Happy Holidays from Austin to all the great people and fellow music lovers in my world! I hope you’re all smack dab in the middle of an excellent holiday season and enjoying every minute of this amazing time of year with friends, family and loved ones.
With a mere two weeks remaining in this rather interesting and controversial spin through the calendar, hard to believe, but it’s that time again for my annual spotlight on “this year in music.” While, once again, finding myself avoiding the music industry “mainstream,” in my listening opinion, 2017 has been filled with many fantastic new discoveries, superb debuts, captivating “sophomore” efforts and continued brilliance by industry legends.
In the past, I’ve stuck to narrowing my list of the year’s finest releases down to 10, but this time around, I decided to go with more than less to offer each of you a greater showcase of my faves from the last 12 months. So…drum roll, please…without further adieu…I now share with y’all my “Top 17 Albums of 2017.” Another outstanding year of music and celebration of incredible talent we are so fortunate to be able to appreciate. Once again, I do hope you check out and give a listen to many of my selections and, in doing so, hope you might uncover a few audio gems, yourself.
From here in the Lone Star State, I’m sending a message of peace to each and every one of you, and your families, and wishing you a wonderful holiday season and an incredibly successful 2018 chock full of great health, much happiness, infinite love and laughter! LIVE A GREAT STORY!
Cheers from The “Unofficial Mayor of Austin!”
Randall Metting
Top 17 Albums of 2017
1) Turnpike Troubadours – “A Long Way From Your Heart”
2) Josh Ritter – “Gathering”
3) Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real – “Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real”
4) Chris Stapleton – “From A Room: Volume 1”
5) Jason Isbell & The 400 Unit – “The Nashville Sound”
6) The Lone Bellow – “Walk Into A Storm”
7) Chris Stapleton – “From A Room: Volume 2”
8) Langhorne Slim – “Lost At Last: Volume 1”
9) The War On Drugs – “A Deeper Understanding”
10) Fleet Foxes – “Crack-Up”
11) The National – “Sleep Well Beast”
12) Willie Nelson – “God’s Problem Child”
13) Sunny Sweeney – “Trophy”
14) Robert Plant – “Carry Fire”
15) Margo Price – “All American Made”
16) Tyler Childers – “Purgatory”
17) Mondo Cozmo – “Plastic Soul”
Honorable Mentions: Odesza – “A Moment Apart,” U2 – “Songs Of Experience,” The Secret Sisters – “You Don’t Own Me Anymore
Randall Metting 
Thank you Mayor!
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Thank you brother. I look forward to checking these out. As I always do your suggestions.
Happy Holidays,
Garren
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Hey Randall! Great list of albums. Looking forward to seeing your list for 2018 🙂
dude… a year ago today. I am looking forward to the new one! 🙂
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