Madeline - Randy Weeks'
Country/Folk, review by David Hill
Former Lonesome Stranger Randy Weeks' thin, wobbly voice conveys the pain and emotion of a grown-up cowpunk. (03/20/00)

Grievous Angel: A Tribute to Gram Parsons - Various Artists
Country/Folk, review by David Bowman
More than 25 years after country songwriter Gram Parsons died, Emmylou Harris still carries a torch for him. (08/12/99)

Best of the Vanguard Sessions - John Fahey
Country/Folk, review by Andy Battaglia
"Best of the Vanguard Sessions" introduces John Fahey's chillingly beautiful six-string folk.
(07/30/99)

Too Much Fun! - Holy Modal Rounders
Folk/country, review by Andrew Hamlin
The Holy Modal Rounders are old-time counterculture folkies in form, but they're not afraid to toss a pie in the face of tradition.
(07/29/99)

Buzz Me In - Jack Logan
Review by Stephanie Zacharek
"Come on, baby, let me pay your rent": Songwriter Jack Logan wrote the year's most romantic verse. (07/26/99)

Cold Hard Truth - George Jones
Country/Folk, review by David Hill
"Cold Hard Truth" is peppered with dark ballads about lost love and regretful decisions. George Jones, country's greatest living voice, knows his subject well. (07/09/99)

Bleecker Street: Greenwich Village in the '60s - Various Artists
Country/Folk, review by Robbie Woliver
Greenwich Village folk tribute covers Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel and Tim Buckley. But how can Chrissie Hynde and Marshall Crenshaw, among others, forget that some art belongs to its creator? (07/02/99)

Songbook - Gordon Lightfoot
Country/Folk, review by Seth Mnookin
Gordon Lightfoot's "Songbook" delivers timeless tunes and a little bit more. (06/29/99)

Live in Texas - Lyle Lovett and His Large Band
Country/Folk, review by Seth Mnookin
Lyle Lovett and His Large Band offer a bracing live set of cosmopolitan country -- and an alternative to all that Nashville pap. (06/24/99)

Swingin' on the Strings: The Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant Collection, Volume 2 - Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant
Country/Folk, review by David Hill
Session men Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant hot-licked Hollywood -- and escaped the long arm of Nashville. (06/17/99)

Catalog - Danielle Howle
Country/Folk, review by Wendy Mitchell
Singer/songwriter Danielle Howle and the bearable lightness of being alone. (06/15/99)

Waylon Jennings
Country, review by David Bowman
When country got too slick, Waylon Jennings broke it down. Sound familiar? (06/03/99)

Industry and Thrift - Bad Livers
Country/Folk
Known for bluegrass and punk-rock purism, Livers eschew roots-rock clich é -- which is why this may be the roots-rock album of the turn of the century
(02/16/99)

Big Backyard Beat Show - BR5-49
Country/folk
Fourteen songs that honor tradition, without being too smart about it.
(07/15/98)

The Black Light - Calexico
Country
Calexico look South of the border for inspiration, adding mariachi horns, Latin rhythms and Tex-Mex accordion to their desert musings (07/08/98)

Furnace Room Lullaby - Neko Case
Country, review by Joe Heim
Caught between Patti and Patsy, between Dolly and the Dolls, Neko Case steamrolls your emotions, then whispers confessions you should probably never hear.(02/24/00)

Love God Murder - Johnny Cash
Country, review by David Hill

Johnny Cash never killed a man just to watch him die, but he forged a career of love, God and murder. (05/18/00)

At Folsom Prison - Johnny Cash
Country/Folk, review by Seth Mnookin
"Hello, I'm Johnny Cash." (10/22/99)

Unchained - Johnny Cash
Country, review by Gavin McNett
Essential work by the master. (11/7/96)

The Salesman and Bernadette - Vic Chesnutt
Country/Folk
Talented but self-indulgent, country absurdist Chesnutt privileges the hit-or-miss surrealism of private lyrics over the art of the song.
(11/18/98)

Keepers - Guy Clark
Country, review by Milo Miles
On Guy Clark's first live album of his 22-year career, the Texas songwriter reclaims his own often-covered tunes, highlighting a voice that's richer with dry, dusty creaks than ever. (04/07/97)

The Lightning Fingers of Roy Clark - Roy Clark
Country/Folk
These 12 instrumental virtuoso swing standards first released in 1962 are crackerjack. (04/08/99)

Half Mad Moon - The Damnations TX
Country/Folk
A smart, tuneful roots-rock trio from Austin, TX., with potential in spades
(02/16/99)

Living in Clip - Ani DiFranco
Country/Folk, review by Lori Leibovich
With more than two hours of live music, the double cd "Living in Clip" is a perfect introduction to the powerfully sexy voice and dynamic onstage aura of indie queen/feminist folkie Ani DiFranco. (05/21/97)

City of Refuge/Standing In My Shoes - John Fahey and Leo Kottke
Country/Folk, review by Gary Kamiya
John Fahey's "City of Refuge" offers tonal noodlings that could have been done better by an autistic monkey, leaving acoustic steel-string guitar virtuosity to be picked up by Fahey protege Leo Kottke on the smart and understated "Standing in my Shoes." (05/20/97)

