Country Albums You Might Have Missed So Far in 2024

Sierra Ferrell - Trail of Flowers

Now bear with us here on this one.

Sierra Ferrell is undoubtedly having a milestone of a year. Whether she's duetting with Post Malone on F-1 Trillion, riding on horseback with Diplo into her much anticipated set at Under The Big Sky or recording a bloody Tiny Desk Session for NPR, more and more people are most certainly becoming aware of this majestic artist.

Never the less, we really want to ensure that translates into listens of her own studio output, certainly when it comes to her 2024 AOTY-contender that is Trail of Flowers. Her sophomore effort had a lot to live up to after Long Time Comin', so thankfully it exhibits a refined, creatively more adventurous and musically wild Ferrell, cementing her as one of the most distinctive and enduring artists in the game today.

Favorite Song: 'Why Haven't You Loved Me Yet'

- Ross Jones

Avery Anna - Breakup Over Breakfast

Avery Anna has been a country up-and-comer for a couple of years now, but for some reason her long-awaited debut album, Breakup Over Breakfast, which arrived in July, feels as though it’s been largely overlooked.

Anna made her name with vulnerable, soul-baring reflections torn straight from her journal, epitomised by the newly Platinum ‘Narcissist’. That enchanting honesty is still laced throughout Breakup Over Breakfast, but the Arizona native also brings a newfound sense of swagger and confidence, particularly on the witty, tongue-in-cheek ‘Blonde’ and the indignant, accusatory ‘Make It Look Easy’.

There are electric guitar-fuelled anthems and intricate, stripped-back ballads aplenty, none more visceral and affecting than the album’s keystone, ‘vanilla’, which finds Anna turning a heartbreaking story into cautionary counsel about the importance of consent.

Favorite Song: ‘vanilla’

- Maxim Mower

Melissa Carper - Borned In Ya

Singer, songwriter, upright bassist and Texas treasure, Melissa Carper, released Borned In Ya, the follow up to her acclaimed 2022 album, Ramblin’ Soul, in July of this year.

In the year previous, Carper had retreated to a friend’s camping trailer in the country where she found a collection of DVDs and VHS tapes, one of which was Down From The Mountain, the documentary concert film about the making of the O, Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack. The film featured an interview with roots music icon Ralph Stanley.

“I don’t think you can get this sound unless it’s borned in ya,” he said, when asked about what he called “old-time mountain music”. When Carper heard those words, something jumped inside her, and she immediately jotted down the phrase “borned in ya” on a piece of paper.

“I knew I had to write that song,” she recalls. During the writing process, Carper turned the idea of what it means to have something “borned in ya” into a song about the soul, about life experiences and evolving into the highest version of yourself possible.

The album that was borne out of that idea was one of this year’s true delights, as Carper leaned fully over into Western swing and the shuffling rhythms of blue-eyed country soul, jazz, R&B and easy listening. A delightfully eclectic reimagining of the past 100 years of American roots music, with Carper seeming to revel in the sheer joy of her voice as an instrument, letting it take her on a glittering tour of all her musical indulgences.

If Amy Winehouse had drawn from western swing and honky tonk country then Back To Black might have ended up sounded something like Borned In Ya.

Favorite Song: 'Somewhere Between Texas and Tennessee'

- Jof Owen

Kaitlin Butts - Roadrunner!

Like Carper, Kaitlin Butts is pushing the envelope of traditional country music and playfully reimagining roots music with her third album Roadrunner!.

As she leaned into her love of musical theatre, she dreamed up a modern-day reworking of the soundtrack to her all-time favourite musical, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! and made a traditional country record unlike any other.

The result was a semi-autobiographical concept album that featured a budding romance between cowboy Curly and a farm girl called Laurey in the early 1900s.

“Every summer when I was a kid my parents would take me to see a performance of Oklahoma! at a local amphitheater, and I’ve felt such a strong connection to it my entire life,” explained Butts, who first conceptualised the album during a pandemic rewatching of the film with her husband, Flatland Cavalry frontman Cleto Cordero. “It’s a love story but there’s also a murder and a little bit of an acid-trippy feel to it at times; it’s set in the same place where I come from. Once I got the idea for this album, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t thought of it before, and it turned into something that completely encompasses who I am and what I love”.

