7. A Sailor's Guide to Earth / Sturgill Simpson

Sturgill Simpson's A Sailor's Guide to Earth is the best "country" album of the year.  A modern blend of ballads, roots rock, and Southern soul, the album is a life-affirming collection of songs conceived as a series of letters to Simpson's newborn son, with advice ranging from the spiritual ("God is all around you") to the practical ("Motor oil is motor oil / just keep the engine clean").  Simpson's service in the Navy and his time on the road as a musician serve as inspiration in the advice he gives, but they are also a sore spot because of the time he must be away from home.  It's sort of like listening to Waylon Jennings and your wizened veteran uncle drop necessary wisdom against gorgeous strings or saxophone root downs, urging you to make something of yourself, even when your father cannot be there to pick you up.

Though initially hailed as outlaw country's latest incarnation, Simpson moves beyond his excellent debut into surprisingly diverse territory.  He produced the record himself and was given creative freedom to spend his Atlantic Records budget, resulting in inspired studio collaborations like jamming with the Dap Kings on "Keep It Between the Lines."  A Sailor's Guide is essentially everything you could want in a singer-songwriter album, exquisitely produced and perfectly sequenced, packed with a wide range of approaches that showcase Simpson's progressive sensibilities.  His rugged voice, taut lyrics, and classic sense for a bygone Nashville (long taken over by an army of slick and cliche-riddled pop pushers) feels like an achievement worth celebrating.

The opener, "Welcome to Earth (Pollywog)" is a stunner, producing chills in its early crescendo: But the answer was so easy!  The song morphs from spare piano to tremolo strings to stage-clearing rock, with the transitions seamlessly executed, jumpstarting the record's emotional gravity.  Simpson's response to the birth of his first child is touching, and his powerful baritone holds it all together, never straining to sound bona-fide like too many country music posers.

"Breakers Roar" follows on its heels and is flat-out inspiring on every level.  Simpson's brilliant cover of Nirvana's "In Bloom" is arguably the best reinterpretation of the year, turning the song into a vivid portrait of the misunderstood male psyche.  (Though selling the kids for food always gets an easy laugh in the record's otherwise earnest context).

Faith in God without being trite.  Love of country without being hokey.  Loyal to family without being sappy.  Simpson covers many of the same topics found on country radio, he just does it much, much better, and the steel guitars and other instruments throughout are, thankfully, more than just slick hood ornaments.