Country radio may not have reflected the results, and the conversation around the topic was often rancorous, but there’s little doubt that 2018 belonged to women. Kacey Musgraves signaled a new beginning with the glorious, boundary-pushing Golden Hour; Brandi Carlile provided a cathartic statement about perseverance in turbulent times with By the Way, I Forgive You; and Ashley McBryde announced herself as a major new talent with her debut Girl Going Nowhere. Meanwhile, exciting Americana talents like Courtney Marie Andrews and Becky Warren released collections that highlighted their distinctive singing and songwriting voices. Not that the dudes were a slouch — Dierks Bentley and Brothers Osborne released top-flight mainstream country albums, while American Aquarium and Will Hoge offered potent documents of a nation in crisis. Established performers like John Prine and Kenny Chesney shared space with newcomers Kane Brown and Dillon Carmichael, just one of the many reasons this corner of the music industry is consistently worth watching.