Tom’s Top 25 of 2025
1. Brandi Carlile – Returning to Myself
Brandi lands at the top with a record that feels big and intimate at the same time. The whole album sounds like someone taking stock of a life and choosing love, family, and honesty, but the real knockout punch for me is “Chuch & State.” The way that song tangles faith, politics, doubt, and hope into something painfully human is the main reason this sits at number one. It’s the track I kept replaying when I needed to feel both challenged and comforted at the same time.
2. James McMurtry – The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy
3. Patterson Hood – Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams
4. Turnpike Troubadours – The Price of Admission
5. The Avett Brothers with Mike Patton – AVTT/PTTN
6. Jason Isbell – Foxes in the Snow
7. Molly Tuttle – So Long Little Miss Sunshine
8. Marcus King Band – Mood Swings
9. Lord Huron – The Cosmic Selector, Vol. 1
10. Kathleen Edwards – Billionaire
11. The War and Treaty – Plus One
12. Larkin Poe – Bloom
13. The Wood Brothers – Puff of Smoke
14. North Mississippi Allstars – Still Shakin’
15. Ben Nichols – In the Heart of the Mountain
16. Josh Ritter – I Believe in You, My Honeydew
17. Watchhouse – Rituals
18. Sierra Hull – A Tip Toe High Wire
19. I’m With Her – Wild and Clear and Blue
20. Vandoliers – Life Behind Bars
21. Daniel Donato’s Cosmic Country – Horizons
22. Joshua Ray Walker – Stuff
23. Luther Dickinson – Dead Blues, Volume 1
24. Robert Randolph – Preacher Kids
25. Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band – Honeysuckle
Honorable Mentions: Still on Heavy Rotation
- Margo Price – Hard Headed Woman
- Durand Jones & The Indications – Flowers
- Mike Zito & Albert Castiglia – Help Yourself
- Taj Mahal & Keb’ Mo’ – Room on the Porch
- Fruit Bats – Baby Man
- Big Thief – Double Infinity
- Rhett Miller – A Lifetime of Riding by Night
- Greensky Bluegrass – XXV
- The Steeldrivers – Outrun
- Alison Krauss & Union Station – Arcadia
- Nels Cline – Consentrik Quartet
- Amanda Shires – Nobody’s Girl
- Leftover Salmon – Let’s Party About It
- Southern Avenue – Family
- Paul Thorn – Life Is Just a Vapor
- Wilder Woods – Curioso
- Sunny War – Armageddon in a Summer Dress
- Caitlin Canty – Night Owl Envies the Mourning Dove
- Dar Williams – Hummingbird Highway
- Grant-Lee Phillips – In the Hour of Dust
- Lilly Hiatt – Forever
- Willie Nile – The Great Yellow Light
- The Honeydogs – Algebra for Broken Hearts
- Paul Kelly – Seventy
- Tommy Womack – Live a Little
- Lettuce – Cook
- Leftover Salmon – Let’s Party About It
- Jade Bird – Who Wants to Talk About Love?
- Mike Farris – The Sound of Muscle Shoals
- Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts – Talkin to the Trees
- Jeff Tweedy – Twilight Override
- Johnnyswim – When The War Is Over
A Quick Thank You
Huge thanks, as always, to the artists who keep making these records, the Twangville crew who keep shining a light on them, and you for listening, sharing, and sending along your own favorites.
Here’s to another year of late-night listening, surprise discoveries, and albums that start as background noise and end up feeling like old friends.
About the author: Gainesville, FL area creative by day. Music is my muse. I host Twangville’s weekly Readers‘ Pick.