We haven’t quite kept pace with 2025’s breakneck number of album reviews, but we’ve still gone on record with a wide range of mainstream country, Americana, blues, folk, bluegrass, and more in 2026.
Here, then, is a breakdown of the albums and EPs we have reviewed in 2026, for a Midterm Report on how the country genre is and isn’t meeting expectations.
And to reiterate what I said back in the winter: Philosophically, I’ve long had a strained relationship with star ratings: My view is that a 3-star rating lands on the positive side of “average” and that the average for anything that a record label was willing to put some cash behind to record, promote, and distribute is actually pretty good. Not every Stanbase understands that approach, but that’s what has always felt true to me. 4.5 and 5 star albums should be relatively rare, just as 0.5 and 1 star albums– or a dreaded zero– should also be scarce.
I have 86 albums saved in my “under consideration” queue going all the way back to January; there have only been a handful of willful omissions so far this year based upon what’s been released. But let us know in the comments what your favorites of the year have been and what isn’t listed here that we should prioritize!
(Note: Within each star rating below, albums are listed in the chronological order in which they were reviewed, rather than ranked.)
Nothing to see here (yet…)
Here, either. How about that.
Jana Horn, s/t
Hayden Coffman, Goner (EP)
2 Lane Summer, Flawless
Keyland, Knuckle Sandwich
Paper Kites, If You Go There, I Hope You Find It
Larry Fleet, Another Year Older
Megan Moroney, Cloud 9
Cordovas, Back to Life
Ashley Kutcher, Back to My Roots & These Roots Run Deep
Atlus, Art of Letting Go
Alex Miller, More Country Than You
Lane Pittman, What Now (EP)
Gabriella Rose, I Just Wanna Be Loved
Hudson Westbrook, Exclusive (EP)
Claudia Hoyser, Before the Dawn
Jake Scott, Same Room
Langhorne Slim, The Dreamin’ Kind
Melissa Etheridge, Rise
Austin Michael, Lonestar: The Album
The Delines, The Set Up
Benjamin Tod, Vengeance & Grace
Ringo Starr, Long Long Road
Jackson Dean, Magnolia Sage
Wilson Fairchild, American Songbook: Country Classics & Gospel Favorites
Michaela Anne, These Are the Days
Grace Gunn, s/t (EP)
Steph Strings, Feel Alive
Vince Gill, 50 Years from Home: Brown’s Diner Bar (EP)
Zach Bryan, With Heaven on Top
AHI, Köln: Lost in Time (EP)
Jamie O’Neal, Gypsum
Elles Bailey, Can’t Take My Story Away
Eric Church, Evangeline vs The Machine: The Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
The Lone Bellow, What a Time to Be Alive
Solomon Hicks, How Did I Ever Get This Blue
Mumford & Sons, Prizefighter
Ward Davis, Here I Am
Vince Gill, 50 Years from Home: What I Do (EP)
Handsome Jack, Barnburners!
Ty Myers, Heavy on the Soul: The Fame Sessions
John Hollier & The Rêverie, Rainmaker
Tedeschi Trucks Band, Future Soul
Morgan Myles, Laced
Flatland Cavalry, Work of Heart
Charley Crockett, Age of the Ram
Shelby Stone, Silveryear
Thomm Jutz, Ring-A-Bellin’
Kylie Morgan, Healed Cowgirl, Part 1 (EP)
Noah Kahan, The Great Divide
Lakelin Lemmings, Get Around Boy (EP)
Ashley Anne, Generational Heartbreak (EP)
Muscadine Bloodline, The Sound of Roses
Owen Riegling, In the Feeling
Coleman Jennings, Lead Me Home
ERNEST, Deep Blue
Shakey Graves, Fondness, etc.
