the alt root top 100 albums 2020
01 Drive-By Truckers – The Unraveling
(release date 01-31-20) ATO Records
02 Waylon Payne – Blue Eyes, The Harlot, The Queer, The pusher& Me
(release date 9-11-20) Carnival Recording Company
03 Larkin Poe – Self Made Man
(release date 06-12-20) Trick-Woo Records
04 The Ghost of Paul Revere – Good at Losing Everything
(release date 08-28-20) self-release
05 Cordovas – Destiny Hotel
(release date 10-16-20) ATO Records
06 Daniel Donato – A Young Man’s Country
(release date 08-07-20) Cosmic Country Music
07 S.G. Goodman – Old Time Feeling
(release date 05-2-20) Verve Forecast
08 Strung Like a Horse – WHOA!
(release date 10-30-20) Transoceanic Records
09 Lilly Hiatt – Walking Proof
(release date 03-27-20) New West Records
10 Jaime Wyatt – Neon Cross
(release date 02-26-20) New West Records
11 The White Buffalo – On the Widow’s Walk
(release date 04-17-20) Spinefarm Records UK
12 Lucinda Williams – Good Souls, Better Angels
(release date 04-24-20) Highway 20 Records
13 Reckless Kelly – American Girls / American Jackpot
(release date 05-22-20) No Big Deal Records
14 Mary Chapin Carpenter – The Dirt and The Stars
(release date 08-07-20) Lambient Light Records
15 Old 97’s – Twelfth
(release date 08-21-20) ATO Records
16 Ida Mae – Raining for You EP
(release date 11-20-20) Vow Road Records
17 Great Peacock – Forever Worse Better
(release date 10-09-20) self-release
18 Darlingside – Fish Pond Fish
(release date 10-09-20) More Doug Records
19 Bonnie Whitmore – Last Will & Testament
(release date 10-02-20) Aviatrix Records
20 Elizabeth Cook – Aftermath
(release date 09-11-20) Agent Love Records
21 Pokey Lafarge – Rock Bottom Rhapsody
(release date 04-10-20) New West Records
22 Greyhounds – Primates
(release date 07-10-20) Nine Mile Records
23 Aubrie Sellers – Far from Home
(release date 02-07-20) self-release
24 Caleb Caudle – Better Hurry Up
(release date 04-03-20) self-release
25 The Secret Sisters – Saturn Return
(release date 02-28-20) New West Records
26 Dave Alvin – From an Old Guitar: Rare and Unreleased Recordings
(release date 11-20-20) Yep Roc Records
27 Front Country – Impossible World
(release date 10-30-20) Antifragile Music
28 Bob Dylan – Rough and Rowdy Ways
(release date 06-19-20) Columbia Records
29 The Band of Heathens – Stranger
(release date 09-25-20) BOH Records
30 Back to Paradise: A Tulsa Tribute to Okie Music – various artists
(release date 08-28-20) Horton Records
31 Bobby Rush – Rawer Than Raw
(release date 08-28-20) Deep Rush Records
32 49 Winchester – III
(release date 10-02-20) self-release
33 Elliott BROOD – Keeper
(release date 09-18-20) Six-Shooter Records
34 Peter Parcek – Mississippi Suitcase
(release date 09-04-20) Lightnin’ Records
35 Courtney Marie Andrews – Old Flowers
(release date 07-24-20) Fat Possum Records
36 James Hyland – Western
(release date 05-01-20) self-release
37 Joshua Ray Walker – Glad You Made It
(release date 07-10-20) State Fair Records
38 Whitney Rose – We Still Go to Rodeos
(release date 04-24-20) MCG Records
39 Miss Tess – The Moon is an Ashtray
(release date 02-07-20) Miss Tess / Tone Tree Music
40 Will Sexton – Don’t Walk the Darkness
(release date 03-06-20) Big Legal Mess Records
41 Jessie Wagner – Shoes Droppin’
(release date 10-09-20) Wicked Cool Records
42 Grant-Lee Phillips – Lightning, Show Us Your Stuff
(release date 09-04-20) Yep Roc Records
43 Otis Gibbs – Hoosier National
(release date 09-18-20) Wanamaker Records
44 The Adobe Collective – All the Space That There Is
(release date 01-10-20) Love Sand Records / JTMMusic
45 American Aquarium – Lamentations
(release date 05-01-20) New West Records
46 Jesse Dayton – Gulf Coast Sessions
(release date 07-24-20) Blue Elan Records
47 India Ramey – Shallow Graves
(release date 09-04-20) self-release
48 Marcus King – El Dorado
(release date 01-17-20) Fantasy Records
49 The Jayhawks – XOXO
(release date 07-10-20) SHAM Records
50 The Panhandlers – The Panhandlers
(release date 03-06-20) Motel Time Music / The Next Waltz
51 Will Hoge – Tiny Little Movies
(release date 06-26-20) Edlo Records
52 Katie Pruitt – Expectations
(release date 02-21-20) Rounder Records
53 The James Hunter Six – Nick of Time
(release date 03-06-20) Daptone Records
54 The Lone Bellow – Half Moon Light
(release date 02-07-20) Dualtone Records
55 Watkins Family Hour – brother sister
(release date 04-10-20) Rounder Records
56 Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Reunions
(release date 05-15-20) Southeastern Records
57 Darrell Scott – Jaroso
(release date 10-23-20) Full Light Records
58 The Two Tracks – Cheers to Solitude
(release date 08-14-20) self-release
59 Shemekia Copeland – Uncivil War
(release date 10-23-20) Alligator Records
60 The Allman Betts Band – Bless Your Heart
(release date 08-28-20) BMG
61 Eliot Bronson - Empty Places
(release date 07-24-20) New Pain Records
62 Ruthie Foster’s Big Band – Live at The Paramount
(release date March 15, 2020) Blue Corn Music
63 Dedicated Men of Zion - Can’t Turn Me Around
(release date 06-26-20) Bible & Tire Records
64 Gretchen Peters – The Night You Wrote That Song:Songs of Mickey Newbury (release date 05-15-20) Scarlett Letter Records
65 Paul Burch – Light Sensitive
(release date 04-17-20) Plowboy Records
66 Chris Stapleton – Starting Over
(release date 11-13-20) Mercury Nashville
67 Dawes – Good Luck with Whatever
(release date 10-02-20) Rounder Records
68 John Nemeth – Stronger Than Strong
(release date 10-16-20) Memphis Grease Records
69 Ray Wylie Hubbard – Co-Starring
(release date 07-10-20) Big Machine Records
70 Margo Price - That’s How Rumors Get Started
(release date 07-10-20)
71 Steve Earle and the Dukes – Ghosts of West Virginia
(release date 05-22-20) New West Records
72 John Moreland – LP5
(release date 02-07-20) Old Omens Records
73 The Texas Gentlemen – Floor It!!!
(release date 07-17-20) New West Records
74 Elvis Perkins – Creation Myths
(release date 10-02-20) MIR/Petaluma Records
75 Hayes Carll – Alone Together Sessions
(release date 09-04-20) Dualtone Records
76 Bette Smith – The Good, The Bad, and The Bette
(release date 09-25-20) Ruf Records
77 Will Kimbrough – Spring Break
(release date 10-23-20) Daphne Records
78 Cidny Bullens – Walkin’ Through This World
(release date 08-21-20) Blue Lobster Records
79 John Craigie – Asterisk the Universe
(release date 06-12-20) Zabriskie Point Records
80 Jeff Crosby – North Star
(release date 04-24-20) self-release
81 Sarah Siskind – Modern Appalachia
(release date 04-17-20) self-release
82 Chuck Prophet – The Land That Time Forgot
(release date 08-21-20) Yep Roc Records
83 - Brandy Clark – Your Life is a Record
(release date 03-06-20) Warner Records
84 David Quinn – Letting Go
(release date 10-10-20) Low Down Records
85 Dan Penn – Living on Mercy
(release date 08-28-20) The Last Music Company
86 The Dirty Truckers – Second Dose
(release date 04-27-20) Rum Bar Records
87 Willie Nile – New York at Night
(release date 05-15-20) River House Records
88 Sarah Peacock – Burn the Witch
(release date 03-27-20) Road Dog Enterprises
89 Tami Neilson – Chickaboom!
(release date 02-14-20) Outside Music
90 The Harmed Brothers – Across the Waves
(release date 06-05-20) Fluff and Gravy Records
91 The Mastersons – No Time for Love Songs
(release date 03-06-20) Red House Records
92 Mipso – Mipso
(release date 10-16-20) (release date 08-28-20) Rounder Records
93 Drive-By Truckers – The New OK
(release date 10-02-20) ATO Records
94 Nocona – Los Dos
(release date 07-10-20) Mule Kick Records
95 The Daiquiri Queens – The Daiquiri Queens
(release date 06-15-20) self-release
96 Arlo McKinley – Die Midwestern
(release date 08-14-20) Oh Boy Records
97 Rick Shea – Love & Desperation
(release date 10-23-20) Tres Pescadores Records
98 Bon Bon Vivant – Dancing in the Darkness
(release date 12-04-20) Heroic Doses Records
99 Pi Jacobs – Two Truths and a Lie
(release date 06-12-20) Traviana Records
100 The 81s – 2 Things & 118 Others
(release date 05-15-20) self-release
(release date 01-31-20) ATO Records
02 Waylon Payne – Blue Eyes, The Harlot, The Queer, The pusher& Me
(release date 9-11-20) Carnival Recording Company
03 Larkin Poe – Self Made Man
(release date 06-12-20) Trick-Woo Records
04 The Ghost of Paul Revere – Good at Losing Everything
(release date 08-28-20) self-release
05 Cordovas – Destiny Hotel
(release date 10-16-20) ATO Records
06 Daniel Donato – A Young Man’s Country
(release date 08-07-20) Cosmic Country Music
07 S.G. Goodman – Old Time Feeling
(release date 05-2-20) Verve Forecast
08 Strung Like a Horse – WHOA!
(release date 10-30-20) Transoceanic Records
09 Lilly Hiatt – Walking Proof
(release date 03-27-20) New West Records
10 Jaime Wyatt – Neon Cross
(release date 02-26-20) New West Records
11 The White Buffalo – On the Widow’s Walk
(release date 04-17-20) Spinefarm Records UK
12 Lucinda Williams – Good Souls, Better Angels
(release date 04-24-20) Highway 20 Records
13 Reckless Kelly – American Girls / American Jackpot
(release date 05-22-20) No Big Deal Records
14 Mary Chapin Carpenter – The Dirt and The Stars
