Americana UK’s Top 20 albums of 2025: 10-2

On Friday we began our countdown of our favourite albums of the year as collectively chosen by AUK’s writing team. We continue our countdown today from 10-2, and at 2pm we’ll be announcing our album of the year (spoiler alert, it’s not Morgan Wallen’s 37 track opus magnum “I’m the Problem”). And don’t worry if your favourite artist didn’t make the list. Our readers poll results are out tomorrow to right any wrongs. Maybe we’re the problem.

10. Ron Sexsmith “Hangover Terrace”

“Hangover Terrace” is another rewarding entry to the Sexsmith discography, full of endearing melodies and hooks and clever and insightful lyrics, sometimes sad, sometimes witty, often in the same song.  Everything is here: chiming folk rock, Beatlesque pop, bittersweet ballads, and finger-picked acoustic numbers, all wrapped up in the warmth of Sexsmith’s engaging voice. It’s not just the variety of songs that make the record appealing, but the quality of songwriting on display that render it a standout. Mixing infectious up-tempo numbers such as ‘Outside Looking In’ with quieter tracks like ‘Must Be Something Wrong With Her’ showcases Sexsmith’s gift for melody and wordplay and is all the proof you need that, thirty years into his career, he shows no sign of letting up. (BB)

9. Brown Horse “All the Right Weaknesses”

The Norfolk band’s sophomore release doubled down on the aching guitar, lyricism, and the sense of a wildness within our shores. Painting pictures filled with melancholy using ragged harmonies and off-kilter melodies, there were road songs and halting memories surfing on waves of nostalgia and regret. There was speculation as to how the band would top their breakthrough debut in terms of progression and expansion whilst retaining their individual sound but we need not have worried, this is phenomenal!  All together a triumph – new music splintered through the refraction of the old. A modern classic.  (KH)

8. Jerry Joseph “Panther Tracks”

Bang, bang, bang – one great song after another delivered with power and the full Jerry Joseph intensity.  Jerry Joseph takes no prisoners when it comes to laying out his emotions – and on “Pink Light” he literally lays his heart out for inspection.  Music performed and sung as if it matters, and with ‘You Want It Darker’ perhaps the greatest Leonard Cohen cover, ever. (JA) Most years I agonise over selecting my album of the year but this time around there was really only one choice. The raw energy of Jerry Joseph’s “Panther Tracks, Vol. 1” is unmatched. Joseph’s music and lyrical intent are so real, so full of narrative detail – they reach inside and grab the heart of what it means to be human. The epic ‘Pink Light’ is one of the best opening tracks in years and knowing that it represents an actual near-death experience only adds to its power. It’s the song of the year. On the album of the year. I love the fact that the songs roll in relentlessly, becoming totally immersive while still carrying the impactful punch of songs half their length. And then we close with the extended hymn of ‘Hearts Gone Blind’ – absolutely transporting live – and the repeated lines remain with you. Exceptional music, spirit and stories. (AF)

7. Counting Crows “Butter Miracle: The Complete Sweets”

The best Counting Crows album since “August and Everything After”? All signs point to yes for Adam Durvitz and the band’s follow-up to the 2021 4-track EP “Butter Miracle Suite 1,” which adds five new tracks to the album. So much of this material is cosmic and warm, capturing the emotional register of an era where everything is archived but perpetually slipping away. Songs like ‘With Love from A to Z,’ ‘Spaceman in Tulsa’ and ‘Virginia in the Rain’ do anything but slip away, evoking everything from feelings of isolation and loneliness to an outer space stranger in a strange land to being wounded by dishonesty with a hint of the artist as a young man with a middle-aged man’s perspective baked into them, albeit subtly. As Durvitz commented about ‘With Love from A to Z: “Both that one and ‘Round Here’ were about a guy standing in the doorway of his house looking out at the world and trying to imagine how he was going to fit in when he went out into the world.” If you come for the memories, I’ll leave you this song, Sing it all your tomorrows, forever and ever, and on, If the meaning escapes you, the melody will roll on. It’s a gift to see Counting Crows get curious again.  (DN)

