Every year, when I write this brief introduction to annual favorites in the life of this reviewer, I feel the need to stress that this list is hardly meant to be definitive. I haven't heard everything, can't hear everything, and wouldn't want to hear everything. The amount of music in the roots genres I favor is such that a full accounting, even if one were possible, would crowd out any chance to live a normal life or to pursue other interests. Aside from that, I'm expressing -- admittedly informed by an abundance of listening experience -- what are in the end nothing more than personal opinions and preferences. You're free to agree or disagree, and I won't be offended.

In any event, these are what I consider the cream of the albums that entered my house in 2019. (In one instance, Ian & Sylvia's two-disc The Lost Tapes, the songs were cut nearly five decades ago but released only this year, thus making them "new" in my definition.) Beyond this, I'm sure I missed a lot of good stuff, but what are you gonna you do? There's no larger meaning than that I liked the music (even if sometimes imperfect) and it stuck in memory. I do hope, however, that some of you will be inspired to check out particular recordings and performers. Independent artists, who labor for love and struggle outside the mainstream, deserve your support.

Over the course of the year, I reviewed most (though not all) of what appears below in Rambles.NET. Two or three further titles will be covered before the year fades away. I might add that I don't know any of these artists personally. My only contact, if that much, has been the occasional quick email exchange. I make a point not to review recordings by friends. Consequently, their nonappearance does not signify adverse judgment. To the contrary, they'd be here if not for my possibly misapplied scruples.

Asterisks indicate that the album so marked has been reviewed here. Click the title to read the review.

*Altered Five Blues Band, Ten Thousand Watts (Blind Pig)
*Miss Bix & the Blues Fix, We Don't Own the Blues (independent)
*Mike Block, Walls of Time (Bright Shiny Things)
*John Chaffee, Seldom Sung (Arabica)
*Debra Cowan, Greening the Dark (Muzzy House Music)

*Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves, Allison de Groot & Tatiana Hargreaves (Free Dirt)
Dervish, The Great Irish Songbook (Rounder)
*Steve Earle & the Dukes, Guy (New West)
*Ebony Hillbillies, 5 Miles from Town (independent)
*Dori Freeman, Every Single Star (Blue Hens Music)

*Tim Gartland, Satisfied (Taste Good Music)
Rhiannon Giddens with Francesco Turrisi, There is No Other (Nonesuch)
Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah, Leyla McCalla & Allison Russell, Songs of Our Native Daughters (Smithsonian Folkways)
Myles Goodwyn, Friends of the Blues 2 (Linus)
*Larry Hanks, The Last Wagon (Zippety Whippet Music)

*Chuck Hawthorne, Fire Out of Stone (3 Notches Music)
Joe Hott, West Virginia Rail (Rural Rhythm)
*Steve Howell & Jason Weinheimer, History Rhymes (Out of the Past Music)
*Kelly Hunt, Even the Sparrow (Rare Bird)
*Ian & Sylvia, The Lost Tapes (Stony Plain)

*Mary Lane, Travelin' Woman (Women of the Blues)
Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, Live in Prague (Billy Blue)
*Mara Levine, Facets of Folk (MBL)
*Colin Linden & Luther Dickinson, Amour (Stony Plain)
Natalie MacMaster, Sketches (MacMaster Music)

*Amy McCarley, MECO (MECO)
*Jesse McReynolds & Friends, The Bull Mountain Moonshiners' Way (Pinecastle)
Ian Noe, Between the Country (National Treasury)
Lisa O'Neill, Heard a Long Gone Song (River Lea)
*Rod Picott, Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil (Welding)

The Revelers, At the End of the River (independent)
*Runa, Ten: The Errant Night (independent)
The Seldom Scene, Changes (Rounder)
Warren Storm, Taking the World by Storm (APO)
*Bob Sumner, Wasted Love Songs (independent)

*Tui, Pretty Little Mister (independent)
*Benny Turner & Cash McCall, Going Back Home (Nola Blue)
Donna Ulisse, Time for Love (Billy Blue)
*April Verch, Once a Day (Slab Town)
Ben Winship, Acorns (Snake River)

Editor's note: You can find a complete list of Jerome's many reviews here.