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Call it folk, folk-rock, roots music, Americana, alternate country, country rock, or whatever else floats your fancy. Music driven by acoustic instruments or which harkens back to musical forms of a century ago has played a large role in shaping popular music and then responding to popular music trends. By aggregating more than 40 lists, the DMDB has pulled together its list of the best folk/Americana albums of all time. And away we go…
1. Bob Dylan…The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan (1963)
2. Joni Mitchell…Blue (1971)
3. Various Artists…Anthology of American Folk Music Volumes 1-3 (1932)
4. Bob Dylan…Blood on the Tracks (1975)
5. Woody Guthrie…Dust Bowl Ballads (1940)
6. Lucinda Williams…Car Wheels on a Gravel Road (1998)
7. Fairport Convention…Liege and Lief (1969)
8. Neil Young…After the Gold Rush (1970)
9. Nick Drake…Five Leaves Left (1969)
10. Grateful Dead…American Beauty (1970)
11. The Band…The Band (1969)
12. Nick Drake…Pink Moon (1972)
13. Bob Dylan…Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
14. Bob Dylan…Bringing It All Back Home (1965)
15. Bob Dylan…Blonde on Blonde (1966)
16. John Prine…John Prine (1971)
17. Uncle Tupelo…No Depression (1990)
18. Neil Young…Harvest (1972)
19. The Band…Music from Big Pink (1968)
20. The Byrds…Mr. Tambourine Man (1965)
21. The Incredible String Band…The Hangman’s Beautiful Daughter (1968)
22. Grateful Dead…Workingman’s Dead (1970)
23. Woody Guthrie…The Asch Recordings Volumes 1-4 (1949)
24. Van Morrison…Astral Weeks (1968)
25. Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young…Déjà Vu (1970)
26. Gram Parsons…Grievous Angel (1974)
27. The Flying Burrito Brothers…The Gilded Palace of Sin (1969)
28. The Byrds…Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968)
29. Steve Earle…Guitar Town (1986)
30. Fleet Foxes…Fleet Foxes (2008)
31. Simon & Garfunkel…Bridge Over Troubled Water (1970)
32. Crosby, Stills & Nash…Crosby, Stills & Nash (1969)
33. Leonard Cohen…The Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967)
34. Robert Johnson…The Complete Recordings (1937)
35. Simon & Garfunkel…Bookends (1968)
36. Neil Young…Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere (1969)
37. Nick Drake…Bryter Layter (1970)
38. Fairport Convention…Unhalfbricking (1969)
39. Richard & Linda Thompson…Shoot Out the Lights (1982)
40. Bruce Springsteen…Nebraska (1982)
41. Bob Dylan…The Times They Are A-Changin’ (1964)
42. Johnny Cash…American Recordings (1994)
43. Simon & Garfunkel…Parsley, Sage, Rosemary & Thyme (1966)
44. Gram Parsons…G.P. (1973)
45. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band…Will the Circle Be Unbroken (1972)
46. Indigo Girls…Indigo Girls (1989)
47. Townes Van Zandt…Townes Van Zandt (1969)
48. Iron & Wine…Our Endless Numbered Days (2004)
49. Ryan Adams…Heartbreaker (2000)
50. Various Artists…Alan Lomax Collection Sampler (1997)
51. The Weavers…The Bst of the Decca Years (1996)
52. Comus…First Utterance (1971)
53. Carole King…Tapestry (1971)
54. Tracy Chapman…Tracy Chapman (1988)
55. Roy Harper…Stormcock (1971)
56. Phil Ochs…I Ain’t Marching Anymore (1965)
57. Bob Dylan…John Wesley Harding (1967)
58. Bob Dylan…Time Out of Mind (1997)
59. Cat Stevens…Tea for the Tillerman (1970)
60. Dillard & Clark…The Fantastic Expedition (1968)
61. James Taylor…Sweet Baby James (1970)
62. Van Morrison…Moondance (1970)
63. Neutral Milk Hotel…In the Aeroplane Over the Sea (1998)
64. Richard & Linda Thompson…I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight (1974)
65. Bob Dylan…Modern Times (2006)
66. Buffalo Springfield…Again (1967)
67. Donovan…Sunshine Superman (1966)
68. Bob Dylan…Love and Theft (2001)
69. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss…Raising Sand (2007)
70. Bob Dylan…Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)
71. Billy Bragg & Wilco…Mermaid Avenue (1998)
72. Tim Buckley…Starsailor (1970)
73. Wilco…Being There (1996)
74. Emmylou Harris…Wrecking Ball (1995)
75. Judy Collins…Forever: An Anthology (1997)
76. Pete Seeger…If I Had a Hammer: Songs of Hope & Struggle (1998)
77. The Incredible String Band…5000 Spirits of the Layers of the Onion (1967)
78. Emmylou Harris…Pieces of the Sky (1975)
79. Gillian Welch…Time (The Revelator) (2001)
80. Gene Clark…White Light (1971)
81. John Hartford…Aero Plain (1971)
82. Joan Baez…In Concert Part 2 (1963)
83. Son Volt…Trace (1995)
84. Bob Dylan…Nashville Skyline (1969)
85. The Kingston Trio…At Large (1959)
86. Joan Baez…Diamonds and Rust (1975)
87. Jim Croce…You Don’t Mess Around with Jim (1972)
88. John Prine…Fair & Square (2005)
89. Various Artists…O Brother, Where Art Thou? (soundtrack, 2000)
90. The Byrds…Younger Than Yesterday (1967)
91. Devendra Banhart…Rejoicing in the Hands (2004)
92. Bob Dylan…The Royal Albert Hall Concert (The Bootleg Series Vol. 4) (1966)
93. The Flying Burrito Brothers…Burrito Deluxe (1970)
94. Steve Earle…I Feel Alright (1996)
95. Alexander “Skip” Spence…Oar (1969)
96. Love…Forever Changes (1967)
97. Jeff Buckley…Grace (1994)
98. John Mellencamp…Scarecrow (1985)
99. John Hiatt…Bring the Family (1987)
100. Hank Williams…40 Greatest Hits (1953)
Resources and Related Links:
- AARP.org: 9 Folk-Rock Albums That Will Rock You by Scott Peterson (29 May 2012)
- About.com: Essential Folk Albums by Kim Ruehl
- AlbumOfTheYear.org: Best Folk Albums of All Time
- Amazon.com: Essential CDs by Style: Folk Rock, Contemporary Folk, Traditional Folk
- Amazon.com: 100 Greatest Singer-Songwriter Albums of All Time
- Amazon.com: Best Folk/Country Albums Ever by gdb “gman”
- Amazon.com: The Greatest American Albums I Heard So Far by Abey Grey “The Gris Gris Man”
- Amazon.com Great Americana Albums by “a superintelligent shade of the color blue”
- Amazon.co.uk: The 25 Greatest Folk Albums by Mark G. Goacher
- Amazon.co.uk: Classic Folk Rock Albums by G. Growe
- Amazon.co.uk: Top 10 Americana Albums You Must Own by The Boy
- AskMen.com: Top 10: Americana Albums by Craig Mazin
- BarnesAndNoble.com: Fundamentals: Folk Rock
- BestEverAlbums.com: Top Folk Albums by RFNAPLES (2012)
- Blender.com: 500 CDs You Must Own Before You Die: Folk (April 2003)
- CMT.com: Ten Albums to Start Your Americana Collection by Craig Shelburne (27 February 2009)
- DigitalDreamDoor.com: 100 Greatest Americana Albums edited by Rick Varner (11 February 2013)
- The Grammys: Best Contemporary Folk (1987-2011), Best Traditional Folk Album (1987-2011), Americana (2010-13), Best Folk Album (2012-13)
- Infoplease.com: Must Have Recordings: Folk/Country
- Kevernacular.com: My All-Time Best Americana/Roots Albums by Kevin Lynch (30 March 2012)
- LibraryThing.com: 10 Best Folk Albums of All Time
- MadeMan.com: 10 Best Folk Albums of All Time by Annette Smith (30 November 2010)
- MadeMan.com: 5 Best Folk Albums by Joshua Wade (1 December 2010)
- MusicBanter.com: Noteworthy Roots and Americana Albums by Gavin B. (21 June 2009)
- MusicalSaw.com: Your Folk Music Library (4 March 2013)
- NeonFiller.com: Top Ten Albums from the Golden Age of UK Folk Music by Joe (7 March 2011)
- NoDepression.com: Best Americana Albums by Terry Roland (26 October 2011)
- NPR Curious Listeners’ Guide: Folk
- Patheos.com: Top Twenty Folk Rock Albums of All Time by Guest Contributor (26 June 2011)
- RateYourMusic.com: 100 Ultimate Folk Rock Albums by purcell
- RateYourMusic.com: 50 Best Folk Albums by pdiniz
- RateYourMusic.com: My Greatest Folk Albums by Jochem
- RateYourMusic.com: Essential Americana – Top 100 Albums by Bloodaxe
- RateYourAlbum.com: Greatest Folk Albums by StrawberryFields
- Record Collector: Classic Albums from 21 Genres for the 21st Century: Folk (January 2000)
- Spin.com: Misty Mountain Pop: 8 Essentials of British Folk Rock by Chuck Eddy (25 January 2013)
- TowerRecords.com: Essentials: Folk
- TulsaWorld.com: 5 to Find: Favorite Old-School Americana Albums by Jennifer Chancellor (31 May 2012)
- TwangNation.com: Intro to Americana – 5 Albums to Get You Started (24 October 2012)
- WascanaMusic.com: Top Folk Albums of All Time (9 April 2012)
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