3 Americana Songs From 2024 That Made Me Cry, Laugh, and Sometimes Both at the Same Time

Wilco released Hot Sun Cool Shroud in 2024. It’s a summery EP from one of alt-country’s pioneers, Jeff Tweedy.

Tweedy is worth mentioning for multiple reasons. First, he had a lot to do with the popularity of Americana music—a catchall category for country adjacent, traditional folk, alternative, and rock music. You don’t get to Americana without Tweedy’s former band Uncle Tupelo. Of course, you don’t get there without Gram Parsons and a bunch of people in between.

That history is wildly incomplete, but it’s useful if only to mention Wilco’s “Hot Sun” from the EP, which acts as a bonus track for this list of three of the best Americana songs of 2024.

“Right Back to It” by Waxahatchee featuring MJ Lenderman from Tigers Blood

This isn’t just one of the best Americana songs of 2024, it’s one of the best. Period. On “Right Back to It,” Katie Crutchfield—who does her rock and roll business as Waxahatchee—details the changing tides of a long-lasting relationship. It extracts the unease, insecurity, and disorientation that accompanies romantic predicaments. She told Rolling Stone, “I thought it might feel untraditional but a little more in alignment with my experience to write about feeling insecure or foiled in some way internally, but always finding your way back to a newness or an intimacy with the same person.”

“She’s Leaving You” by MJ Lenderman from Manning Fireworks

The characters in MJ Lenderman’s songs are often the seedy types. “She’s Leaving You” follows a comically tragic fellow who realizes the free room in Las Vegas isn’t luck. It’s evidence he’s just another sucker ensnared in the neon façade. He spirals darkly as his life falls apart. But Lenderman offsets this broken man with an uplifting chorus. The slacker-dude vocal delivery adds to the situation’s bleakness. Meanwhile, Lenderman played most of the instruments on his latest album, though he’s known for his stellar guitar playing. If you like the off-kilter fuzz of Crazy Horse and John Prine’s wit, then this record is for you.

“Empty Trainload of Sky” by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings from Woodland

The title of this song isn’t meant as a metaphor. Gillian Welch and David Rawlings fought to save their life’s work as the sky raged above them. While a tornado ripped through East Nashville in 2020, Welch and Rawlings were running out of time as the roof of their Woodland Studios gave way. They pushed dollies of instruments through six inches of water while also rescuing the master tapes of their recorded career from the deluge. They thought of naming the album “Empty Trainload of Sky” but chose instead the name of the place they battled nature to save.

Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Americana Music Association