The Country Albums to Look Forward to in 2025

Jason Isbell - Foxes in the Snow

For some Jason Isbell fans, there is nothing quite like those moments at his shows with the 400 Unit when it's just us and him.

Isbell follows up his previous solo ventures, Sirens of the Ditch from 2007, Something More Than Free from 2015 and Southeastern, that just enjoyed its 10 Year Anniversary, with Foxes in the Snow, an 11-track collection of solo songs recorded acoustically in New York City last October at the legendary Electric Lady Studios and featuring cover art by Canadian artist Anna Weyant.

Recorded entirely on the same all-mahogany 1940 Martin 0-17 acoustic guitar in the span of just five days, the album captures Isbell at his most intimate and marks his first new music since the award-winning Weathervanes, recorded with his band The 400 Unit, in 2023.

Released following the announcement of his separation from singer Amanda Shires after 11 years of marriage in February 2024, it's expected to thematically touch upon their relationship and break up, and first single 'Bury Me' is a song that takes stock of his journey through life so far and the world he now finds himself in.

"Still got so much to learn / Still feel alive," he sings. "One lonely girl is all I need to tie me to this world / Make me believe."

Make space at the top of your Albums of the Year list for this one.

- Jof Owen

Parker McCollum - TBC

There’s no official release date for Parker McCollum’s Never Enough follow-up, but the Texas singer-songwriter has been hard at work on the project for almost two years now. It’s been a stop-start process, with the main impetus behind the record being McCollum’s desire to return to the sparser, more rugged sound of his breakout debut album, The Limestone Kid.

Parker McCollum spoke to Holler in February 2024 about how, at that point, he’d “already written 20 songs that I want to cut for this new album”, underlining that the project would explore a more stripped-back feel.

“I've gone as far into the clean and polished production as I want to. Now it's time to find my way back to how I first started making records. That's really what I'm looking to do on this next album. I'm cutting a new path back to the old me,” he shared

McCollum began recording the record in March 2024, but ended up changing producers and going back to the drawing board later that year. Now, though, it seems the album is inching closer and closer, with McCollum continuing to hint that he’s pursuing the aesthetic of The Limestone Kid, sharing “Welcome back kid” in July.

The lead single, ‘What Kinda Man’, gave us all the more reason to be excited about McCollum’s next album, which is due to feature long-teased fan-favourites such as ‘Big Ol’ Fancy House’ and ‘I Don’t Want to Be a Cowboy Tonight’.

- Maxim Mower

Willow Avalon - Southern Belle Raisin' Hell

Willow Avalon's music is a unique blend that already sounds complete, even before the release of her debut album. Combining the '60s mainstream sound of Dusty Springfield and Patsy Cline with a west-coast sunshine sheen that's not dissimilar to Kacey Musgraves' early work, Avalon's music is of a particular vintage – it's a sip that's mature and rich, yet will burn you if not handled with care.

Avalon's voice is a shiver that can warm the heart or leave a venomous bite, and that makes for a heck of a debut album in Southern Belle Raisin' Hell. 'Tequila or Whiskey' had us tearing up in our drinks in the twilight of 2024. Meanwhile, on 'Hey There, Dolly', Willow embraces her grassroots wit to have us two steppin' with a chuckle into 2025.

With lyrics as sharp as pistol fire layered across velvet country and western production fit as much for a movie scene as a barroom brawl, Southern Belle Raisin' Hell is a debut that will leave an immediate impression.

- RJ

Kane Brown - The High Road

Arriving on January 24th, Kane Brown’s fourth studio effort, The High Road, is a star-studded affair. Boasting collaborations with Jelly Roll, Khalid, Brad Paisley, Marshmello and two duets with his wife, Katelyn Brown, The High Road is set to consolidate the ‘Heaven’ hitmaker’s status as a maestro when it comes to blurring the lines between country, R&B and EDM.

Propelled by hit singles such as the infectious ‘Miles On It’, the rip-roaring ‘Fiddle in the Band’ and the endearing ‘Backseat Driver’, The High Road could be the album to consolidate Brown’s role amidst country music’s biggest players. So far, despite possessing a level of streaming might that outmuscles most of his peers, it feels as though Brown is still viewed by many as an underdog.

