KITHFOLK's Best Trad of 2025
More than just a Top 10, here are 22 albums and a look at some overarching trends in Trad and Roots Music this year.
I’m a huge nerd for listicles. I used to write for Paste Magazine back when they had an actual Listicle Editor. Maybe it’s my neurodivergence, but listing and ranking things is something I just really enjoy. That said, there’s a ton of Top 10 lists for 2025 already (I did my annual 10 Best Indie Roots albums for MAGNET Magazine), so I thought I’d rather focus on some trends I saw this year in Roots and Trad Music.
Of course, all this is wildly subjective and these are just, like, my opinions, man, so hopefully nobody is offended if I missed any great artists and albums. I’m trying to look at trad and roots globally, so I’m sure I missed a ton. But I didn’t miss these albums. These albums I loved.
Best Trad Album of 2025 - Zoë Aqua’s In A Sea of Stars
I knew from the first track (a 9 minute plus barn burner) that Zoë Aqua’s album, In A Sea Of Stars, was the Best Trad Album of 2025. A renowned Jewish klezmer fiddler, Aqua was already a favorite of mine from her powerfully assured 2022 debut album, but this was unlike any klezmer music I’d heard before and I’m a huge fan of these traditions. For her Fulbright grant, Aqua studied Transylvanian fiddle traditions in Romania, soaking up the blistering ferocity and visceral ornamentation of these Balkan traditions from 2021 to 2023. Earlier this year, she returned to Transylvania with three ace Romanian folk musicians, bringing a suite of beautiful original klezmer tunes to be played live in old Jewish synagogues in the country. These sacred spaces had been mostly lost to Jews in the region following the horrors of World War II and decades of cultural assimilation. Still, she said they felt like home to her. There’s a depth of sadness and rage in her music, and great joy too, and I felt strongly that she was singing this music back to its home, jamming the notes into every crack and crevice in the old buildings so that some echo of the lost worlds of European Jews might remain today. It’s an album with great purpose and poise, a reminder of the power traditional music can still hold today. I also wrote about this album for Songlines Magazine. Stay tuned for an inaugural KITHFOLK podcast episode interview with Zoë Aqua on this album!
Also Great: Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson’s album of Black stringband music would be my second choice for Best Trad Album of 2025, not just for the musicianship but for the message. They brought the music back to the land, like Aqua, by recording in the homes of lost masters and their mentors Joe Thompson and Etta Baker. I wrote about the album for Bandcamp.
Also Great: Stemmer i Voks, a gorgeous album and new band from the two founding members of seminal Danish folktronica band Sorten Muld, brings ancient field recordings from the earliest days of recording technology together with modern reinterpretations and interactions. The recordings are sourced from old wax cylinders recorded by early Danish folklorist Evald Tang Kristensen who wandered the Jutland heaths on foot recording working class folks in their homes. Ulla Bendixen worked with her partner Martin Ottosen to create lush soundscapes around these recordings, singing in time with these long dead voices. I covered this in my podcast in 2024 on Danish Jutland music and wrote about the album for Songlines.
Also Great: I had the fortune to go to Toronto earlier this year to see the premiere of Farnaz Ohadi’s spectacular new album, Breath, at the Aga Khan Institute. It’s a fascinating blend of two very different traditions: Spanish flamenco and Persian song and poetry. I’d thought that the North African roots of flamenco would connect with Persian music, but talking to Farnaz it was clear that these are not closely related traditions and it took her many years of careful study and craft to build this fusion. Wonderful, wonderful music. I wrote about her performance for Songlines.
Actual Cowboy Music
I hesitate to say this was a trend in 2025, I think I was just looking more closely for this because of a planned podcast. But this year had some fascinating releases of ACTUAL cowboy music. Lots of folks claim cowboy status, so it’s hard to measure authenticity. But folks who work on horses and on ranches in the far West count in my eyes, and working class hands hold more weight in this genre over folks play-acting at cowboying.
