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Mathias
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2020 - How Country Is It?

Ranking some country releases from 2020 based off of how much I liked them and how "country" they are.
1Honey Harper
Starmaker

Personal Score: 9.5/10
How Country Is It?: 6/10

Honey Harper's cosmic country is being hailed as the future of the genre and an olive branch to folks who would turn up their nose to the genre. There's twang, there's blues, there's storytelling - It's a great bridge for folks looking to enter the genre, but won't be much for country music purists.
Final Country Score: 7.75/10
2Katie Pruitt
Expectations

Personal Score: 9/10
How Country Is It?: 4/10

Katie Pruitt definitely falls into the trap of "Americana vs. Country" a heated debate with no real answer. She seems to rely more on singer-songwriter stylings that are influenced by country, rather than the other way around. However, she'll be a welcome star into the growing genre of country with pop sensibilities that isn't pop-country.
Final Country Score: 6.5/10
3Ashley McBryde
Never Will

Personal Score: 7/10
How Country Is It?: 8/10

Oh Ashley, why did you have to release Styrofoam? One of the worst songs I've ever heard sullies what could have been a masterclass in mainstream country done right. Maybe a little too overproduced for the purists out there, but a a great time.
Final Country Score: 7.5/10
4Jesse Daniel
Rollin' On

Personal Score: 8/10
How Country is it?: 10/10

Certifiable old school twang, fiddle, steel guitar - This is some modern day cowboy country. It's upbeat, fun, and just the right amount of twang. Jesse Daniel is on a mission to revive country music and has almost perfected the honky tonk equation.
Final Country Score: 9/10
5Hailey Whitters
The Dream

Personal Score: 7/10
How Country Is It?: 8/10

The perfect balance of styles between Katie Pruitt and Ashley McBryde. Pop country with singer-songwriter sensibilities and some great lyrics. Not the most consistent album in the world, but all of the potential in the world exists with Hailey Whitters.
Final Country Score: 7.5/10
6Jason Isbell
Reunions

Personal Score: 9/10
How Country Is It?: 6/10

Jason Isbell, one of the men who deserves the most credit for the country revival, is slowly becoming "less country". Along with Tyler Childers and Sturgill Simpson, Isbell is bringing the genre into the limelight, but also creating a division between what is "Americana" and what is "Country". With Reunions, the argument could be made that he now represents Southern Rock in the style of Crosby, Stills, and Nash as much as he does country. No matter the genre, there's no doubt that Isbell is still a master songwriter.
Final Country Score: 7.5/10
7Brandy Clark
Your Life Is A Record

Personal Score: 5.5/10
Country Score: 8/10

Brandy Clark is a songwriter behind many a great country song, so no surprise that her album has the style down pat. Unfortunately, it falls into a criticism many people unfairly give the genre, which is that it can be boring and same-y. While I would normally argue against that as a monolithic description of the genre . . . It's hard to deny with Brandy's newest.
Final Country Score: 6.25/10
8Waxahatchee
Saint Cloud

Personal Score: 7/10
How Country is It? 4/10

I would argue this isn't country, more folk with some twang. But it also appears that that is the definition of Americana now, which many people use simultaneously with country. No matter what, it's a very pleasant album that could be a good stepping stone into the genre.
Final Country Score: 5.5/10
9Pinegrove
Marigold

Personal Score: 7/10
How Country Is It: 5/10

Similar to above. This is pretty alt-country, but there's a reason "alt" comes before "country". Play this at a rodeo and you'll get some looks, but play it while wearing the right amount of denim and I think you could make an argument for it.
Final Country Score: 6/10
10Dougie Poole
The Freelancer's Blues

Personal Score: 5/10
How Country Is It: 5/10

Ok this one should be more country probably, but I just don't buy it. Poole describes himself as a country auteur and lives in Brooklyn. I'm not one of those people that thinks you need to grow up on a farm to be country, but I do think you need to be genuine, and Dougie . . . Sounds like a Brooklyn musician trying to write country music. There's some good stuff in here, but he seems like he tries to jump on both the country and Father John Misty train and doesn't quite nail either of them.
Final Country Score: 5/10
11Caitlyn Smith
Supernova

Personal Score: 7/10
How Country Is It? 6/10

This is what pop-country should sound like when there's an emphasis on the pop. It doesn't rely on boyfriend (or girlfriend) country tropes or the infuriating finger snap beat - If you get rid of the pop stylings, you've got a good country album. If you take away the country, you get a good pop album. A very nice, if inoffensive, blend.
Final Country Score: 6.5/10
12Aubrie Sellers
Far From Home

