10. Dwight Yoakam - Second Hand Heart
Dwight Yoakam expands his musical palette on Second Hand Heart. Sure, there are honky tonk moments, including "Off Your Mind" and a rollicking cover of "A Man of Constant Sorrow" (that's filled with hot shit guitar solos). But the best moments are when he explores new territory. 60s pop homage "In Another World" is downright catchy, and even features Beatle-y backing vocals. Speaking of the Beatles, "She" sounds like a George Harrison outtake from Rubber Soul, especially during the bridge. "Liar" is big, prime rockabilly, "The Big Time" evokes Carl Perkins, and gospel-tinged "Vs of Birds" ends the album soulfully. Although rooted in the traditional country he is known for, Yoakam's melodies and pop sensibilities are stronger than they've ever been.

9. The Bottle Rockets – South Broadway Athletic Club
South Broadway Athletic Club is filled with the big, jangly alternative country The Bottle Rockets are known for. Some are calling it a return to form, but they haven’t really lost anything since their breakthrough album The Brooklyn Side. Opener “Monday (Every Time I Turn Around)” ramps up the Byrds-esque jangle that characterizes the entire album. Nashville songwriting family the Henningsons help out on “Something Good” and the result is one of the Bottle Rockets best, catchiest songs. It’s led by simple but affective lyrics: “we had something good/but good was never good enough you/wheel turns/Rome burns/can’t you hear that fiddle sound?/time flies/Elvis dies/it’s all over but the shouting now.”

The rest of the songs on the South Broadway cover traditional Bottle Rockets territory: upbeat, jangly, poppy love songs (“XOYOU,” “Bit Lotsa Love”), lighthearted songs with a message (“Dog”), and Neil Young influenced stompers (“Building Chryslers”). The fun folk/pop of "Shape of a Wheel" closes the album with a classic Henneman turn of phrase: "day to day I find a way/to give a new angle to spin/I roll with the punches/I roll with the wind/I'm a wheel no matter what shape I'm in."

8. Dale Watson – Call Me Insane  
Call Me Insane touches on all the major tenets of Ameripolitan, the country genre Dale Watson invented, with subtlety and swagger. “Bug Ya for Love” and “Everybody’s Somebody in Luchenbach, Texas” are fun Western Swing, while classic honky tonk is channeled on "I'm Hurting You." "Burden of the Cross" is dark and folky, something of cross between country classic "Long Black Veil" and old spiritual "Eyes on the Prize." Clever "Heavens going to Have a Honky Tonk" explores the Mexican influences of Texas roots music. There are also several simple, affecting love songs: "Crocodile Tears" and "Forever Valentine" are perfect for slow dancing, and "I Owe it All to You" and "Hot Dang" are upbeat and fun.

Like Marty Stuart’s 2014 double album Saturday Night/Sunday Morning, Call Me Insane is keeping country music alive by reinventing the genre, as opposed to unimaginatively re-hashing tradition or following the latest trends.

7. Jeff Lynne's ELO – Alone in the Universe
The strength of Alone in the Universe is in its songwriting. Jeff Lynne isn't doing anything he hasn't done before, but when you write grandiose McCartney-esque pop/rock as well as he does, why would you do anything different? Since he's comfortable with himself his songwriting is more effortless than the sometimes forced new material from his Beatle mentor.

Album opening “When I was a Boy” is simply beautiful, and features one of Jeff Lynne’s prettiest melodies. Had it been written in the '70s - or if radio still appreciated melodic rock n' roll - it would have been a huge hit. Although there are some upbeat moments – “Love and Rain” and “One Step at a Time” update funky ELO hits like “Showdown” and “Living Thing” – sadness pervades Alone in the Universe. “The Sun Will Shine on You" and “I’m Leaving You” are slow and tender, while melodic ‘70s George Harrison influenced “All My Life” and the spacey, synth-led title track are especially affecting.

6. Wilco – Star Wars
Check out our full review here.

More than simply a return to form for Wilco, Star Wars is also a revitalization of the album format. Fuzzed out riffs, layers of keyboards, and plenty of old school synths give it a strong overall harmony. It’s the sort of release that bands used to come out with twice a year, and still could if the creativity and ambition were still there. An album for people who love albums, its appeal will grow as listeners and critics get more time to absorb it. Highlights include catchy, Beatle-esque tracks "More..." and "Random Name Generator" and the fuzzed out psychedelic rock of "Where Do I Begin" and "Magnetize."

