It was no easy task preparing final lists of our best loved albums of 2020. Despite the horrible times most artists and bands lived through this year, both the quality and quantity of recordings has been exceptional.
The reality of life these days has impacted upon so much of what we took for granted and central to this is the ability to make an income. For musicians, this basic need has been taken away. Limited to online concerts and virtual tip jars, artists have had to look for other means to create an income stream and this continues to be the major challenge facing all those involved in the music industry into next year.
Our considerations included well in excess of 400 albums reviewed on our website, together with numerous personal purchases during this year.
Many thanks to all the PR people, record labels and in particular the artists, for sharing the music with us. It would be impossible for us to review every physical album and download we receive, but we do endeavour to listen to each and every one that fits our model and review as many as possible. A huge thumbs up to all of you who visit our website, Facebook and Instagram pages and listen to our weekly radio show on 103.2 Dublin City FM.
We also want to pass our thanks and best wishes to all at Dublin City FM (especially Sam) and to Gareth. Both have been essential to our remote recording broadcasting.
Here’s wishing you all a Happy Christmas and New Year. We look forward with optimism to a return to live music in 2021.
The Lonesome Highway Team
Steve, Paul, Declan and Eilis
Photograph by Kaethe Burt O’Dea
PAUL McGEE
Top Albums (Known Artists)
1 The Jayhawks XOXO
2 The Lone Bellow Half Moon Light
3 Kathleen Edwards Total Freedom
4 Eliza Gilkyson 2020
5 Courtney Marie Andrews Old Flowers
6 Drive By Truckers The Unraveling
7 Mary Chapin Carpenter The Dirt and the Stars
8 Nadia Reid Out Of My Provence
9 Lynn Miles We’ll Look For Stars
10 Will Johnson El Capitán
11 Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit Reunions
12 Jonathan Wilson Dixie Blur
Albums by emerging artists
1 Ben de la Cour Shadow Land
2 Beki Hemingway Earth & Asphalt
3 Justin Farren Pretty Free
4 My Politic Short Sighted People In Power - A Home Recording
5 I’m Kingfisher Captain, I’m Going Blind
6 Market Junction Burning Bridges
7 Hayward Williams Every Colour Blue
8 Bonny Light Horseman Bonny Light Horseman
9 A.K.& the Brotherhood Oh Sedona!
10 Rodney Rice Same Shirt, Different Day
11 Taylor Kopp Found
12 The Remedy Club True Hand True Heart
Live Albums
1 Allman Brothers Warner Theatre, Erie, PA 7-19-05
2 Mike Newell Live From Eddie Owens Presents
3 Peter Mulvey Live At the Cafe Carpe (with SistaStrings)
Compilations
1 John Prine Crooked Piece Of Time (1971-1980)
2 Joni Mitchell The Early Years (1963-1967)
3 Neil Young Archives Vol 2 (1972-1982)
Live Gigs
1 Felice Brothers Whelan’s 23rd January 2020
2 Sean McConnell (with Kelsey Waldron/Garrison Starr) Whelan’s 11th February 2020
3 Jeffrey Foucault/Ry Cavanaugh Mick Murphy’s and DC Club 27th & 31st January 2020
Online Gigs
Allison Moorer
Eliza Gilkyson
James McMurtry
Mary Gauthier with Jaimee Harris
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
Books
John Martyn Small Hours Graeme Thomson
Re-issues
Oh Susanna Sleepy Little Sailor (Deluxe Edition)
Richard & Linda ThompsonHard Luck Stories (1972-1982)
