What does a year in the Tracks really mean? On the one hand running the Tracks feature (and we’re sweeping up all other new music Tracks under that banner) means that there will be a lot of new music coming my way, which is a real bonus when you come to think about it, and then on the other hand there will emerge favourites within that new music community, and also the occasional resurfacing of a long time favourite, and these will have a tendency to squash out some of the other new bands to some extent.
And then, on a third hand, there’s no real point in inflicting my current must hear song of the day if no-one wants to actually listen to it. Balance. It’s all about hitting that balance – and if that isn’t always achieved on every single day then there is a definite balance in this End of Year assessment of what was good in Tracks over the last 12 months – all the way back to December 2024. The recap below offers my favourite song from any given month, and does a compare and contrast with what actually got the most listens. Mostly we differ – and we can rejoice in our differences, how dull it would be if we all agreed on everything Americana – but sometimes we agree, and that’s interesting too. What does it all mean? It means that of the 300 or so songs we’ve run across the 12 months, there’s been some darn good ones.
December 2024
Another month dominated by Christmas and Solstice music, as ever, but still there were some end of year offerings that made a longer lasting impact – and Canadian Kyle McKearney hit the spot with the acoustic focused ‘Tomorrow.‘
Readers’ Choice: For the right reasons two songs that should never have had to be written were close to the thoughts of the Americana UK readers, the double feature of Michael Weston King ‘Sally Sparkles’ / Lou Dalgleish ‘The Empty Swing’.
January 2025
Well not just a legend but a Premiere listen for a legend – sweet. ‘Storm Warning‘ came from “Look Out Highway” and was Charlie Musselwhite demonstrating he is as vital and powerful as ever. Class.
Readers’ Choice: it was the combination of Vicki Peterson & John Cowsill on our premiere of ‘A Thousand Times‘ perhaps something to do with the combination of The Bangles and The Cowsills.
February 2025
Continuing her string of superb albums, Kassi Valazza was setting up to release “From Newman Street” and shared the world weary ‘Weight of the Wheel‘.
Readers’ Choice: A surprising appearance by a bluegrass track – they usually sit quite middling in the ratings, but when the name Alison Krauss & Union Station is attached they garner a few more looks as was the case for ‘Granite Mills.‘
March 2025
The hugely prolific Drew Danburry was…prolific…throughout the year, and to be honest any one of his songs could have been the song of the month – but that would turn this into “Essential Icarus Phoenix Songs of 2025.” Which would be ok, but anyway it was the song ‘Poor Sad Indie Thing‘ with its nods to Mercury Rev that shone the brightest.
Readers’ Choice: It was the combination of Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis, and Karine Polwart that got the play button hit repeatedly for ‘A Heart That never Closes.‘
April 2025
There were so many possible picks in April, a rich month, but it was the jangle-pop history lesson from Jim Basnight ‘Nazis Over There‘ which seemed to really matter.
Readers’ Choice: And here we find one of those big names – and Suzanne Vega certainly had a good year overall and her adroit adoption of a Dylan tune for ‘Chambermaid‘ hit a chord – this was the second most popular Track of the year.
May 2025
It was time, and more than time, for some UK Americana to find it’s way to the top of the heap – and Ella Spencer was an obvious choice with ‘Scotty’s Tyres.‘
Readers’ Choice: Coming from the seven previously unreleased albums, Bruce Springsteen hit it out of the park with ‘Repo Man.‘
June 2025
Music is, of course, a great way to bring people together and to communicate with complicated ideas in a persuasive way. Her new live recording of ‘More In Common‘ was a chance to do just that as Kyshona made the point that we’re better off pulling together.
Readers’ Choice: And here comes Bruce again with the popular ‘Sunday Love.‘
July 2025
Bill Scorzari produced a searing indictment of competitive ego’s pulling down a relationship on ‘And So (Deep Into The Dark)‘.
Readers’ Choice: It isn’t that often that an instrumental track hits the spot with a good proportion of the readership but the Kronos Quartet probably had some help with ‘A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.‘
August 2025
Something a bit different – and for that reason memorable – was ‘Honeysuckle‘ on which Olive Klug & Wasp Eater tried to pass on the hint that a relationship is over without just coming right out and saying “Ciao, baby.”
Readers’ Choice: It may have been seasonally incorrect, but Dar Williams was very popular with Track Premiere ‘Tu Sais Le Printemps‘.
September 2025
On a song that boiled with a rage against the current political situation, dual national Neil Young came out swinging on ‘Big Crime.‘
Readers’ Choice: And here we were in complete agreement with Neil making a sizable impact with the readership as well.
October 2025
She is one of the most amazing singers full stop – not just within Americana, where she is more and more to be found. Mavis Staples is the person to whom we refer. And ‘Sad And Beautiful‘ was exactly what the title suggests.
Readers’ Choice: We detect, in part at least, a Dylan influence again as the readership flocked to hear Margo Price with Billy Strings and Jesse Welles on a live version of ‘Maggie’s Farm.‘ Well, why not?
November 2025
And here we are, at the end of another year of tracks, with many fine songs appearing in the run up to the month of gift giving. And yet is was the very unexpected appearance of new music from Dallas Good, with Richard Reed Parry, that made for a special emotional impact – the song was ‘The Brightest Light.‘
Readers’ Choice: And it was the double big name that caught attention in November – with Lucinda Williams and Norah Jones resisting retrograde steps on ‘We’ve Come Too Far to Turn Around.‘
And that was a 12 month period complete. It’s usual at this point to reveal the Readership Track of the Year, and this year it was: Vicki Peterson & John Cowsill with ‘A Thousand Times‘. So there you are.
