15 Essential Folk, Country & Americana Vinyl Records
Folk, country and Americana sit in the same broad family of music — songs centred on lyric and melody, often acoustic, frequently rooted in a specific place and time. The boundaries between them are loose, and many of the best records cross from one tradition into another. This guide picks fifteen albums currently in stock at Viking Records that work as a balanced starting point across all three.
Seven are from the folk tradition — English and American singer-songwriters from the late 1960s to the contemporary indie-folk revival. Five are foundational Americana records that helped define the genre. The final three are country picks, ranging from a definitive classic-country collection to a contemporary chart-topper.
If you're new to building a vinyl collection generally, our starter guide for new collectors is a useful companion read.
→ Shop the full Folk, Country & Americana collection at Viking Records
Part One: The Folk Canon
Seven folk records spanning sixty years — from the 1960s singer-songwriter boom through the British folk-rock revival to contemporary indie-folk.
Bob Dylan — Blood on the Tracks (1975)
Of all the Dylan records Viking stocks, Blood on the Tracks is the one most commonly recommended as a starting point. Recorded after the breakdown of his first marriage, it's the album where Dylan stopped writing about politics and history and started writing about his own life with a directness he'd previously avoided. "Tangled Up in Blue," "Simple Twist of Fate," and "Idiot Wind" are the songs most listeners come back to.
This LP pressing presents the album clean and uncluttered, with the original artwork. The natural midpoint of his catalogue — looking back at his early acoustic work and forward to the late-career renaissance that followed.
Key track: Tangled Up in Blue
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Bob Dylan — Blood on the Tracks (1975, Vinyl LP) In stock at Viking Records — new, sealed, fast UK delivery. |
Joni Mitchell — Hejira (1976)
Hejira is widely regarded as Joni Mitchell's late masterpiece — recorded after a series of long solo drives across North America, with arrangements built around Jaco Pastorius's fretless bass and Mitchell's open-tuned electric guitar work. The songs are long, jazz-inflected, and lyrically more elliptical than her earlier work. "Coyote," "Amelia," and the title track are the highlights.
This 2024 remastered 180g LP is the version most fans would point to — taken from the original Asylum tapes and well-cut. A consistent best-seller in the Viking catalogue and a foundational record for anyone interested in modern folk songwriting.
Key track: Amelia
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Joni Mitchell — Hejira (2024 Remastered, 180g LP) In stock at Viking Records — new, sealed, fast UK delivery. More Joni Mitchell on vinyl · Browse Folk, Country & Americana |
Cat Stevens — Tea For The Tillerman (1970)
Tea For The Tillerman was Cat Stevens's fourth album and the one that took him from cult artist to global figure. Recorded with producer Paul Samwell-Smith (formerly of The Yardbirds), the album sets Stevens's acoustic guitar against light orchestral arrangements and a small group of session players. "Wild World," "Father and Son," and "Where Do the Children Play?" all became standards.
The 2025 UMR Reissue is the most recent pressing in print and currently a strong seller at Viking. A foundational record of the late-60s/early-70s folk-pop tradition.
Key track: Father and Son
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Cat Stevens — Tea For The Tillerman (2025 UMR Reissue, LP) In stock at Viking Records — new, sealed, fast UK delivery. |
Nick Drake — Pink Moon (1972)
Pink Moon was Nick Drake's third and final studio album, recorded over two nights with just his voice, his guitar, and a single piano overdub on the title track. He died two years later, aged 26. The record received almost no attention on release, but in the decades since it's become one of the most quietly influential folk albums ever made.
This 180g reissue is taken from the original Island Records tapes. Best heard whole, at a quiet hour, with no distractions.
Key track: Pink Moon
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Nick Drake — Pink Moon (1972, 180g Vinyl LP) In stock at Viking Records — new, sealed, fast UK delivery. |
"Pink Moon and For Emma, Forever Ago bookend the modern folk tradition — quiet records that prove how much can be said with very little."
Leonard Cohen — Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967)
Cohen was 33 when he released his first album, having spent his twenties as a published poet and novelist in Montreal and Greece. Songs of Leonard Cohen contains "Suzanne," "So Long, Marianne," and "Hey, That's No Way to Say Goodbye" — three of the most-covered songs in the modern folk repertoire — and the album as a whole established the slow, conversational style he carried for the next five decades.
The 180g remastered edition is well-cut, with the original John Berg sleeve. A foundational record for anyone interested in the singer-songwriter tradition.
Key track: Suzanne
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Leonard Cohen — Songs of Leonard Cohen (1967, 180g Vinyl LP) In stock at Viking Records — new, sealed, fast UK delivery. More Leonard Cohen on vinyl · Browse Folk, Country & Americana |
Bon Iver — For Emma, Forever Ago (2007)
Recorded by Justin Vernon over a winter spent alone in a Wisconsin cabin, For Emma is one of the foundational records of the contemporary indie-folk movement. The production is rough by design — close-mic'd acoustic guitar, layered falsetto vocals, occasional small ornaments — and the songs are short, simple, and emotionally direct. "Skinny Love" became one of the most-licensed indie-folk tracks of the late 2000s.
The vinyl pressing includes a download code for the digital version. If you've enjoyed Fleet Foxes or any of the wave of folk-revival acts that followed, this is where the modern sound starts.
Key track: Skinny Love
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Bon Iver — For Emma, Forever Ago (2007, Vinyl LP) In stock at Viking Records — new, sealed, fast UK delivery. |
Fleet Foxes — Helplessness Blues (2011)
Fleet Foxes' second album, and the one most fans would point to as their best. Helplessness Blues took three years to make and shows it — denser arrangements than the debut, more complex song structures, and an obvious love of mid-century English and American folk groups (the Pentangles and Fairport Conventions of the world). The title track and "Montezuma" are the highlights, but the album is best heard whole.
This 2xLP pressing gives the layered choral arrangements proper room to breathe — important for music this textured.
Key track: Helplessness Blues
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Fleet Foxes — Helplessness Blues (2011, 2× Vinyl LP) In stock at Viking Records — new, sealed, fast UK delivery. |
Part Two: The Americana Tradition
Five Americana records — the term wasn't in widespread use when most of these were released, but each one helped define what the genre would become.
The Band — Music From Big Pink (1968)
Music From Big Pink was named after the house in upstate New York where The Band rehearsed and recorded much of the album. It came out at the height of psychedelia and pointed firmly in the opposite direction — country, gospel, blues and folk played by five musicians who sounded like they'd been playing together for a hundred years. "The Weight" became one of the most-covered songs of the late 1960s.
This 180g pressing is the version most fans would recommend. The album's warmth and texture come through particularly well on a good system.
Key track: The Weight
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The Band — Music From Big Pink (1968, 180g LP) In stock at Viking Records — new, sealed, fast UK delivery. |
The Band — The Band (1969)
Their second album, often considered the better of the two — though most long-term fans love them equally. The Band (sometimes called the "brown album" after its cover) is Robbie Robertson's most focused songwriting, with "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down" and "Up on Cripple Creek" both becoming standards of the era. The arrangements are tighter than Big Pink; the songs more polished.
Worth owning alongside Big Pink — together they cover almost everything the Americana tradition would become over the following fifty years.
Key track: The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
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The Band — The Band (1969, Vinyl LP) In stock at Viking Records — new, sealed, fast UK delivery. |
Bruce Springsteen — Nebraska (1982)
Nebraska is unlike anything else in Springsteen's catalogue. Recorded onto a four-track cassette in his bedroom as a set of demos for the E Street Band, the songs ended up working better as the spare, lonely home recordings they already were. The album was released exactly as the cassette had been recorded — voice, guitar, harmonica, occasional glockenspiel. "Atlantic City," "Highway Patrolman," and the title track are the songs most listeners remember.
This 180g remastered edition is the best currently-available pressing — taken from the original cassette source and well-cut. One of the foundational records of what later became known as Americana.
Key track: Atlantic City
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Bruce Springsteen — Nebraska (Remastered, 180g LP) In stock at Viking Records — new, sealed, fast UK delivery. More Bruce Springsteen on vinyl · Browse Folk, Country & Americana |
Tom Waits — Rain Dogs (1985)
Rain Dogs sits between folk, jazz, blues, and a kind of theatrical Americana that Tom Waits more or less invented for himself. Recorded in a Manhattan studio with a rotating cast of musicians (including Keith Richards on three tracks), the album mixes brass-band stomps, broken-down ballads, and percussion sourced from anything that came to hand. Nineteen tracks, almost none of which sound like each other, all somehow part of the same record.
