Sorry about the dead audio space at 25:18. It’s not long - and it’s just a clip I forgot to delete. I’d already said it. You don’t miss anything!

I learned about Charles Wesley Godwin in January and he has since become my absolute favorite and I've turned my father, my father-in-law, wife, and kids into fans.

My favorite album this year was Colter Wall’s Little Songs. Just loved the overall sound of it.

Just thought I'd mention my two favorites of the year: Brennen Leigh's Ain't Through Honky Tonkin' Yet and Colter Wall's Little Song. Great to hear some artists keeping it traditional and authentic, in their own way.

Really glad that Lucky made the top 5. Easily one of my favorite albums of the year! So many fantastic songs on that album.

Really happy that my favorite, Charles Wesley Godwin's Family Ties, made your list. 'Another Leaf' is a masterpiece. Can't remember being blown away by any other similar media in a while. Teenage Dixie is my other favorite of the year. 10/10 album.

Rolling up the welcome mat (for good) adds a cool twist with the last song. Mountain with a view’s first line is “it’s 7AM” as she’s trying to grieve over the breakup and How Do I Do This ends with “now it’s 7 on the dot” as she’s getting picked up for a first date. Signaling the close of that chapter and the start of a new one. It’s so beautiful and I think it’s cool how we saw her process this EP in real time.

No Leather is crazy

So glad to see Josiah and the Bonnevilles on this list! Kentucky flood is a brilliantly written song. Keep up the good work Grady!

Drayton Farley's "Twenty on High" was my top album of the year. I got to see him in Milwaukee and he poured his heart out on stage to less than 70 people it seemed like. Was an awesome experience.

From the rock/metal scene, my favorite country album was Hardy’s “mockingbird & Crow”. It was cool to hear post grunge come back with a southern twang

Here’s my top 10! Not a all country but the majority is- 1. Weathervanes- Jason Isbell & the 400 2. Everything Harmony- Lemon Twigs 3. Zach Bryan- Zach Bryan 4. A Cat in the Rain- Turnpike Troubadours 5. Family Ties- Charles Wesley Godwin 6. Higher- Chris Stapelton 7. Lucky- Sumbuck 8. Drink the River- Gabe Lee 9. Cut Worms- Cut Worms 10. Little Songs- Colter Wall

Love these lists, was a number of albums that i haven`t heard yet which will be good to check out over the holidays. My fav 10 are 1 Charles Wesley Godwin-Family ties 2 Gabe Lee -Drink the river 3 Jason Isbell- Weathervanes 4 Turnpike Troubadors- A cat in the rain 5 Vince Gill and Paul Franklin-Sweet memories 6 Flatland Cavalry-Wandering star 7 Chris Stapleton-Higher 8Ashley McBryde-The devil i know 9The wilder blue-Supernatural 10Cody Johnson-Leather

Glad to see both Gettin’ Old and Lucky inside the top 10, but I really respect Can’t Hide Country at No. 2. It’s personally my favorite release this year. Pretty much every single track on that album is very good to great, and that’s crazy impressive for a debut. Side note: my girlfriend and I got tickets to see Blake Shelton in Wichita this spring solely because Emily Ann Roberts is one of the openers and we wanted to see her since she’s the first artist we both discovered at the same time.

Great list. Turnpike had the album of the year for me but overall it was a great year for bands I love.

For me my favorite album of the year not just country was Weathervanes by Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit. This is a once in a lifetime album like I mean Blond on Blond by Bob Dylan, Hunky Dory by David Dowie, Abby Road by the Beatles level of flawless and masterful. This album has the best lyric writing I have ever heard in my life, best vocals I have ever heard in country music ever, the instrumentation and song writing is mind blowing. Every time I listen to this album it brings me to tears. Its not just my fav album of the year its my fav album of the decade so far. life changing album.

