I organize my music library at the file level rather than at the tag level (although I still tag my files, because I have a particular naming scheme I like for everything). This is because I have so much music that it's kept on an external HDD, and I wouldn't be able to properly tag everything to my liking if I spent a hundred years on it. So I've always resisted using the iTunes-like programs that try to organize all my music for me, both due to tagging issues and having the database explode if I disconnect the drive. My music is organized according to my own system, and it works for me.

In Winamp, when I wanted to play an album, I opened the directory containing my music, find the artist, right clicked on the album, and selected "Play/Enqueue in Winamp". Winamp would launch, I would immediately minimize it to the system tray, and it would be out of my way except occasionally popping up notifications on Play/Pause/Stop or when tracks changes. It was perfect for my needs.

Audacious is the app I found that comes closest to replicating that workflow. I select a folder, "Open With -> Audacious", it kicks off, I close (to tray), and it plays on with occasional notifications. That's all I want. It's also got MPRIS integration so I can control playback from the bar, so that's pretty sweet too.