From the delightfully twangy warning to a lover in ‘Hunt You Down’ and the slow burning duet with Vince Gill, ‘Come Rest Your Head (On My Pillow)’ to playfully skitty songs like ‘Wild Juanita’s Cactus Juice’ and ‘Buckaroo,’ Roadrunner! was as expansive and wildly varied as the Oklahoma landscapes that inspired it.

Favorite Song: 'Other Girls (Ain't Having Any Fun)'

- JO

Cassandra Lewis - Lost in a Dream

Released on Dave Cobb’s Elektra imprint Low Country Sound, Cassandra Lewis’ follow up to 2022’s Always, All Ways was an invitation even deeper into her shadowy world as she led us through a collection of smoky jazz inflected country and belting torch songs. A mix of Crystal Gayle, Barbara Mandrell and Connie Smith with a twist of sweetly melodramatic ‘70s cosmic Americana; “Soft lights and slow sexy music,” as Jody Miller used to sing it.

“The storytelling is heavy, but it’s relatable,” Lewis said of the record. “I’m using different colors. I love big seventies balladeers, I dig grunge and jazz. I grew up in and on cowboy country so I relate to classic western storytelling. I want it to feel raw and visceral, so it hits people the way my favorite music hits me. I don’t think we should feel comfortable all the time. I want my music to make people feel human – laugh, cry, scream, fucking feel it all.”

Recorded alongside Grammy winning producer Cobb, Lost in a Dream chronicled twisted, toxic relationships, addiction and mental health struggles, with co-writes for Anderson East, Angaleena Presley and Natalie Hemby, delivered by Lewis as if she was a rambunctious nightclub chanteuse.

Favorite Song: 'Lost in a Dream'

- JO

Pony Bradshaw - Thus Spoke the Fool

The third part of Pony Bradshaw's evocative trilogy of records may have only come out on Friday (August 16), but we wanted to include it here to implore you to bask in it's beauty.

An ever complex and inventive songwriter and poet, Bradshaw has this way of wrapping you around a well-spun yarn, one that you're determined not to release yourself from until you've understood all it's charms.

'Going to Water' glistens in the ripples of memory it wades in, while 'Young Eudora' is candid and bold in it's raw and intimate romance. If you're a fan of Charles Wesley Godwin's 'Family Ties', this one's for you.

Favorite Song: 'Going to Water'

- RJ

Lauren Watkins - The Heartbroken Record

Born and raised in Nashville, Lauren Watkins has been rolling around in country music for as long as she can remember.

Having spent her teenage years performing in downtown honky tonks and hole-in-the-wall bars while soaking up the city’s musical history, her debut full length album, The Heartbroken Record, felt like an affectionate tour of country music with a seasoned local, showing off a city she'd always loved that was slowly learning to love her back.

With her effortless country cool, she plunged us slowly into the messy world of love and loss, wittily and warmly poring over a city full of heartbreaks.

“I didn’t want to just put an album out – I wanted it to be purposeful,” Watkins reflects. “It’s the past several years of my life, and that was just so much heartbreak and dramatic girl-feelings, but I think in a really deep and relatable way… and it just needs to get off my chest".

“It’s exactly the space in country I thought was missing and wanted to fill,” Watkins said of the record. “It’s sweet and warm, but also gritty and tough at the same time, and that’s my favorite thing. I love it.”

Produced by diamond-certified producer Joey Moi, the album contained 17 originals co-written with some of Nashville’s finest songwriters, including features from Sheryl Crow, Ashley Monroe, Jake Worthington and Carter Faith.

Classic country albums don’t get much more perfect than The Heartbroken Record.

Favorite Song: 'Gatlinburg'

- JO

Bilmuri - AMERICAN MOTOR SPORTS

For all our rock guys and gals who like a bit of southern twang in their head bangers, this is going to undoubtedly be your favorite album of 2024.