Pack Up Your Sorrows: Best of the Vanguard Years - Mimi and Richard Fariña
Folk, review by David Bowman
Mimi Fariña was tempting jailbait. Her husband, Richard, fought alongside Castro, sold guns and called Thomas Pynchon a pal. (10/13/99)

"The Very Best of Robbie Fulks" - Robbie Fulks
Pop/Rock, review by David Hill
Then he tried to kill Saturday night. A new collection connects the dots in between. (01/10/00)

Let's Kill Saturday Night - Robbie Fulks
Country/Folk
The indie songwriter and guitarist works with country heroes, meshing themes of love, joy and desperation in a perfect country rock package.
(09/30/98)

The Pizza Tapes - Jerry Garcia, David Grisman, Tony Rice
Country/Folk, review by Seth Mnookin
Sometimes Jerry Garcia sounded bored playing with the Dead. But on the David Grisman-Tony Rice project "The Pizza Tapes," the old guitarist nearly caught fire. (04/26/00)

Live From Uncle Sam's Back Yard - Paul Geremia
Folk, review by John Milward
If your idea of a solo singer-guitarist is an earnest guitar-strumming folkie or a rocker trading in his Les Paul for a plugged-in Ovation on MTV's "Unplugged," your ears will be opened by the musical intricacy of Paul Geremia's performance on "Live From Uncle Sam's Backyard." (10/06/97)

Braver Newer World - Jimmy Dale Gilmore
Country, review by Kevin Berger
Zen country singer Jimmie Dale Gilmore's music is "therapy for the world." (7/1/96)

Ghosts of Hallelujah - The Gourds
Folk/Country
Obliquely borrowing bits of country, honky-tonk, Delta blues, Cajun and Tex-Mex, the Gourds revisit the creative search and spirit of early roots rockers. (04/27/99)

Stadium Blitzer - The Gourds
Country/Folk
Part artless bluegrass and part rustic stomp, the Gourds forge an engaging sort of slackerbilly (05/27/98)

Other Voices, Too (A Trip Back to Bountiful) - Nanci Griffith
Country/folk
Endearing if overstyled cuts from the folk/country canon
(07/22/98)

Blue Roses from the Moon - Nanci Griffith
Country/Folk, review by Dwight Garner
Nanci Griffith is never going to be Lucinda Williams. But as "Blue Roses from the Moon" proves, it's a mistake to underestimate her. (04/11/97)

Territory - Alvin Youngblood Hart
Country
With a virtuosic guitar style and a voice that shifts from a dulcet croon to a piercing holler, Hart's second album unapologetically immerses itself in the deepest country and blues traditions (07/08/98)

The Best of John Hiatt - John Hiatt
Country/Folk
The artfully twisted love song architect demonstrates how to live well with some poison in your system.
(09/09/98)

Beneath the Country Underdog - Kelly Hogan and the Pine Valley Cosmonauts
Country/Folk, review by Don McLeese
Post-punk good ol' gal Kelly Hogan has a smoky alto that can effortlessly waltz between an uptown cabaret and a country roadhouse. (03/29/00)

"til you've seen mine" - Tom House
Country/Folk, review by Joe Heim
Beautifully bitter philosopher-poet Tom House scraps for some piece of an answer (01/21/00)

I Lived To Tell It All - George Jones
Country, review by Dwight Garner
With "I Lived to Tell It All," country legend George Jones recalls his journey across "a sea of whiskey and a mountain of cocaine." (8/19/96)

So Long, So Wrong - Alison Krauss
Country/Folk, review by Keith Moerer
Bluegrass belle Alison Krauss returns to tradition on "So Long, So Wrong," a slightly defensive statement of purity that should win back those moldy figs who've abandoned her. (04/03/97)

Nixon - Lambchop
Country, review by Seth Mnookin
Nashville's Lambchop mixes Salvation Army band arrangements with '50s Stax R&B and country torch and twang. (02/16/00)

Step Inside This House - Lyle Lovett
Country/Folk
An all-covers album that's one of Lovett's best.
(10/07/98)

Road to Ensenada - Lyle Lovett
Country/Folk, review by Sam Hurwitt
With his new "Road to Ensenada," Lyle Lovett, the country singer for people who hate country music, continues to transcend his genre. (6/24/96)

Record No. 1 - The Mary Janes
Country/Folk
Even when the Mary Janes' Janas Hoyt sings something upbeat, darker straits lurk below, and even when she's being optimistic the atmosphere quivers with ambiguity. (04/20/99)

Trampoline - The Mavericks
Country, review by John Milward
It's not too tough to stand out in the conformist culture of country music, but the Mavericks tread a radically conservative line that offers a new twist to the word "rebellious."
(04/14/98)

Evolution - Martina McBride
Country, review by Charles Taylor
Martina McBride may be capable of more genuine emotion than any female singer working in country pop right now, and her latest album, "Evolution," is a set of empowerment songs delivered by a singer with the chops -- and, what's more important, the passion -- to plumb romantic loss and confusion and resentment. (09/18/97)

