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 Faviorte  Country Tune Y`all


xoxoxoxo
suga

Does the Burrito Bros' version of "Dark End of the Street" count?

Carter Family, B4B13Z.

25 Minutes To Go, Johnny Cash.

George Jones - "Loving You Could Never Be Better"

Better Be Home Soon - Crowded House...  :-\

I'm getting you into a second band for Christmas.

Seminole Wind  -John Anderson

Aint that lonely Yet- Dwight Yokum

Folsom Prison -Johnny Cash

Cole Miners Daughter-Lorretta Lynn

You've heard this song?  Perfect tune.

But yes, a second band would be FAB, thanks Chris :)

I also really like "An American Trilogy" by Elvis a whole lot...

I can't think of just one...

lAlways On My Mind - Willie Nelson
Sunday Morning Coming Down - Johnny Cash
Wichita Lineman - Glen Campbell
Lay Lady Lay - Bob Dylan
T For Texas - Jimmie Rodgers
Flowers On The wall - Statler Brothers

I haven't heard it, just messing with you.  I need to check out Crowded House sometime though.

Oh hell yes "Witchita Lineman"...  Love that song.

No problems Chris, if y'can... download that one track, "Better Be Home Soon"... you might have  a new addition to this thread too ;)

Who is that smiling man anywho?

A few more:

Delia's Gone - Johnny Cash
Sugar baby - Dock Boggs
Return of the Grievous Angel - Gram Parson

Georgia on my Mind?  If so, Righteous Brothers, or Brother Charles...

Crowded House "Better Be Home Soon"

http://s22.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=22ZWVCMDT0TOC2NHF65GTY3M86

My first favorite off of Folsom Prision.  GREAT performance.

HAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Feel the burn!

You dastard Ian, you're in cahoots you is... :)

Onya Joel... Chris, grab it, add it.  :-\

Add to that by Cash -- Jackson, Cry Cry Cry, Rusty Cage, Boy Named Sue

Plus: Hickory Wind by the Byrds
I agree on Wichita Lineman
A Man of Constant Sorrows from O Brother Where Art Thou
You Asked Me To by Elvis

Carry Me Home - Dennis Wilson

Going to California - Led Zeppelin

Caravan - Van Morrison

Like I said in the Byrds thread, I ain't so hip to Country... these could be country, or folk or some damn thing.  They're good.  That's all I'll say.

*sigh*

Well I can't help it Ian, my parents fucking loathe country (except my dad likes Johnny Cash and Elvis)... so I've not been exposed to so much.  Just wondering what makes a song country.

Yeah, Matinee, there's nothing really country about any of those.

You need some good Johnny Cash.  Or some Hank Williams.  Or if you want modern country, pure stuff, and I SHOULD have mentioned it earlier, Home by the Dixie Chicks.  Now THAT is a modern country album full of soul.  I always melt when I listen to A Home, and for my money they do Landslide better than the original.

I was  going to get my dad the Definitive Johnny Cash for christmas... but ran out of money.  I'll see if I can get it on a sale...

Amen, Jeff. Amen.
Home is the finest pure country album of the last twenty years, for my money, besides Cash's American series.
I can't recommend it more highly.
Top Of The World is the Day In The Life of country.

Country is about a culture as much as it is a sound.  That's why Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman melded so quickly -- they spoke the same language.  I may live in Ohio but I grew up an Okie and my dad listened to old style country a lot.  Radio mostly.  I bet I will remember all of it if I were to dig into Conway Twitty or George Jones -- that was the type of music he played (just never bought).  So I grew up not realizing how deeply rooted it was in my soul until much later.  Listening to Sweetheart of the Rodeo and Gilded Palace of Sin showed it to me.  One of these days, after my Johnny Cash fest winds down, I will ask Nashville Cat to recommend some George Jones to me.

The songs you list?  They may be folk, and folk and country may have genuine interaction (see late 60's Dylan), but they are miles away from Southern/Southwestern country.  You almost have to have lived it to get it I think.

Wow.  That surprises me.  I wrote the Dixie Chicks off after hearing them sing that irritating "Earl Has to Die" song, so I've never really heard much of their stuff.  Maybe I'll check it out.  Disagree about "Landslide" though.  Lindsey and Stevie cannot be topped.

Have you actually *heard* the Chicks' version?  Don't disagree until you actually hear it.

You'll really dig that album, Joel. I guarantee it.

Country, soul and gospel lived right next door to each other in the south. Chuck Berry grew up listening to the Opry. You know what happened next.

What about those country piss-take type songs?  Like "Long Tall Texan", what's that all about?

No I've heard that one on the radio.  I just meant that I've never checked out any of their albums. 

Still prefer the original.

Ugh.  Pure parody.  Terrible terrible mistake.  It's like listening to Dear Doctor on Beggar's Banquet, or that country thing on Some Girls, and then listening to when they got it right on the Exile tracks.

Awww man, Dear Doctor and Far Away Eyes are incredible. They even did great country-blues on Aftermath. High And Dry.