This 180g pressing presents the album cleanly — important for music this textured and dynamic. A foundational record for anyone interested in the more experimental edge of Americana.
Key track: Downtown Train
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Tom Waits — Rain Dogs (180g Vinyl LP) In stock at Viking Records — new, sealed, fast UK delivery. |
Grateful Dead — American Beauty (1970)
The Grateful Dead's reputation for sprawling jam-band concerts can sometimes obscure how strong their studio albums were — American Beauty is the proof. Recorded after the death of Janis Joplin (a close friend of the band) and during a difficult period for the group, the album is unusually short, focused, and song-led. "Truckin'," "Ripple," and "Box of Rain" all became standards.
This Mobile Fidelity remastered 2xLP edition is the audiophile pressing of choice — pressed at 45 RPM across two discs for maximum dynamic range. One of the best-sounding Americana pressings currently in print.
Key track: Box of Rain
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Grateful Dead — American Beauty (Mobile Fidelity Remastered 2xLP) In stock at Viking Records — new, sealed, fast UK delivery. More Grateful Dead on vinyl · Browse Folk, Country & Americana |
"Nebraska and American Beauty between them did most of the work of inventing what Americana would later become — quiet, song-led, rooted in place."
Part Three: Country Picks
Three country records spanning fifty years — from classic Nashville to outlaw country to the contemporary chart-topping era.
Willie Nelson — Red Headed Stranger (1975)
Red Headed Stranger is one of the foundational records of outlaw country — Nelson's pared-down, narrative-driven response to the increasingly polished Nashville sound of the early 1970s. The album is structured as a connected story across all its songs, with sparse instrumentation (often just Nelson's voice and acoustic guitar with light backing). "Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain" became his first country chart-topper and helped reset what mainstream country could sound like.
This Sony Reissue pressing is the version most fans would recommend. A consistent best-seller at Viking and a foundational record for anyone interested in country songwriting.
Key track: Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain
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Willie Nelson — Red Headed Stranger (Sony Reissue, LP) In stock at Viking Records — new, sealed, fast UK delivery. |
Patsy Cline — Greatest Hits
Patsy Cline died in 1963 at the age of thirty, but her work in the years before her death essentially set the template for what country-pop crossover would mean for the next sixty years. "Crazy" (written by a young Willie Nelson), "I Fall to Pieces," and "Walkin' After Midnight" are her best-known songs, but the depth and warmth of her voice come through on almost every track here.
This remastered greatest-hits LP is the best single starting point in her catalogue and a foundational record for anyone interested in classic country.
Key track: Crazy
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Patsy Cline — Greatest Hits (Remastered Reissue, LP) In stock at Viking Records — new, sealed, fast UK delivery. More Patsy Cline on vinyl · Browse Folk, Country & Americana |
Taylor Swift — Fearless (Platinum Edition)
Fearless is the album that took Taylor Swift from teenage country prospect to global pop figure — and the moment country music's commercial centre permanently shifted toward the kind of polished, story-led songwriting she was writing here. The Platinum Edition adds six bonus tracks to the original album and is the version most fans collect.
This 180g 2xLP pressing presents the album with the kind of care its songwriting deserves. A reasonable starting point if you're curious about how modern country crossed over into mainstream pop.
Key track: Love Story
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Taylor Swift — Fearless (Platinum Edition, 180g 2xLP) In stock at Viking Records — new, sealed, fast UK delivery. More Taylor Swift on vinyl · Browse Folk, Country & Americana |
Additional Canon
Five records that round out the foundational singer-songwriter, southern-rock and Americana threads.
Nick Drake — Five Leaves Left (1969)
Nick Drake’s debut, and the earliest definitive statement of the British folk-singer tradition that Bon Iver and Phoebe Bridgers eventually inherited. Robert Kirby’s string charts wrap around Drake’s fingerpicking and quiet vocals on River Man, Way to Blue and Cello Song. 180g reissue.
