SPIN's 20 Best Country & Americana Albums of 2011

Nashville insiders vs. Nashville "outsiders." Curtain calls for all-time legends vs. exhilarating breakthroughs from possible new ones. Alt-country louts seeking contentment vs. rehabilitated alt-country louts finding contentment. Vivid homages to everyone from Hank Williams to Loretta Lynn to Alabama to Steve Earle to Tom Petty. A bizarre year for whatever you think country is, or isn't. And a great one too. Here are some of the album-length highlights.

SPIN's Best of 2011:
• One Fucked Up Year: SPIN's Best of 2011 Issue
• SPIN's 50 Best Albums of 2011
• SPIN's 20 Best Songs of 2011
• SPIN's 40 Best Rap Albums of 2011
• SPIN's 20 Best Metal Albums of 2011
• SPIN's 10 Best Reissues of 2011
• SPIN's 25 Best Live Photos of 2011
• Endless Bummer: 30 Ways 2011 Was a Drag

• 20. Amy Lavere

  Stranger Me (Archer)

  Killer ambient roots-rock breakup anthems mixing tears of rage with just, y'know, tears. Opening line: "Right now / I'll do it right now / Here's your damn love song."

• 19. The Dirt Drifters

  This Is My Blood (Warner Bros.)

  Jon Bon Jovi dreams of making a country-rock album this gritty and raucous, bursting with drinking anthems for dudes who wear gas-station shirts because they actually work at the gas station.

• 18. Glen Campbell

  Ghost on the Canvas (Surfdog)

  The countrypolitan legend faces down Alzheimer's with grace, warmth, and help from songs by Paul Westerberg, Jakob Dylan, and others — his sweet, wistful cover of Guided by Voices' "Hold on Hope" will get you on the phone with grandpa in a hurry.

• 17. Robert Ellis

  Photographs (New West)

  Home: Houston. Age: barely legal. MO: coffeehouse folk mixed with adept trad country (the waltzes!). Likes: watching his girl unpack the Nintendo. Dislikes: cheaters. You'll be friends forever, but don't sass him when he comes home drunk.

• 16. Caitlin Rose

  Own Side Now (ATO)

  Everything we love (admit it) about Zooey Deschanel, relocated to Nashville, toughened and tarted-up, the pedal steel both sanguine and quietly acidic. The Fleetwood Mac cover and the one about getting lost on the Lower East Side both kill.