This year artists working within the orbit of the unstable category "roots music" got personal even as they explored complex cultural lineages and challenged the rules of established scenes and forms.

This year artists working within the orbit of the unstable category "roots music" got personal even as they explored complex cultural lineages and challenged the rules of established scenes and forms.

Shelley expounds on country living, newly married life and the birth of her daughter. But life's joys are never far removed from the deeply worrying state — and fate — of the world.