Where artists like HARDY and Bailey Zimmerman are bringing the rock energy to country music, the truly musical mastermind that we know as Bilmuri has been infusing pedal steels, fiddles, mandolins, banjos and the like into pop punk, and we simply can't get enough.

Known professionally as John Franck, and with a stacked resume that includes tenures with the likes of metalcore royalty Attack Attack! and The March Ahead, Bilmuri is Franck's solo project through which he's released more than a dozen albums in the last eight years. While most of his music up until now has leaned into his rock roots, his newest record, AMERICAN MOTOR SPORTS, finds him delving into the country arena with a glorious display of grungy guitars, full-throttle drum kits and epic instrumental breakdowns.

A ten-track project that runs the gamut of styles and sounds, Bilmuri never quite commits to any one genre or vibe but always keeps you guessing. The album features a few familiar country faces across its track list too, including Mitchell Tenpenny on the high-octane 'ALL GAS,' as well as country riser Dylan Marlowe on the electrifying 'EMPTYHANDED,' which Marlowe has happily included in his touring set lists over the last few months.

Upon first listen, AMERICAN MOTOR SPORTS may not hit you as an inherently country record, but maybe that's the point. With country music undergoing such wide sweeping growth in popularity in the last few years – from both fans and outside artists alike – it only makes sense that the sound of country music would evolve, too.

With evolution comes experimentation, bringing forth new subgenres and sounds that the world hasn't heard before. Bilmuri is leading that charge through his keen rock lens, and we can't wait to see where he goes from here.

Favorite Song: 'SPINNIN' YOU AROUND'

- Lydia Farthing

Medium Build - Country

If you missed Medium Build's Country, you missed a gorgeously vulnerable, deeply emotive and at times, wonderfully disarming release.

Back in April, Medium Build – the brainchild of singer-songwriter Nick Carpenter – unleashed the 12-song collection on audiences likely unprepared for the strikingly intimate album, one that finds the artist navigating his highest highs and lowest lows at a breakneck speed.

“I want this album to connect to wherever you are, to whatever you’re doing,” he shared of the album ahead of its release. “I want this album to be something that you live with – pain, anger, hope, sorrow, or just light-hearted coffee”.

He delivered. While, at moments, head-swimmingly complex and impossible to pin down, Country is an impressive record that you’re meant to feel more than simply hear.

Favorite Song: 'Hey Sandra'

- Alli Patton

Tigirlily Gold - Blonde

When it comes to girl power in modern country music, few are doing it better than Tigirlily Gold, evidenced on their long-awaited debut album, Blonde.

Including the four songs from their 2023 EP of the same name – the seductive 'Move On,' cathartic 'Hometown Song,' tongue-cheek title track and their viral smash 'Shoot Tequila' – the full-length offering adds six more to the pack for ten fresh and fierce songs from the reigning ACM New Duo or Group of the Year.

First gaining real traction with their intoxicating 'Shoot Tequila,' the sister duo were quick to prove that they weren't just good at party songs, sending their heartbreaking ballad, 'I Tried A Ring On,' out into the ether to great avail. With Blonde, the golden-haired girls only continue to show their multi-layered talent, delivering a mix of female rage ('Stupid Prizes), swoon-worthy love songs ('End Up Us' & 'Only Once') and a simply stunning countrified version of Leona Lewis' 'Bleeding Love'.

From top to bottom, Blonde doesn't miss, serving as a fitting introduction to a duo that's effectively bringing the fun and female energy back into the forefront of country music.

Favorite Song: 'Bleeding Love'

- LF

Angel White - GHOST OF THE WEST: VOLUME I

If you overlooked Angel White’s GHOST OF THE WEST: VOLUME I, we implore you to go give it a listen.

The young artist’s EP may be the most promising debut to have come out of 2024 so far (it received a near perfect score from yours truly), and it would be a shame if you didn’t allow it to grace your ears.

The first part of GHOST OF THE WEST finds White navigating love and loss, meditating on family and identity, as well as celebrating his generations-old cowboy lineage and the overall spirit of his Western home.

