A year in review: The best albums of 2025

Editor’s Note: Since August 2012, Garret K. Woodward has held the position of arts and entertainment editor for The Smoky Mountain News. In December 2018, he also became a contributing writer for Rolling Stone.

Below are a handful of excerpts from my Rolling Stone travels this year covering some of the best albums of 2025, excursions that took me from Western North Carolina to Montana, Florida to Colorado, Tennessee to Utah and then some — always in search of all things beautiful and true, especially when it comes to the sacred, ancient act of live performance. 

Lighting the fuse: New album showcases historic 1925 ‘Asheville Sessions’

A century ago, a record producer from New York City headed into Western North Carolina in search of the sound of Southern Appalachia. Landing in downtown Asheville, Ralph Peer set up a recording space in the former George Vanderbilt Hotel and began work on a series of field recordings that would forever change the course of American music. 

Turn Up The Volume

By Sabrina Matheny • Rumble Contributor | As we were getting ready to find a good breakfast place this morning my partner had a fleeting image in his head of his long underwear. He stepped out onto our patio and decided he only needed a light jacket to stay warm. As we made our way down the tree lined streets towards the restaurant, the grey clouds overtook the sun and the small amount of warmth it was offering. Feeling a chill, he then said to me that he had had an inkling earlier that he should wear more layers and wished he had listened.

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