The instrumental feel is OK, Keef had that down, but Jagger's vocals?  Say it isn't so Ian!  He only did it right once in his career, during Exile.

The problem I have is when listening to 'oldies' radio (50's and 60's stuff), I can't bloody tell what's a pisstake and what's for real when they're playing country/country-esque tunes...

Before Sweetheart of the Rodeo, no one did country seriously IMO unless they were true country or at least rockabilly artists.  Ringo wanted to but the band didn't have the same feel.  As nice as the Beatles' versions are, the Carl Perkins originals are so much nicer.

Jeff and Ian know way more about country than me, but the place of those "piss-take" songs might be lost on you since you're not American.  Jeff said that country is as much a lifestyle as a musical genre here, and that's true.  American doesn't have as rigid a class system as, say, England, but "country" or southern culture is one place you can see our class system.  You get those "piss-take" songs because people think that country music is a joke made by illiterate people in the American south.  For some reason it's pretty acceptable to insult poor white people too in a way that isn't so for poor black people -- in certain circles, at least.  Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems like you get piss-takes of country more than blues, you know?  And country is probably the one American genre to not really carry over into other countries.  Definitely not in the way rock and roll, jazz, or rap/hip-hop have.  It just doesn't seem to be seen as a serious form outside of America, and even here you have to go to rural areas to find people who accept it, whether in the north or south.

How about The Monkees, Jeff?

GREAT post, D.

As Ian would say, right on Chris.

And most people lump anything with a pedal steel or banjo into country, as if there were no difference between, say, Appalachian music vs. Bluegrass vs. Tex-Mex vs. pure Alabama country.  And yet there are some important differences there.  And you are absolutely right on the economic factor there.  You never hear anyone make fun of poor black people but how many redneck jokes are there in this world?

That sort of proves my point.  The only country that they did was Mike's stuff and where did Mike grow up?  He may say he's a rocker at heart but to my ears he is a rocker like Cash or Parsons were rockers.  He has the same pure feel as the other artists from Nashville had and is a good example of the Texas strains of country IMO.

But he's also a pure pop songwriter, and an experimental genius dabbling in many things. That's why he got along with Zappa/. I mean, what do Circle Sky, Don''t Wait For Me and Writing Wrongs have in common, musically?

Thanks Jeff and Ian.  Your country knowledge always impresses me.  I know I need to dig into that stuff.

That's like saying that Elvis was just a country singer.  Mike is too talented to limit to one genre, but when he does the country, he does it from the soul as one who grew up in it vs. someone who does it as a genre exercise.

Perhaps this will get at what I am trying to say -- compare on the CD Roger McGuinn's singing on The Christian Life vs Gram Parsons.  Which one sounds real and which sounds forced?  Mike NEVER sounds forced.  Jagger was forced on Dear Doctor but real somehow on Torn and Frayed (I think it was the hard breaks they had suffered, maybe?).

OK, I get it now.
All you had to do was cite the Christian Life example. Right on the money.
The real stuff is, indeed the best, but the parodies and imitations can be great in their own way as well IMO, like the Stones, Kinks and Beatles things.

I have to admit it took me a long time to accept the Stones' country excursions.  You have to love the sheer audacity of believing that they could pull it off.  I don't get the feeling that they're piss takes at all.  Certainly they ring truer than Mick's exhortations to the "common people" i.e. Salt of the Earth.

That one brings a tear to my eye, sincere or not.

Merle Haggard amazes me. A few years ago, I checked out a 4CD set from the public library and was suprised that I knew nearly everything on the first 2 discs. I didn't add them all up and I forgot how many hits that guy had. Amazing. Buck Owens & Marty Robbins, too.

I steer clear of new country, but BR549 is pretty stellar. The only thing they did that I didn't care for was a live disc called Coast To Coast. Everything else is SOLID.

The Stones meant it (well, apart from Faraway eyes anyway....) - even before Keith hooked up with Gram they had an natural feel for rock n roll, blues, country and could make a passable stab at all of them.

My favourite country music - starting with Hank Williams' Rambling Man (if you've never heard it seek it out, sends shivers down my spine), from GP (everything...), Nez (likewise - it's all good, early stuff is more country than 70's/80's but Tropical Campfires is a wonderful 'modern' country - or at least Texan - record) - Costello's Almost Blue (which, along with the Byrds, opened up country for me) - currently love Ryan Adams' occasional forays into country, love pedal steel with rock bands - Ben Keith on Neil Youngs albums is SO good - Alburqueque (? - apologies for spelling, i'm English and its late here) is sublime.

Also early Nancy Griffiths, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band (love their version of Some Of Shelleys Blues), Kathleen Edwards great new album (Back To Me)...I could go on....over to you...

"fodain' In The Butt" by David Allan Coe

Oh, seriously?

"He'll Have To Go" by Jim Reeves

I just (http://www.w-body.com/forum/images/smiles/lol.gif) 'd at the forum's curse filter mangling my first choice. ROFL

Indeed, great post Christ.

But what was the point of a band like The Beach Boys doing that type of song?  To try and get a crossover appeal, or is it simply that they liked the song (or Mike is a redneck basher at heart)?

