No Depression's Best of October 2026 Playlist

Fans who complain to musicians to, "Shut up and sing" might be disappointed in yesterday's US midterm election results and a large chunk of October's Best of the Month Playlist. Funnily enough, multiple roots musicians who shared new albums in October released songs with titles like "Election Day," "Lonesome Whistleblower Blues," "(what's so funny about) Universal Healthcare?,"Lady Liberty," and more. Naturally, we chose to sequence these tracks together, bookended with Spotlight artist Miko Marks' "Freedom" and Sheryl Crow's "Freedom Bus" featuring Jesse Welles.

Of course, roots music has a long, storied history with — as Woody Guthrie once wrote — writing what you can see, but not all of October's best roots music songs had such an overt political bent. There are interpretations of traditional ballads like JP Harris' take on "Hang Me" and The Suitcase Junket's a cappella version of "Oh Death." There are instrumental tracks from John Leventhal and Jefferey Silverstein, as well as unexpected pairings like Béla Fleck with Billy Strings and Mary Bragg with John Paul White.

All these artists and so many more are included in the new Qobuz playlist below. We're trying out yet another platform to try to figure out how best to share information and music while still supporting artists (but don't worry, we're still on Spotify and also on Deezer). In the meantime, don't forget to support nonprofit music journalism here at No Depression and become a member to read about these musicians and discover others.