19th Annual Country Music Critics’ Poll: The Results

Albums

1. Kacey Musgraves, Golden Hour (MCA Nashville)
2. Pistol Annies, Interstate Gospel (RCA Nashville)
3. Ashley McBryde, Girl Going Nowhere (Warner Bros. Nashville)
4. John Prine, Tree of Forgiveness (Oh Boy)
5. Eric Church, Desperate Man (EMI Nashville)
6. Brandi Carlile, By the Way, I Forgive You (Low Country Sound/Elektra)
7. Ashley Monroe, Sparrow (Warner Bros. Nashville)
8. Willie Nelson, Last Man Standing (Legacy)
9. Lori McKenna, The Tree (CN)
10. Brothers Osborne, Port Saint Joe (EMI Nashville)
11. Rosanne Cash, She Remembers Everything (Blue Note)
12. Dierks Bentley, The Mountain (Capitol Nashville)
13. Amanda Shires, To the Sunset (Silver Knife)
14. Loretta Lynn, Wouldn’t It Be Great (Legacy)
15. Courtney Marie Andrews, May Your Kindness Remain (Fat Possum/Mama Bird)
16. Joshua Hedley, Mr. Jukebox (Third Man)
17. Mary Gauthier, Rifles & Rosary Beads (In the Black/Thirty Tigers)
18. Brent Cobb, Providence Canyon (Low Country Sound/Elektra)
19. Caitlyn Smith, Starfire (Monument)
20. Carrie Underwood, Cry Pretty (Capitol Nashville)
21. Robbie Fulks and Linda Gail Lewis, Wild! Wild! Wild! (Bloodshot)
22. Sarah Shook and the Disarmers, Years (Bloodshot)
23. Dave Alvin and Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Downey to Lubbock (Yep Roc)
24. I’m With Her, See You Around (Rounder)
25. Ruston Kelly, Dying Star (Rounder)
26. Kelly Willis, Back Being Blue (Premium/Thirty Tigers)
27. Colter Wall, Songs of the Plains (Young Mary/Thirty Tigers)
28. Becky Warren, Undesirable (self-released)
29. Erin Rae, Putting on Airs (Single Lock)
30. The Bottle Rockets, Bit Logic (Bloodshot)

Singles

1. Kacey Musgraves, “Space Cowboy” (MCA Nashville)
2. Pistol Annies, “Got My Name Changed Back” (RCA Nashville)
3. Eric Church, “Desperate Man” (EMI Nashville)
4. Jason Aldean with Miranda Lambert, “Drowns the Whiskey” (Broken Bow)
5. John Prine, “Summer’s End” (Oh Boy)
6. Ashley Monroe, “Hands on You” (Warner Bros. Nashville)
7. Chris Stapleton, “Broken Halos” (Mercury Nashville)
8. Brandi Carlile, “The Joke” (Low Country Sound/Elektra)
9. Kacey Musgraves, “Slow Burn” (MCA Nashville)
10. Kacey Musgraves, “High Horse” (MCA Nashville)
11. Brothers Osborne, “Shoot Me Straight” (EMI Nashville)
12. Lori McKenna, “People Get Old” (CN)
13. Chris Janson, “Drunk Girl” (Warner Bros. Nashville)
14. Dan + Shay, “Tequila” (Warner Bros. Nashville)
15. Ashley McBryde, “Girl Goin’ Nowhere” (Warner Bros. Nashville)
16. Luke Combs, “She Got the Best of Me” (Columbia Nashville)
17. Maren Morris, “Rich” (Columbia Nashville)
18. Ashley McBryde, “Little Dive Bar in Dahlonega” (Warner Bros. Nashville)
19. Kacey Musgraves, “Butterflies” (MCA Nashville)
20. Pistol Annies, “Best Years of My Life” (RCA Nashville)
21. Chris Stapleton, “Millionaire” (Mercury Nashville)
22. Carrie Underwood, “Cry Pretty” (Capitol Nashville)
23. Courtney Marie Andrews, “May Your Kindness Remain” (Fat Possum/Mama Bird)
24. Luke Bryan, “Most People Are Good” (Capitol Nashville)
25. Kenny Chesney with Mindy Smith, “Better Boat” (Blue Chair/Warner Bros. Nashville)
26. Cam, “Diane” (Arista Nashville)
27. Dierks Bentley with Brothers Osborne, “Burning Man” (Capitol Nashville)
28. John Prine, “Knockin’ on Your Screen Door” (Oh Boy)
29. Loretta Lynn, “Wouldn’t It Be Great?” (Legacy)
30. Willie Nelson, “Last Man Standing” (Legacy)

