December 13, 2022
"No one listens to an album all the way through anymore" — that's what someone in the music business told us the other day.
Damn, y'all. If that's the truth, let this year's Best Southern Albums list be our testimony.
We've played these 20 records, in their entirety, over and over and over. In fact, if someday the 10th year of The Bitter Southerner is made into a movie, McKendrick Bearden's "Bright as the Mines Out" will be our soundtrack. In "Shoulder of Joy" McKendrick sings, "It's a long long time together ... It's been a long long time."
Here's to 10 more!
On our list this year, you'll see some of your favorite artists, a couple of cool departure albums, more than a few newcomers, and what we think is a masterpiece in our #1 spot. There's Americana, hip-hop, club music, country, indie folk, jazz, punk and Korean rap. These artists lean into some intense ’50s, ’70s, and ’90s vibes. So put in your earbuds, turn up the volume, and maybe, for a few minutes (as Paramore screams with The Linda Lindas on track #2 of "Re: This Is Why"), turn off the news.
Listen to these records — yes, all the way through. And let your hearts be light.
Home: Atlanta
Favorite Track: “Float”
Janelle Monáe’s The Age of Pleasure leaves very little to the imagination. It’s a 32-minute exploration into a well of unapologetic and liberating sensuality, made all the more enticing by its infectious grooves and Monáe’s arresting voice.
Home: Atlanta/Alaska
Favorite Track: “Never Learned to Dance”
Medium Build is Nick Carpenter, an Alaska musician who spent his youth in Atlanta and has been releasing music independently since 2016. For the last seven years, he’s cultivated a unique, intimate brand of indie music. The tracks on this six-song EP ooze longing, and it’s delivered in such a concise way that it sticks with you long after it’s gone. Medium Build will be supporting Tyler Childers on a West Coast run in early April.
Home: Alexandria, Virginia
Favorite Track: “I Wish You Roses”
Colombian American musician Kali Uchis has been redefining Latin pop since she came on the scene in 2012. Red Moon in Venus is a love record, silky smooth, mystical, and divinely feminine. Seamlessly switching between Spanish and English, Uchis, in Minnie Riperton fashion, beckons you into her garden. There, she allows you to linger amongst her visions of a world dripping with wonder.
Home: Nashville
Favorite Track: “Somebody Like Me”
There’s a lot to love in Nashville songwriter Joy Oladokun’s Proof of Life, from its overtly positive message to its smooth, expressive production. Recorded in her studio on the second floor of her home, Proof of Life features collaborations with artists like Mt. Joy, Chris Stapleton, and Manchester Orchestra. There’s an early-2000s breeziness to the instrumentation on the album that, combined with themes of social activism and lesbian love, draws comparisons to the work of Tracy Chapman, one of Oladokun’s earliest influences.
Home: Atlanta
Favorite Track: “I Swear, I Really Wanted to Make a ‘Rap’ Album But This Is Literally the Way the Wind Blew Me This Time”
The unpredictable genius of Atlanta’s André 3000 has brought us his first solo album in 17 years, and although the more perceptive among us may have seen the videos of André wandering Atlanta with a large flute, no one expected this. Eight songs, with ironic, hilarious, and bizarre titles that seem more fitting for an early-2000s post-rock outfit, each one an entirely instrumental flute track. Beneath the somewhat goofy titles, though, are ambient, harmonically complex songs that aren’t afraid to linger, taking inspiration from Japanese New Age as well as artists like Laraaji, Pharoah Sanders, and Steve Reich. Sonically, it also draws comparisons to contemporaries like Colin Stetson and Nicholas Britell.
There’s something very enlightening about this album with respect to the world of popular music. Although André is no stranger to following his muse, it’s delightful to see it break through in such a concrete way, at a time when it seems popular music is dominated by repetition.
Home: Charlotte
Favorite Track: “Closure”
Charlotte native Sean Mason has been immersed in a world of music from the beginning. He recalled his grandmother dancing in his youth, Ray Charles and Duke Ellington records ruling the house. It’s no surprise, then, that when Mason started piano at the age of 13, it would become a lifelong passion, eventually culminating in study at Juilliard and his debut album, The Southern Suite. A harmonically complex yet lyrical album, The Southern Suite allows Mason to flex his extensive talent and skill as a composer, while retaining all the beauty. There’s a lyrical nature to the album that’s undeniable, even without the human voice. He speaks through his instrument, and invites others to join, too, as he reflects on his family and his upbringing in the South.
He honors his aforementioned grandmother in his music, as well as his hometown. There’s also a fair bit of polyphonic melody throughout, which Mason attributes to his love of New Orleans and its place in the jazz pantheon.