5. Jimbo Mathus – Blue Healer
Since his work with the Squirrel Nut Zippers - who were more eclectic than they got credit for - Jimbo Mathus has mixed folk, blues, country, jazz, soul, and rock in his creative solo work. He reached a new high point with Blue Healer, his strongest and most varied set of Cosmic American Music to date.  

"Shoot out the Lights" and "Ready to Run" combine Bruce Springsteen energy and ethos with Band influenced roots rock. "Blue Healer,” "Sometimes I Get Worried," and “Coyote” continue the bluesy, soulful tendencies of his last album, Dark Night of the Soul. The Tex-Mex of “Mama Please” evokes Doug Sahm, “Waiting for the Other Shoe to Fall” would have fit nicely on Uncle Tupelo’s first couple albums, and the confidence and high melody of “Bootheel Witch” is reminiscent of 70s Stones. Swinging album closer “Love and Affection” is possibly the closest he’s come to sounding like the Zippers in his solo work, although it’s more organic and shows the maturity of his songwriting.

That Mathus is able to mix all of these sounds coherently is pretty incredible. There’s something to be said for the cosmic spirit emanating from his home state of Mississippi, which he taps into over and over again on Blue Healer.

4. James Leg – Below the Belt
Check out our full review here.

Although rooted in heavy, dirty blues ("Dirty South," "Glass Jaw," "Can't Stop Thinking About It"), James Leg proves that he is different from his deep blues counterparts on Below the Belt. He has a gospel spirit, a religious zeal, even though the album deals with classic secular blues themes. The only exception is a rabid cover of Sister Rosetta Tharpe's "Up Above My Head." As the blues has proven for over 100 years, the Spirit isn't solely consigned to the religious realm. 
 
Gritty guitars, Leg's gravelly voice (think Howlin' Wolf), and layers of distorted keyboards are at the forefront of Below the Belt. It's a cohesive album in sound and spirit, even if he finds a way to squeeze in almost every imaginable blues form possible. "Up Above My Head" is pure gospel, "Casa de Fuego" a fun mariachi stomper, "Drink it Away" conjures Louis Armstrong, and "October 3rd" is tough soul with dizzying layers of keyboards.   
 
Perfectly balanced and contradictory, Below the Belt contains the multitudes of rock n' roll: it's sweet and rough, subtle and candid, traditional and modern, Saturday night and Sunday morning.  

3. Bob Dylan – Shadows in the Night
Check out our full review here.

Shadows in the Night, Bob Dylan’s album of songs popularized by Frank Sinatra, is especially meaningful because of the important place Sinatra has in Dylan’s life. This is not a genre exercise or an attempt to sell records: it’s one artist paying heartfelt tribute to a man who inspired him to his very core. The emotional depth is felt throughout.

Dylan and his band played all the songs live in the studio, with each member in the same room. There were no headphones and no overdubs, giving immediacy to each performance. The arrangements are beautiful in their sparseness, mostly featuring pedal steel, cello, some guitar, and light drums. “The Night we Called it a Day,” “Stay with Me,” and “Full Moon and Empty Arms” are especially stunning.

With Shadows in the Night Bob Dylan once again proves that artistry and creativity can be found as much in interpretation as in original material. Heart, spirit, and soul don’t solely proceed from the often self-absorbed desire to create something personal. We’re all a part of something bigger. The best art understands that and tries to add to it, as opposed to focusing narcissistically on self-expression. Bob Dylan has always understood this, and Shadows in the Night proves this point as much as The Freewheeling Bob Dylan or Modern Times.

2. Pops Staples - Don't Lose This 
Check out our full review here.

For Don’t Lose This, Wilco leader Jeff Tweedy and his son Spencer put finishing touches on the album Pops Staples was working on before he died in 2000. His gorgeous tremolo guitar is front and center, as it should be, and is especially effective on “Sweet Home” and “Better Home” (both duets with Mavis Staples). His haunting cover of Blind Willie Johnson’s seminal 1927 recording “Nobody’s Fault but Mine" is gospel at its most chilling.

