The 35th Best Album of 2025
Our first full-fledged country album of the list, yee-haw! Charley Crockett's Lonesome Drifter lands at #35. I was vaguely aware of Charley Crockett when the title track came across my spotify but hadn't really listened to him, sticking more to Chris Stapleton (where is that guy these days), Sturgill Simpson, and Jason Isbell if/when a country vibe hit me. And the 90s classics of course, can't leave out a good Alan Jackson/Shania Twain jam session. But anyways, Lonesome Drifter (the single) came out and just fuckin blew me away. The voice, the instrumentals, one of the very best songs of the year I think. The rest of the album is good too, Jamestown Ferry and his version of Amarillo by Morning standing out. But the title track is the star here, in my opinion. In a pretty bad year for country (in my opinion), this album stands out as a reminder that it isn't all garbage radio bro-country slop, which is nice to remember sometimes.