One of the best things about Nashville is how many different versions of “Music City” exist at once. These albums stretch across different scenes and styles, all representing the voices shaping how this city sounds today. Narrowing down our list is always tough, given that some of the best music in the world comes out of our city every year, but here are our 10 favorites.
10. Henry J. Star - The Soft Apocalypse
The Soft Apocalypse, the first project from Nashville’s Henry J. Star, is a record that sneaks up on you. It feels beamed in from another galaxy but remains tethered to earthly experiences—love, violence, death and transformation. He folds ambient textures, emo melodrama and video game glitches into a sound that’s both intimate and massive. For a first album, it’s refreshingly assured: a document of personal grief refracted into a communal catharsis.
– Carly Butler
9. The Black Keys - No Rain, No Flowers
Dan Auerbach and Patrick Carney are massive record collectors. The duo has hosted record hangs at various locations around Nashville and has even taken them on the road. They go back and forth with their respective collections and you can hear those influences from the crates on No Rain, No Flowers. The album sonically ranges from soul grooves to blues and classic southern rock with a team of musicians and songwriters the duo has admired through the years, from Rick Nowels, Daniel Tashian, Scott Storch, Tom Brenneck and Dan’s fellow member of The Arcs Leon Michels. Our August Nashville of the Month shared how Nashville has opened their minds to collaboration, which helped make No Rain, No Flowers another catchy and fun release from the Ohio players.
– Marquis Munson
8. Zac Farro - Operator
Zac Farro is one of the great rock ‘n’ roll drummers anywhere. If you’ve ever seen Paramore, that opinion quickly becomes fact. His playing is emphatic and bombastic and demands the big spotlight. But when he steps into the solo spotlight, his work becomes more subtle and nuanced. On Operator, his first official solo album, he hands over drumming duties and focuses on singing and songwriting. The result is a little less pop focused than his previous solo project Halfnoise, but retains his gift for matching slinky grooves with sticky melodies (“1”). Operator also adds some George Harrison solo flair to the repertoire (“My My”) and makes for a cohesive and welcoming collection, much needed in a biblically hectic year.
– Jason Moon Wilkins
7. Vibeout - Good Things Coming Soon
When rapper Vibeout spoke to Senior Music Writer Jewly Hight about this debut full-length project, he described his sound as “grown people music.” From someone who fell in love with hip-hop listening to J Dilla production and studying poetic lyricists and neo-soul sounds from D’Angelo to Dwele, you can tell his sonic approach on Good Things Coming Soon was intentional. Through his work with Black Nashville Assembly, Vibeout realizes the power people can have in the city when there is unity. His lyrical journey through personal growth and championing the community is on full display on this album.
– Marquis Munson
6. Madi Diaz - Fatal Optimist
– Jason Moon Wilkins
5. Snooper - Worldwide
October Nashville Artist of the Month Snõõper’s sophomore album, Worldwide, is just as raucous as their debut, with even the slowest songs coming in at a rampaging 170 bpm, and the fastest pushing 260. The difference here though, is in the ambition. Bigger production, more synth, more noise, a fantastic Beatles cover, and with the trajectory they are on, Worldwide stardom feels imminent.
– Michael Pollard
4. Emily Hines - These Days
Emily Hines describes herself as “a chronically sincere farm girl from Ohio making folk rock.” Admittedly, I wasn’t expecting the depth and intimacy These Days fully embodies. Blending lo-fi with folk tendencies, Hines’ tender vocals offer a warm familiarity that is instantly inviting. The sweet, muzzy instrumentation and personal storytelling encourage you to stick around.
– Emily Young
3. Annie DiRusso - Super Pedestrian
After whetting our appetites with stellar singles and EPs pre- and post-COVID, Belmont University alumna DiRusso’s official debut LP came crashing in like the Kool-Aid man. Her lyricism is equally sharp (“Hungry”) and soft (“It’s Good To Be Hot In The Summer”), with singalong hooks (hello, “Back In Town”) as hooky as any indie/alt rock songs I can recall. The March Nashville Artist of the Month described growing her confidence as a guitarist, experimenting with alternate tunings, and that shines brightly on Super Pedestrian, too.
– Celia Gregory
2. Jarren Blair - Chips Are Down
I’m betting many folks’ first introduction to native Middle Tennessean Jarren Blair, like mine, was witnessing him improvise live in an intimate jazz/funk/R&B setting. The artist’s hosted jam sessions make for magical, “real Nashville” shit. In this self-released first collection of tunes, we benefit from Blair’s role as local talent convener and collaborator —great features like that of Arlana on “no beat” do make for stand-out recordings on Chips Are Down. But it’s his own agility as vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, truly Blair’s chops as an all-around composer, that’s so impressive on the long-awaited debut. Check out the power of this June Nashville Artist of the Month in his Backyard Sessions performance.
– Celia Gregory
1. Hayley Williams - Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party
A few weeks before Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party detonated online, Hayley Williams walked into the WNXP office with a burned CD labeled “Mirtazapine” — a fevered exhale in the shape of an ode to an antidepressant. The whole album spirals out from that gesture: vulnerable, diaristic and emotionally feral songwriting. Somewhere between alt-rock, trip hop and a bedroom floor breakdown, Williams bravely reclaims her voice, her grief, her hometown and her name. It’s an elegy disguised as a panic attack and a bachelorette party for a self that didn’t make it out alive. You get the sense she wouldn’t have either, unless she made this.
– Carly Butler