As he gears up to hit The High Road later this month, Brown will throw down the gauntlet ahead of a packed year of blockbuster country music releases.

- MM

Ringo Starr - Look Up

Mark your calendars. This is the year of Country Ringo.

The former Beatle, Ringo Starr, unveiled his new project, Look Up, on Jan. 10. His first full-length album in six years and second collection of original country offerings, Look Up finds the musician rubbing elbows with the genre’s finest across 11 tracks. Acts like Alison Krauss, Billy Strings, Larkin Poe, Lucius and Molly Tuttle will all guest on the release, which was produced and co-written by the famed T Bone Burnett.

“I’ve always loved country music," Starr shared of the upcoming project in a statement. In 1970, he recorded and released his second solo effort, Beaucoups of Blues, which marked an initial foray into the country music genre. More than five decades later, he'll be embarking on another.

"When I asked T Bone to write me a song, I didn’t even think at the time that it would be a country song – but of course it was, and it was so beautiful,” Starr continued. “I had been making EPs at the time and so I thought we would do a country EP – but when he brought me nine songs I knew we had to make an album! And I am so glad we did... It was a joy making it and I hope it is a joy to listen to.”

Over the last few months, Starr has shared early singles like 'Time On My Hands' and the Krauss-assisted 'Thankful.' He will officially ring in the release with special showcases at Nashville’s iconic Ryman Auditorium on Jan. 14 and Jan. 15.

- Alli Patton

The War And Treaty - Plus One

Get ready to feel the love this Valentine's Day! Country music's favorite husband-wife duo, The War and Treaty, will be dropping their fourth studio album, Plus One, on Feb. 14.

The 18-track release and follow-up to the musical power couple's acclaimed 2023 collection, Lover's Game, will find Michael Trotter Jr. and Tanya Trotter once again doing what they do best: serving up irresistible country soul hits, fueled by a feel-good fire and flecked with messages of love and affection.

In a recent statement, Tanya shared, “We see this record as an open invitation to be a part of what we’re doing—it came from wanting to be the hope we believe people need right now, as well as the hope that we need for ourselves.” Michael added, “One of our main intentions with this album is to inspire people to share themselves with others, and open themselves up to the possibility of being loved."

Plus One will include previously released tracks 'Can I Get An Amen', 'Call You By Your Name', 'Stealing A Kiss', 'Leads Me Home', as well as their latest single 'Carried Away’.

- AP

Pug Johnson - El Cabron

So far, Pug Johnson has only shared one song from his forthcoming album, but if the rest of El Cabron is anything like its steadily grooving title track, the Texas-bred singer-songwriter has got a hit on his hands.

Come March 28, devoted followers and soon-to-be fans will be treated to the artist's sophomore release, where his expansive sound – a marriage of all of his homegrown influences, like Cajun, Zydeco and Tejano, paired with a kind of rough-and-ready country and gritty rock – will be put on full display.

The 11-track project is bound to set Johnson on his path to success, kicking off 2025 with an album to remember.

- AP

Mackenzie Carpenter - Hey Country Queen

For those of you us who it pains to wait any more than a year for a new Megan Moroney album, we can all feel slightly conciliated by the debut album from one of Ms. Moroney's go-to songwriters, Mackenzie Carpenter, who along with Moroney, Micah Carpenter and Ben Williams makes up the fruitful songwriting WhatsApp group called “Jimmy James.”

Having written Lily Rose’s 2021 No. 1 hit 'Villain' and Moroney monster hits like 'I’m Not Pretty,' 'Indifferent,' '28th of June' and 'Nothin' Crazy,' which Carpenter also guested on, it's no surprise that she co-penned all 13 tracks on the new project, Hey Country Queen, as she gives her country faithful a heartfelt and humorous look into the intimacies of her love life while paying homage to the beloved Country Queens that paved the way for her to speak her mind, write her truth and have some fun along the way.