The album ends with a couple covers, a live version of Dylan’s “Gotta Serve Somebody” and a simple take on old folk/country gospel standard “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.” On the latter the unity of white and black rural music, especially spiritual music, is on full display.

Don’t Lose This, like last years Johnny Cash album Out Among the Stars, is an unearthed treasure from one of the most important musicians of the 20th century.  

1. Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard – Django and Jimmie
Appreciating our living legends should be second nature. Unfortunately since our culture is allergic to the past (scared of it?) and worships the present this is too rarely the case. Perhaps if they were making subpar music it'd be fitting to ignore them. This has not been the case with Willie Nelson, though, who releases a high quality album every year. Add Merle Haggard to the mix and, not surprisingly, you have not only the best country release of 2015, but the best period.

Beautiful songwriting is at the heart of Django and Jimmie. The title track is a delicate folk/country tribute to Django Reinhardt, the legendary gypsy jazz guitarist, and Jimmie Rodgers, the first country and western star from the 1920s and 30s. They each had a profound influence on Willie, Merle, and music in general. More than a nice gesture, highlighting them invokes their art and spirit.

Haggard's Johnny Cash tribute "Missin' Ol' Johnny Cash" is both heartfelt and playful, and features guest appearances from Bobby Bare and Jamey Johnson. Upbeat country swing of lead single "It's All Going to Pot" amps up the fun, paying homage to Willie's favorite medication. "Unfair Weather Friend" tenderly pays tribute to the underrated power of friendship, and versions of Haggard's classic "Swinging Doors" and Willie's "Family Bible" are subtle and effective.

Django and Jimmie proves that Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard are living, viable legends with plenty left to say. The world would do well to pay more attention to them, as they are still creating some of the best country music - and music in general - today.

What do you think of our list? Comment, find us on Twitter or Facebook to join the conversation, or email [email protected] with your thoughts.

Erik Ritland is a writer and musician from St. Paul, Minnesota. His blog and podcast Rambling On features commentary on music, sports, culture, and more. He was also Lead Staff Writer for Minnesota culture blog Curious North. Support Erik's music via his Patreon account, reach him via email, or find him on Facebook and Twitter.

The Music Ramble is the monthly music blog of Erik Ritland. The St. Paul, Minnesota journalist and musician is the founder of Rambling On. Learn more about us on Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, or our website. 


Although sometimes I despair that this isn't the case, there was plenty of good music released in 2015 if you knew where to find it. The Rambling On Top 20 albums of 2015 goes beneath the surface of most music blogs and magazines, skipping over trendy picks like Tame Impala, Sufjan Stevens, Jason Isbell, Adele, and Kendrick Lamar (who have all gotten far beyond their due already).

Instead we feature a diverse amount of albums (many of which have been unduly ignored) from a diverse spectrum, including legendary rock stars, blues, punk, country, and more.
 
20. Don Henley – Cass County
It's easy to accuse Don Henley of attempting to cash in on the popularity of country music with Cass County. Two problems with that theory: country music today has no place for the more traditional country/rock approach of the album, and he was a huge influence on the genre from the time of his early work with the Eagles. As such, this isn't so much a cash in as it is a return to form. Henley brings Tift Merritt's beautiful "Bramble Rose" outside of her smaller audience with some interesting help from Mick Jagger. The highlights come from the more traditional duets, though, with Merle Haggard helping out on the weepy old school country of "The Cost of Living" and Dolly Parton singing her heart out on classic "When I Stop Dreaming." The poppier, more palatable songs ("Words Can Break Your Heart," "That Old Flame") are a bit less interesting.

19. Keith Richards – Crosseyed Heart
Check out our full review here.
Between dates with the Rolling Stones, Keith Richards found time to release a somewhat surprisingly strong set of blues, rock, soul, and boogie woogie. He sounds as comfortable channeling the Stones on tracks like "Amnesia," "Trouble," and "Blues in the Morning" as he does branching out on reggae flavored "Long Overdue," jazzy "Illusion," and a fun cover of Leadbelly's "Goodnight Irene."

