Welcome to the fifth consecutive Best Albums of the Year here at Hidden Track. Hopefully, you know by now that we pride ourselves on covering music that spans any genre, any age, any geography and any instrumental makeup. To us, good music is good music. Period.

So, you can rest assured of the one thing that will always make our list a cut above the rest: we consider everything. Our submissions include all styles of music from bluegrass to jazz, jam to indie, electronica to rap, as well as everything in between. At the end of the day, we’re a diverse open-minded music blog. Our writers work here because they have great taste in music, and thus they are encouraged simply to write about what catches their interest. We have no motives, no editorial biases and no strings attached. We hope that comes across in our picks.

So, let’s kick off our week-long celebration of the HT staff’s favorite albums of 2012 with numbers 25 through 21…

25) Old Crow Medicine Show – Carry Me Back

Sounds Like: The modern torchbearers of Bill Monore’s high and lonesome sound

Key Tracks: Carry Me Back, Levi, Bootlegger’s Boy

The Skinny: Long before it was cool to play acoustic foot-stomping Americana music, there was the Old Crow Medicine Show. The Nashville-based band, who have been around since 1998, could arguably be credited with planting the seeds the genre’s current boom – thanks in part to the popularity of their “breakout hit” Wagon Wheel. For their first album since 2008, the band welcomed back founding member Critter Fuqua, and delivered a modern Americana classic steeped in bourbon-soaked bluegrass, dusty country and traditional Appalachian folk sounds. While there has been a question about the authenticity of the newer generation of roots acts, OCMS are undoubtedly the real McCoy.

- Jeffrey Greenblatt

• Spotify Playlist: Hidden Track’s Top 25 Albums Of 2012
  
• Previously On HT: Top 25 Albums Of 2011

24) First Aid Kit – The Lion’s Roar

READ ON

A quick internet search for The Tallest Man On Earth yields a number of web pages and pictures of the actual tallest man on Earth – the 7’9” Bao Xishun of China, but also you’ll find those linking to the music of the croaky voiced Swedish singer-songwriter born Kristian Matsson. The folkie, whose highly recommend sophomore alum Wild Hunt came out earlier this year, has just released this video for Love Is All that features some pretty cool, old school, vintage Super-8 home movie footage…

Tallest Man On Earth – Love Is All

The Tallest Man On Earth will kick off a month-long European tour on November 11, and will drop the new five-song EP – Sometimes The Blues Is Just A Passing Bird – next Tuesday, November 9th.