The only country music I like…
Thought I’d post an example of one of the deeply affecting songs I mentioned above. This leans gospel and country but it came out not long after my grandfather passed away some years ago. The mentioned, “Old Man Wrigley,” was to me, my Grandpa. A WWII vet, a deeply religious man but with a checkered past, a struggling alcoholic and someone with flaws in character that he prescribed bits of bible quotes to as though talking about them or his past meant he also had to refer to something biblical to ease his mind of his transgressions. I loved him dearly. He instilled in me a love of westerns and war movies and tinkering on small items to try to fix them. He loved me more than my sisters, his other two grandchildren, and I loved him for it. This song puts me there, every single time.
I can’t listen to more than about 4 stanzas before tearing up and lord knows I mostly cannot finish it without crying, but I love it anyway. Brooks and Dunn as a group were a powerhouse duo that surely sang the hell out of whatever was on their plate. I wasn’t always fond of their offerings, but this one, this one is a keeper for me.
Ah, thanks for the clarification! Thinking about it I should have realized its more bluegrass. I love the Oh Brother soundtrack.
This would be my favorite country album.
Brooks and Dunn brings back some memories. I don’t know that anything after Brand New Man really made any impact on me but I played the bleep out of this one:
Ah hell yeah, Margo Price is great!
Fantastic links here by many of you that I’ve enjoyed the heck out of.
This one is fun but I can’t find a free version:
Listening to a lot of Colter Wall lately. Sounds a lot like Johnny Cash at first listen, but he’s got a little more gruffness. Here are a few favorites.
Very interesting voice. I liked the second song quite a bit. But I did notice he has the tendency to flatten his note as part of his phrasing and by the third song here you selected, it was a little grating. Almost as though he wants it to be too organic and is forcing it to sound gritty. Maybe it was mostly that last tune though. I picture his voice as a cowboy singing late at night beside a fire. Very gritty but very real.
Having only these three I’ve heard from him I’ll look up more.
Speaking of Glen Campbell, here he is around 2005 jamming with Steve Lukather;
And my favorite song of his will always be (well okay, recording done by him. The song was actually written by Jimmy Webb - and holy shit, we could do a whole thread on the songs Jimmy Webb has written):
And speaking of Jimmy Webb, here’s “MacArthur Park” as done by Waylon Jennings. When I first heard this version in recent years, it instantly became my favorite version.
Thanks for posting this. It’s really relaxing.
Yeah, it’s great!
Country music ended when Hank Williams died
Jimmie Fucking Rodgers the Yodeling Brakeman ruled
Bob Wills the good time party guy
In Scarlet Town, where I was born
These guys actually predate the idea of “hillbilly records” ie “country music” which was originally referred to simply as “old time” music
OK, there was Gram Parsons. But too much is made of his social connections to rockers, in a typical effort to deflect country into critically unassailable rock territory.
And this is way better than the goofy Hank Snow version from the 50s
See also
Thanks for that introduction to Sturgill Simpson. I wound up listening to a bunch of his stuff, and actually ordered his latest album on vinyl. It just got delivered, but the cover artwork is so awesome, that I decided not to open it yet. I got the 180 gram limited edition marble because what the hell, a guy’s gotta splurge sometimes.
Anyway, from this album, I really enjoyed the video that goes along with this song:
I may end up getting “A Sailor’s Guide To Earth” as well, as I listened to the entire album on Amazon Prime Music, and really enjoyed it. If anyone has got Prime, you can listen to the album free.
Sound and Fury is a huge departure from Simpson’s other work, to the point that I have a hard time calling it country, but holy shit does it rock hard. There’s an anime visual album on Netflix (from which that music video is snipped).
The song that follows that one is bonkers. I, uh, wouldn’t watch the video at work unless you’re prepared to answer some difficult questions. John Prine has a writing credit on this one, if you can believe it.
But, to get us back on the country music train, the original(?) recording of Can the Circle Be Unbroken beats out any other rendition in my eyes, though I know a lot of people found the song via Bioshock Infinite. It’s of particular resonance today, as we had to say goodbye to my remaining Bristolite grandparent over the weekend.
My taste in country music skews toward texas honkeytonk - willie and the old 97s. Everyone knows whiskey river, so I wont bother posting that, but heres a single from 2016 from old 97s that sums up their sound pretty well: