ENTERTAINMENT

Our favorite Nashville-made albums of 2020

Matthew Leimkuehler Dave Paulson
Nashville Tennessean

“Music is the one thing that cannot be diminished, not by being quarantined, not by being indoors or outdoors. Music cannot be destroyed…Hopefully, we'll be another one of those records that you'll turn to, to listen to over and over.”

That’s what Ashley McBryde told The Tennessean in March, just days into a new reality for Music City and the rest of the country.

With concerts and tours largely on the back burner, recorded music felt especially crucial this year – and the albums that were able to puncture our personal bubbles and weave themselves into our lives were rightly celebrated.

When it comes to those albums, Nashville served up its share, from stellar country efforts like McBryde’s “Never Will” to Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit’s “Reunions” and the brilliant debuts, follow-ups and swan songs in between.

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings – "All The Good Times"

Recorded at home on a dusty reel-to-reel tape recorder, this 10-song covers collection from the Nashville roots music masters is unsurprisingly sublime – whether they’re tackling a masterpiece by the late John Prine, a couple of semi-deep Dylan cuts or the classic ‘60s duet “Jackson.”

Essential song: “Hello In There”

FILE - In this Aug. 3, 2020 photo, Mickey Guyton is photographed during a remote portrait session with the photographer in New York and subject in Los Angeles. Reflecting the current times, Black artists released songs this year about the Black Lives Matter movement and the international protests that took place following the deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and others. Guyton wrote “Black Like Me" a year before Floyd's death, but rushed to release the song because she said the time was right. The poignant track earned a Grammy nomination for best country solo performance. (Photo by Victoria Will/Invision/AP, File)

Mickey Guyton — "Bridges"

In a year of racial reckoning, Guyton – the most prominent Black woman working in mainstream country today – released the best work of her career. The powerful songs on this EP include “What Are You Gonna Tell Her” and the autobiographical “Black Like Me,” which earned her a historic nomination at next year’s Grammy Awards.

“Just writing something that's honest was all I was trying to do,” she told The Tennessean. “And to hopefully inspire people to want change."

Essential song: “Black Like Me”

Hayley Williams — "Petals For Armor"

This year marked a new liberating chapter for one of Nashvillle’s most celebrated non-country artists. Williams has fronted the ever-evolving rock group Paramore since she was 15 years old. At 31, she’s redefined herself with her solo debut – an inventive, cathartic collection that takes the promising indie-pop of her band’s most recent album and refracts it in new, bold and bare directions.

Essential song: “Dead Horse”

Devon Gilfillian performs live via a laptop as part of the Luck Reunion ‘Til Further Notice’ virtual concert Thursday, March 19, 2020.

Devon Gilfillian - 'Black Hole Rainbow' 

Gilfillian creates soul music in an unbound modern landscape, unafraid to push tastes of pensive pop, guitar-wielding funk and psychedelic Afrobeat to the center of his sonic adventure. He narrates his musical journey with stories of falling out ("Thank Me Later"), holding your own ("Unchained") and coming together ("The Good Life"). 

And his ambition this year wouldn't be limited to "Black Hole Rainbow," either. Gilfillian covered Marvin Gaye's coveted "What's Going On?" album in its entirety, a pandemic-born project released this fall. 

Essential song: "The Good Life" 

Soccer Mommy — 'Color Theory'

Performing as “Soccer Mommy,” 22-year-old Nashville Sophie Allison’s 2018 debut was named by dozens of outlets as one of the best of the year and the decade. Her follow-up, “color theory,” is her most dense and ambitious work yet, but it’s easy to wade into the album's wash of guitar fuzz and surprisingly lilting melodies – echoing a period in the ‘90s when alternative rock and chart-topping pop were one and the same, and often led by female voices.

Essential song: “Circle The Drain”

Tenille Townes - 'The Lemonade Stand'

The Canadian-born, Nashville-based country artist arrived on the scene a few years ago with a few songs that tackled weighty topics. “Somebody’s Daughter” humanizes a woman standing on a street corner with a cardboard sign, while “Jersey On the Wall” asks hard questions of a higher power.

But while her major label debut includes those stellar songs, she also gets to cut loose. “Life is a party on a rooftop/ So just go ahead and let your heart stop,” she sings on the bouncy “Come As You Are” – a perfect marriage of her razor-sharp melodic sense and producer Jay Joyce’s stop-on-a-dime production.

Essential song: "Somebody's Daughter"

Stephanie Lambring - 'Autonomy' 

Lambring's real-life storytelling — songs wrestling with body image ("Pretty") and religious hypocrisy ("Joy of Jesus") — may initially knock some listeners in the gut (guilty). But, for each autobiographical blow, she raises a hopeful hand to ensure you're not left groveling on the ground. Released independently after Lambring walked away from a Nashville publishing deal, 'Autonomy' stands as one of the most resounding releases from Music City this year. 