Charles Wesley Godwin's album is one of my favorites of this year. He's about to be a big name in country music, for sure. However, Colter Wall's Little Sings is my favorite for this year. It should've been, at minimum, an honorable mention. Cat in the Rain, by Turnpike Troubadours is another good one that should've been mentioned.

Great video, but I’m shocked by this list. Like no Gabe Lee, Colby Acuff, Drayton Farley, Colter Wall, or Turnpike is crazy

Charles Wesley Godwin's is BY FAR my favorite album of the year. I cant even pick a favorite song off of it, there is not a single miss. Hes gonna be a superstar one day.

I’m so glad you included Rolling Up the Welcome Map, it’s so fascinating

Turnpike and Cody Johnson and Ashley McBryde didn't make this list. I'm a little surprised by that, but other than that, it was a good list. I really liked Megan Merony's Lucky Album and glad it made it on this list.

Thank you for „Rolling up the Welcome Mat“ in your top 10! I Love This Album so much. 💙👋🏼

The annual event! Grady was one of the inspirations to start my channel after finding his stop the snaps vid.

Mockingbird & The Crow or Whitsitt Chapel for me. It really feels like this year has been huge in terms of the Rock scene being more integrated in Nashville, these two albums and artists like Hardy, Jelly and Brantley among others being at the forefront of that 🤘🏼

Great list, Grady. These albums are great. My personal top 5 are 5. Country Gonna Be Alright 4. Leather 3. Higher 2. Family Ties 1. Teenage Dixie

Excellent choices. People got to not sleep on Megan Moroney, she's legit. I've been addicted to Lucky the past couple months . 10. Joy Oladokun - Proof of Life 9. Ian Munsick - White Buffalo 8. Megan Moroney - Lucky 7. Zach Bryan - Zach Bryan 6. Cody Johnson - Leather 5. Luke Combs - Getting’ Old 4. Caleb Lee Hutchinson - Southern Galactic 3. Emily Ann Roberts - Cant Hide Country 2. Muscadine Bloodline - Teenage Dixie 1. Chris Stapleton - Higher HM: Ashley McBryde - The Devil I Know, Brothers Osborne - Brothers Osborne, Darius Rucker - Carolyns Boy, Riley Green - Aint my Last Rodeo, Colby Acuff - Western White Pines, Jake Worthington - Jake Worthington

I got the pleasure to meet CWG in Atlanta this year. He was great and signed a couple vinyls for me. I give you @Grady Smith a shoutout too.

Hey Grady, just curious if you had a chance to listen to Colby Acuff's "Western White Pines" at some point. That to me was a top 5-10 album of the year, especially with the phenomenal deluxe tracks. Also CWG being #1 is all I wanted for Christmas. 🔥

I’m really surprised Gabe Lee’s album didn’t make your top 10. Can’t argue with CWG at number 1. And thank you for doing these. your top 10s introduced me to Gabe Lee, CWG, and others.

All December I’ve been looking out for a County Music Advent Calendar part 2! Know it may have been a special one time video idea for hitting 200k, but I keep hoping for another one! One of my favs!

Lauren Watkins, Wyatt Flores, Megan Maroney and CWG had some of my favorites this year. Really believe Lauren Watkins is going to blow up in 2024!

I didn't even hope you'd mention Emily Ann, but I was pleasantly surprised. I've been following here since the Voice, so I'm really happy she starts getting recognition she deserves. In the era of country-pop she's very refreshing.

something about wyatt flores cover art is his focus on skeletons with major references towards the day of the dead and his hispanic heritage

You have introduced me to so many artists I would never have found otherwise, but. And I feel it’s a big but, no room for Morgan Wade on any of your lists. Her two albums are two of my favourite albums ever. She is easily my most played artist of the last couple of years. Two wonderful albums without a single dud.

Here’s my top 25 albums out of the 52 I listened to this year: 1. Zach Bryan- Zach Bryan 2. Twenty on High- Drayton Farley 3. Teenage Dixie- MB 4. Gettin Old- Luke Combs 5. Family Ties-Charles Wesley Godwin 6. Cat in the Rain- Turnpike Troubadours 7. Psychopath- Morgan Wade 8. We’re Young Alright- Aidan Canfield 9. I Hate Cowboys- Chase Rice 10. Chasing a Simple Feeling- Scott Wolverton 11. West on I-10- Evan Honer 12. Here’s To You. Here’s To Me.- William Beckmann 13. Wandering Star- Flatland Calvary 14. Drink the River- Gabe Lee 15. Western White Pines- Colby Acuff 16. Have a Nice Day- Treaty Oak Revival 17. Life Lessons- Wyatt Flores 18. Allergy Season- Levi Turner 19. Little Songs- Colter Wall 20. Lucky- Megan Moroney 21. Endurance- Josiah and the Bonnevilles 22. Bonfire Blackout- Gavin Adcock 23. Never Enough- Parker McCollum 24. Ain’t My Last Rodeo- Riley Green 25. Where the Time Goes- Clayton Mullen

Muscadine blood line was my favorite band this year. And it’s thanks to you that I found them. Just a guy from Oregon that wants to move south because of them. 😅

For me, Drink the River by Gabe Lee is the best album of the year, country or otherwise.

most definitely Zach’s self-titled. I love how it is such a departure from his other material sonically, the addition of horns specifically, but yet simultaneously feels like it’s spelunking Zach’s mind all the same as the other albums, just using a few fresh avenues to get there. (Just wish there were a few more upbeat tracks). also I am so here for the Wyatt Flores-asaince

No Weathervanes by Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit?

One song I recommend you check out is “Bench Seat” by Chase Rice. It is a song that actually made me emotional. That’s not easy to do to me through song.

Weird silent portion at the 25:00 mark

Cool video--there's some stuff on here I should explore. My top 10 Country/Americana are: 1. Pony Bradshaw / North Georgia Rounder 2 Gabe Lee / Drink the RIver 3 Megan Moroney / Lucky 4 Charles Wesley Godwin / Family Ties 5 Luke Combs / Gettin' Old 6 Jason Isbell / Weathervanes 7 Channing Wilson / Dead Man 8 Brennen Leigh / Ain't Through Honky Tonkin' Yet 9 Colter Wall / Little Songs 10 Joes Stamm Band / Wild Man

I’m gonna be honest gettin old was by far my favorite album this year and also Luke’s best album of his career.

Nice! According to my Spotify wrapped, Jason Aldean was my most listened to artist of the year and my top 5 songs of the year were not country at all. 5. Broken 4. Something to Die For 3. Hero 2. Stronger than Before 1. On the Inside

There are good choices in there. Some 2023 albums I enjoyed was Marty Stuart's "Altitude" and the Hank 4 debut

Megan getting her flowers like she deserves makes me so happy so thank you for being one of the few i’ve seen that see how great LUCKY really is grady. you’re the man 🙌🏻🤙🏻

Weathervanes and Drinks the River is in my top 10 list. But I understand why Gabe's album would go over the ears of some listeners. It's too perfect.

Colter Wall's Little Songs was my personal favorite album of the year, but many good albums that you can't really go wrong with

I listened to Chase Rice’s album the most by far. I think I was surprised at how much I loved it compared to his previous albums where I just liked some songs. But I would say my top albums that I loved from this year are: 1. Mockingbird and the Crow - Hardy 2. I Hate Cowboys and All Dogs Go to Hell - Chase Rice 3. The Girl I Was - Jenna Paulette 4. Lucky - Megan Moroney 5. Pretty Little Poison - Warren Zeiders I would agree with your statements of enjoying The Crow side of Hardy’s a bit more than the other and how clever Megan’s songwriting is

I LOVE Emily Ann Roberts album! My infant son and I sing/jam to “Whole Lotta Little” nearly every day. Also “The Building” just makes me bawl every time I hear it. Love the country strings/twang in this album!