18. Jonathan Rundman – Look Up
Look Up is something of a departure for Twin Cities songwriter Jonathan Rundman.  Instead of his usual mix of pop, rock, and folk the album finds him embracing one of his first musical loves: 80s synth pop. Layers of spacey synths and fuzzed out guitars make for his best, most interesting album sonically, and the warm production fits his voice better than any of his previous releases. Most of the songs are fun and melodic ("Prioritize Us," "Northbound Traffic," "Helicopters of Love") and the tender, mature folk of "Home Unknown" finds Rundman at his pure songwriting best. 

17. David Gilmour – Rattle That Lock
Check out our full review here.
Unlike his last solo album, 2006's On an Island, it actually sounds like David Gilmour is trying on Rattle That Lock. It's not that On An Island was bad, it just sounded like it was written and recorded on a yacht in his spare time (which it was) instead of conceived as an actual album. Rattle That Lock is more creative and varied in sounds, including the fun funk of the title track, the lounge jazz of "The Girl in the Yellow Dress," and Meddle-ish Richard Wright tribute "A Boat Lies Waiting." The highlight of the album is "In Any Tongue," a big, dark, classic Pink Floyd sounding song in the vein of "High Hopes" and "On the Turning Away." More than the best song here, it's easily one of the best of 2015. 

16. The Wollen Men – Temporary Monument
Check out our full review here.
Temporary Monument is the third strong album from Portland mid-fi indie punk band the Wollen Men. Masters of short, catchy songs that are reckless without quite falling off the tracks ("Life in Hell," "Alien City," "The Desert," "The Wheel"), they can also be strongly melodic ("University," "On Cowardice").

15. Charlie Parr – Stumpjumper
Recorded in one day at his friends studio in North Carolina, Stumpjumper is a mature step forward for Twin Cities folk bluesman Charlie Parr. It has the fullest sound of any of his albums, most songs recorded with a trio that backs his country blues admirably. Guitars, banjo, and even drums add another dimension to stompers like "Empty Out Your Pockets" and "Frank Miller Blues." His songwriting is still rooted in deep folk blues but also has a fullness and richness that match the setting. We discuss the album and more on our exclusive interview with Parr.

14. Built to Spill – Untethered Moon
Built to Spill are one of the most consistent bands to come out of the '90s rock scene (even if they never had a hit). Every few years they release a new album of guitar heavy, blistering indie rock, and Untethered Moon doesn't disappoint. Hypnotic layers of dirty, distorted guitars are at the forefront of the album, and are especially stunning on murky "All Our Songs" and wild "Living Zoo." The band really lets loose on 8+ minute album ending "When I'm Blind."

13. Left Lane Cruiser – Dirty Spliff Blues  
Check out our full review here.
Although all their records are worth listening to if you dig filthy hill country blues, Dirty Spliff Blues propels Left Lane Cruiser into a completely different stratosphere. It is somehow grittier than anything they’ve ever done, partially due to the addition of Joe Bent on bass (which they hadn’t had prior) and skateboard slide guitar. The manic solos on "Tres Borrachos," "Tangled up in Bush," and the aptly titled “Skateboard Blues” prove that the instrument is more than a novelty.

12.  Gary Clark Jr. – The Story of Sonny Boy Slim
Check out our full review here.
Gary Clark Jr. continues the diverse, exploratory nature of his debut album Black and Blu with its follow up The Story of Sonny Boy Slim. Instead of relying solely on flashy guitar work, or sticking to ordinary blues/rock, he incorporates a variety of sources and sounds to fine effect. There are shades of Sly and the Family Stone, Curtis Mayfield, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, B.B. King, George Clinton, Robert Cray, Junior Kimbrough, Michael Jackson, and others.

Opening "The Healing" has a blues foundation but also features elements of soul, funk, and hip hop. The rest of the album touches on a similarly impressive array of Cosmic American Music. "Star," "Our Love," and "Cold Blooded" dip into deep funk and soul, "Church" is borderline folk/rock built around an unpredictable chord progression, and hypnotic "Shake" is straight up Junior Kimbrough.