In just six songs, the album is consuming – all at once cinematic and sobering, serrated yet comforting – leaving us eager for a second volume.

Favorite Song: 'OUTLAW'

- AP

Oliver Anthony - Hymnal Of A Troubled Man's Mind

Oliver Anthony’s celebrity is something of a marvel.

When ‘Rich Men North of Richmond’ launched him to viral acclaim and into the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2023, a full-length album from the Virginia native felt imminent. So, why is it that when he finally dropped Hymnal of a Troubled Man's Mind in late March, little to no praise was heaped on such a staggering release?

Did viral stardom hinder the long-awaited album’s success, or was it because he released the record on Easter Sunday without warning?

Whatever the reason, Hymnal of a Troubled Man's Mind should not be discounted. Part personal account, part Sunday school soliloquy, the ten-track album is punctuated with recordings of the artist quoting biblical scripture, his steady baritone reading from Ecclesiastes, Proverbs or Matthew between each spell-binding tune.

The entire release is brilliant, moving, and no matter what faith you do or don’t subscribe to, it makes you want to believe in something.

Favorite Song: 'Rich Man's Gold'

- AP

Katie Pruitt - Mantras

Following her lauded debut record, Expectations, all eyed were fixed on Katie Pruitt as she ushered in her next musical era... and she didn't disappoint.

Where Expectations focused on other's perceptions of her and seemingly faking it till you make it, 2024's Mantras finds Pruitt contemplative and introspective, as she mines her past experiences and ultimately finds peace within herself for exactly who she is.

As most albums tend to do, Mantras was described as her "most personal work" to date – or something of that ilk. Yet, Pruitt lives up to this throughout the record, as she looks at her complex relationship with friends, family and herself with glaring vulnerability. As Holler noted upon its release in April, "through her introspections, she unearths the parts of herself longing to be embraced".

Across its eleven tracks, Pruitt provides listeners with a series of mantras that she found of use in her own life after hitting a self-described low point, and before the album's end, they may just become your mantras, too.

Favorite Song: 'All My Friends'

- LF

Kiely Connell - My Own Company

If the examinations and observations on life and the human condition that The Red Clay Strays explored on their latest album Made By These Moments is what stood out most for you, then Kiely Connell's My Own Company is the even darker, deeper cut next chapter you need.

Brought up in Indiana, now based in Nashville, Connell crafts rich, evocative heartland rock and country that acts as a gentle invitation into Connell's world - full of nefarious characters, lapses in judgement and the strength it takes to make it to tomorrow.

My Own Company is no easy listen, but it's unquestionably a gratifying one.

Favorite Song: 'Coming Up Empty'

- RJ

Jesse Daniel - Countin' The Miles

If you've been enjoying the wave of Neo-Traditional country that's been pouring in like a rainstorm these past few months, then Jesse Daniel is pound for pound one of the best wit-shooting troubadours you need to hear.

A cult favourite with a bucket of honesty and a sound that's catchy but never undermines the tough realism of his lyricism, Daniel's 2024 Countin' The Miles is a celebration of perseverance, full of stories only someone that's experienced them could share.

Producing himself with an array of guest stars - including Jodi Lyford, Ben Haggard, Jon Randall and members of George Strait's Ace in the Hole band - Daniel has created a record that is as country as they come, and you shouldn't miss out.

Favorite Song: 'That's My Kind of Country'

- RJ

Reid Haughton - Higher Than 9

Sometimes the best albums of the year come from the least likely places, which rings true of Reid Haughton's debut record, Higher Than 9.

Born out of smokey barrooms and college town dives – the same places were Haughton first cut his teeth – the short and sweet collection is equal parts hypnotic and electric, straddling the line between soul, blues and southern rock.

Whether it's the dizzying heights of the title track, honey pot bop of 'Man Made Money,' the cheeky words of wisdom on 'Don't Get Wet,' moody ballads like 'Got To Give' and 'The Crow' or an inspired rendition of Charlie Daniels' iconic 'Long Haired Country Boy,' Haughton leaves little to question about his undeniably bright future in the country music arena.