Stella Lefty, Is This Heaven (EP)
Josh Weathers, Neon Never Fades
Memphis Kee, Dark Skies
David Huckfeldt, I Was Born, But…
John Craigie, I Swam Here
Country Sirens, Almost Forever
Tyler Ramsey & Carl Broemel, Celestun
Vince Gill, 50 Years from Home: Down at the Borderline (EP)
Caroline Jones, Good Omen
Johnny Blue Skies & The Dark Clouds, Mutiny After Midnight
Telander, This Rules
Lil’ Ed & The Blues Imperials, Slideways
Jail Preacher, Caught in Your Memory: Songs from the Delta
School House, Homeland
William Clark Green, Watterson Hall
Luke Grimes, Red Bird
Asher Brinson, Midnight Hurricane
Natalie Jane Hill, Hopeful Woman
Drayton Farley, A Heavy Duty Heart
Kalsey Kulyk, Her Rodeo (EP)
Paul Cauthen, Book of Paul
Brooke Lee, Desert Darling (EP)
Dale Watson, Unwanted
Jason Mraz, … Sings Grandma’s Gospel Favorites
Paisley Fields, are u mad at me
Colton Bowlin, Grandpa’s Mill
Clay Street Unit, Sin & Squalor
Brother Wallace, Electric Love
Krislyn Arthurs, Honky Tonk Ph.D.
Whitehorse, All I Want is All of It
Kip Moore, Reason to Believe
Thomas Csorba, Tender Country
I’m With Her, Sing Me Alive
Josiah & The Bonnevilles, As Is
Alana Springsteen, I Hope This Helps
Courtney Marie Andrews, Valentine
Mon Rovîa, Bloodline
Della Mae, Magic Accident
Kashus Culpepper, Act 1
Melissa Carper & Theo Lawrence, Havin’ a Talk
Natalie Del Carmen, Pastures
Catherine Britt, The Hardest Thing
August Ponthier, Everywhere Isn’t Texas
Rissi Palmer, Perspectives (EP)
Ratboys, Singin’ to an Empty Chair
The Kruse Brothers, Heartbreak & Honkytonk
Meels, Across the Raccoon Strait (EP)
Sophie Gault, Unhinged
Kezia Gill, All on Red
Band of Heathens, Country Sides
The Infamous Stringdusters, 20/20
Anna Tivel, Animal Poem: B Sides
Leah Blevins, All Dressed Up
Jim Lauderdale, Country Super Hits, Vol. 2
Luke Combs, The Way I Am
Iron & Wine, Hen’s Teeth
Miguel Mendez, The Summer Everything Sucked
Ashley Monroe, Dear Nashville (EP)
Jay Buchanan, Weapons of Beauty
Calder Allen, Fault Lines
Laura Chavez, My Voice
Sam Barber, Broken View
Ella Langley, Dandelion
Tenille Townes, The Acrobat
The Droptines, Drought Flower
Carsie Blanton & The Burning Hells, Everything is Great!
Kalyn Fay, DORO (a.k.a. Garden)
Andy Hedges, The Westerner
Momo Boyd, Miss Michigan
Mikaela Davis, Graceland Way
Souled American, sanctions
Drivin’ N Cryin’, Crushing Flowers
Emily Nenni, Movin’ Shoes
Charley Crockett, Clovis
Jade Josephine, Giddy Up!
Ruben Ramos, Los Días de Calor
Braxton Keith, Real Damn Deal
Amy Grant, The Me That Remains
Ricky Chilton, Ricky Deluxe
49 Winchester, Change of Plans
Ryan Bingham & The Texas Gentlemen, They Call Us the Lucky Ones
The Highwomen, Live at The Gorge 2023
Joshua Ray Walker, Ain’t Dead Yet
Don Williams, Epilogue: The Cellar Tapes
Grey DeLisle & Les Greene, Grey & Greene
Eric Bibb, One Mississippi
Boy Golden, Best of Our Possible Lives
Tony Trischka, Earl Jam 2
Brit Taylor, Land of the Forgotten
Aubrie Sellers, Attachment Theory
Jessye DeSilva, Glitter in the Dark
Cat Clyde, Mud Blood Bone
Kacey Musgraves, Middle of Nowhere
Ashley McBryde, Wild
India Ramey, Villain Era
Marisa Anderson, The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music, Vol. 1
Magic Tuber Stringband, Heavy Water
Emily Scott Robinson, Appalachia
Queen Esther, Blackbirding
Nathan Evans Fox, Heirloom
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