"This album has been a long time coming, and I’m so excited to finally share these songs with you. I’ve lived with them for years, and now it’s time to set them free,” shares Carpenter. “Hey Country Queen captures the essence of girlhood, heartbreak and love, and I can’t wait for you to hear it."

The album, which comes out on March 7th, includes her latest single 'Dozen Red Flags' along with previously released singles 'Boots On,' 'Don't Mess With Exes,' ' Huntin' Season' and 'Only Girl.' Co-writers in the album include songwriting heavyweights Nicolle Galyon, Brandon Hood, Jessie Jo Dillon and Liz Rose and 'I Wish You Would' even features a guest appearance from Midland.

That long wait for a new Me-Mo album is going to just fly by.

- JO

MacKenzie Porter & Jake Etheridge - Thelma & James

The new duo comprising pop-country hitmaker, MacKenzie Porter, and folk-leaning crooner, Jake Etheridge, Thelma & James released the enchantingly fragile ‘Happy Ever After You’ in early January. The unfinished teaser went viral towards the end of 2024, drawing plaudits from Luke Combs, Ella Langley, Jordan Davis and a host of fellow artists, leaving Porter and Etheridge no choice but to complete the track and drop it as the springboard for their new project.

Thelma & James’ debut album doesn’t have a release date just yet, but the husband-and-wife collaborators have confirmed there’s “more music to follow”.

The charm of Thelma & James, aside from the added sincerity that comes from the fact that Porter and Etheridge are married, is the way in which the artists complement one another.

Porter admitted that, despite meeting each other through songwriting, they hadn’t penned anything together in over a decade, due to their worry that their respective pop-country and folk sensibilities wouldn’t mesh. The beautifully intricate harmonies and heart-rending lyricism that light up ‘Happy Ever After You’, however, indicate otherwise.

- MM

Dasha - TBC

If anyone had the year in 2024, it was the girl who turned a beat-heavy breakup anthem into a viral line dancing movement.

Dasha, whose breakthrough hit, 'Austin (Boots Stop Workin'),' exploded on social media and the charts in early 2024, released her debut country album, What Happens Now?, in February, followed by its deluxe version in September.

However, after riding the 'Austin' wave for the last year, the burgeoning hitmaker has started teasing that new music is on its way in the new year, and it may be coming sooner that we think.

In an interview with Billboard at the tail end of 2024, the California native teased that fans can expect her new record “right out of the chute” in 2025. So far, the only break crumbs of new music has been her latest single, 'Heartbreaker From Tennessee' and a just-released collab with The Wiggles called 'Wiggle Up, Giddy Up!'... though we're pretty sure that one didn't make the cut for album three.

With intoxicating country-pop sensibility and a penchant for vulnerable lyricism mixed with an infectious, high-energy sound, Dasha seemingly has a lot to prove with her forthcoming album in the wake of the 'Austin' craze, but based on what we've heard from the young talent thus far, we don't think she should have anything to worry about.

- Lydia Farthing

Charles Wesley Godwin - TBC

Appearing at the Grand Ole Opry as part of the NextStage Class of 2024, Charles Wesley Godwin confirmed what we'd all been hoping for: he had new music for us in 2025.

With the new EP in the works, a project that has been eagerly anticipated throughout 2024, Godwin is set to release new music for the first time since his critically acclaimed and honestly divine 2023 album, Family Ties.

In terms of what to expect, there aren't many who we say we hope for simply more of the same. With the backing of Godwin's band, The Alleghany High, they capture a sound that is so alive and breathing, you feel you're in the room with them as they press record.

Godwin, meanwhile, is as forthright yet poetic as they come, and his innate world-conjuring within very real observations and feelings leave us with full hearts and answers to questions in life we've been mulling over for an age, quite unsure how to work out ourselves.

Regardless of what form Godwin's next project comes, we'll be here, hands out in anticipation for the gift that keeps giving.

- RJ

Wyatt Flores - TBC

Wyatt Flores has quickly become one of the most successful up-and-comers in the red dirt realm, seeming to be on a rocket ship that in the space of just two years has included an Opry debut, sold-our tours, headlining shows at the Ryman Auditorium and much much more.