11. Tommy Keene – Laugh in the Dark
Check out our full review here.
If anybody says that great pop songwriting is dead, tell them that Tommy Keene is still making albums. Laugh in the Dark is filled with catchy hooks and memorable melodies wrapped in a big, power pop wall of sound.  Taking its cue from albums like Sgt. Pepper, there’s a cohesive sound and each track flows into the next without interruption. The bright jangle of "Out of my Mind," rocking Paul Westerberg-ish "All the Lights are Alive," and the sunny pop of "Last of the Twilight Girls” are each effortless. Maudlin "All Gone Away" is a classic epic album closer, led by spacey synths and swirling organ. 

Check out our top 10 albums of the year here.

Erik Ritland is a writer and musician from St. Paul, Minnesota. His blog and podcast Rambling On features commentary on music, sports, culture, and more. He was also Lead Staff Writer for Minnesota culture blog Curious North. Support Erik's music via his Patreon account, reach him via email, or find him on Facebook and Twitter.

 
The Music Ramble is the monthly music blog of Erik Ritland. The St. Paul, Minnesota journalist and musician is the founder of Rambling On. Learn more about us on Reddit, Twitter, Facebook, or our website.  
   

It's not cool to say that music today, both popular and underground, isn't as good as it used to be in the past.

But is it true?

Are musicians today creating anything as cool, creative, or interesting as what was being released in the '60s or '70s? Or even the '80s or '90s? Nirvana was the last band to have a universal impact commercially and creatively. Who today is reaching those heights? What was the last year for music that was anything better than okay? Anybody satisfied with the current creative state in music has either lowered their standards or doesn't understand the breadth of musical creativity from as recently as 25 years ago. There are some great bands and albums but nothing earth shattering, and certainly no scene with a strong universality or staying power. 
  
Today, subpar talent is heralded as groundbreaking, as somehow keeping music legitimate. In 2014 Taylor Swift released an easy pop album that any group of professional songwriters and producers could have come together and created. It was barely different, and hardly better, than anything released by Avril Lavigne (I don't understand why more people don't see this connection). Yet it was seen a masterpiece that somehow legitimized pop music. It feels like people today know that the music they listen to is not as good as it has been, so they have to force adulation onto hacks like Swift.
  
The same thing happened this year. I'm glad that Adele is as popular as she is, because for all her faults at least she isn't creating terrible music or being a terrible role model like Lady Gaga or Miley Cyrus. But there's practically nothing to her music. It's big, it's poppy, it's repetitive. And, mostly, it's whiney. Yet, like Swift, she's seen as some big deal that is legitimizing popular music. It might be the best we can do today, but what does that say about the contemporary music scene? It's about as dead as it was before the Beatles came onto the scene in '63 and changed everything. 
  
The quality of music being made outside of the pop scene isn't any better. Indeed, for the most part it's even worse. Check out the highest rated albums on Pitchfork, or that are in the heaviest rotation on hip stations like The Current in Minnesota. I'm glad that he could use music as therapy to come to grips with his relationship with his parents, but Sufjan Steven's 2015 album Carrie and Lowell is boring and gutless, something like if Elliott Smith was even more depressed and completely lost his gift of melody. At least Adele has some sense of urgency. Tame Impala's Currents is an okay rock album, but when okay is seen as the best album of the year, as it was by many publications, then there's something wrong. Nobody will be listening to Tame Impala in ten years.  
 
The same can be said of other overrated, substance-less indie acts like Father John Misty, Courtney Barnett, and Chvches (to randomly name three from a myriad). These types of bands will only ever be popular to a small niche audience for a short amount of time because they aren’t doing anything new or interesting. Yet somehow a decent amount of people who listen to this stuff think they're better than those who listen to pop music, or who mostly listen to music from the past. Absurd.   
  
Americana, a genre closer to my heart, is as mediocre as its poster child Jason Isbell. His latest album Something More Than Free isn’t necessarily bad, it just isn’t great, making comparisons to Bob Dylan or even John Prine completely laughable. Todd Snider, one of my favorite relatively contemporary songwriters (he got his start with ‘90s alternative rock parody “Talkin’ Seattle Grunge Rock Blues”), gushes about him in his book I Never Met a Story I Didn’t Like as though he’s a genius that is keeping Americana (and even songwriting!) legitimate. This is either wishful thinking or a sad reflection on the current state of the best we can do. 
 
