Best Music of 2025 - Part 5

Usually I write something about the past year here, and I guess I will keep with that theme, although 2025 was certainly a bittersweet year.

As I said earlier, my father passed away. He lived a terrific long life, despite an upbringing that wasn't so great, so the fact that he modeled for me what it's like to be a strong father figure and family man is certainly something to be celebrated. My mom died over 30 years ago, so it's definitely strange no longer having a living parent, but I'm obviously not the first person to feel that emotion. 

Shortly after my father's passing, LC broke his leg in a skiing accident. That made his life difficult for a few months and ruined his entire baseball season, but he handled it well overall and it didn't stop us from seeing AC/DC live in May. In fact, it allowed us to obtain ADA seating and handicapped parking, which made the whole experience significantly easier than it might have been. 

So, politics aside, 2025 wasn't bad and it probably helped me learn to see the bright side and make the most of an otherwise not great situation. Happy New Year to all who made it this far!

5. Cassandra Jenkins - My Light, My Massage Parlor

This album is a mostly instrumental companion piece to 2024's My Light, My Destroyer, yet somehow I enjoyed this even more than that album, and it's her second top five in the past five years. 

4. Julien Baker & Torres - Send a Prayer My Way

Julien Baker's second top ten appearance and Torres's first, this is definitely my country album of the year. 

3. Hamilton Leithauser - This Side of the Island

Another entry to the "second top five in the past five years" category, I've been really taking to The Walkmen frontman's solo material. 



2. Craig Finn - Always Been

I'm pretty sure I've ranked this album higher than probably anyone else, but the addition of The War on Drugs -- the album was produced by Adam Granduciel and features several of this band mates -- to Finn's wonderful storytelling puts this one on another level for me. 



1. Jason Isbell - Foxes in the Snow

This one has essentially been in my top spot since it came out in March. I really expected something else to come along and bump it down, but that never happened. Not to take anything away from this effort, it's really a great album, but 2023's Weathervanes is significantly better. Regardless, with two #1s and a #2 at just past the halfway point of the decade, Isbell is well on his way to artist of the decade status. 

Best Music of 2025 - Part 4

10. Mike Reid & Joe Henry - Life and Time

Continuing the 30th year celebration theme, my inaugural list featured Joe Henry's Trampoline as the #1 album of 1996. He hasn't made an appearance in the top ten since, until this year. This album is also the best thing to come out the Penn State football program this year. 



9. Heartworms - Glutton for Punishment

I owe a little of my interest in this album to my pal el squared's obsession with Wet Leg. When I first heard it, I thought it would be a good album to recommend to him, because they were both produced by Dan Carey (not the Tool drummer) and seemed to have fans in common. But, with each subsequent listen, it continued to grow on me and became a bit of my own obsession. 



8. Laura Stevenson - Late Great

This year's top five is all familiar faces, but this round of five is mostly newcomers, with Laura Stevenson being one of two solo artists to make their first top ten appearance. 



7. The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes are the Ghost Nation

The Besnard Lakes join some pretty select company with their third consecutive top ten album. 



6. Lucy Dacus - Forever is a Feeling

Come to think of it, Lucy Dacus is not a first timer to my top ten, having appeared here with boygenius in 2023, but this is Lucy's first time as a solo artist. 

Retrospective Albums of the Year: 1995

As I mentioned earlier, 2025 is the 30th year of this list, so to commemorate I'm going to squeeze in an extra post which hearkens back to the inception of this annual tradition. 

I've been compiling a list of at least my ten favorite albums of the year since 1996. It's part ritual, part obligation, but still is something I find enjoyable. 

You could argue that, although this is the 30th year, next year is actually the 30th anniversary of the list since it started in 1996. But 1995 was really the year the idea for this list was conceived, as I basically had a top 7 in my head that year. So, I thought it would be appropriate to revisit my 1995 list with the benefit of a little hindsight, although each of the original top 7 I still consider worthy.  

10. Space Needle - Voyager

One of two albums in this top ten by artists who were and still are friends of mine, this was Space Needle's debut and remains frontman Jud Ehrbar's best work, in my opinion. 



9. Varnaline - Man of Sin

My awareness of most of the music that appears on this list I owe to the brainchild  behind this band, who grew up on the other side of the apple orchard from me. 



8. Emmylou Harris - Wrecking Ball

The first of three albums on this list that I didn't hear until a year or two later, this one has really grown on my since. 



