In my judgment, making no later claim than that:

Best album of the year: Tempest, by Bob Dylan (Columbia)

Honorable mentions:

Heart of the Country, by Chris Brashear (Dog Boy)
Old Man Below, by the Dust Busters with John Cohen (Smithsonian Folkways)
Camilla, by Caroline Herring (Signature Sounds)
When My Mama Was Living, by Louisiana Red (Labor)
Troubled in Mind, by Ryan McGiver (self-released)
Calling Me Home, by Kathy Mattea (Sugar Hill)
I'm Gone, by Omar & the Howlers (Big Guitar Music)
The Mando Chronicles, by Peter Ostroushko (3 discs, Red House)
Southern Roots & Branches (Then and Now), by Marty Raybon (Rural Rhythm)
2 Chairs, No Waiting, by Siamese Cousins (Mountain Roads)
Banjo Diary: Lessons from Tradition, by Stephen Wade (Smithsonian Folkways)

Archival:

Lonesome Whistle: An Anthology of American Railroad Song (4 discs, Properbox)