Creekbed Carter Hogan meets the disruptive mood of 2026.
Mack Geiger
Walk a Straight Line [EP]
Aussie newcomer’s debut EP lays his formidable talents plain right from the jump. Still, the vibe occasionally skews a bit too strident in its desire to appeal to the hardline traditionalist sect without bringing in more contemporary elements. One to watch, though.
The Punch Brothers
The Unsung Adventures of the Punch Brothers
The Wes Anderson aesthetic of the cover art is definitely a tell here, which is to say that the appeal is likely to have a lot of listener-specific asks. But their masterful
compositions remain a modern wonder, even if a fully instrumental album is a harder sell.
Creekbed Carter Hogan
Peasants Revolt
Another 2026 album that raises the bar for what we can and should expect from modern protest music, this record is a marvel of moral clarity and conviction, with wordplays that are as lacerating as they are clever. The best tracks here feel like they are weaponizing traditional folk conventions as an act of protest against the very notions of formal conservatism themselves.
The mood for 2026 is disruption, and CCH is ready at the frontlines with a Molotov Cocktail. We’re here for it.
Silverada
Living Proof
They remain entirely too talented to put out a truly bad record, but at what point is it fair to say that this has been less of a rebranding and more of a full-on identity crisis? This continues to diverge from the aesthetic and quality control that made them great.
Charles Wesley Godwin
Christian Name
Aesthetically, this is more polished and Music Row ready than his work to date, which creates at least a bit of tension with his vocal performances. The vulnerability of his writing – compared to the emotionally stifled man-children on country radio – matters quite a bit. There’s a real candor in how he explores the loss of a child over the course of this record.
Where it gets tricky is that he doesn’t consistently fall on the better side of the line between drilling into how his faith helped his personal grief process versus outright proselytizing.
Hrishikesh Hirway
In the Last Hour of Light
Despite having loved his score for Companion (“Iris’ Theme” is tremendous) and a killer roster of collaborators (Iron & Wine! Ken Pomeroy!!!), this album about how ephemera shape our daily experiences and overall arc of our lives still skews toward the greige and dull.
Wyatt Flores
Scared of Heights
Credit to him for making a mainstream bid without any sense of apology for doing so or for hedging his bets. If the production isn’t as distinctive as on his debut, he at least understands why early-aughts top 40 “rock” worked as well as it did. Still, the writing here lacks some of the unique flourishes and POV that have made him such an exciting new talent. There’s nothing here, really, that’s a patch on the duet with Carter Faith he currently has out as a country radio single. Which may unfairly set too high a bar, but it better captures his potential.
Breakfield
Breakfield
Rebranding after fifteen years as Boy Named Banjo, this album stands as a fairly clean break from their prior era without yet sounding 100% sure-footed as to exactly the band they hope to be moving forward. But there’s still an attention to detail as they pivot in a new direction.
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