These days, Sheryl Crow lives in Nashville, which makes perfect sense for an act whose music was always country-inflected. Nobody called her americana when she emerged in the 1990s at the vanguard of Women In Rock, but her voice nestles within the groove of roots music, and she was a great choice of headliner for Black Deer in 2024. Famously a backing vocalist for Michael Jackson on his Bad tour, thanks to the propensity for guitars, either acoustic or electric, Crow’s catalogue can mostly be classed as melodic rock.

Pretty melodies and bleak landscapes combine on this grounded album. “It’s my home, I suppose,” sings Robin Bennett on the title track, which opens the third Dreaming Spires album. It’s about Didcot, the in-between town in the South of England between Oxford and London. Over a dozen tracks, melancholy lyrics are sugared with major-key melodies sung by Bennett in a fragile voice somewhere between Jeff Tweedy and Wayne Coyne.

Yes, it’s a fool’s errand, but this feature helps contributors like me to express their love for particular songs which, to them, define the nebulous americana genre. My top ten includes some of the biggest names in the genre, who offer tracks that boast excellent arrangements and moods. I’m more of a music than a lyrics guy, which may have had a bearing on my choices, which all benefit from being made together in a room full of musicians.

Softly sung set of songs from promising young singer/songwriter. Amanda Grace Schiano, a well-travelled lady now based in Athens, Georgia, is Clover County. Her debut album, given a distribution boost by Thirty Tigers and featuring sensitive production from Carrie K, follows a 2024 EP, which she partly promoted with a gig opening for Lord Huron at Red Rocks Amphitheatre. Her voice fits in with the gentle but punchy timbres of Kacey Musgraves, Megan Moroney, or This Is The Kit.

Nine mostly melancholy tunes from the talented Canadian singer/songwriter. William Prince’s gruff croon is familiar to Radio 2 audiences, and he recently opened for Midland at their three UK shows. His fifth album is the first not to be produced by Dave Cobb; instead, Liam Duncan mans the boards. ‘On Rolls the Wheels’ and ‘For The First Time’ were both pre-released to trail the album.

When I was a student up in Edinburgh, I was on nodding acquaintance with Marcus Mumford, who was playing open mic pub gigs with songs that would eventually be sung in arenas and at Glastonbury. He dropped out to pursue his musical career after only a term, leaving me to get on with undergraduate study. As I was finishing my thesis, his band Mumford & Sons were doing well enough to gain worldwide radio airplay and chart hits.