While the Tulsa titan released his highly-anticipated Welcome To The Plains album in October of last year, which included instant favorites like 'Oh Susannah,' 'Don't Wanna Say Goodnight,' 'Little Town' and others, Flores is wasting no time to drop hints at his next project.

Kicking off the new year, the singer-songwriter took to X to share that he's checked off a live album from his artistic to-do list.

This proclamation came just days after playing the famed Billy Bob's Texas. Dubbed "the world's largest honky tonk," performing at the Fort Worth venue has become a rite of passage for country artists far and wide, and if Flores' socials following the show are any indication, it seemed to be a pretty massive bucket list item for him, too.

There's no way to know which of Flores' hundreds of live shows was recorded for this secret, forthcoming record, but if we were a betting outlet, we'd put our money on that iconic, sold-out Billy Bob's show in all of its glory.

Fingers crossed that the 'Please Don't Go' crooner doesn't leave us waiting for long!

- LF

Morgan Wallen - TBC

Since the release of his third studio album, One Thing At A Time, in March 2023, Morgan Wallen has officially graduated from country hitmaker to global megastar. The Sneedville native has transcended genre boundaries, with each new single virtually a shoo-in for a Top 5 finish on the Billboard Hot 100.

With the world now paying attention, there’s an added sense of pressure on Wallen’s next record, and it’ll be fascinating to see whether he doubles-down on the experimentation and genre-blending of One Thing At A Time, or returns to his more countrified aesthetic of If I Know Me. Judging by the singles we’ve heard so far and his newly international sphere of influence, you’d have to assume the former.

Understandably, given the fact that One Thing At A Time is still in the Top 10 of the Billboard 200, almost two years after its release, Wallen has been taking his time with the follow-up. But with the arrival of the long-teased ‘Smile’ on New Year’s Eve, we got what many believe to be a cryptic clue regarding Wallen’s next album. Fans are speculating that the name of Caleb Pressley’s fictional talk-show in the ‘Smile’ music video, Dark Til Daylight, could be the title of the project. What’s more, there’s a song listed on the ASCAP database with the same name, penned by some of Wallen’s go-to collaborators.

We’ll have to wait and see if Dark Til Daylight is indeed the name of the new album, but either way, the rollout is picking up pace.

Wallen continues to share snippets of new unreleased tracks, such as the viral ‘Since You Got Gone’, and photos of him recording his new project. Just this week, Wallen took to Instagram to share an image from the studio with the caption, ‘Locked In’, suggesting the ‘Love Somebody’ chart-topper is in full album mode.

If history is anything to go by, Wallen loves to drop his projects early in the year, with One Thing At A Time arriving in March, Dangerous in January and If I Know Me in April.

One Thing At A Time – album No. 3 – dropped on 3/3. Could album No. 4, therefore, be released on 4/4, which conveniently happens to be a Friday...?

- MM

HARDY - Live From Red Rocks

Country rocker HARDY blew the genre off its hinges in 2024 with the release of his debut rock record, Quit!!.

Teeming with songs ranging from the sentimental 'SIX FEET UNDER (Caleigh's Song)' and 'WHYBMWL,' to calling in some help from metal heavyweights like Chad Smith and Fred Durst on 'GOOD GIRL PHASE' and 'SOUL4SALE,' respectively, it was a project that further cemented the Mississippi hitmaker's chameleonic ability to wade across genre lines and deliver fantastic results every time.

During his Quit!! Tour, which kept him busy through the majority of 2024, HARDY enjoyed two sold-out nights at the iconic Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado. Becoming a rite of passage in recent years, the venue played host to the singer-songwriter on October 20 and 21, and lucky for us, the entire show was recorded live to tape.

Likely featuring an array of hits from the star's 2024 album, as well as a few career-spanning favorites like 'wait in the truck,' 'red,' 'BOOTS' and 'SOLD OUT,' the project will undoubtedly emit the same attitude-fueled, energy-filled displays the artist has made synonymous with his live shows.

- LF

Warren Zeiders - Relapse, Lies and Betrayal

Warren Zeiders takes his 2024 album, Relapse, and doubles it plus one, transforming it into a two-part, 21-track double album of characteristically introspective songs of heartbreak, loss and the kind of deeply personal storytelling we've come to know and love him for.