7. Radiohead  - The Bends

You've probably heard of this band. 



6. Palace Music - Viva Last Blues

Will Oldham's discography is pretty extensive, and there are quite a few of his albums that are much more critically acclaimed, but this is easily my favorite. 



5. Blue Mountain - Dog Days

I would honestly say that Blue Mountain hasn't aged as well as some of my other alt-country favorites, but this is still easily their best album. 



4. Wilco - A.M.

Not quite as impressive a debut as his Son Volt counterpart, but Jeff Tweedy's career certainly benefited from his break from Jay Farrar. 

3. Whiskeytown - Faithless Street

This would be the highest ranking album that wouldn't have made my list back in 1995, as I didn't get turned onto Whiskeytown until two years later when I read an article in No Depression magazine that described them as Country and Westerberg.

2. The Jayhawks - Tomorrow the Green Grass

I had been a fan of The Jayhawks for a couple years when this album came out, but it blew me away almost as much as the next album on this list. There's really no match for the harmonies of Gary Louris and Mark Olson in their primes.  



1. Son Volt - Trace

I can still remember how excited I was to hear this album for the first time after obsessing over all four Uncle Tupelo albums for at least several months prior. It might sound strange, but I was also thrilled at the opportunity to use a urinal next to Son Volt drummer Mike Heidorn during their show at Bogie's in Albany that year. 

Best Music of 2025 - Part 3

It actually just occurred to me that this is my 30th year compiling this list. More on that, and what reminded me of it, in the next post.  

20. Matt Berninger - Get Sunk

19. Margo Price - Hard Headed Woman

18. Snocaps - Snocaps

This is the highest ranking album that I hadn't heard of until earlier this month. 

17. Blondshell - If You Asked for a Picture

16. Jens Lekman - Songs for Other People's Weddings

15. Midlake - A Bridge Too Far

Perhaps their best album since Tim Smith's departure over a decade ago...or, have I said this before? 

14. Big Thief - Double Infinity

13. The Swell Season - Forward

This is definitely the best material Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová have produced together since the Once soundtrack. 

12. Bon Iver - SABLE, fABLE

11. Bob Mould - Here We Go Crazy

Best Music of 2025 - Part 2

Some old and some very old friends make an appearance in this installment. 

30. Patterson Hood - Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams

29. Horsegirl - Phonetics On and On

28. Mumford & Sons - Rushmere

27. Willie Nelson - Oh What a Beautiful World

Some years ago, I started a bit of a Christmas tradition where I gifted my dad a CD that most closely represented the intersection of our musical tastes. Dad passed away this year, but this is the album that would have fit the bill. 

26. Sun Kil Moon - All the Artists

25. Jakko M. Jakszyk - Son of Glen

Somewhat fitting that the album written by the current King Crimson lead singer about his father makes an appearance in this round of ten. 

24. Brown Horse - All the Right Weaknesses

23. Kathleen Edwards - Billionaire

Continuing with the somber theme, it wasn't until I saw her live this year that I realized this album's title track is about a friend she lost recently. 

22. Alan Sparhawk - With Trampled By Turtles

21. James McMurtry - The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy

Best Music of 2025 - Part 1

2025 wasn't quite as strong for new albums as 2024 in my opinion, but I still managed to compile a top 40. 

2025 was also a great year for live music, particularly for LC, as it was the year he upgraded from almost exclusively seeing tribute acts to seeing the real deal on a few occasions.

As they were his first favorite band, AC/DC in May was a long time coming for us, although he broke his leg two months prior so it was a bit of a challenge. His personal highlight, though, was Judas Priest and Alice Cooper in September. We also saw Zakk Sabbath twice, and of course, we watched Back to the Beginning on simulcast in July. Unfortunately, we didn't make it to Birmingham for that one, which I kind of regret now.  

40. Jeff Tweedy - Twilight Override

39. Califone - The Villager's Companion

38. Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts - Talkin' to the Trees

37. Explosions in the Sky - American Primeval (Soundtrack)

36. The Reds, Pinks and Purples - The Past is a Garden I Never Fed

35. Wet Leg - Moisturizer

34. Flock of Dimes - The Life You Save

33. Mavis Staples - Sad and Beautiful World

32. Will Johnson - Diamond City

31. The Black Keys - No Rain, No Flowers