As we noted upon its release in May, "each track on Higher Than 9 – whether it be lyrical prowess or inspired composition – has something to flex," and Haughton has some serious musical muscle to flaunt on this debut project.

Favorite Song: 'Flicker'

- LF

Taylor McCall - Mellow War

We honestly can’t tell you why Taylor McCall’s Mellow War didn’t go off like gangbusters when it was released in February.

The South Carolina native’s third release was an obvious success (we at Holler gave it a solid 8.5/10 earlier this year). The profoundly intimate collection pays tribute to the artist’s late grandfather, Vietnam veteran Reverend Russell Owen, making for a soul-stirring opus in which the past and present collide against a potent soundtrack.

Featuring highlights like ‘Rolling Stoned Again’, ‘Rest on Easy’ and ‘You to Blame’, the entire release is achy and feverish, meticulous and pensive. It is a singular album with heft and skill, one deserving of much more recognition than it has received since its arrival.

Favorite Song: ‘Rolling Stoned Again’

- AP

Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats - South of Here

Earlier this summer, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats brought the heat with their South of Here. So, why hasn’t everyone been basking in its warmth? Maybe because the release is a little different than anything the folk-soul outfit have unveiled thus far.

However, the band’s fourth studio album is their most inventive and expressive project to date – each song is tinged in the theatrical, the entire collection teetering on genius. South of Here marks a decade of the group that has come to define a style all their own, and their latest album is just a wonderful display of their perfected artistry.

Punchy and electrifying, deep and revealing, South of Here is one of the year's most unmissable releases, so what are you doing? Go listen!

Favorite Song: 'Remember I Was a Dancer'

- AP

Silverada - Silverada

After building an unshakable reputation as Mike and the Moonpies over the last two decades, was it Silverada’s name change that caused their self-titled album to go slightly under the radar?

The Moonpies announced a rebrand early in 2024, gearing up to release their latest album, Silverada, as the band of the same name. While such a change can cause a rift between some supporters, it wasn’t like the band threw out the rulebook.

The record simply saw the newly minted act loosening their grip on what had become expected of them, resulting in a revival rather than an upheaval of the well-loved group. Silverada is merely an album of fresh starts and the freedom that comes with them. It feels wrong that it hasn't reached as many people as it should've so far.

But hey, as they told Holler: “If you were here for the name, you were here for the wrong reason.”

Favorite Song: 'Something I'm Working On'

- AP

Shaboozey - Where I've Been, Isn't Where I'm Going

Shaboozey has had a truly banner year in 2024.

From featuring not once but twice on Beyoncé's blockbuster country debut, Cowboy Carter, to having his breakthrough single, 'A Bar Song (Tipsy),' spending five nonconsecutive weeks (and counting) atop the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, the Virginia native has been here, there and everywhere over the last several months.

However, in the midst of the viral whirlwind he's experienced since March, the genre-blending singer-songwriter also managed to release one of the most compelling country records of the year: Where I've Been, Isn't Where I'm Going.

You may have missed the full album while you were busy getting 'Tipsy,' but this is an album that you're going to want to go back and sit with. Where his viral smash has unboundedly introduced the burgeoning talent to a swath of new fans and listeners across genres, the album showcases the many sides and layers to Shaboozey, providing much more than just your average bar brawlers and party songs.

Evoking deep, visceral emotions on songs like 'Vegas,' 'My Fault' and 'Let It Burn,' he compliments the heavier moments with ragers like 'Drink Don't Need No Mix.' Throughout every song, though, he unveils a new dimension of his craft and leaves you yearning for more.

Similar to Bilmuri's latest offering, Where I've Been, Isn't Where I'm Going may not strike you as your typical country record, marrying hip-hop and rap elements with subtle country instrumentation that bends and blurs the lines between genres.

Yet one thing is certain: wherever Shaboozey is going, he's going there on a rocket ship, and we're just along for the ride.

Favorite Song: 'Vegas'

- LF