Clyde Halema‘uma‘u Sproat Sings Songs and Stories of Hawai‘i
This re-issue of old Hawaiian paniolo music and stories from Smithsonian Folkways flew under the radar this year and more’s the pity. Hawaiian paniolo were some of the earliest cowboys, after Mexican vaqueros, and if you read the great book Aloha Rodeo, they battled some pretty wild cows in the wilderness of the islands, bringing them down from the hills and swimming them out to the boats at harbor. There’s hardly any paniolo music left now, that I know of, so it’s really special to have not only these wonderful paniolo songs, but some great, heartfelt stories about the land as well in these recordings.
Forrest VanTuyl - Old Trails
Hailing from deep rural Oregon, Forrest VanTuyl (the husband of Americana songwriter Margo Cilker) released a great album this year of cowboy songs based on his keen observations of life on the range. It’s more than what you’d think of as cowboy culture. VanTuyl sings about small things like “rockjacks,” handmade fence fixes that are as individual as folk art, or how he writes songs in the feed truck, a busted pickup truck driven all over the back country to feed the cattle. Great songwriting with a very observant and thoughtful eye.
Buffalo Kin - Vaquera
While technically more of an EP, these songs from Oregon folk duo Buffalo Kin present some key perspectives on the American West. Based around the imagined lives of pioneering Westerners, esp women on the plains, the songs flow like water over rocks, full of interesting digressions and snapshots of rural life. Seth, who plays the banjo, is one of the few Black ranchworkers, I believe, in Eastern Oregon, and though he wouldn’t call himself a cowboy, he’s certainly living the life. Together with his partner Katelyn, the two have a deep love for rural roots music and it shows.
Not Boring Bluegrass
Every year I try desperately to connect with modern bluegrass and every year I fail. Great but bland musicianship, terrible songwriting, deep allergies to saying anything of weight, these things keep me mad each year. There were still some bright lights though in 2025!
Bobby Osborne / C.J. Lewandowski & Friends - Keep on Keepin’ On
Bluegrass legend Bobby Osborne passed away in 2023, but one of the best surprises this year was a fabulous last album of his produced by C.J. Lewandowski of Po’ Ramblin’ Boys. The Boys are one of the few old school sounding bluegrass bands left, so Lewandowski was a great choice for this. He brings in a crazy good list of bluegrass artists to join Osborne in the studio, everyone from AJ Lee to Billy Strings. Lewandowski had originally recorded Osborne in 2023 right before his passing, so this album is a way to keep those tracks alive and to invite some of the best bluegrass artists to pay Osborne homage by guesting on the tracks. It works wonderfully.
Wes Corbett - Drift
I’ve been a fan of ace bluegrass banjo player Wes Corbett from his Joy Kills Sorrow days, but his new album took me by surprise. It’s absolutely jam packed with huge guest stars, everyone from Sam Bush to Sierra Hull, Bryan Sutton to Brittany Haas and tons more. I mean, this album is STACKED. But more impressively, for an instrumental bluegrass album, the compositions are really fun. Catchy melodies, excellent hooks, wild jams. I usually tune out of instrumental bluegrass albums when they get too noodly and this one held my attention completely and brought me great joy.
Danny Paisley - Bluegrass State of Mind
Danny Paisley will ruin bluegrass for you. He did for me. Once you hear the burry gravel of his Virginia mountain vocals, once you feel the heart of Appalachia beating in his music (corny I know but accurate), you’ll be constantly searching for that sound again. And you’ll be disappointed. Danny comes from a rich rich vein of Appalachian music based around his family, the Paisleys, and generational friends the Lundys. Drawn from the deep loam of Galax, Virginia, he grew up in the tradition and sounds like few other artists today. His new album is a glorious romp through bluegrass and remember what a talent he is. I got to interview him for my feature for Bandcamp this year on SW Virginia’s Roots Traditions.
Songs of Resistance
For a year filled with absolute chaos and daily horrors, you’d think every artist would be turning out protest songs, but surprisingly they were somewhat rare. One of the best music journalists, Grayson Currin, just wrote about how vapid modern protest writing is (he focused on Jesse Welles who I also find iffy). Still, there were some very encouraging folks with big things to say.
