Year in Music 2022

Talking with rising roots star Sierra Ferrell, counting down the year’s top Nashville albums and more

By and large, the music ecosystem in Nashville and the music business around the world were operating at full tilt in 2022, and overall, things felt closer to “normal” than they’ve been since the pre-pandemic days of 2019. If nothing else, the rapid-fire array of happenings was a reminder that the goal is to make the next “normal” better than what we had before — and that’s going to take some work.

In our annual Year in Music Issue, we talk with multifaceted songsmith Sierra Ferrell, who hit the road hard this year following her late 2021 breakout album Long Time Coming and was named the Americana Music Association’s Emerging Artist of the Year. We also count down our critics’ favorite albums of the year, and take a closer look at outstanding releases in the local rock and hip-hop scenes. We track the ups and downs in country music, and confer a distinguished panel to discuss the state of Black music in Music City. We also remember some of the Nashville musical figures who died, and break down developments in the venue scene, including the closure of the Mercy Lounge complex and Exit/In as we’ve known them for the past two decades. And we get perspective from a wide range of folks in the local music scene in our annual Rock ’n’ Roll Poll.