For the 16th year running, the Scene has counted up ballots from our wrecking crew of music writers to compile our picks for the 10 best local albums of the year. With yet another deluge of outstanding releases, many excellent albums landed just outside the Top 10, including those from Chris Crofton, Tristen, Annie DiRusso, Shrunken Elvis and Lilly Hiatt.
10. The Kentucky Gentlemen, Rhinestone Revolution (River House Artists)
Country music holds tradition in such high regard that change gets scowled at or stifled in ways that throw pernicious bigotry into sharp relief. The debut LP from Versailles, Ky.-born twin brothers Brandon and Derek Campbell is a sterling example of how the genre can grow without letting go of the best things about its roots. It’s equal parts funny, raucous and heartfelt, it celebrates everyday life without glossing over the rough parts, and it’s catchy as hell. It’s got something for every contemporary country fan and a lot of classic country fans too, provided they’re willing to do what industry gatekeepers have not: embrace artists who are Black and queer and share the bounty they bring to the table. STEPHEN TRAGESER
9. Todd Snider, High, Lonesome and Then Some (Aimless/Thirty Tigers)
On what will be the final album released in his lifetime, Todd Snider captures the sound he’d been chasing since the release of First Agnostic Church of Hope and Wonder. High, Lonesome and Then Some continues the spirit of exploration on that 2021 album and showcases Snider’s guitar work: He plays all the acoustic guitar and most of the electric lead. It’s Snider’s most Southern-sounding record — a groovy, funky mix of rock, country, Southern soul and dirt-road blues complete with female backing vocals. He opens and closes the album with a pair of existential songs, and in between addresses the loss and heartache he had suffered since the pandemic. That included not only estrangement from friends, family and lovers, but the passing of his most important songwriting mentors: Jerry Jeff Walker, John Prine, Jimmy Buffett, Kris Kristofferson and Billy Joe Shaver. DARYL SANDERS
8. Margo Price, Hard Headed Woman (Loma Vista)
Margo Price sets the table for her fifth album with its opening line, “I’m a hard headed woman and I don’t owe ya shit.” On Hard Headed Woman, a soft love song and a fired-up protest track feel equally radical as Price claws back the zeal for her own existence from the bastards and forces trying to flatten her — and all of us. Whether she’s using songwriting to reflect on the struggles of her early days in Nashville or to be painfully present in this current moment, she’s a live wire. Price makes a welcome return to classic country sounds, and a few covers on Side B pay tribute to her outlaw predecessors’ legacies. She also honors her friend Kris Kristofferson, sampling his voice on a song. How electrifying it is to witness Price as she writes a great legacy of her own. JACQUELINE ZEISLOFT
7. Total Wife, Come Back Down (Julia’s War)
Once again, Total Wife has made a great album. But in the purest way imaginable, Come Back Down is an example of necessity being the mother of invention. Composer-producer Luna Kupper sold off all her synthesizers to pay bills before making the record, resulting in sonic textures in some cases built from samples of the band’s previous work to create new music. Kupper’s stacking of unusual sounds is matched with the isolation you feel in the voice of singer and poet Ash Richter. The result is a surrealist pop album that feels like getting lost in a cyberpunk labyrinth. P.J. KINZER
6. Kristina Murray, Little Blue (Normaltown)
It’s a cliché at this point, but the old adage that Nashville is a “10-year town” still rings true. So it’s fitting that Kristina Murray’s stellar third LP Little Blue arrives just a tad more than 10 years after she moved to Nashville. Her story is the kind that locals root for: a hometown hero and undeniable talent who’s paid her dues 10 times over. But the highs and lows of Murray’s Music City journey informed Little Blue, a tour de force of swampy Southern rock, twangy barroom ballads and devastating character studies. The swaggering “Watchin’ the World Pass Me By” is an anthem for Murray’s fellow dreamers scraping by without the benefit of “daddy’s bankroll.” “I get so tired of watchin’ ’em livin’ my dreams,” she sings. “I got to get to gettin’ while the gettin’s good.” Little Blue is a reminder that even if the deck is stacked against you, sometimes hard work and perseverance still win out in the end. BOBBIE JEAN SAWYER
