Year in Music 2022: The Year in Country

Maybe it’s the relative bounce-back from COVID, but 2022 felt like several years crammed into one. That especially holds true in the world of country music, whose many milestones and losses, record-breaking releases and groundbreaking artists, public feuds and difficult dialogues reach far beyond the 800-odd words of this recap.

Maren Morris at Bridgestone Arena, 12/2/2022
Photo: Claire Steele

It was a banner year for flagship country artists, as a murderers’ row of the genre’s best released new records. In March, Maren Morris dropped her Humble Quest, a return to her country roots following 2019’s pop-inflected Girl, and her best release yet. Miranda Lambert followed 2021’s collaborative The Marfa Tapes with Palomino, a playful and assured collection of road songs boasting some of her finest songwriting. Luke Combs further cemented his superstar status with his third album, Growin’ Up. And Kane Brown made an album, Different Man, that shows the full breadth of his artistic abilities.

One of 2022’s biggest success stories is Zach Bryan, a former member of the U.S. Navy who quickly found viral musical success in the late 2010s while still on active duty. In 2021, the Navy honorably discharged Bryan so he could pursue his musical talents, which landed him a deal with Warner Records. This year’s American Heartbreak, an ambitious triple album with influences including Jason Isbell and Bon Iver, broke streaming records upon its debut and has two platinum singles in “Heading South” and “Something in the Orange.”

Elsewhere, other up-and-comers got well-deserved attention. Outstanding family group Chapel Hart wowed audiences on America’s Got Talent, making it to the final round and placing fifth overall. In September, the group mad e its Grand Ole Opry debut. Lainey Wilson, whose sound lands somewhere between Miranda Lambert and Stevie Nicks, had a massive year as well, releasing her second major label studio album Bell Bottom Country to great critical and commercial success. Madeline Edwards — whose take on country incorporates soul, rock and jazz — wowed with her debut album Crashlanded, which thematically addresses feeling like an outsider and is one of the year’s best albums, country or otherwise.

Though diverse acts are starting to find their places in country music — shout-out to organizations like Black Opry, which has hosted heaps of showcases all around the country this year — there are still plenty of artists and gatekeepers trying their damnedest to keep those places small. The year began with a surprise Grand Ole Opry appearance from Morgan Wallen, despite his half-assed attempt at redemption following using the N-word a year earlier. This year’s CMA Awards (where Wallen was no longer barred from being nominated, but didn’t take home a trophy) featured one nonwhite nominee, Breland, as a featured guest on Dierks Bentley’s track “Beers on Me,” up for Musical Event of the Year.

Jason Aldean’s wife Brittany, an influencer and hair extension hawker, made blatantly transphobic comments on Instagram, with Cassadee Pope and Maren Morris coming to the defense of the LGBTQ community and subsequently drawing criticism from right-wingers. Fox News’ Tucker Carlson, whose copywriters could stand to buy a thesaurus, dubbed Morris a “lunatic country music person.” Morris flipped the script and sold T-shirts bearing the awkwardly phrased moniker, raising more than $100,000 for trans causes.

Unfortunately, 2022 was also marked by significant losses in the country community. Willie Nelson’s sister and longtime pianist Bobbie Nelson died at 91 in early March. Luke Bell, a favorite of Nashvillians long after he’d moved away, passed in late August, at the heartbreaking age of 32. Alabama’s Jeff Cook died following complications from Parkinson’s disease in November.

And while there is no hierarchy to loss, country music did bid tearful farewells to three legends in 2022: Naomi Judd, Loretta Lynn and Patrick Haggerty. Judd’s death was especially surprising, as the 76-year-old icon took her own life the day before her beloved duo with daughter Wynonna was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Tributes to Judd poured in, including an amended conclusion to local journalist Hunter Kelly’s excellent Apple Music Radio series Neon Songbook Radio, which outlines the duo’s history and impact. Lynn’s passing at age 90 in October followed years of health complications, with her legacy including the groundbreaking songs “Fist City” and “The Pill.” Haggerty is no doubt the lesser known of the trio, but his 1973 self-titled album as Lavender Country, considered by many to be the first queer country album, has seen long-awaited and well-deserved acclaim in recent years. His second and final release, Blackberry Rose, came in February.

And if you’ll indulge my dipping into the first-person, I first heard news of Peter Cooper’s passing while writing this recap’s first draft. Though he was far more than a journalist — check out his songwriting — Cooper’s writing on country music inspired legions of music writers in Nashville and beyond. I first encountered his work after moving to Nashville in 2007 and proudly count myself among those for whom Cooper was a model of a heightened kind of excellence, one that transcended technical skill to incorporate passion, kindness and inclusivity.

Following Cooper’s death, one of his quotes featured in Dave Paulson’s Tennessean obituary made the rounds on social media: “You need a good bullshit detector, you shouldn’t rant, and you shouldn’t cheerlead. But objectivity is dispassionate. And we’re in the passion business. We’re trying to make people feel something different than what they felt before they read our words.”

It’s fantastic advice for a journalist, but it’s just as useful for those — artists, executives, gatekeepers, critics, fans — for whom country is not just music but a community. As we navigate what is looking to be another contentious year, let’s let our passion guide us and keep our bullshit detectors primed and ready. The community will be better for it.