Essential song: "Joy Of Jesus" 

Waylon Payne - 'Blue Eyes, The Harlot, The Queer, The Pusher & Me' 

Payne's first album in more than 15 years comes with a decade-and-a-half of living to sing about — addition, loss, sexuality and, ultimately, redemption. The son of longtime Willie Nelson guitarist Jody Payne and "Help Make It Through The Night' singer Sammi Smith, he leads a sweeping country sound on the four-act "Blue Eyes ..." as timeliness as the stories he tells. 

Essential song: "Sins of the Father" 

The Mavericks - 'En Español'

The Mavericks — a band that cut its teeth playing South Florida punk shows before graduating to winning CMA Awards in the 1990s and becoming a powerhouse outfit in modern Americana — shapeshifted again in 2020, this time ""En Español." Now a swinging nine-piece fronted by longtime leader Raul Malo, the band released its first all-Spanish album this year, aptly coined "En Español."

The record weaves Malo's vibrant, expansive Latin rock songwriting ("Poder Vivr," "Mujer") with time-tested covers ("La Sitiera," "“Sombras Nada "Más"). The album was an artistic achievement that broke records, too: "En Español" was the first release to simultaneously bow in the top 10 of Billboard's Latin Pop and Americana album charts. 

Essential song: "Sombras Nada Más" 

Ashley McBryde – 'Never Will'

The critically acclaimed country artist’s sophomore album is filled with potent, personal storytelling. McBryde wrestles with grief, uncertainty, loneliness, rage, jealousy and passion, finding inspiration everywhere from the tattoos on her arm (“Sparrow”) to the stranger she drove past on a Tennessee highway (“Hang In There Girl”).

Essential track: "Stone”

Chris Stapleton performs during the All the Hall benefit concert at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn., Monday, Feb. 10, 2020.

Chris Stapleton - 'Starting Over'

Listeners ride shotgun as Chris Stapleton cruises through backroad stories built on pure wanderlust ("Starting Over"), mourning fuzzy family members ("Maggie's Song), trips to the Ozarks ("Arkansas") and back, pensively, to Nashville ("Nashville, TN"). Stapleton narrates some tales with a needed kindness ("When I'm With You), and others come bearing an untamed ferocity ("Watch You Burn"). 

Tapping longtime Heartbreakers members Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell for a handful of collaborations, Stapleton is as dedicated as ever to storytelling — and it shows with each passing mile.    

Essential song: "Starting Over" 

Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit — 'Reunions'

One of Nashville’s most respected singer-songwriters takes a long, tough look back: at an old friend who died (“Only Children”), growing up with divorced parents (“Dreamsicle”), his past relationships and “mistakes that I can't erase” (“What’ve I Done to Help”). His similarly hailed band helps him deliver an album that’s also full of bold sonic choices and blunt calls to action (“Be Afraid”).

Essential song: “Only Children”

Elizabeth Cook - 'Aftermath' 

Cook embraces rock 'n' roll  vigor on her power chord-charged effort "Aftermath," produced by ace studio leader Butch Walker. From hammering anthem "Thick Georgia Woman" to spacey jam "Bad Decision" and John Prine-inspired "Mary, The Submissing Years," she brings a record worthy — as with all great rock efforts — of listening loud enough to shake the neighbor's walls. 

Essential song: "Perfect Girls of Pop" 

Swamp Dogg  - 'Sorry You Couldn't Make It'

Released in the height of COVID-19 precautions causing nationwide lockdowns, the long-awaited country outing from Jerry Williams —  AKA the 78-year-old eccentric songwriting great Swamp Dogg — may have slipped by some listeners. If so, stop what you're doing and double-back now. With help from John Prine, Jenny Lewis, Justin Vernon (of Taylor Swift-loving indie-folk staple Bon Iver) and more, Williams sings painful and passionate country-soul tunes dripping in his six-plus decades of music experience. 

Essential song: "Please Let Me Go Round Again" (featuring John Prine) 

Hailey Whitters - 'The Dream'

The Iowa-raised Whitters stakes her claim as one of Nashville's sharpest voices on "The Dream," an album led by hometown truths ("Heartland"), false love ("The Faker") and flooring turn-of-phrase lessons ("Janice At The Hotel Bar"). She enlists lauded co-writers Lori McKenna, Hillary Lindsey, Nicolle Galyon and Brandy Clark for "The Dream," songs spun with a clarity Whitters delivers after a decade in this "Ten Year Town." 

Essential song: "Janice At The Hotel Bar"