South Carolina's Best Albums of 2024

Here are seven of my favorite albums and EPs from South Carolina bands in 2024, coming from Charleston, Columbia, Greenville, and a few smaller towns in between. You’ll find indie rock from Columbia’s E.Z. Shakes, a long-awaited comeback from Charleston’s Brave Baby, the folk and country of Shovels & Rope, and a rapping, reggae-ing album from Little Stranger that doesn’t really fit with anything else on the list, which is part of why I like it.

Welcome to a new series I’ve been working on exploring the music of the Southern USA. It’s a diverse and musically rich region with a deep history in all kinds of musical genres. I’ll be going through some of my favorite recent music from local artists in each state, while at the same time learning just a little bit more about the region I call home. It doesn’t seem to get a lot of attention in the big popular media, either, aside from the major cities like Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis, New Orleans, and maaaaybe Charlotte although nobody is really from Charlotte, they just move there to work for BofA for the first couple years of their careers before moving on to somewhere else.

Anyways. I’ve lived in and listened to awesome music in every state in the South, and I’m here to tell you there’s far more music from this region - both past and present - than what you know from the bigger cities. It’s easy to make a caricature out of the South, to lump the region together and ignore the diversity it has to offer. But not on my watch!

I was born and raised in the state of South Carolina - for anyone not familiar, that’s the little pie-shaped state on the U.S. east coast, about 1/3 of the way up between Florida and New York. It’s in the heart of the Southeast, part of what’s traditionally known as the American Deep South, the land of warm weather, twangy accents, and a whole lot of problematic history.

If you’re from any other region in the US, you’re probably thinking “oh yeah, South Carolina, I’ve been to Myrtle Beach before.” I just want to let you know that Myrtle Beach is basically the Florida of South Carolina - it’s technically part of the state, but it isn’t really part of the state. I won’t be explaining or defending my position further; if you know, you know :)

South Carolina is a small state, but has a surprisingly vibrant music scene. It had an impact on many genres, including beach music, bluegrass, Soul/R&B, jazz, and many others. The music history of the state is almost as fractured and contradictory and troubled as its non-music history, and will make a fascinating read another day. But for today we’re focused on the now - so let’s dive into the current music scene in South Carolina!

Related: for more ways to find local bands, including small local festivals, see How to Find New Music.