I feel like this is the only KZfaq channel talking about independent country artists. Grady you are a legend! Keep it up!

Chris Stapleton had country album of the year

Great list! My wife does Megan’s makeup. Megan is a real as it gets. Genuinely southern, nice, country, loyal, and good person. She also does Emily’s. Also, super nice and southern. She lived those songs. Very cool, great list.

I was basically screaming pure joy when you said Alexandra Kay! I have been obsessed with her since 2021 and I don’t think you’ve ever brought her up, but maybe I’m wrong haha. But yessss, I feel so vindicated today! As always, I loved the video and I’m excited for another year of country music critiques, complaints, and compliments with our favorite country analyst. 😂😂😂

Lucky is well deserved top five,it’s my personal favorite album of the year just because of how funny and clever her songs are,I truly don’t think there is a bad song on it and she’s also just so funny/sarcastic in her live shows and it’s awesome.

I’m a new subscriber here, I’ll have to look into some of the artists I’m not familiar with mentioned in the video. CWG and Zach Bryan’s album were probably my favorite albums of the year, with Family ties and I remember everything 2 of my favorite songs of this year. I also loved Jake Worthington’s, Christ Stapleton’s, Cody Johnson’s, and Parker McCollum’s albums.

Awesome review Grady. I listened to stapleton's album about 20 times in a row haha. Still wondering why you haven't said a word about Nate Smith.. he had a killer album this year. Also Muscadine Bloodline is killing it; but another country duo that should get some love is the Brothers Osborne! Their album was fantastic with beautiful and intricate guitar and power low vocals, with just a gratefulness of living life. Cheers Grady!

Megan getting the respect she deserves 💗

As usual excellent takes. Most underrated on your list is Josiah and the Bonnevilles.

I loved “Family Ties” and “Miner Imperfections” in particular. I’m wondering whether you’ve had a chance to listen to Billy Strings’ Dec. 8 release? For purposes of year end lists, is that a song or an album? The 38 minute jam band performance is definitely different from what others are doing. My top would be: 1. Rustin’ in the Rain 2. Family Ties 3. Billy Strings Meet Me at the Creek/Pyramid Country/Must Be Seven/Meet Me at the Creek - if you call it an album 4. Higher 5. Cat in the Rain.

CWG had one of just the best country albums of all time and sooo glad it took home number 1!

Leaving out Cat in the Rain is probably an oversight, if for no other reason than Turnpike is back and the album was excellent. CWG is very deserving, no question. It's probably a dark horse , and maybe not truly a 2023 "album" (of new material) but it's one of my absolute favorites of the year; Mike and the Moonpies Live at the Devil's Backbone is fantastic from start to finish.

TBH didn't notice the hair until you pointed it out

My favorite album is definitely Teenage Dixie!!! My top 4 wrapped songs are from the album (number 1 being Teenage Dixie), and I still listen to it all the time!

I keep going back over and over to Jake Worthington's self titled release of 2023.

Can't wait to see "worst country songs of 2023"

I went to a Carly Pearce concert and didn’t know who the opener was. Turns out, it was Emily Ann Roberts. I had never heard of her but her voice was so beautiful and she did amazing. I was tearing up when she sang, “The Building,” and I still love that song now

Thank you, Grady for introducing me to CWG, Seneca Creek still hurts my soul the best

Grady! I know I'm late, but please listen to Welcome by The Arcadian Wild (or anything by them). If I could just pick one song to hook you in, I think you'd like the interesting vocal layering and subject of Dopamine.

As a new dad, the Charles Wesley Godwin is resonating with me more than any of the others. Glad it's your number 1 and it was my highest ranking country album on my overall list of best albums of 2023. Treat Oak Revival is bad ass and The Wilder Blue, man!!! LOVE that album, thanks for the recommendation. Love the cover of Seven Bridges Road. Probably the best cover of that song I've heard.

