i love the cash of 'king's record shop,' 'the wheel' and, especially, 'interiors,' but since the aughts i feel like she's been getting steadily more boring. 'black cadillac' was only about half boring but 'river and the thread' is all the way there for me

i wasn't sure if mcmurty quite qualified, but i suppose he does as much as several others on my list. in any case, 'complicated game' is top 10 of the year for me atm.

I don't know about out and out "great" — aside from the DeMent and Pistol Annies, which absolutely are — but here's some very strong ones, chronologically from 2010-2015: Elizabeth Cook, 'Welder'; Patty Griffin, 'Downtown Church'; Allison Moorer, 'Crows'; Pistol Annies, 'Hell on Heels'; Gillian Welch & Dave Rawlings,…