Honorable Mention - Gillian Welch

In the early 2000s, traditional and folk music regained some lost prestige. With the help of the movie ""O Brother, Where Art Thou,"" and performers like Allison Kraus in mainstream music, the old-timey tunes got a brush-off. But it still needed an album to encapsulate how far folk had come. Gillian Welch's 2003 masterpiece Soul Journey provided just that. It shook the shadow from Welch's earlier efforts and offered a supremely balanced yet surprising collection. Combined with Time (The Revelator), Welch animated and revitalized folk music for the decade.