Reissues 

1. Bobbie Gentry, The Girl From Chickasaw County (Capitol)
2. The Louvin Brothers, Love and Wealth: The Lost Recordings (Modern Harmonic)
3. Lefty Frizzell, An Article from Life: The Complete Recordings (Bear Family)
4. Bob Dylan, More Blood, More Tracks (Columbia/Legacy)
5. Various artists, Outlaws & Armadillos: Country’s Roaring ’70s (Legacy)
6. Buck Owens, Country Singer’s Prayer (Omnivore)
7. Elvis Presley, The ’68 Comeback Special (RCA/Legacy)
8. Emmylou Harris, Ballad of Sally Rose (Rhino/Warner Bros.)
9. Hazel Dickens & Alice Gerrard, Sing Me Back Home: The DC Tapes, 1965-1969 (Free Dirt)
10. Glen Campbell, Sings for the King (Universal)

Male Vocalists

1. Chris Stapleton
2. Eric Church
3. Jason Isbell 
4. John Prine
5. Dierks Bentley
6. Luke Combs
7. Willie Nelson
8. Colter Wall
9. (tie) Joshua Hedley
   (tie) Keith Urban

Female Vocalists

1. Kacey Musgraves
2. Miranda Lambert 
3. Ashley Monroe
4. Ashley McBryde
5. Brandi Carlile
6. Carrie Underwood
7. Margo Price
8. Maren Morris
9. Courtney Marie Andrews
10. Caitlyn Smith

Live Acts

1. Jason Isbell
2. Margo Price
3. Pistol Annies
4. Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives with Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman
5. Keith Urban 
6. Eric Church
7. The Mavericks
8. Miranda Lambert
9. (tie) Brandi Carlile
   (tie) John Prine

Songwriters

1. Kacey Musgraves
2. John Prine
3. Lori McKenna
4. Ashley Monroe
5. Brandi Carlile
6. Ashley McBryde
7. Jason Isbell
8. Miranda Lambert 
9. Eric Church
10. Chris Stapleton

Duos and Groups

1. Pistol Annies
2. Brothers Osborne
3. I’m With Her
4. Old Crow Medicine Show
5. Midland
6. Marty Stuart and His Fabulous Superlatives with Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman
7. Little Big Town
8. Dan + Shay
9. Maddie & Tae
10. Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit

New Acts

1. Ashley McBryde
2. Caitlyn Smith
3. Dillon Carmichael
4. Joshua Hedley
5. Erin Rae
6. Ruston Kelly
7. I’m With Her
8. Courtney Marie Andrews
9. The War and Treaty
10. (tie) Jimmie Allen
    (tie) Luke Combs

Artists of the Year

1. Kacey Musgraves
2. Pistol Annies
3. John Prine
4. Jason Isbell
5. Eric Church
6. Chris Stapleton
7. Brandi Carlile
8. Dierks Bentley
9. Margo Price
10. Ashley McBryde

Our voters wrote for the following outlets in 2018:

Acoustic Guitar, Adobe & Teardrops, AllMusic/Rovi, Alternate Root, Apple Music, American Noise, American Songwriter, The Argonaut, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Associated Press, Atlantic City Weekly, Austin American-Statesman, The Big Takeover, Billboard, The Bitter Southerner, The Bluegrass Situation, Bluegrass Today, Blurt, Boomerocity, The Boot, The Boston Globe, Boulder Weekly, Broadway World, B-Sides & Badlands, Bynwr.com, The Call (Woonsocket, R.I.), Centerline News, Chattanooga Times Free Press, Cincinnati Magazine, City Pages, Classic Rock, Cleveland.com, CMA Close Up, Colorado Springs Independent, Concert Hopper, Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum, Country Music Pride, Country Standard Time, Country Universe, Daily Memphian, The Daily Progress, The Daily Times (Maryville, Tenn.), Dallas Observer, Digital First Media, Downbeat, The Dowsers, Dusted, Entertainment Weekly, Erasing Clouds, Exclaim!, Flagpole Magazine, Flood, Folk Alley, Freight Train Boogie, Fresh Air, Fusion Country, Garden & Gun, Gigwise, Glide, Goldmine, The Guardian, Hits, The Hollywood Reporter, Indy Week, Inland Valley Daily Bulletin, In Review Online, Irish Music Stories, JazzTimes, Journey to Scotland, The Kansas City Star, KBOO, Kentucky Country Music, The Last Word, Lincoln Journal Star, Living Blues, Long Island Weekly, Longreads, Los Angeles Daily News, Los Angeles Times, Lost in a Fool’s Paradise, The Mercury News, Minnesota Monthly, Music Aficionado, Musical Shapes, Music Blog, Music Road, MusicRow, Napster/Rhapsody, Nash Country Daily, Nashville Arts and Entertainment Guide, Nashville Scene, Nashville Sound, Nashville Voice, National Public Radio, News & Record (Greensboro, N.C.), Newsday, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, The New York Times, Niagara Wire, No Depression, Noisey, O. Henry, Orange County Register, Oxford American, Pacific Sun, Pasadena Weekly, Paste, The Times (Pawtucket, R.I.), Pitchfork, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, PopCrush, Popdust, Popmatters, The Portland Mercury, The Post and Courier (Charleston, S.C.), The Press-Enterprise (Riverside, Ca.), Redlands Daily Facts, Relix, The Ringer, Rock and Roll Globe, Rock NYC, Rolling Stone, The Sacramento Bee, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Salon, Salt Lake City Weekly, The San Bernardino Sun, Saving Country Music, Shotgun Seat, Singles Jukebox, Sirius XM, Slant, Sounds Like Nashville, Southern Rhode Island Newspapers, Spectrum Culture, Spin, Sports and Entertainment Nashville, Star-Tribune (Minneapolis), Stereogum, Stomp and Stammer, Strings, Taste of Country, Tennessee Jazz and Blues Society, The Tennessee Tribune, Texas Music, Texas Monthly, This Is Country Music, Tidal, Title, Time, TiVo, Twangville, Uncut, University of Texas Press, Uproxx, Variety, Vevo, Vice, Village Voice, Vineyard Gazette, Vulture, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Wide Open Country, WHQG, WKFY

This year’s voters:

Don Allred, Brian T. Atkinson, Michael Berick, Jim Bessman, Peter Blackstock, Bliss Bowen, Jessica Bray, Jon Bream, Grant Britt, David Cantwell, Henry Carrigan, Jim Casey, Rachel Cholst, Robert Christgau, Justin Cober-Lake, Mitchell Cohen, Kyle Coroneos, Kevin John Coyne, Steve Crawford, Mayer Danzig, Stephen Deusner, Kerry Dexter, Anne Dineen, Daniel Durchholz, Anthony Easton, Chuck Eddy, Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Dan Ferguson, Maeri Ferguson, Neil Ferguson, Bill Frater, Jeff Gage, Glenn Gamboa, Sam Gazdziak, Holly George-Warren, Dave Gil de Rubio, Holly Gleason, Gary Graff, Chris Griffy, Kristin Hall, Robert Ham, Jake Harris, Ronald Hart, Rob Harvilla, Dave Heaton, Stuart Henderson, Will Hermes, Chris Herrington, Jewly Hight, Geoffrey Himes, Lorie Hollabaugh, Cillea Houghton, Silas House, Josh Hurst, Edd Hurt, Thomas Inskeep, Josh Jackson, Ellen Johnson, Jonathan Keefe, Zachary Kephart, Tom Lane, Lorie Liebig, Alan Light, Sam C. Mac, Dan MacIntosh, Jim Macnie, Jim Malec, Barry Mazor, Michael McCall, Kelly McCartney, Danny McCloskey, Markus Meyer, Rick Mitchell, Bobby Moore, Ken Morton Jr., Stuart Munro, Randy Patterson, George Paul, Bob Paxman, Amos Perrine, Sarah Rodman, Hilary Saunders, Bobbie Jean Sawyer, Josh Schott, Jason Scott, R.J. Smith, Angela Stefano, Bruce Sylvester, Rob Tannenbaum, Ken Tucker, Shawn Underwood, Amanda Vera, Ellis Widner, Jeremy Winograd, L. Kent Wolgamott, Mikael Wood, Ron Wynn, Lee Zimmerman