Best music of 2024: From roots rock to bluegrass, what resonated with our Walter Tunis

Songs of discounted cowboys and lost worlds, journeys that reach from Transatlantic skies to the moon and music that boasts a bluegrass summit, a roots rock jubilee and prog-inspired improvs. All that and more sit at the core of the finest new recordings to hit my ears over the past year.

My annual list, like so many others similarly compiled as 2024 concludes, is purely subjective. While the usual “best of” tag applies to a modest but an avoidable degree, this list is presented more as a scrapbook of favorites — 10 recordings of new music released within the last 12 months that still personally resonate as 2025 draws nearer.

As in past years, the entries here are not ranked. All are equals. All are recommended.

And all make great gifts.

Sierra Ferrell: “Trail of Flowers”

Tagged initially as a bluegrass revivalist, Ferrell sings on “Trail of Flowers” with the depth and detail of a country scribe conveying every road mile she has clocked along with the toil it has exacted. A yearning for home in “American Dreaming,” for instance, bring this confession: “I’d take better care of myself, I’d stop drinkin’ from the bottom shelf, but my old wheels keep spinnin’ and I cannot make them stop.” Here, Ferrell further cements her role as an Americana titan.

Laurie Anderson: “Amelia”

Laurie Anderson’s finest music through the decades has always taken us into an atmospheric plane all her own. “Amelia” makes the journey again, this time with another unflinching woman breaking free of earthbound anchors, Amelia Earhart, as the muse. “Amelia” is a 22-song flight log, as well as requiem, that flows together like an ambient dream. Anderson remains in the vanguard as a cinematically minded sound sculptor, but she’s an even greater storyteller.

JD McPherson: “Nite Owls”

Having spent much of the past two years on the road as guitar chief for Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, JD McPherson returns to a brand of roots rock that borrows from myriad traditions and generations — from the poppish spin on choppy T. Rex-meets-ZZ Top guitar hooks during “Sunshine Getaway” to the reverb-drenched swamp and surf of “The Phantom Lover of New Rochelle.” A world-class rock ‘n’ roll celebration from first note to last.

The Cure: “Songs of a Lost World”

It’s a bit of a confession for someone who has never been terribly enamored of The Cure to admit their first studio record in 16 years is something of a revelation. On “Songs of a Lost World,” band chieftain Robert Smith takes the dark Goth meditations he has floated and flirted with in the past, placed them front and center and made them sound positively operatic. The whole album unfolds like an epic electric wave that roars and collapses. The results may not be cheery, but they certainly are majestic.

Charley Crockett: “$10 Cowboy”

The country traditions embraced by Charley Crockett on “$10 Cowboy” are so exact and strategic as to be obvious until you realize how most modern Nashville stars jettisoned such homey grandeur ages ago for the more temporary and immediate glories of pop. Crockett sews together songs with stories that are like traveling companions — tales of chance and restlessness colored with discreet twang, country longing and sterling honky-tonk charm.

Ghost Funk Orchestra: “A Trip to the Moon”

The latest offering from multi-instrumentalist Seth Applebaum’s genre-smashing army is a retrofest mash-up of wonderfully diverse styles that run from the ultra-earthy straight into outer space. Literally. Brassy ’70s-inspired jazz, soul and funk alternate between cinematic orchestration and hipster grooves. Tying it all together: snippets of communications from Apollo 11’s historic 1969 moon mission. Truly a record that’s out of this world.

Kim Deal: “Nobody Loves You More”

“Nobody Loves You More” is an extraordinary introduction to an artist who has been on the alt rock front line for four decades, but is just now releasing her debut solo album. It’s a beaut, too — an expansive statement on love, loss, mortality and independence with songs that swirl amid horns and strings, bounce with echoes of blurry pop and, at its best, bend to the brittle will and whims of age.

Tony Trischka: “Earl Jam”

Bluegrass banjo ace Tony Trischka honors one of the genre’s most recognizable innovators, Earl Scruggs, with a distinctive summit. Credit goes to the specificity of Trischka’s premise. “Earl Jam” centers on transcriptions of solos from home recordings Scruggs made with John Hartford in the ’80s and ’90s. The multi-generational guest list — Bela Fleck, Billy Strings, Vince Gill, Del McCoury, Molly Tuttle, Sam Bush, Sierra Ferrell and others — bolsters the fun.

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings: “Woodland”

Who else but the great Gillian Welch can find such humanist detail in the viewing of a passing freight train (“It hit me and hurt me, made my good humor desert me”). “Woodland,” the first album of original songs credited solely to her and longtime partner David Rawlings, is full of vividly descriptive sagas dressed by melodies and harmonies ripe with similarly tasteful color. Quite possibly the most scholarly, emotive and beautiful folk record of 2024.

PAKT: “No Steps Left to Trace”

PAKT, in the case of this prog-informed collective, stands for veteran fretless bassist Percy Jones, metal/prog/jazz guitarist Alex Skolnick, drummer Kenny Grohowski and co-guitarist/electronics meddler Tim Motzer. What they create over the course of the two discs making up “No Steps Left to Trace” (one studio-recorded, the other pulled from live performances) are instrumental improvisations of spacious, subtle and beautifully layered beauty.