Key track: River Man
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Nick Drake — Five Leaves Left In stock at Viking Records Shop NowMore Nick Drake on vinyl → Browse Folk, Country & Americana → |
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young — Déjà Vu (1970)
The supergroup’s second album, recorded with Neil Young joining the core CSN trio for the first time. Carry On, Teach Your Children, Helpless, Almost Cut My Hair and Our House — five separate songwriters working at peak form on the same record. The high-water mark of late-60s American folk-rock harmony singing.
Key track: Teach Your Children
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Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young — Déjà Vu In stock at Viking Records Shop NowBrowse Folk, Country & Americana → |
Lynyrd Skynyrd — (Pronounced ‘Leh-’Nerd ‘Skin-’Nerd) (1973)
The album that defined southern rock as a working genre. Free Bird, Tuesday’s Gone, Simple Man — all on a debut. Three guitar players trading lead lines over rhythm section work that Drive-By Truckers and every subsequent southern rock band has been studying ever since. 180g LP.
Key track: Free Bird
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Lynyrd Skynyrd — (Pronounced ‘Leh-’Nerd ‘Skin-’Nerd) In stock at Viking Records Shop NowMore Lynyrd Skynyrd on vinyl → Browse Folk, Country & Americana → |
Manu Chao — Clandestino (1998)
The post-Mano Negra solo debut, recorded across three continents on a portable studio. Spanish, French, English and Portuguese lyrics over reggae, ska, son cubano and folk-pop arrangements. Clandestino became one of the best-selling world-music records of the late 90s and remains a definitional statement about how borderless modern folk music can be. 2xLP gatefold.
Key track: Clandestino
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Manu Chao — Clandestino In stock at Viking Records Shop NowBrowse Folk, Country & Americana → |
Robert Johnson — King Of The Delta Blues Singers (1961 (1936–37 recordings))
The 1961 compilation that introduced Robert Johnson to a generation of British and American musicians who hadn’t heard him before — Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Bob Dylan all cite this record as a turning point. Cross Road Blues, Hellhound on My Trail, Love in Vain: the blueprints the next sixty years of blues, folk and rock are still drawing on. 2xLP.
Key track: Cross Road Blues
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Robert Johnson — King Of The Delta Blues Singers In stock at Viking Records Shop NowBrowse Folk, Country & Americana → |
Honourable mentions and where to go next
A few additional folk, country and Americana records currently in stock that would make natural additions once you've explored the fifteen above:
Fairport Convention — Liege & Lief. The British folk-rock landmark — the album where Fairport abandoned the American influences of their early work and went all the way back to traditional English ballads, played on electric instruments. The result more or less invented English folk-rock as a genre.
Elliott Smith — Either/Or. The bridging record between his early folk-pop and the larger arrangements of XO and Figure 8. A favourite among singer-songwriter fans.
Mumford & Sons — Prizefighter. Newer Mumford material — folk-rock with the band-led arrangements they've become known for.
Bob Dylan / The Band — The Basement Tapes. The famous 1967 sessions, finally released in remastered form. Bridges the folk and Americana categories.
Grateful Dead — Workingman's Dead. The companion to American Beauty, released the same year and equally song-led.
Eric Church — &. Contemporary country from one of the most consistently interesting voices in Nashville. A good window into where the genre is heading.
Bob Dylan's other classics: Highway 61 Revisited, Blonde on Blonde, Bringing It All Back Home and Nashville Skyline are all currently stocked and worth adding once you've sat with Blood on the Tracks.
Where to start
If you're new to folk, country and Americana on vinyl, the most rewarding entry point depends on which corner of the tradition appeals most. For singer-songwriter folk, start with Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell or Nick Drake. For Americana, Music From Big Pink or Nebraska. For classic country, Willie Nelson or Patsy Cline. For contemporary indie-folk, Bon Iver.
Many of the records in this guide cross over into adjacent traditions — Bob Dylan, The Band and Bruce Springsteen all sit between folk, rock and Americana; Bon Iver and Fleet Foxes between folk and indie. If you enjoy what's here, our Rock vinyl collection and Alternative / Indie vinyl collection are both worth a browse.
→ Shop the full Folk, Country & Americana collection at Viking Records
Keith runs Viking Records — a UK online vinyl shop curating new releases, deluxe pressings, and standout records across genre and era. New posts every week.