Country is really quite huge here in Australia, but it's no doubt a whole other kettle of fish rather than just an 'offshoot' of the American 'version'...

Mike Love is an idiot (but I love him).

Great choices, Alan. Ramblin' Man is bonechilling.

Knutz, Merle is the man. I Take Pride In What I Am? Fightin' Side Of Me? I'm A Lonesome Fugitive? Mama Tried? The guy was the hitmeister. And making incredible quality music all the way.

Post in peace, my son, and be holy.  You'd do well to follow the B.A.M.ful example of young Heroes and Villains.

I didn't know country was big in Australia.  Is it just me or is Australia to England what our south is to the north?  I've never been to England or Australia, of course.

As for the Beach Boys, I think they just liked the music.  Al was a big folk fan, right, and he liked Leadbelly?  I'm sure he was into some country.

Well, the 'country' we're exposed to here is mostly simply abhorent...  For every Slim Dusty (good country died in australia along with him, god rest his soul) there's the godawful dreck of a Kasey Chambers...

What is B.A.M.ful?  Lousy Heroes and Villains, always stealin' the spotlight. 

I think apparently Australia is like a little America for you to call your own.

Haha, I just realised I spelt Chris  - Christ.

Just stay away from anything called country these days, apart from the Dixies and Dwight Yoakum. get into Wilco and Uncle Tupelo. Good bridge to get into the country thang. Patty Griffin too.

B.A.M. was Heroes' anti-masturbation thing.  I hope I haven't insulted him by constantly referring to it.

And I hope so.

Ian -- modern country (or "country") -- you hate all Frank Black or do you like some of the country stuff?  I really like some of those songs, like "California Bound," "Chip Away Boy," "Whispering Weeds," etc.  Flame on.

I haven't heard enough Frank Black. The early solo-career TMBG thing turned me off. What album should I get?

Turn on your standard Clear Channel country station. 99.5% of the time, it's not Country, it's Pop with a steel guitar.

Yeah, Merle Haggard is great!

Somebody in the Beach Boys must've appreciated him also. Remember when they used to perform "Okee From Muskogee" in the early 1970's...

If you want stuff that's not like the early albums, check out Dog in the Sand (more Stones-style country -- check out "Hermaphroditos") and Black Letter Days (this has the songs I listed).  The new one, Honeycomb, has some big Nashville session players (you'd probably know more about them than me), but I still don't have it.  It might be up your alley, though.

Oh goody! I have several:

Tonight My Baby's Coming Home - Tammy Wynette
Rocky Top - bluegrass standard
Rollin' in My Sweet Baby's Arms - Buck Owens
Kiss an Angel Good Mornin' - Charlie Pride
Foggy Mountain Breakdown - Flatt and Scruggs
Bonaparte's Retreat - Glen Campbell
Try a Little Kindness - Glen Campbell
East Bound and Down - Jerry Reed
Will the Circle Be Unbroken - Version featuring Johnny Cash, Ricky Scaggs, Roy Acuff, Dolly Parton and others
Harper Valley PTA - Jeannie C Riley
Ring of Fire - Johnny Cash
Big Bad John - Jimmie Dean
Ballad of New Orleans - Johnny Horton
Reuben James - Kenny Rogers
You're My Man - Lynn Anderson
Y'all Come - Loretta Lynn
El Paso - Marty Robbins
Daddy Frank - Merle Haggard
Mama Tried - Merle Haggard
I'm a Stand By My Woman Man - Ronnie Milsap
Pure Love - Ronnie Milsap
Alabama Jubillee - Roy Clark
The End of the World - Skeeter Davis
San Antonio Stroll - Tanya Tucker
Bed of Roses - Statler Brothers
Don't Wait On Me - Statler Brothers
City of New Orleans - Willie Nelson
Orange Blossom Special - bluegrass standard

and...

ANYTHING BY FLOYD CRAMER!!!  ;D

There's a song Willie Nelson did on "Later with Jools" - She Is Gone...

I hope that's country, that's just beautiful that.

I like the "classic" country from the late forties through the mid sixties.  Below are some of my favorite artists and samples of their songs.

Bobby Bare (Margies At The Linclon Park Inn
Patsy Cline (Crazy)
Hank Williams (So Lonesome I Could Cry)
Lefty Frizzell (If You've Got the Money, I've Got the Time)
Ernest Tubb (Waltz Across Texas)
George Jones with Melba Mongomery (Lets Invite Them Over Again)

EARLY Waylon Jennings
 And of course
 Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and the early Rockabilly sars like Carl Perkins and Wanda Jackson.

I like the country flavored Byrds/ Burritos stuff with and without GP

And I liked a lot of the mid 80's traditional revival stuff.  Randy Travis Storms of Life was particularly good as was the early Alan Jackson, and the mid 80's George Strait.

I didn't care for the Mandrell/Gatlin dominated era nor do I care for todays so called country music.

I just remembered another one while on the train this morning:   "White Lightnin'" - George Jones

Both you guys should go get Honeycomb now...tis Excellent!