(release date 08-07-20) Lambient Light Records
15 Old 97’s – Twelfth
(release date 08-21-20) ATO Records
16 Ida Mae – Raining for You EP
(release date 11-20-20) Vow Road Records
17 Great Peacock – Forever Worse Better
(release date 10-09-20) self-release
18 Darlingside – Fish Pond Fish
(release date 10-09-20) More Doug Records
19 Bonnie Whitmore – Last Will & Testament
(release date 10-02-20) Aviatrix Records
20 Elizabeth Cook – Aftermath
(release date 09-11-20) Agent Love Records
21 Pokey Lafarge – Rock Bottom Rhapsody
(release date 04-10-20) New West Records
22 Greyhounds – Primates
(release date 07-10-20) Nine Mile Records
23 Aubrie Sellers – Far from Home
(release date 02-07-20) self-release
24 Caleb Caudle – Better Hurry Up
(release date 04-03-20) self-release
25 The Secret Sisters – Saturn Return
(release date 02-28-20) New West Records
26 Dave Alvin – From an Old Guitar: Rare and Unreleased Recordings
(release date 11-20-20) Yep Roc Records
27 Front Country – Impossible World
(release date 10-30-20) Antifragile Music
28 Bob Dylan – Rough and Rowdy Ways
(release date 06-19-20) Columbia Records
29 The Band of Heathens – Stranger
(release date 09-25-20) BOH Records
30 Back to Paradise: A Tulsa Tribute to Okie Music – various artists
(release date 08-28-20) Horton Records
31 Bobby Rush – Rawer Than Raw
(release date 08-28-20) Deep Rush Records
32 49 Winchester – III
(release date 10-02-20) self-release
33 Elliott BROOD – Keeper
(release date 09-18-20) Six-Shooter Records
34 Peter Parcek – Mississippi Suitcase
(release date 09-04-20) Lightnin’ Records
35 Courtney Marie Andrews – Old Flowers
(release date 07-24-20) Fat Possum Records
36 James Hyland – Western
(release date 05-01-20) self-release
37 Joshua Ray Walker – Glad You Made It
(release date 07-10-20) State Fair Records
38 Whitney Rose – We Still Go to Rodeos
(release date 04-24-20) MCG Records
39 Miss Tess – The Moon is an Ashtray
(release date 02-07-20) Miss Tess / Tone Tree Music
40 Will Sexton – Don’t Walk the Darkness
(release date 03-06-20) Big Legal Mess Records
41 Jessie Wagner – Shoes Droppin’
(release date 10-09-20) Wicked Cool Records
42 Grant-Lee Phillips – Lightning, Show Us Your Stuff
(release date 09-04-20) Yep Roc Records
43 Otis Gibbs – Hoosier National
(release date 09-18-20) Wanamaker Records
44 The Adobe Collective – All the Space That There Is
(release date 01-10-20) Love Sand Records / JTMMusic
45 American Aquarium – Lamentations
(release date 05-01-20) New West Records
46 Jesse Dayton – Gulf Coast Sessions
(release date 07-24-20) Blue Elan Records
47 India Ramey – Shallow Graves
(release date 09-04-20) self-release
48 Marcus King – El Dorado
(release date 01-17-20) Fantasy Records
49 The Jayhawks – XOXO
(release date 07-10-20) SHAM Records
50 The Panhandlers – The Panhandlers
(release date 03-06-20) Motel Time Music / The Next Waltz
51 Will Hoge – Tiny Little Movies
(release date 06-26-20) Edlo Records
52 Katie Pruitt – Expectations
(release date 02-21-20) Rounder Records
53 The James Hunter Six – Nick of Time
(release date 03-06-20) Daptone Records
54 The Lone Bellow – Half Moon Light
(release date 02-07-20) Dualtone Records
55 Watkins Family Hour – brother sister
(release date 04-10-20) Rounder Records
56 Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit – Reunions
(release date 05-15-20) Southeastern Records
57 Darrell Scott – Jaroso
(release date 10-23-20) Full Light Records