I understand that I am speaking in sweeping generalities. There’s also a possibility that I’m being unnecessarily negative. The average listener to new music doesn't have any sort of agenda behind what they listen to or don’t think that they’re legitimizing anything. They just like what they like and it goes no further than that. But that such mediocre music is being heralded as exceptionally creative, or even groundbreaking, is disheartening.  
 
In the 1960s, the Beatles, the Band, the Rolling Stones, the Who, Miles Davis, James Brown, John Coltrane, Jimi Hendrix, the Doors, Willie Nelson, Pink Floyd, Bob Dylan, B.B. King, and dozens more across many genres all had prime years during the same era. As recently as the 80s and 90s artists like NWA, Public Enemy, and KRS-One were actually legitimizing a completely new creative undertaking and its reverberations are still being felt (Kedrick Lamar, while good, is again a low standard for greatness, and is the only real shining popular rap star today). At the same time hip hop was taking off bands like Metallica, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest were taking hard rock and heavy metal into places it had never been. Guns N’ Roses created a completely new sound that dominated the world, and Nirvana did the same thing a few years later, paving the way for the fertile, schizophrenically creative ‘90s rock scene.  
 
Perhaps as importantly, bands like NWA, Metallica, and especially Nirvana were inspiring people to pick up instruments and create their own music. They also spawned radically different sounding offshoots, with the underground rap and metal scenes becoming especially creative and influential. Sure, a lot of bands left in Nirvana’s wake were subpar – largely because many influenced by them listened to nothing but contemporary rock music and thus lacked the diverse genres that inspired Kurt Cobain’s genius – but their impact still endures. 
 
Who is influenced as profoundly by new music? In 15 years no teenager today is going to say “man, my whole life changed when that Tame Impala record came out” or “I remember exactly where I was the first time I heard Father John Misty.”  I pity the person who is so impressed with Sufjan Steven’s songwriting that it inspires them to pick up a guitar – not to mention whatever people have to listen to them. Going back to popular music, I cringe at the idea that we’re raising a generation of women who idolize substance-less whiners like Adele and Taylor Swift (or, worse, depraved sex objects like Miley Cyrus or Lady Gaga). Sadly, two often maligned  genres I haven’t even covered here – bro country and electronic music (together at last, there’s an idea for an A and R guy with too much time on their hands) – are not any worse than their less made fun of counterparts. Fuck, at least bro country is fun. Maybe Jason Isbell could learn something from it. 
 
Expanding horizons is the fundamental solution to this problem. Nobody who cares about music creatively should just be listening to one sort of music, or music from one era, predominantly. That’s what creates dead ends. We’re so compartmentalized today that we don’t leave ourselves open to new and exciting sounds from outside of our preconceived (and almighty) tastes. Groundbreaking bands and musicians from the 50s, 60s, and 70s all the way through the 90s were influenced by blues, country, folk, pop, jazz, standards, Broadway, and anything else they could digest. This gave them solid roots and a wide spectrum to create something both universal and uniquely their own. Today, we all listen to the same sorts of bands and sounds and have no context for where they came from. Instead of being afraid of the past, acting as if it is something to always be progressing away from (and what is it exactly that we are progressing towards?), we need to embrace the past, understand it, and use it as a tool to move forward and create music that is actually special.  
 
The popularity of music ultimately comes down to the standards of those consuming it. As long as we accept the mediocrity of what is being created and released today things will never get any better. Musicians and fans need to create a new musical community that inspires and sustains true creativity, as opposed to our current system that recycles the same garbage over and over, creating  a virtual trash heap of Maroon 5s and Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeroes. Without a tangible scene to latch onto in our increasingly compartmentalized world it will be difficult to break this matrix.  We need the sort of genius that can break barriers and boundaries, that can be creative but also widely accessible. In short, we need another Beatles.  
 
Let's just say I’m not holding my breath.  

Erik Ritland is a writer and musician from St. Paul, Minnesota. His blog and podcast Rambling Onfeatures commentary on music, sports, culture, and more. He was also Lead Staff Writer for Minnesota culture blog Curious North. Support Erik's music via his Patreon account, reach him via email, or find him on Facebook and Twitter. ​