Carsie Blanton - “Little Flame”
Coming after Blanton’s harrowing release from an Israeli prison following her protest work on the Global Sumud Flotilla, this is a gentle but brilliant song about protesting in the modern age. “100 Years, 100 More / We throw our weight against the door” certainly resonates to those who’ve spent their life in activism and see how far backward we’ve walked recently. Easily the Best Protest Song of the Year in my opinion.
Cain Culto - “¡Basta Ya!”
Thanks to Jake Blount for hipping me to Cain Culto, whose ridiculously catchy and sexy song “KFC Santeria” has been on constant repeat all year. Though Culto has Latin American roots and makes bilingual music, he grew up in Kentucky besotted by bluegrass fiddle, a true child of America. His new single, “¡Basta Ya!” (Enough is Enough) is the perfect ode to our anger and exhaustion, with a chorus that translates as “Enough is enough! / Get the fuck up outta my face!” Singing around a Trump pinata and a shredded American flag, Culto’s joined by Indigenous artist Xiuhtezcatl for this anti-ICE anthem. ¡Basta Ya!
Haley Heynderickx - “Fluorescent Light”
Heynderickx is a brilliant songwriter out of Portland, Oregon, but I hadn’t really considered her a protest singer. Her new album with fellow songwriter Max Garcia shows otherwise, as the two tackle some lesser known but key moments in American history like Reagan’s strike breaking moves that are still felt today, or those imprisoned for fighting for Puerto Rican independence. I really loved “Fluorescent Light” which is less overtly political, and a kind of boomer-ish lament about phones, but has lines that hit deep: “Brilliant minds go to college / Just to study marketing.” So much political songwriting is used as a blunt tool: just write a song about a problem and make it rhyme. But this reminds us that the best protest music has to be art.
Fiddle-dee-dee
As a fiddler myself, I’m always a giant sucker for a good fiddle album and luckily we had quite a few of these!
Nathan Gourley/Joey Abarta/Owen Marshall - Copley Street 2
Irish trad is in a pretty interesting place right now. The trance movement of Lankum casts a long shadow over everything and the droney theatrics of Martin Hayes still hold court everywhere, so it’s nice when there’s an Irish trad album that breaks the mold simply by playing the music with great care and focus. American Irish fiddler Nathan Gourley is one of the absolute best Irish fiddlers out there and his follow up Copley Street album showcases his near psychic level of connection with bandmates Joey Abarta on the uilleann pipes and Owen Marshall, one of my favorite accompanists. They’re not redefining the music, they’re just playing it really really well and with such focus that it brings the tunes into new light. Marvelous album.
Natalie Padilla - Eostre
There were a lot of newly composed fiddle tune albums this year, but I find that these are often not too compelling. Far too many new fiddle tunes dissolve into meaningless flurries of notes and virtuosity. It takes a fine composer to craft a fiddle tune so good that you rush to your fiddle to give it a try. Natalie Padilla of folk Americana band Low Lily did just that with her carefully crafted album Eostre. Each fiddle tune here sounds gorgeous in the subtle arrangements and nods to tree gods and goddesses from around the world. It feels like a forest bath listening to this album, just immersing yourself in the fiddle worlds she’s crafting.
Eddie Barbash - Larkspur
This isn’t a fiddle album, but rather a marvelously compelling album of super stripped-back solo saxophone playing fiddle tunes. The fun of the album is how Barbash is riffing on the structure of fiddling. He’s clearly listened to a ton of fiddlers, and for folks who love the fiddle, you can hear him propping up and then rebuilding fiddle lines on the sax, turning out new sides to old tunes. He tosses in jazzy licks here and there, and flips a couple tunes around as he plays them, and it’s a joy especially to hear him tackle the complexity of Irish fiddling on the sax. Fascinating album.
Montréal Music Makers
I’ve always contended that Montréal is one of the culturally richest cities in North America and a home to the global Francophonie that brings together all kinds of cultures. This year was a banner year for Montréal roots.
