Best Albums 2025-#40-#31

Top 50 Will Be Revealed In Groups of 10! Part 2 is HERE!

#40-David Lowery-Fathers, Sons and Brothers-Lowery, front man for Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven, comes clean with a sonic memoir of sorts. If you dig his writing, you will love this record. If you don’t know him, discover David.

#39-Sweet Talk-Switch On-I recall asking the guitarist in this band if they had Little Feat in mind when they put this outfit together in a bar in Brunswick. We laughed. Have a listen and you will catch the drift.

#38-The Smith Street Band-Once I Was Wild-This is the sound a more mature but still punkish The Smith Street Band. Just dropped in November and with one listen I was hooked. Check it out, I don’t think old or new fans (like me) will be disappointed. Get some rock and roll into you.

#37-Ryan Davis and The Roadhouse Band-New Threats From The Soul-Davis and his band play some sweet Americana from Kentucky, but the words are amazing. From a review on his Bandcamp page: “The lyrics work similarly, of course, and will go on revealing themselves for, well, forever. Ryan manages near-rhymes that a hundred years’ worth of monkeys laboring at Chat GPT-enabled typewriters couldn’t achieve’’.

ttps://open.qobuz.com/playlist/46785013 This is link to Qobuz playlist….ditch Spotify and get better sound with Q….and they pay artists more!

#36-Van Morrison -Remembering Now-Stop Now,Van….this may be your best late career record. It’s damn good even if a bit bloated at 68 minutes. There is no mention of the pandemic or politics, really. His 47th studio album in 58 years and his voice is in excellent form. Damn, maybe this should be rated higher.

#35-Bonnie Prince Billy-The Purple Bird-This is the 30^th Album by Will Oldham. Co-written and produced by David Ferguson. Will’s music is sometimes an acquired taste, but this one will garner a larger audience. It’s about life and community.
What does “a proper Nashville” record mean for the enigmatic Bonnie “Prince” Billy? It may be a shifting idea for some. At the start of the sessions, Ferg had told Oldham, “I don’t wanna do a country record, just do your shit, Will.”

#34-Third Mind-Live Mind -Psychedelic meanderings from Dave Alvin and this super group. Fabulous Grateful Dead and Butterfield Covers and more. You can get your paisley on and some bell-bottoms and groove to the light show.

#33-Craig Finn-Always Been-Finn gets together with Adam Granduciel from The War On Drugs on this his L.A. Record. Finn says this about music and this record and being middle-aged:
“Those middle-aged records — Tunnel Of Love, Petty, Randy Newman, Zevon — are the most interesting to me now. Those are deep records. I don’t mean to joke about this term, but I always say it sounds “divorced.” Because it’s a certain complex adult sadness that comes from something that you thought was going to work out, that didn’t work out.” Middle-aged but not MOR.

#32-Warren Haynes-Million Voices Whisper- Haynes slipped this one past me at the end of 2024. It’s an emotional and gorgeous record. John Medeski on keys, Derek Trucks co-writing and lending his guitar licks on three tracks, and you have some Southern Soul, Blues and Roots. There is even a co-write with the late Greg Allman. If you like peaches, you will love this. Haynes/Trucks produced.

#31-Willie Nelson-Oh What A Beautiful World-Willie’s 77^th album. Songs written by Rodney Crowell. Willie sounds amazing. Hell or high water you should hear this one. It’s Willie and he is 92.

And bubbling under the top 50…

G Love-G Love Has Gone Country-Released in 1998, now available in 2025 for your ears.

Brody Buster-Redemption-Buster’s first recording in 8 years and he has earned his stripes to play the blues, Kansas City style. He was a harmonica prodigy and well worth a listen.

Ethel Cain-Willoughby Tucker, I Will Always Love You “- Southern gothic pop, is that a genre? Cain has a bit of Lana Del Rey going on. Worth a listen, I don’t know if it will be a grower.

Casual Drifter-Goin’ For Broke-Some 70’s sounding honky tonk from a young man from Nashville who has a LinkedIn profile saying he is a qualified Real Estate Agent. There is so much music coming out of Nashville….but I dig this guy’s lyrics, voice and twang.

Moonrisers-Harsh and Exciting- They call this genre instrumental doom folk. Guitarist Libby DeCamp and drummer Adam Schreiber deliver some cinematic roots music that will envelope you in DOOM….nah, it’s a groove, check it out. DeCamp said, “We wanted to connect with that kind of timelessness in nature through our old, rickety instruments.” Another fabulous Dan Auerbach production.

Below is 50-41