Home: Nashville
Favorite Track: “Radio”
Nashville’s Margo Price once again proves why she’s been such a critically acclaimed darling with the release of Strays and, most recently, Strays II, an unofficial double album chronicling Price’s bold self-acceptance. The majority of the album was conceived and written during a protracted mushroom trip with her husband, Jeremy Ivey, and the result is an album of songs that are sometimes confessional, sometimes narrative, but always have something to say. Sonically, the album bounces from straight roots rock to melancholy ballads, fitting for songs like “Lydia,” which chronicles the story of an impoverished woman seeking an abortion. The drum machine on “Radio,” the album’s standout track featuring Sharon Van Etten, lulls intimately. The opener, “Been to the Mountain,” is a stadium-worthy proclamation.
Home: New York/Atlanta/South Korea
Favorite Track: “For Granted”
Korean American DJ and musician Yaeji proved both her versatility and melodic repertoire to the world this year with her debut full-length album, With a Hammer. Yaeji gained notoriety as a creative and genre-bending DJ in the mid-2010s in Pittsburgh, but in With a Hammer, she moves outside the style she’s been known for. The record is still undeniably electronic, but the flourishes of techno, jungle, and house serve as tasteful garnishes for an expressive and diverse set of songs.
Home: Athens, Georgia
Favorite Track: “Shoulder of Joy”
Athens’ McKendrick Bearden has become a local favorite among the ranks here, thanks to his wonderful exploration into the world of home recording. Bearden cut his teeth as a member of two local bands, Grand Vapids and Heffner, but it wasn’t until COVID-19 forced him into isolation that he began considering the idea of a solo record. The result is much more than your typical pandemic foray. There’s a heavy dose of atmospheric folkiness to many of the songs in the album, as well as some inventive recording techniques and a dash of shoegaze.
There’s an undeniable beauty that shines in this album as McKendrick picks through his complicated relationship with the last two years.
Home: Nashville
Favorite Track: “Middle of the Morning”
Novelist Taylor Brown interviewed Jason for a story with us this year, and they spoke extensively about Jason’s past, present, and future, as well as his summer release. In Weathervanes, Jason and his fabled Unit deliver a wonderful collection of fully realized songs (some of them 20-plus years in the making). For the most part, the instrumentation lends itself to live performances while maintaining a subtle intricacy that supports Jason’s consistently stellar songwriting. “Strawberry Woman” paints a heart-wrenching picture of the hopes and fears of new love, with all its manic undertones. “Cast Iron Skillet” is another standout, a tale from Jason’s youth of two of his classmates who ended up committing murder.
Home: Nashville
Favorite Track: “Cherie Vico”
The Ivory Coast was tuned in to Peter One’s pastoral, multilingual music long before he gained traction in the United States. Though he, along with the other half of his duo, Jess Sah-Bing, played stadiums and performed for the nation’s president, One moved to the U.S. in 1995 to escape rising political tensions and became a nurse. Now a Nashville resident, One’s first new album after 30 years away from the spotlight captures the jubilation and tribulation of the human experience. The songs span three languages: English, French, and his native Guro, an artistic choice designed to foster unity. Tracks like “Cherie Vico” and “Kavudu” serve as calls for peace, both inner and outer. “Birds Go Die Out of Sight” is a haunting, bluesy song about a friend who left the United States to return to the Ivory Coast, where he was caught in the political violence and killed. One’s music has been compared to that of Paul Simon, and while it’s not entirely inaccurate, there’s something more subtly grand in the music of the soft-spoken Nashvillian.
Home: Nashville
Favorite Track: “No Reason”
Anarchist Gospel is something of a return to form for Nashville native Sunny War, who over the years has gained notoriety as both a courageous storyteller and a nimble blender of genres. Critics are quick to label War “folk punk,” but on Anarchist Gospel, she simply emphasizes the original goals of blues, folk, and punk; it’s music for the people, calling attention to the things that matter. A Ween cover thrown in for good measure reminds the listener that War is more than just a stellar folksinger, but also a scene veteran with a fiercely independent spirit.
Home: Atlanta
Favorite Track: “I Can’t Hush”
It’s difficult to explain the message that folk artist and musician Lonnie Holley is transmitting through the medium of his found-object sculptures and his music, but it is mysterious, delightful, and deeply immersive. Born in 1950 in Birmingham as one of 27 children, Holley’s upbringing was exceedingly difficult: He discovered his artistic abilities when he was tasked with carving the headstones of his sister’s children, was pronounced brain-dead after being hit by a car, and served time at the infamous Alabama Industrial School for Negro Children.
It wasn’t until 2012, though, that Holley began releasing the improvisational and consciousness-shifting music he has become known for. Oh Me Oh My transports the listener with lush instrumental arrangements by Holley, with support from Sharon Van Etten, Michael Stipe, Bon Iver, and others. The lyrics, like Holley himself, take a roundabout course to their meaning, but when his point finally lands, it’s all the more impactful.