Personal Score: 6/10
How Country Is It?: 6/10

Aubrie Sellers can't quite figure out the style of country she wants. Sometimes she goes full twang, sometimes a more low-key singersongwriter, sometimes full country rock. It makes sense when she's the daughter of a couple of bonafide country stars (specifically LeAnn Womack). She's country, but hasn't pinned herself down yet.
Final Country Score: 6/10
13The White Buffalo
On The Widow's Walk

Personal Score: 6/10
How Country Is It?: 7.5/10

The White Buffalo goes more Southern Rock than country on his latest, but still more than enough to satisfy any country purist, even if he goes oddly in Ben Folds territory at time. I don't think anyone who isn't already of the fan of the genre will dive into this one, but it's got some really good tunes. It's also got quite a few forgettable ones.
Final Country Score: 6.75/10
14Kyle Nix
Lightning on the Mountain and Other Short Stories

Personal Score: 6/10
How Country Is It?: 9/10

Kyle Nix wrote an audio version of a ton of miniature spaghetti westerns. He's a star fiddle player and is backed by one of the best red dirt country bands of all time (The Turnpike Troubadours). He went undeniably all in on being country and . . . It's kind of boring? What could have been.
Final Country Score: 7.5/10
15Zach Bryan
Elisabeth

Personal Score: 8/10
How Country Is It? 9.5/10

Zach Bryan has everything needed to become a country legend: A guitar, an emotive voice, some great storytelling lyrics, and a mythos around him, even if it's about as normal of an "every man" as could exist. He wrote some good tunes and recorded them with some friends and that was all he needed to great into stardom. Emotionally honest and down-to-earth, he's the first superstar influence by the resurgence of country music in the 2010s.
Final Country Score: 8.75/10
16John Moreland
LP5

Personal Score: 7.5/10
How Country Is It?: 9/10

John Moreland is really damn good. A gruff, huge man with a baseball cap and some beautiful tunes. LP5 isn't his strongest work, but damn do I love it anyway. I'll never get enough of his gravelly voice and tear-worthy lyrics.
Final Country Score: 8.25/10
17Drive-By Truckers
The Unraveling

Personal Score: 6.5/10
How Country Is It?: 7/10

The Truckers are tricky. Staples of Southern Rock without a question, but does that make them country? I don't have that answer, but if I've got Waxahatchee and Pinegrove in here, gotta get the Truckers in for sure. One of their weaker efforts, but that's more of a testament to some of their legendary albums.
Final Country Score: 6.75/10
18Brigid Mae Power
Head Above the Water

Personal Score: 7.5/10
How Country Is It?: 6/10
Rec'd by Neeka

This is some good modern Roots music and I think a perfect example of why "Country" and "Americana" are hard to define. Is it country? Not by American standards, but a lot of country is inspired by the traditional roots music of whatever country it is (blues, jazz, bluegrass, etc.), and so this Irish Folk take seems to be a more modern take on Irish Roots music. So maybe it's Irish Country? Irish Americana? An oxymoron? I don't know, but I sure like it.
Final Country Score: 6.75
19Bob Dylan
Rough and Rowdy Ways

Personal Score: 8.5/10
How Country Is It?: 4/10
Rec'd by Boney

First, this is really good Dylan and I'm happy to see such a resurgence from him. I think this is actually pretty Americana, but not Country, and there is a large difference. "Americana" isn't just a term used by people who are too embarrassed to say they listen to country music - It's supposed to be a culmination of American styles, country often chief among them. Country and Americana are both based off of traditional music styles, but Americana (how I define it) is much more broad. I think that Rough and Rowdy Ways has clear influence in folk, country, blues, and rock. Is that Americana? I don't even know any more, but I don't think it's country.
Final Country Score: 6.25/10
20Clem Snide
Forever Just Beyond

Personal Score: 6.5/10
How Country Is It?: 6/10
Rec'd by Boney (Had already listened previously as well)

I think this is a really good example of modern Americana. Not quite folk, not quite country, not quite rock. It's also an example of what I love about the genre - It's so much more varied than a lot of people think. You can get more punk focused Americana (The Menzingers), rock focused (Gaslight Anthem), or hard to pin down (The War On Drugs). I think Americana is as much a descriptor to apply to other genres as it is a genre itself, and Clem Snide going with a folk based approach is another testament of that.
Final Country Score: 6.25/10
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