Salin - Rammana
This Thai drummer came to my attention while I was researching my feature article for Bandcamp on Montréal’s Haitian music scene. A bunch of folks were raving about her as the best drummer in the city, and they’re not wrong! She went pretty viral with her blend of Montréal Afrobeat (informed by the city’s rich Congolese scene) and Thai folk music, and her new album delivered on this promise and more. Live she was one of the best bandleaders I’ve ever seen, a true queen to inherit the crown of Tony Allen. I wrote about her Seattle show for KNKX.
Wesli - Makaya
I also got to interview Wesli for my Bandcamp article and he was talking about his project to record and feature many of the traditional rhythms of rural Haiti. His work is out now and it’s a staggeringly large album of songs and dances from Haitian roots music. Tied to the rhythms of Haitian voudou and informed by the cosmopolitan influences of Montréal, it’s a blend of rural and city, an ode to a world of Haitian roots that is now almost impossible to access because of the country’s destabilization.
Jean-François Bélanger - Nouvelle vieille musique
Bélanger has long been one of the most respected tune composers on the French-Canadian scene. He’s a talented multi-instrumentalist too, and a thoughtful and careful musician. Here he presents a magnum opus of original tunes, each one created in the style of a specific regional tradition in Québec and Acadie and featuring guest musicians who are the absolute best of the best in the tradition. It’s a tour de force of an album and an absolute joy to listen to from start to finish.
Outside the Box
These intriguing albums are a little bit outside the usual world of trad music, but I thought they had something key to say.
T.J. Keanu Tario - He Kaikamahine O Kekahi Moku
The new album from Hawaiian mahu (loosely this is the ancient traditional concept of transgender in Hawaiian culture) classical pianist T.J. Keanu Tario is absolutely fascinating. A brilliant pianist, she moves between genres with great ease. Everything from vintage Hawaiian jazz and lap steel up to modern jazz and classical compositions are represented here. The instrumental pieces here, I believe, are based on traditional Hawaiian mele or chants tied to specific islands. The album’s challenging in the best way, and looks at how Indigenous identity and culture can be molded to a specific artist’s vision.
West Virginia Snake Handler Revival - They Shall Take Up Serpents
I don’t know how to write about this album without dipping into sensationalism. It’s the first American release on global field recordings label Sublime Frequencies, and a pretty mind blowing recording from world music super producer and recorder Ian Brennan. It’s fire and brimstone preaching and incredibly raw rockabilly singing from the last snake handling church in Appalachia in West Virginia. I’ve no idea how Brennan got such close access to this culture, but it’s intense. At one point the preacher gets bit during the preaching and the churchgoers rush the stage to soak up the blood. I’m torn by how exoticized this feels, but there’s no denying that this is a little known musical culture that holds immense power. People die for this music, people die for God.
Pigeon Pit - Leash Aggression
I was really happy about how my feature on the Folk Punk Roots of Today’s Americana came out in No Depression this year. Took months of work, but I got some great interviews with both the progenitors of the scene, Blackbird Raum, and the new wave, The Bridge City Sinners. But this is only one strain of today’s folk punk, and I also fell in love with the music of Olympia band Pigeon Pit. Got to see them live at THe Vera Project in Seattle and it was a great show full of happy folk punk kids with nary a cell phone in sight, just everyone locked in to live music making. Frontwoman Lomes Oleander brought all the energy and ferocious honesty of punk to the show; I think she’s clearly the heir to the Kimya Dawson Pacific NW antifolk world.
Love seeing this mix of names and video links (!) to investigate further, as so much of it is new to me...thanks for sharing this part of your world with us!
Listening to Zoe Aqua (thanks!) and wonder if you remember Gilles Apap and the Transylvanian Mountain Boys. Gilles was born in Algeria, went to the Curtis, and has played all over the world, as concertmaster as wild child and as mentor to an awful lot of fiddlers. His fiddle sings in the trad/folk/gipsy genres.