6. Kassi Valazza “From Newman Street”

Having heard a few songs from this on an earlier tour, I wasn’t surprised when this release matched up to “Kassi Valazza Knows Nothing”, a previous whole year favourite of mine. Seeing the songs performed with a band in the UK and the Netherlands was an extra bonus too and there’s an astonishing version of ‘Matty Groves’ played live around the time of this album which is screaming out for release. Along with Sorrel Nation, Kassi Valazza is spearheading a trad-folk-Americana movement. (NB)

5. Kathleen Edwards “Billionaire”

It’s been a long five years since Kathleen Edwards made her return to music, releasing “Total Freedom” – somewhat ironically – at the height of the pandemic, but this year she was back with “Billionaire”. The album, produced by none other than Jason Isbell alongside Gena Johnson, finds Edwards unapologetically declaring her newfound love for Florida, but tender too as she recounts the story of a Canadian boy leaving home for Los Angeles on ‘Little Red Ranger’. The only tiny misstep is ‘Need a Ride’, which feels a little sharp and reactionary amongst the other tracks, but still, that’s not enough to knock “Billionaire” off my top spot, especially when it contains a song as stunning as the transcendent title track. Co-written by Edwards with Semisonic’s Dan Wilson, ‘Billionaire’ is a beautiful meditation on the tragedy of losing a loved one too young and the struggle to deal with the huge sense of loss in the aftermath. (HJ) Kathleen Edwards has always been solid and reliable artist but “Billionaire” is arguably the best since her debut “Falter”. The inclusion of Jason Isbell and members of the 400 Unit only adds to the quality of the music and having sisters Shelby Lynne and Allison Moorer providing background vocals is the icing on the cake. The writing is simply superb with standout tracks ‘Save Your Soul’, ‘Say Goodbye’, ‘Tell No One’, ‘Little Red Ranger’ and ‘Need A Ride’. The songs are gritty and raw but beautiful at once. It’s the album I’ve gone back to more than any other this year. Sheer class. (PR)

4. Charley Crockett “Lonesome Drifter”

More and more converts are being turned on to Charley Crockett’s sound with every one of his regular long-players, which are now being distributed by Island Records. Working with producer Shooter Jennings, Crockett punches up and refines his sound, with the familiar vocals telling excellent stories. There’s the picaresque ‘Easy Money’, a lament for Bill Bailey and songs where Crockett seems to recall his busking past (‘Never No More’, ‘Under Neon Lights’). A closing cover of ‘Amarillo by Morning’ nods to his desire to be as big as George Strait, even though country music is sometimes, as per one song title, a ‘Game I Can’t Win’. (JB)

3. Patterson Hood “Exploding Trees and Airplane Screams”

Patterson Hood may have co-founded the Drive-By Truckers nearly thirty years ago, but there have always been things he wants to say that don’t fit with the band’s iconic style. This is his fourth solo album and his best, which is pretty amazing given he is now in his seventh decade. Hood has various musical friends helping him out, including  MJ Lenderman, Waxahatchee, and Lydia Loveless. The songs, written over a number of years, are personal and explore the implications of adulthood while still being firmly rooted in the American South. He is indeed the rock and roll heir of William Faulkner. (MJ)

2. Mavis Staples “Sad and Beautiful World”

It’s absolutely amazing to think that Mavis Staples has been singing professionally for 75 years. It’s even more incredible that at the age of 87 she has released what is arguably the best album of her career. “Sad and Beautiful World” is wonderfully produced and the playing complements Staples’ mellow vocals. There’s a lot everybody could learn from Staples including how to “Keep the Faith”. The album also includes some notable contributions from younger stars including Kevin Morby and MJ Lenderman. This is a truly inspirational collection of songs, which not only reflect on our current troubled times but provide hope for the future. (DL)