5. Snooper, Worldwide (Third Man)
The universe of Snooper is expanding. On Worldwide, the Nashville band careens toward electronica and electric drum horizons, while preserving the DIY wiles of their earlier productions. Frontwoman Blair Tramel and the rest of the five-piece collaborated with producer John Congleton (St. Vincent, The Killers) and other Los Angeles-based friends to create their second full-length and its accompanying music videos. Across the LP’s 10 whirlwind tracks, guard dogs, salarymen and even the occasional hologram join the fray of Snooper’s signature nervy cacophony. KATHERINE OUNG
4. Starlito and Don Trip, Step Brothers 4 Life (MRVL/Grind Hard)
Clipse’s Let God Sort Em Out wasn’t the only long-awaited hip-hop duo reunion of 2025. Fourteen years and four projects into their partnership, Starlito and Don Trip sound as good as they’ve ever been on Step Brothers 4 Life. The latest in the Nashville-Memphis collaboration series — arriving eight long years after the previous entry — might be the duo’s best, most mature work yet. ’Lito and Trip mix introspective storytelling with the humorous wordplay (and myriad sports references) you’ve come to expect. Long live Tennessee’s favorite Step Brothers. LOGAN BUTTS
3. Jason Isbell, Foxes in the Snow (Southeastern/Thirty Tigers)
Isbell reflects on his innate enchantment with his Tennessee home and Alabama roots, and relates that not all is lost amid the heartbreak of his recent divorce, on his first solo album in nearly a decade. The acoustic LP Foxes in the Snow feels almost like the songsmith is taking a breather — traversing the breadth and depth of his emotions while also airing out his truths. Tales of new beginnings complement the stages of grief reflected in his lyrics. He grapples with love lost as well as vulnerability and resilience in the face of both public scrutiny and reflections from the voices inside. BAILEY BRANTINGHAM
2. Hayley Williams, Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party (Post Atlantic)
Hayley Williams’ second solo LP and first on her own label had a decidedly nontraditional rollout. The Paramore lead and longtime Nashville resident first released “Mirtazapine” as a surprise standalone drop on WNXP, then made a suite of 17 singles available. Later, she confirmed that they composed an album, Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party, with the addition of three more tracks. Ego Death isn’t quite the pop punk of Paramore’s RIOT! days, or the bubblegum of their “Ain’t It Fun” era. It alludes to both, but Williams pulls from an expansive palette: There’s a funky, bass-heavy feel on “Ice in My OJ” and “Brotherly Hate,” while “Discovery Channel” has a downtempo indie-rock sound that echoes her fellow Nashvillian Sophie Allison, aka Soccer Mommy. The title track, with its music video featuring state Rep. Justin Jones as co-star, finds Williams reckoning with her self-image. The song’s rallying cry, “Can only go up from here,” is a self-soothing mantra — and perhaps a call for a new New Nashville. ANNIE PARNELL
1. William Tyler, Time Indefinite (Psychic Hotline)
On his seventh solo album, local fingerpicking champ William Tyler delivers his most challenging and satisfying work to date. Intensely avant-garde at some points and luxuriously languid at others, Time Indefinite is the culmination of a career rooted in constant search and constant wonder. He has taken traditional performance techniques and pushed them beyond the horizon of what we expect six strings and a couple of hands can do — in part by expanding into loop-based production (on tape, no less!) and incorporating even more additional instruments. Ripe with emotion and restless with ideas, Time Indefinite reveals new layers on every listen, making it one of the most essential Music City releases of 2025. SEAN L. MALONEY
Talking with rock star Hayley Williams, counting down our favorite local albums and more