Home: Asheville, North Carolina
Favorite Track: “Bull Believer”
Asheville’s Wednesday has enjoyed an extremely prolific beginning since their inception in 2017, and with Rat Saw God, it seems they are only reaching their stride. On their first release with the tastemaker indie label Dead Oceans, Wednesday delivers 10 songs with a noisy, frenetic sound and crushed vocals. Karly Hartzman also showcases some of her best songwriting, painting scratchy and lopsided portraits of American life. She taps into the same qualities of observation as Black Country New Road’s Isaac Wood, with a keen eye for the idiosyncrasies and hypocrisies buried in the culture of the American South and beyond.
Home: Oologah, Oklahoma
Favorite Track: “I Remember Everything”
Few country artists have experienced as much popularity in such a short time as Oklahoma native Zach Bryan, and with good reason. His world-weary voice painted a landscape of stunning proportions in his major-label, triple-album debut, American Heartbreak. His new self-titled album arrives on the heels of success, only amplified by the album’s breakout track, “I Remember Everything.” Featuring country star Kacey Musgraves, “I Remember Everything” is an intimate, nostalgic song worthy of the popularity it’s gotten thus far.
Home: Austin, Texas
Favorite Track: “Something’s in the Way”
As sweeping as the plains, Time Ain’t Accidental is ostensibly a country album, although it indulges in dashes of other sonic seasonings. Drum machines, reverb, and synths provide the backdrop for Williamson’s self-assured and mystical vocals. During the pandemic, Williamson experienced a painful and protracted breakup with her longtime romantic partner, and much of this album deals with loss, isolation, and rebirth.
“Something’s in the Way” benefits from heavy reed instruments and pitched vocals to create a ghostly effect that makes your hair stand on end. Williamson’s work has naturally drawn comparisons to artists like Weyes Blood (Williamson’s neighbor and friend), but there is something distinctive in her music that seems to hint at a different direction for the Austin, Texas-born songwriter.
Home: Atlanta
Favorite Track: “Scientists & Engineers”
Killer Mike is an Atlanta icon, from his breakout as a featured artist on Outkast’s Stankonia, to his work with New York producer El-P as one half of Run the Jewels. It’s been 11 years since Mike’s last solo album, R.A.P. Music, defined him as a formidable lyricist and critically lauded artist, and now he’s back with a hard-hitting, 18-track LP featuring a laundry list of Southern talent.
Mike has never been one to back away from confrontation, whether in his life as a political activist or an artist, and the tracks on Michael retain his characteristic roughness. As the album progresses, though, it becomes clear that the things he raps about over the gospel-heavy tracks come from a somewhat wiser Mike. There’s an element of retrospection, and certainly plenty of introspection, as Mike looks down from the summit of his career, reflecting on family, loss, and life as a Black man in America.
Home: Atlanta
Favorite Track: “the BLACK seminole.”
Atlanta rapper Lil Yachty shook the rap world earlier this year with an unexpected release. Relying on shimmering synths, climactic guitar solos, and artistic inflections of autotune, Let’s Start Here seems to be a very conscious push from Yachty to stir things up in a community that has its fair share of traditionalists. Yachty’s foray into soul and psych rock is refreshing, allowing him to showcase his songwriting skills. In a world where it’s increasingly difficult to stay with the times (the AI-generated cover art already seems low-tech compared with how far artificial intelligence has come), Yachty proves that sometimes you have to forge your own path.
Home: Franklin, Tennessee
Favorite Track: “This Is Why”
It’s clear that, in the six years since Paramore’s last full-band album, After Laughter, both the world and Hayley Williams have changed. Instead of looking back on the success of past iterations of the group, This Is Why looks forward, a far cry from the angsty, synth-driven songs of After Laughter. Taking inspiration from bands like Bloc Party and Talking Heads as well as Williams’ recent collaborations with American Football and Boygenius, she delivers vocal performances that are choppy and steeped in the collective anxiety of the last few years.
Home: Lawrence County, Kentucky
Favorite Track: “In Your Love”
This is a firecracker of an album. Just a year after 2022’s Can I Take My Hounds to Heaven? triple-version album, Rustin’ in the Rain clocks in at just over 28 minutes. Seven tracks, including a cover of S.G. Goodman’s “Space and Time” and another a point-of-view piece of a Bible verse, are all Childers needs to work with.
There are some real foot-stompers on this record, like the old-time-style “Percheron Mules.” But for the most part, it’s Tyler at his most sentimental, between the crooning “Phone Calls and Emails” and the dripping country ballad “In Your Love.” The latter was the album’s clear runaway single, and in a story we ran earlier this year, author Silas House discusses with Childers what it was like to premiere the first gay romance and gay kiss in a major-label country music video.