Produced by Ross Copperman (Old Dominion Tyler Hubbard), Mike Elizondo (U2, Ed Sheeran) and Zeiders, the album features a collection of tracks co-penned by Zeiders and standout writers, including Connor McDonough (Benson Boone, Joji), Ali Tamposi (Elton John, Dua Lipa), Mark Holmon (Morgan Wallen, Bailey Zimmerman), Feli Ferraro (Jelly Roll, BTS) and instrumentalists Craig Young (HARDY, Post Malone), Aaron Sterling (Sabrina Carpenter, Taylor Swift) and more.

Throughout the creative process, Zeiders – a college-athlete-turned hitmaker – took an intimate, therapeutic approach to songwriting, reflecting on his personal relationships, the success he's enjoyed over the last few years and the way he's coped mentally with all the changes in his life and career – offering a cathartic exploration of love, loss and gratitude.

From last year's summer anthem, 'Relapse,' to songs of self-flagellation and remorse like 'Bad' and 'Take It To the Grave,' along with more introspective moments like viral smash 'You For a Reason,' 'Can A Heart Take' and 'Withdrawal,' Relapse, Lies and Betrayal is sure to solidify Zeiders' reputation as being one of country music's most prolific and out there contemporary voices when it's released in March.

- JO

Caylee Hammack - Bed of Roses

"I like gardening," the author Alice Sebold once wrote, "it's a place where I find myself when I need to lose myself."

If it's true that at one time in their lives everyone should spend some time toiling the earth, hands in the dirt in whatever the weather, at one with nature, to experience life to the full and fully find themselves, then Caylee Hammack has taken that to heart with the follow up to her 2020 debut, If It Wasn't For You.

Five years in the making, previous singles like 'History of Repeating' and 'All or Nothing' have fallen to the wayside on Bed of Roses, to make room for an earthier, more grounded and soulful sound as the Ellaville, Georgia native joins forces with Dann Huff and John Osborne of Brothers Osborne to share production credits on an album that feels more true to the singer than anything she's ever released.

“We all have different experiences, but we also have similar heartbeats,” Hammack says about the album that features previous singles 'The Hill' and 'Breaking Dishes' alongside her latest single, 'Bed of Roses' and 10 other songs that trace the universal story of a 20-something’s coming of age with a mix of soulful Americana, swampy 70’s country funk and heel stomping red-dirt rock.

“Your bed of roses is the bed you make – you get to decide how you spend your time and how you plant your garden,” Hammack says. “Good love is flowers that come back every year. Bad love, it’s just the thorn. Sometimes you got to till shit up. You’ve got to work through things and it’s not going to be fun. And then one day, your friends come over and you sit as a family on the back porch in the garden. And when they compliment the roses near the gate or the cherry tomatoes speckled about in the pasta, you get the pleasure of realizing, 'I grew that, I put love, time, and belief into something and it paid off.'”

The album includes co-writes with Meg McRee, Stephen Wilson Jr., Tenille Townes, Logan Wall, Luke Dick, Lucie Silvas, Tofer Brown and Lauren Hungate, as well as Benjy Davis and Jeff Hyde on the title track centre piece.

“As a little girl who always just wanted a man to bring her flowers – I decided I’d be better off if I just learned how to grow my own,” she says.

- JO

Angel White - GHOSTS OF THE WEST: VOLUME 2

With Angel White, it's all about world building.

He expands on the seven songs on his GHOSTS OF THE WEST: VOLUME 1 EP from last spring for a full-length album that further builds on his singular vision of country folk.

Teasing the album with heavyweight emotional anthem 'CROSSROADS,' the uncharacteristically chirpy 'DOWN BY THE RIVER' and latest single 'SAVE SOME FOR ME,' the fifth generation Texas cowboy, beekeeper and rancher uniquely blends the mystique of the old American West with elements of contemporary folk, pop country and impassioned red dirt soul.

There's a reason he stylises all his song titles in capital letters. These are songs that deserves to be writ large on every page of contemporary country music.

- JO