2019 was a tumultuous year in many ways, but thank goodness it was a great year for music to help us forget about all the craziness in the news! Our Top 100 list is as eclectic as ever, with bluegrass, rock, country, blues, singer/songwriter, and world beat releases all making the cut. Longtime favorites like the Steep Canyon Rangers, Balsam Range, the Avett Brothers, and the Tedeschi-Trucks Band are represented as well as newer artists such as Ian Noe, Che Apalache, and Yola. Amongst all that musical goodness, WNCW listeners chose multiple award-winning hotshot guitarist Billy Strings for the #1 spot with his "psychedelic progressive bluegrass" release, "Home". Here's the complete Top 100:
Click here for WNCW staff picks.
1. Billy Strings - Home
2. Tyler Childers - Country Squire
3. Steep Canyon Rangers - North Carolina Songbook
4. Highwomen - Highwomen
5. Balsam Range - Aeonic
6. Tedeschi Trucks Band - Signs
7. Avett Brothers - Closer Than Together
8. Sturgill Simpson - Sound & Fury
9. Mandolin Orange - Tides Of A Teardrop
10. Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters - Live at the Grey Eagle
11. Alexa Rose - Medicine For Living
12. Tyler Ramsey - For The Morning
13. Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real - Turn Off the News (Build a Garden)
14. Ian Noe - Between the Country
15. Andrew Bird - My Finest Work Yet
16. Songs From the Road Band - Waiting On a Ride
17. Hayes Carll - What It Is
18. Darin and Brooke Aldridge - Inner Journey
19. Molly Tuttle - When You're Ready
20. North Mississippi Allstars - Up and Rolling
21. Willie Nelson - Ride Me Back Home
22. Hiss Golden Messenger - Terms of Surrender
23. Our Native Daughters - (Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla, Allison Russell)
24. Anders Osborne - Buddha and the Blues
25. Infamous Stringdusters - Rise Sun
26. Neil Young and Crazy Horse - Colorado
27. Brittany Howard - Jaime
28. Van Morrison - Three Chords and The Truth
29. Gov't Mule - Bring On The Music: Live at the Capitol Theatre
30. Greensky Bluegrass - All For Money
31. Keb' Mo' - Oklahoma
32. Samantha Fish - Kill Or Be Kind
33. J.S. Ondara - Tales of America
34. Che Apalache - Rearrange My Heart
35. Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi - There Is No Other
36. Wilco - Ode To Joy
37. Calexico/Iron & Wine - Years To Burn
38. Charley Crockett - The Valley
39. Various: Ken Burns' Country Music (soundtrack)
40. Josh Ritter - Fever Breaks
41. Queen Bee and the Honeylovers - Asheville
42. Dylan LeBlanc - Renegade
43. Unspoken Tradition - Myths We Tell Our Young
44. Bruce Hornsby - Absolute Zero
45. Shinyribs - Fog & Bling
46. Charley Crockett - Lil G.L.'s Blue Bonanza
47. Chris Robinson Brotherhood - Servants of the Sun
48. Yola - Walk Through Fire
49. Buddy & Julie Miller - Breakdown on 20th Ave. South
50. Michael Cleveland - Tall Fiddler
51. Tim O'Brien Band - Tim O'Brien Band
52. Jim Lauderdale - From Another World
53. Black Keys - Let's Rock
54. JJ Cale - Stay Around
55. Joseph Huber - Moondog
56. Rising Appalachia - Leylines
57. Steve Earle & the Dukes - Guy
58. Son Volt - Union
59. Todd Snider - Cash Cabin Sessions Vol. 3
60. Blue Highway - Somewhere Far Away
61. Claypool Lennon Delirium - South of Reality
62. Norah Jones - Begin Again
63. Chatham County Line - Sharing the Covers
64. Shovels & Rope - By Blood
65. Eilen Jewell - Gypsy
66. Justin Townes Earle - The Saint of Lost Causes
67. Rodney Crowell - Texas
68. Rodrigo y Gabriela - Mettavolution
69. Zoe & Cloyd - I Am Your Neighbor
70. Time Sawyer - Mountain Howdy
71. Empire Strikes Brass - Brassterpiece Theatre
72. Pretty Little Goat - Let the Sun Shine In
73. BB King Blues Band - The Soul of the King
74. Lumineers - III
75. Drunken Prayer - Cordelia Elsewhere
76. Dangermuffin - Live at StageOne
77. Paul Cauthen - Room 41
78. Fruit Bats - Gold Past Life
79. Resonant Rogues - Autumn of the World
80. Madison Cunningham - Who Are You Now
81. Allah-Las - La's
82. The Deer - Do No Harm
83. Delbert McClinton & the Self-Made Men + Dana - Tall, Dark, & Handsome
84. Esther Rose - You Made It This Far
85. Santana - Africa Speaks
86. Larry Keel Experience - One
87. Free Planet Radio - Pursuit
88. Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley - World Full of Blues
89. Keller & the Keels - Speed
90. Michael Franti & Spearhead - Stay Human Vol. II
91. Big Band of Brothers - A Jazz Celebration of the Allman Brothers Band
92. Big Thief - Two Hands
93. Karl Denson's Tiny Universe - Gnomes & Badgers
94. Mile Twelve - City on a Hill
95. Grascals - Straighten the Curves
96. Della Mae - The Butcher Shope EP
97. Snarky Puppy - Immigrance
98. Mavericks - Play the Hits
99. Charlie Hunter & Lucy Woodward - Music! Music! Music!
100. Jake Xerxes Fussell - Out of Sight