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White Denim: 13
New album: This 13th LP in two decades by the Austin, Texas rock band fronted by James Petralli has a particularly mischievous experimentalism, spreading styles far beyond breathlessly paced prog rock, with wrily humorous, surreal, personal and passionate numbers across heavy funk, dub, soul, psyche, country, dirty blues and more, joined by host of outstanding extra musicians
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Tinariwen: Hoggar
New album: After 2023’s Amatssou, the collective of Tuareg musicians from the Sahara region of southern Algeria and of northern Mali return with a 10th LP iteration of their signature desert blues style sung in Tamasheq, and joined this time by younger younger musicians from the bands Imarhan and Terakaft, as well as guests José González and Sulafa Elyas
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The Sophs’ debut album Goldstar
New album: A fairytale story of a debut for the Los Angeles six-piece fronted by Ethan Ramon, who cold-emailed demos to Rough Trade Records before even playing a live gig and were signed – that instinctive leap of faith rewarded by this stylish, bold, mercurial, confident, darkly humorous, eclectic debut leaping between rock, indie, pop, hoedown country, delta blues and beyond
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Lucinda Williams: World's Gone Wrong
New album: The acclaimed veteran country, rock and Americana singer-songwriter and multi-Grammy winner’s latest LP has a title that speaks for itself, but is powerful, angry, defiant and uplifting, and, recorded in Nashville, features guest vocals from Norah Jones, Mavis Staples and Brittney Spencer
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Imarhan: Essam
New album: A mesmeric fourth LP in a decade by the band from Tamanrasset, Algeria, whose name means ‘the ones I care about’, their Tuareg music mixing guitar riffs, pop melodies and African rhythms, but this time also evolves slightly away from the desert blues rocky, bluesy influence of contemporaries Tinariwen with electronic elements
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Part Two favourite albums of 2025 collage
Welcome to the second part of Song Bar favourite albums of 2025. There is also a first part and a third part this week. There is no countdown nor describing these necessarily as “best” albums of the year, but they are chosen by their quality, originality and reader popularity
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Mavis Staples: Sad and Beautiful World
New album: A timelessly classy release by the veteran soul, blues and gospel singer and social activist from the Staples Singers, in a release of wonderfully moving and poignant cover versions, beautifully interpreting works by artists including Tom Waits, Curtis Mayfield, Leonard Cohen, and Gillian Welch
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Robert Plant: Saving Grace
New album: The Led Zeppelin singer, after successful albums and touring with collaborators such as Alison Krauss, completes a project started in 2019 with a covers collection of traditional folk, blues, Americana and other sources, working here with singer Suzi Dian, and tight band comprising Oli Jefferson, Tony Kelsey, Barney Morse-Brown, and Matt Worley
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Last Night I Heard The Dog Star Bark by Gwenifer Raymond
New album: A truly evocative and extraordinarily skilled instrumental album by the Wales-born steel string folk guitarist and banjoist whose finger-picking weaves intricate aural stories inspired by tales from occult folk horror, space, science fiction, and the tangled undergrowth of various landscapes
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Molly Tuttle: So Long Little Miss Sunshine
New album: The California-born, Nashville-based acclaimed bluegrass guitarist, banjoist and singer-songwriter brings her nimble-fingered skills, catchy tunes and humorous, clever narrative lyrics to this excellent fifth solo LP of ballads, breakups, and ball-breakers
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Cass McCombs: Interior Live Oak
New album: Named after a tree species native to Northern California, the American singer-songwriter’s landmark 74-minute double LP, and his 11th solo studio release, is one of his finest, packed with tear-jerking, vivid ballads of gentle pace, profundity, beauty and catchy country-folk-rock grooves
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The Black Keys: No Rain, No Flowers
New album: A 13th studio album in now 25 years by the Ohio/Nashville rock and soul duo of singer/guitarist Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney, here with a fuller, broader rock sound, keyboards and musical dimension in collaboration with fellow songwriter and producer Rick Nowels and others
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Bruce Springsteen: Tracks II - The Lost Albums
New albums: Not bootlegs, B-sides or omitted songs from past albums (as in the 1998 Tracks outtakes release), this veritable mountain of unreleased gems – a whopping seven LPs spanning 1983–2018 with 82 unreleased songs and over five hours in a treasure trove of discovery for devoted and new fans
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Van Morrison: Remembering Now
New album: After a series of cover albums, Belfast’s legendarily brilliant but also difficult, controversial, moody and mercurial singer-songwriter returns with an LP of love-song originals, full of much of the soulful warmth, tenderness, nuance and mellow fluidity many of his past classics
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Zoé Basha: Gamble
New album: A sparkling, delightful, charming, polished and witty self-released debut by the Dublin-based French-American singer and guitarist who mixes folk, country, jazz, blues, French chanson and Appalachian with crisply performed covers and originals
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Little Barrie and Malcolm Catto: Electric War
New album: Sharp, stylish, bluesy, 60s garage rock and psychedelia by the British power trio, of Barrie Cadogan and Lewis Wharton, best known for the theme from Better Call Saul, teaming up with acclaimed producer and drummer of The Heliocentrics
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Alison Krauss and Union Station: Arcadia
New album: Classy, seasoned, crisply performed country, folk and bluegrass by the acclaimed Champaign, Illinois singer-songwriter and fiddle player, joined again by her perennial band, their first together since 2011’s Paper Airplane, and her first since the 2021’s album Raise The Roof with Robert Plant
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The Waterboys: Life, Death And Dennis Hopper
New album: A sprawling, lengthy, pseudo-beatnik rock-country release by the British band fronted by Mike Scott, here celebrating the life of the charismatic, often misunderstand hell-raising Hollywood icon, spanning multiple genres, particularly Americana, with a spread of guests including Bruce Springsteen, Steve Earle and Fiona Apple
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Echolalia
New album: A Nashville ‘supergroup’ in the most free-flowing, relaxed form imaginable, Spencer Cullum, Andrew Combs, Jordan Lehning, Dominic Billett and others combine in a beautiful intertwining of pastoral folk, country, and dream-like, psychedelic Americana
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Bonnie "Prince" Billy: The Purple Bird
New album: A mischievously droll, but also tender, gently moving new release by Kentucky’s seasoned singer-songwriter Will Oldham, this time very much in Nashville-flavoured country mode, with numbers about community, relationships and the state of the nation, joined by producer and old friend David “ Ferg” Ferguson
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