This year has alternately flow and dragged by. But roots artists have been steadily releasing top-notch music all year long. As we arrive at its midpoint, No Depression writers and editors reflect on their favorite albums of the year, so far.
Like an alter with mystical crystals, holy spirits, and positive energies, everything about Valerie June’s fourth studio album is offered right there in the title — Owls, Omens, and Oracles. – Hilary Saunders
The tumult and successes of these last few years all culminate in Kelsey Waldon's Every Ghost, an album about moving forward in life while being confronted with the ghosts of the past. But while the past weighs heavy on Every Ghost, this LP emerges as one whose arrow points firmly forwards. – Tom Williams
Singer-songwriter Kristina Murray’s music conveys a realism that derives from life experience. Murray’s third studio album, Little Blue, is a paean to hard-won perspective, perseverance, and resilience forged by struggle. Still, more contemplative than gloomy, the album’s nine tracks dwell on faltering, rather than failing, and the quintessential act of coming out the other side. – Meredith Lawrence