Not the teenage broccoli hair! 🤣Great content per usual. Really enjoyed Logan Halstead’s album this year personally! Don’t truly know the Turnpike catalog but dug a lot on the new one.

Grady thank you for giving my favorite artist his praises. Charles is the greatest musician in country right now and deserves every bit of success he receives.

No Gabe Lee Drink the River though! 🤨

12:59 the new "THICKET"

CWG at #1 is well-deserved! I really enjoyed Turnpike, Vincent Neal Emerson, and that Zach Russell album that just came out too.

Yay!! The best part of the year! Can't wait for more! My favorite albums: Can't Hide Country- Emily Ann Roberts Leather- Cody Johnson Do it Anyway- Jade Eagleson Family Ties- Charles Wesley Godwin Only 4 but these albums have the most songs I've listened to this year!

You definitely got it right this year. No better artist, no better album. Great job.

I am guessing Bell Bottom Country did not come out in 2023 because this is my favorite album right now.

Not a criticism, but just an observation that names such as Jason Isbell, Cody Johnson, Gabe Lee, Morgan Wade, and Larry Fleet aren't on here. Maybe you're right about the "year of the anonymous album"

Nice to see CWG on top. Great album. Another great artist I discover thanks to this channel.

For me the best album was damn love. for me the theme of finding love really struck home along with all the alternative rock sounds with kips, classic southern rock style did it for me

Glad you shouted out out my girl Alexandra Kay 🥰 That album has been on repeat since the second it dropped!

Colter Wall didn't at least get an honorable mention, Grady?

So stoked that I got to see 4 of the top 10 this year (Wilder Blue, ZB, Wyatt Flores, and CWG). Any one of those acts are worth the price of admission!

Let's go Charles!!! He comes to Salt Lake once a year and my wife and I are always there. His on stage presence is even better than on the album. His band is so good too. They're dynamic and fun. Al his guitarist even got up on the banister of the second story and was shredding guitar during the concert. He and his band well deserved number one album.

I discovered Jess Williamson's Time Ain't Accidental after Thanksgiving (it came out in June) and it's my favorite album of the year. It's a shame that it hasn't gotten more attention. "Hunter" and the title track are perfect songs.

Great list! Emily Ann Roberts album is my fave of 2023- Still Searching ❤. I thought Dan and Shay might get a mention. Loved their latest. 👍🏻❤️

Leather not even being an honorable mention is disrespectful!

intro fiddle😢😢😢

Family ties, weathervanes, Rustin in the rain, wandering star, cat in the rain, city of gold, the man from Waco (technically 2022 but I found it this year). are my tops for the year. Just off the top of my head. Man, so much good music this year.

10. Getting Old 9. We're Young Alright 8. Rolling up the Welcome Mat Honorable Mentions: One Thing at a Time, Flower Shop the Album Two Dozen Roses, All I've Ever Known, Have a Nice Day, Southern Galactic, Son of Dad 7. Endurance 6. Zach Bryan 5. Life Lessons 4. Lucky More honorable mentions: Rusting in the Rain, The Mockingbird and the Crow, Teenage Dixie, Supernatural, The Hunger Games soundtrack 3. Higher 2. Can't Hide Country 1. Family Ties

So glad to see Aidan Canfield and Wyatt Flores on here. Amazing albums, and the closer on Life Lessons is easily the best of the year

Thank you very much for mentioning Treaty Oak Revival. Great band!

Josiah and the Bonnevilles recognition is the best kind of recognition

in shock that grady didn’t include Drink the River

Jess Williamson’s “Time Ain’t Accidental” deserves at minimum an honorable mention! Check it out if you haven’t!

All I can say is that my friend hates country music but he loves the “sleep on my side” song. That album is amazing and full of great sounding songs.

Teenage Dixie was my favorite album of the year. But I have 0 gripes with your list! Love the content!

If Family Ties isnt at least top 3 we riot Edit & SPOILER: all is right in the world!!

I will never not laugh at the Garth Hotel Room Clip.