2016 was another great year for Americana and roots music, and 2017 shows signs that the great music will continue to come our way. As our Cream of the Crop favorites from last year makes plain we might be experiencing a new golden age of roots music/ Both as a growing influence on our contemporary culture and also as a viable, business for young and old artists to sustain themselves and thrive.
That last part is crucial as it provides economic and influential seed corn for the future ‘Cream of the Crop’ year-end best of collections.
The list below is a collection of known 2017 notable Americana / roots releases. Some anticipated releases from artists like Ray Wylie Hubbard, Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell and The Secret Sisters have no release dates yet, but when I become aware of them and others I will be updating the list throughout the year and will send word through my twitter account when I do.
If you know of a release not listed yet please leave it in the comments.
One thing is for sure, it’s going to be a great year folks.
January 13th –
The Band of Heathens – ‘Duende’
Blackie and the Rodeo Kings – ‘Kings and Kings’
Otis Gibbs – ‘Mount Renraw’
January 20th –
Kasey Chambers – ‘Dragonfly’
The Show Ponies – How It All Goes Down’
Rayna Gellert – ‘Workin’s Too Hard’
January 27th –
Delbert McClinton – ‘Prick Of The Litter’
Tift Merritt – ‘Stitch of the World’
Valerie June – ‘The Order of Time’
Bankesters – ‘Nightbird’
Dead Man Winter – ‘Furnace’
February 3rd –
Ags Connolly – ‘Nothin’ Unexpected’
Gurf Morlix – ‘The Soul & The Heal’
Mitch Dean –‘Suburban Speakeasy’
Rose Cousins – ‘Natural Conclusion’
Caroline Spence – ‘Spades & Roses’
February 10th –
Kris Kristofferson – The Austin Sessions (Expanded Edition)
February 17th –
Alison Krauss – ‘Windy City’
Nikki Lane – ‘Highway Queen’
Pegi Young & The Survivors – ‘Raw’
Son Volt – ‘Notes Of Blue’
Son of the Velvet Rat – ‘Dorado’
Blair Crimmins – ‘You Gotta Sell Something’
The Gibson Brothers – “In The Ground”
February 24th –
Curtis McMurtry – ‘The Hornet’s Nest’
Rhiannon Giddens – ‘Freedom Highway’
Old 97s – ‘Graveyard Whistling’
Scott H. Biram – “The Bad Testament”
Shinyribs – “I Got Your Medicine”
Aaron Watson – “Vaquero”
March 3rd –
Grandaddy – ‘Last Place’
Beth Bombara – ‘Map With No Direction ‘
March 10th –
Sunny Sweeney – “Trophy’
Pieta Brown – “Postcards”
March 24th –
Jessi Colter – ‘The Psalms’
Samantha Crain – ‘You Had Me At Goodbye’
March 31st –
Rodney Crowell – ‘Close Ties”
David Olney – “Don’t Try To Fight It”
Dead Soldiers – “The Great Emptiness”
Shoddy Blacktooth — “Don’t Forget To Dieâ€
April 7th
Malcolm Holcombe – ‘Pretty Little Troubles’
Andrew Combs – “Canyons Of My Mind”
April 14th
Evening Darling – “Evening Darling’
April 21st –
Angaleena Presley – ‘Wrangled’
May 5th
Chris Stapleton – ‘From a Room: Volume 1’
May 19th
Builders and the Butchers – ‘The Spark’
Pokey LaFarge – ‘Manic Revelations’
Tom Russell – ‘Play One More: The Songs Of Ian And Sylvia’
May 26th
Justin Townes Earle – ‘Kids in the Street’
June 2nd –
Bobby Osborne – ‘Original’
June 9th –
The Secret Sisters – ‘You Don’t Own Me Anymore’
Shannon McNally – ‘Black Irish’
June 16th –
Sammy Brue – ‘I Am Nice’
June 23rd –
The Deslondes – ‘Hurry Home’
Slaid Cleaves – ‘Ghost on the Car Radio’
July 7th –
Randall Bramblett – ‘Juke Joint At The Edge Of The World’
July 14th –
Cale Tyson – ‘Careless Soul’
July 21st –
Whiskey Shivers – ‘Some Part of Something”
August 4th
Tyler Childers – ‘Purgatory’
August 18th
Loretta Lynn – ‘Wouldn’t It Be Great’ POSTPONED
Ray Wylie Hubbard – ‘Tell the Devil I’m Getting There as Fast as I Can’
September 8th
Caroline Reese – ‘Two Horses’ EP
September 15th
Willie Watson – ‘Folksinger Vol. 2’
The Lone Bellow – ‘Walk Into A Storm’
September 22nd
Steve Martin & Steep Canyon Rangers – “The Long-Awaited Albumâ€
Billy Strings – ‘Turmoil & Tinfoil’
September 29th
Anna Tivel – “Small Believer”
October 6th
Whitney Rose – ‘Rule 62’
JD McPherson – ‘Undivided Heart and Soul’
Becca Mancari – ‘Good Woman’
October 13th
Hellbound Glory – ‘Pinball’
Caleb Cladry – ‘Invincible Things’
October 16th
Gill Landry – ‘Love Rides A Dark Horse’
October 20th
Turnpike Troubadours – ‘A Long Way From Your Heart’
Dori Freeman – ‘Letters Never Read’
October 27th
Lee Ann Womack – ‘The Lonely, The Lonesome & The Gone’
Ronnie Fauss – ‘Last of the True’
The Wailin’ Jennys – ‘Fifteen’
The Deep Dark Woods – ‘Yarrow’
October 31st
Year of October – ‘Trouble Comes’
November 3rd
Samantha Fish – ‘Belle of the West’
Anna St. Louis – “First Songs’
Scott Miller – ‘Ladies Auxiliary’
November 17th
Mavis Staples – ‘If All I Was Was Black’
December
Chris Stapleton – ‘From a Room: Volume 2’
December 8th
Robert Ellis and Courtney Hartman – ‘Dear John’
Much of my wayward youth was spent journeying through various musical genres. Like the geographical type, musical travel helps impede bigotry, in this case musical bigotry. This experience has helped me to look at the music I hear more fully and not to reflexively dismiss something just because it doesn’t for some rigid idea of what I should like.