58 The Two Tracks – Cheers to Solitude
(release date 08-14-20) self-release
59 Shemekia Copeland – Uncivil War
(release date 10-23-20) Alligator Records
60 The Allman Betts Band – Bless Your Heart
(release date 08-28-20) BMG
61 Eliot Bronson - Empty Places
(release date 07-24-20) New Pain Records
62 Ruthie Foster’s Big Band – Live at The Paramount
(release date March 15, 2020) Blue Corn Music
63 Dedicated Men of Zion - Can’t Turn Me Around
(release date 06-26-20) Bible & Tire Records
64 Gretchen Peters – The Night You Wrote That Song:Songs of Mickey Newbury (release date 05-15-20) Scarlett Letter Records
65 Paul Burch – Light Sensitive
(release date 04-17-20) Plowboy Records
66 Chris Stapleton – Starting Over
(release date 11-13-20) Mercury Nashville
67 Dawes – Good Luck with Whatever
(release date 10-02-20) Rounder Records
68 John Nemeth – Stronger Than Strong
(release date 10-16-20) Memphis Grease Records
69 Ray Wylie Hubbard – Co-Starring
(release date 07-10-20) Big Machine Records
70 Margo Price - That’s How Rumors Get Started
(release date 07-10-20)
71 Steve Earle and the Dukes – Ghosts of West Virginia
(release date 05-22-20) New West Records
72 John Moreland – LP5
(release date 02-07-20) Old Omens Records
73 The Texas Gentlemen – Floor It!!!
(release date 07-17-20) New West Records
74 Elvis Perkins – Creation Myths
(release date 10-02-20) MIR/Petaluma Records
75 Hayes Carll – Alone Together Sessions
(release date 09-04-20) Dualtone Records
76 Bette Smith – The Good, The Bad, and The Bette
(release date 09-25-20) Ruf Records
77 Will Kimbrough – Spring Break
(release date 10-23-20) Daphne Records
78 Cidny Bullens – Walkin’ Through This World
(release date 08-21-20) Blue Lobster Records
79 John Craigie – Asterisk the Universe
(release date 06-12-20) Zabriskie Point Records
80 Jeff Crosby – North Star
(release date 04-24-20) self-release
81 Sarah Siskind – Modern Appalachia
(release date 04-17-20) self-release
82 Chuck Prophet – The Land That Time Forgot
(release date 08-21-20) Yep Roc Records
83 - Brandy Clark – Your Life is a Record
(release date 03-06-20) Warner Records
84 David Quinn – Letting Go
(release date 10-10-20) Low Down Records
85 Dan Penn – Living on Mercy
(release date 08-28-20) The Last Music Company
86 The Dirty Truckers – Second Dose
(release date 04-27-20) Rum Bar Records
87 Willie Nile – New York at Night
(release date 05-15-20) River House Records
88 Sarah Peacock – Burn the Witch
(release date 03-27-20) Road Dog Enterprises
89 Tami Neilson – Chickaboom!
(release date 02-14-20) Outside Music
90 The Harmed Brothers – Across the Waves
(release date 06-05-20) Fluff and Gravy Records
91 The Mastersons – No Time for Love Songs
(release date 03-06-20) Red House Records
92 Mipso – Mipso
(release date 10-16-20) (release date 08-28-20) Rounder Records
93 Drive-By Truckers – The New OK
(release date 10-02-20) ATO Records
94 Nocona – Los Dos
(release date 07-10-20) Mule Kick Records
95 The Daiquiri Queens – The Daiquiri Queens
(release date 06-15-20) self-release
96 Arlo McKinley – Die Midwestern
(release date 08-14-20) Oh Boy Records
97 Rick Shea – Love & Desperation
(release date 10-23-20) Tres Pescadores Records
98 Bon Bon Vivant – Dancing in the Darkness
(release date 12-04-20) Heroic Doses Records
99 Pi Jacobs – Two Truths and a Lie
(release date 06-12-20) Traviana Records
100 The 81s – 2 Things & 118 Others
(release date 05-15-20) self-release