson added some new classics to the canon. Find them here in our list of the best country albums of the year.
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