So disappointed in today's Americana


I make it a habit of getting the Grammy nominated Americana albums from the library each year. Past years have introduced me to much new music, some good, some bad, some treasures (TajMo for example). This year I just listened to Brandi Carlile's cd 'By the way I forgive you', nominated for best Americana roots album. OMG it is unlistenable! You would think singer / songwriters would strive for a pristine recording that highlights their lyrics and mostly acoustic arrangements. No - it is a sonic mess, compressed all to hell. To quote my wife "Turn that crap off". End of rant. 
mcondo
whart1 ,

  Really appreciate the suggestion of The National Reserve!  I like them a lot.
Listening to "by the way, I forgive you" on vinyl right now. Musically, I really like the album. However, it does suffer from SQ issues, probably compression. Too bad, as it is really good. Makes me wonder how much more I might enjoy it if it was recorded differently.

Question for those who understand recorded music production: "Who is responsible for the amount of compression used? Is it the recording engineer, producer, mastering technician, etc.? Who makes the decision about the amount of compression used? 
@bdp24 - you and i have gotten to the point where we can just say something in code and we both go on a roll- remember the old joke about telling jokes using numbers?
I think El-Rayo-X is being remastered on vinyl by one of the audiophile reissue labels. I have an early copy somewhere here, i’ll have to pull it out and play it.
Here it is: http://www.speakerscornerrecords.com/products/details/524/david-lindley-el-rayo-x?sort=release-date%7Cdesc&display=grid
Here in the St. Louis area some good Americana bands are

Prairie Rehab
The Trophy Mules