The Family - The Del McCoury Band
Country/Folk
A primer for the bluegrass-curious and a refresher for the jaded
(02/16/99)

Walk Between the Raindrops - James McMurtry
Country/Folk
Songs that catch people in positions of exasperating uncertainty.
(08/26/98)

It Had to Happen - James McMurtry
Country/Folk, review by Mark Athitakis
On James McMurtry's fourth album, "It Had to Happen," the same world-weary characters appear again -- but this time the son of novelist Larry McMurtry has run out of compelling ways to tell their stories. (06/25/97)

Cruel Moon - Buddy Miller
Country/Folk, review by David Hill
On "Cruel Moon," Steve Earle and Emmylou Harris back Buddy Miller, an unheralded singer-songwriter establishing a graceful link between country and soul. (10/19/99)

The Secret Handshake - Geoff Muldaur
Country/Folk
Muldaur's whispery wail of a voice and his sublime musicianship are the thumbprints that bind together this varied country blues repertoire.
(12/09/98)

Country Favorites -- Willie Nelson Style - Willie Nelson
Country, review by David Hill
Never before released on CD, "Country Favorites -- Willie Nelson Style" introduces the quirky singer before he became the Red Headed Stranger. (02/11/00)

"Stardust" - Willie Nelson
Country/Folk, review by Seth Mnookin
Willie Nelson's 20-year-old masterpiece of classic songs, "Stardust," is re-released. (10/29/99)

Teatro - Willie Nelson
Country/Folk
A stark meditation on love that mixes new Nelson songs with tunes from his early-'60s catalog.
(09/02/98)

Central Reservation - Beth Orton
Country/Folk
The young English folkie's voice is so disarmingly good that it's worth ignoring her clichéd lyrics
(02/16/99)

"Christmas With Buck Owens and His Buckaroos" and "Christmas Shopping" - Buck Owens
Country, review by Gary Kaufman
Two Buck Owens reissues imagine Christmas as a mostly secular holiday. (12/16/99)

"The Real Mr. Heartache: The Little Darlin' Years" - Johnny Paycheck
Country, review by Milo Miles
The best of Johnny Paycheck: White trash alcoholic mayhem (1/7/97)

The Moscow Hold - Utah Phillips
Folk/Country, review by Simon Rodberg
Utah Phillips tells Old West tales and hardscrabble anecdotes. But don't call him a folk singer. (08/25/99)

In Spite of Ourselves - John Prine
Country/Folk, review by Rachel Elson
For "In Spite of Ourselves," John Prine enlisted Iris DeMent, Lucinda Williams, Trisha Yearwood and others for a set of great country love songs. (09/24/99)

Live On Tour - John Prine
Country, review by Mike Britten
In a world where even John Prine can be found on the Information Superhighway, a disc like the good-natured and laid-back "Live on Tour" may be just the thing to calm you down. (04/23/97)

Middlessence - Amy Rigby
Country/Folk
Her sweet voice carries the weight of post-divorce anxieties in songs that move away from her folk and country trademarks.
(09/23/98)

Crown of Jewels - Randy Scruggs
Country/Folk
One of the hidden masters of contemporary Nashville.
(08/19/98)

If I Had a Hammer: Songs of Hope and Struggle - Pete Seeger
Folk
A best-of drawn from the folksinger's greatest and most galvanizing work (05/27/98)

Pete - Pete Seeger
Country/Folk, review by Sam Hurwitt
Pete Seeger, the folk legend and onetime Red Scare target, sounds great on his first studio album in 17 years. (5/27/96)

OX - Elliot Smith
Country/Folk
Songs from this alt-folk success story are true to tradition but shuffle along drearily.
(08/26/98)

The Anthology of American Folk Music - Harry Smith
Folk, review by Alex Abramovich
Even today, 45 years after it's initial release, an entire generation of musicians inspired by Harry Smith lapse into reverential, religious terms when speaking of "The Anthology of American Folk Music" -- and record stores are having a hard time keeping the Smithsonian's reissue in stock. (10/06/97)

Treasures Left Behind: Remembering Kate Wolf - Various artists
Country/Folk
Lucinda Williams and Nanci Griffith are among those lending their considerable talents to the interpretations of Wolf's touching, deceptively simple songs.
(09/23/98)

Largo - Various Artists
Country/Folk
A pleasing collection of folk-rock performances that fit into the rootsy Americana format (06/03/98)

Will Sing for Food - Various
Country
Fifteen artists pay tribute to the tunes of Dwight Yoakam (06/10/98)

Hell Among the Yearlings - Gillian Welch
Country/Folk
The spirit and sound of early Carter family and traditional bluegrass.
(07/29/98)

Car Wheels on a Gravel Road - Lucinda Williams
Country/Folk
The path to Lucinda Williams' "Car Wheels" was paved with good intentions
(07/01/98)

Revival - Gillian Welch
Country/Folk, review by Lori Leibovich
Country-folk neo-traditionalist Gillian Welch's dazzling debut. (4/22/96)