If the recently announced 2025 Grammy nominations are any indication, Nashville may be poised for its moment in the rock ’n’ roll spotlight. While there have always been important rock recordings made in the city, going all the way back to the early 1950s, that fact has not been widely known. But when not particularly with-it Grammy voters get the memo about Nashville’s vibrant rock scene, it suggests a turning point in public perception.
Four of Nashville’s heavy hitters — Jack White (No Name), The Black Keys (Ohio Players), Cage the Elephant (Neon Pill) and Brittany Howard (What Now) — all released records that got nods from the Recording Academy. So did The Black Crowes, who cut their latest, Happiness Bastards, in the city with producer Jay Joyce.
Soccer Mommy
This year saw Kings of Leon return in part to the rawer sound of their early records with Can We Please Have Fun, their first album in three years. In addition, we got a double dose of rock history from Nashville-based British rocker Robyn Hitchcock, who released his entertaining memoir 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left and an accompanying album of trippy, stripped-down covers from that same pivotal year, 1967: Vacations in the Past. And rising indie-rock star Soccer Mommy kept her mojo workin’ on Evergreen, her fifth and most intriguing release to date.
Will Kimbrough
While the city’s stars had an impressive year, so did Nashville’s lesser-known rock artists. For example, The Weird Sisters emphatically answered the question they posed in the title of their second album Who Are The Weird Sisters? with an infectious blend of hard rock and dance music. On Crave On’s sixth album Fantasy Hall, Patrick Orr, Kate Richi & Co. fine-tuned their eclectic brand of folk-rock that lands somewhere between Bob Dylan and Lou Reed. The Sleeveens dropped 11 tracks of irrepressible neo-punk on their eponymous debut. There also were a number of noteworthy roots-rock releases, including albums by local legends Kevin Gordon (The In Between) and Will Kimbrough (For the Life of Me), and blues-rock newcomers The FBR (Ghost).
If a reminder was needed of the foundation Nashville’s current rock scene is built on, a pair of bands from the past resurfaced in 2024 to provide it. White Animals, DIY pioneers of the ’80s, returned with Star Time, their first new album in more than 20 years and arguably their best ever. Meanwhile, Aughts favorites The Privates released their best-of collection We Are Really Rocking Now, Haven’t We?, featuring two new recordings showing off the power of the old-school spirit.
Talking with stellar songsmith and producer Brittany Howard, counting down the year’s top local albums and more