Film
Laurel Canyon The Movie 2020
DECLAN CULLITON
Country
1 Jamie Wyatt Neon Cross
2 Brennen Leigh Prairie Love Letter
3 Zephaniah OHora Listening To The Music
4 Jessie Daniel Rollin’ On
5 Victoria Bailey Jesus, Red Wine & Patsy Cline
6 Caitlin Cannon The TRASHCANNON Album
7 Rachel Brooke The Loneliness in Me
8 Kacy & Clayton and Marlon Williams Plastic Bouquet
9 Tessy Lou Williams Tessy Lou Williams
10 Gillian Welch Boots No.2 The Lost Songs Vol.1
11 Michelle Billingsley Not The Marrying Kind
12 Norma MacDonald Old Future
13 Logan Ledger Logan Ledger
14 Western Centuries Call The Captain
15 Charley Crockett Welcome To Hard Times
16 Kelley Swindall You Can Call Me Darlin’ If You Want
17 Colter Wall Western Swing & Waltzers
18 Ashley Ray Pauline
19 Alicia Nugent The Old Side Of Town
20 Joshua Ray Walker Glad You Made It
Americana
1 Courtney Marie Andrews Old Flowers
2 Becky Warren The Sick Season
3 Kathleen Edwards Total Freedom
4 Damien Jurado What’s New, Tomboy?
5 Juliet McConkey Disappearing Girl
6 Jim White Misfit’s Jubilee
7 Emily Barker A Dark Murmuration Of Words
8 Malin Pettersen Wildhorse
9 Native Harrow Closeness
10 H.C.Mc Entire Eno Axis
11 Samantha Crain A Small Death
12 Corb Lund Agricultural Tragic
13 Diana Jones Song To A Refugee
14 Zack Aaron Fill Dirt Wanted
15 Laura Veirs My Echo
16 James Steinle What I Came Here For
17 Lucinda Williams Good Souls Better Angels
18 The Remedy Club True Hand True Heart
19 Clem Snide Forever Just Beyond
20 Shelby Lynne Shelby Lynne
Folk(ish)
1 This Is The Kit Off Off On
2 Seamus Fogarty A Bag Of Eyes
3 Aoife Nessa Frances Land Of No Junction
Cover Albums
1 My Darling Clementine Country Darkness
2 Emma Swift Blonde On The Tracks
3 Gretchen Peters The Night You Wrote That Song: The Songs of Mickey Newbury
4 Kelsey Weldon They’ll Never Keep Us Down
Live Albums
Sunny Sweeney Recorded live at The Machine Shop Radio
Re-Issue
Hurrah for The Riff Raff Hurrah for The Riff Raff/Look Out Mama
Box Sets
Gillian Welch Boots No.2 The Lost Songs
Live Gigs
Michaela Anne Oslo, Hackney
Sam Baker The Empire, Hackney
The Felice Brothers Whelans, Dublin
Peter Bruntnell Paper Dress Vintage, Hackney
Malin Pettersen Rough Trade East, London
Pete Gow & The Siren Strings Oslo, Hackney
Daddy Long Legs/Trouble Pilgrims The Sugar Club, Dublin
Live Streams
1 Courtney Marie Andrews The Parthenon, Nashville
2 Kathleen Edwards Quitters Coffee Stittsville, Ottawa
3 Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival
4.Jaime Wyatt 3rd & Lindsley Nashville
EILÍS BOLAND
Albums
Seamus Fogarty A Bag Of Eyes
Steve Thomas All of These Years
Jason & Pharis Romero Bet On Love
Blackbird & Crow Ailm
Jake Blount Spider Tales
This Frontier Needs Heroes Go With The Flow
David Keenan A Beginner’s Guide to Bravery
Ben de la Cour Shadow Land
The Gossamer Strings Due to the Darkness
Waylon Payne Blue Eyes, The Harlot, The Queer, the Pusher and Me
Chatham County Line Strange Fascination
Live Gigs
David Keenan Belfast Empire Jan
Jonah Tolchin Out To Lunch Festival, Belfast Jan
UK-Americana Fest Hackney - Everything
Richard Dawson Belfast Empire Feb
Live Streams
James McMurtry
Mary Gauthier & Jaimee Harris
Hardly Strictly Bluegrass
Seamus Fogarty
Gretchen Peters
STEPHEN RAPID
Country
Jesse Daniel Rollin’ On
Zephaniah Ohora Listening to The Music
Scott Southworth These Old Bones
Joey Allcorn State Of Heartbreak
Colter Wall Western Swing & Waltzers
Corb Lund Agricultural Tragic
Alecia Nugent The Old Side Of Town
Whitney Rose We Still Go To Rodeo
Karen Jonas The Southwestern Sky And Other Dreams
George Ducas Yellow Rose Motel
David Quinn Letting Go
Charlie Crockett Welcome To The Hard Times
Andrea & Mud Bad News Darlin’
Craig Gerdes Tough As Nails
Live Albums
Sunny Sweeney Live At The Machine Shop Recording Studio
Legendary Shack Shakers Live from Sun Studio
Americana
Ben De La Cour Shadow Land
RB Morris Going Back To The Sky
Sean Harrison Halfway from Nashville
Michael McDermott What In The World
CS Nielsen Pilgrims
Paul Burch & WPA Ballclub Light Sensitive
Lucinda Williams Good Souls Better Angels
Gill Landry Skeleton At The Banquet
Terry Allen Just Like Moby Dick
My Darling Clementine (with Steve Nieve) Country Darkness
Daniel Meade & Lloyd Reid Of You Don’t Mind
Pokey LaFarge Rock Bottom Rhapsody
Ben Bedford Portraits
Old 97s Twelfth
Surrender Hill A Whole Lot Of Freedom
Teddy Thompson Heartbreaker Please
Chuck Prophet The Land That Time Forgot
Justin Wells The United State
Coyote Brothers Coyote Brothers
Amberly Chalberg Hi-Line
Roots/Folk/Cross Cultural
Cinder Well No Summer
India Ramey Shallow Graves
Molly Maher Follow
Hoth Brothers Workin’ And Dreamin’
The Mavericks En Espano
Compilations
Bill Kirchen The Proper Years
Jeffery Halford & The Healers Beware Of Worthless Imitations (1999 - 2019)
Gigs (of which there were few)
Tyler Childers The Grand Social, Dublin
Jeffrey Foucault Dc Club, Dublin
For further information on these albums you can (for the most part) reads the reviews here on the website.