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Country music has been a leading and predominant genre of American culture for decades and its popularity still keeps on rising. Despite the rise of other popular genres like pop and hip-hop, country music continues to hold a special place in the heart of its fans all around the world. In this blog, we’ll dive into the top reasons country music is still popular today from its music artists and hall of fame to its unique and wide range of music and its instruments.

The phrase, coined in the 1990s, can still be found in press kits and music reviews, along with its even more ambiguous synonym, Americana. Alternative country is an abbreviation for music that draws on American folk and country traditions but is distinct from commercial Nashville. However, it has been applied so broadly — to punk rockers playing Hank Williams songs, bluegrass purists, and all manner of singer-songwriters in between — that it has always been difficult to tell whether it means much of anything.

After teasing new music this year in a slickly produced, nearly two-minute-long video narrated by ESPN’s Wright Thompson yesterday, the announcement officially came today: Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit returns on June 9 with a new record called Weathervanes.

After teasing new music this year in a slickly produced, nearly two-minute-long video narrated by ESPN’s Wright Thompson yesterday, the announcement officially came today: Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit returns on June 9 with a new record called Weathervanes.

"Roots music" is a term that is frequently used to describe various styles of American music. The mind is transported to the American South, or to the folk lyricism of acoustic artists such as John Prine or (the Minnesotan) Bob Dylan. That isn't entirely incorrect, but it's important to distinguish between roots music and American roots music first.

The roots music world is marking what would have been guitar hero Doc Watson’s 100th birthday this year with a tribute album filled with loving renditions of some of his best known songs. Doc Watson At 100, coming April 28 on FLi Records/Budde Music, offers 15 tracks celebrating Watson’s legacy from singer-songwriters such as Dolly Parton, Steve Earle, Rosanne Cash, and Valerie June as well as from instrumental masters Jerry Douglas, Bill Frisell, Yasmin Williams, and Chris Eldridge. Most of the songs are standards of traditional music that Watson helped bring into a wider spotlight with his playing and singing.

While Ben Folds has been busy with a wide array of musical projects in the past decade or so, it’s been a while since we’ve heard him tap back into his singer-songwriter side — but that wait is about to be over. For What Matters Most, his first studio album since 2015’s collaboration with string ensemble yMusic, Folds has created 10 songs that together tell a story and examine some heavy aspects of modern life with his signature insight and wit. The album will come out June 2 via New West Records.

Cascading banjo rolls swirl and eddy in the opening measures of the “Dark Side,” launching Justin Hiltner’s achingly beautiful solo debut, 1992. The sonic spareness of “Dark Side” conveys an emotional vulnerability that runs through every song on the album, which features Hiltner’s warm vocals and his banjo or guitar.

The Rachael in the duo’s title is Rachael Price of Lake Street Dive, while Vilray is Brooklyn-based guitarist Vilray Bolles. Both studied at the New England Conservatory of Music nearly 20 years ago, but it wasn’t until 2015 that they officially came together to perform under a moniker all their own with a Tin Pan Alley-inspired output. In 2019 they released their debut, self-titled recording, and now they’re back with their sophomore LP, I Love a Love Song!

“I’ve been quoted as saying the most outlaw thing you can possibly do in Nashville, Tennessee, these days is to play country music. It can be done Stuart says in the announcement. On ‘Altitude, there’s twin fiddles, steel guitar, and the legendary Pig Robbins playing piano on what turned out to be one of his last recording sessions. The song is a reminder to me, and to anyone else still interested, that there’s a few of us out here who still know how to make authentic country music. I have an absolute belief that there’s a world of people out there who still love it as my wife Connie Smith says it’s the ‘cry of the heart, Harlan Howard said it’s three chords and the truth’ — that’s country music.

I have released a new music. It is called White Trash Revelry and it’s about my life and, by proxy, it deals with you and dad, too. I wrote you around Christmas of last year to wish you and your partner a merry one but I’m not sure if you saw my message on Facebook or not. I wrote again on Mother’s Day. I wanted you to know I was thinking of you, that I love you, and I wanted to share these songs with you before they went out into the world.

Just because most of the roots music categories of Grammy awards are given out during the afternoon doesn’t mean they’re any less important. The Premiere Ceremony, which started at 3:30 p.m. ET and is available to stream at live.grammy.com and the Recording Academy’s YouTube channel, moves at a quicker pace than the prime-time show. But so many stars in this corner of the music industry have also won some much deserved recognition during this time.

The music industry tends to wake up slowly at the beginning of each new year, but that doesn’t mean there’s not plenty of new music to listen to already in 2023. Some releases came highly expected and anticipated, like Winter 2022 issue guest editor Margo Price‘s Strays and January Spotlight artist Pony Bradshaw‘s North Georgia Rounder. But others, like Molly Tuttle’s mandolin-led cover of Olivia Rodrigo’s chart-topping pop song “good 4 u,” snuck in at the end of the month like a surprise hit we didn’t even know we needed.

After a nine-year break from recording together, the trio of Chris Thile, Sara Watkins, and Sean Watkins is back with a new album, Celebrants, coming March 24 via Thirty Tigers. which examines the good and not so good aspects of togetherness.

The album is dedicated to the singer-songwriter’s mother, who passed away in 2021, and its songs explore the idea of connection, both to others and to ourselves, according to a press release announcing the album. “I think it’s important for us to share some of our most basic and common experiences with each other, however we can,” Ritter says in the announcement. “That’s what we really, really need right now. I know we have common experiences, and it’s important to telegraph those back because they don’t have to be lonely experiences.”