Tag: Country
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Tim McGraw ‘A Place In The Sun’ (1999)
In many ways Tim McGraw has been a guiding force in my life in the same way Thrice has been since my middle school years. Despite the obvious dissimilarities (there’s about a mile and half between them sonically), their collective music has been through critical life moments akin to a friend who never leaves your…
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Randy Travis ‘Old 8 x 10’ (1988)
Listening to Randy Travis has always reminded me of my late grandparents. There’s a tenderness to everything that Travis sings, a no-frills baritone that sounds like a mix of George Jones and Merle Haggard and James Taylor. He exhibits a warmness that feels like a cozy blanket, smells like freshly baked peach pie, and looks…
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The Louvin Brothers ‘Tragic Songs of Life’ (1956)
Tragic Songs of Life is the epitome of traditional country music, featuring the aspects that has made the genre an American mainstay for the past 100 years. Two-part harmonies (one low, one high), 3/4 time signatures with a pitter patter of drum brushes, jangly acoustic guitars that skip and bounce between rapid-fire notes, and songwriting…
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Dwight Yoakam ‘Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.’ (1984)
Dwight Yoakam’s debut album Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. is a perfect encapsulation of what has made Yoakam such a mainstay in the country music industry for forty years. His love for the traditional honky tonk sound, and undisguised disdain for the more pop-oriented focus that was coming out of Nashville at the time (and is…
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Luke Combs ‘This One’s For You’ (2017)
Luke Combs debut album This One’s For You took the country world by storm when it was released in 2017, staying at Number 1 for 50 weeks which ended up being an all-time record for a male artist. It’s easy to understand why– Combs is an incredible vocal talent, filled with tone for days and…
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Dolly Parton & Kenny Rogers ‘Once Upon A Christmas’ (1984)
It’s hard to imagine a more iconic match in the mid-1980’s than Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers teaming up to do a Christmas album together, but the world managed to grace us with its presence for one winter in 1984 when they released Once Upon A Christmas. It’s a terrific soft-listening experience filled with all…
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Butch Walker ‘Over the Holidays and Under the Influence’ (2017)
Butch Walker is one of America’s best songwriters and producers that you’ve likely never heard of. His personal catalog is extensive and filled with his unique blend of grimy rock bangers sandwiched in between saccharine sweet love songs (The Rise and Fall of…Butch Walker and The Let’s-Go-Out-Tonites being his definitive solo album in my book)…
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The Rolling Stones ‘Let It Bleed’ (1969)
Steven Van Zandt of the E Street Band once famously said that The Rolling Stones output from 1968-1972 comprised the “greatest run of studio albums in music history”. Let It Bleed was the Stones’ second album in that quartet of releases, and featured a distinct return to the dirty blues rock that has defined the…
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Glen Campbell ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’ (1975)
Rhinestone Cowboy sounds like a cowboy from Arkansas moved to Beverley Hills in the 70’s and wrote a bunch of theme songs for sitcoms and game shows during his time in Los Angeles. I can literally see the introduction credits in my head– character in various locations going about their day, noticing the camera, and…
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Patsy Cline ‘Showcase’ (1961)
Patsy Cline was one of country music’s most influential stars during the formative years of the genre in the early 1960’s, and left a legacy that reverberates to this day. It’s hard to fully articulate just how much Cline means to the country community– her rich and powerful voice, effortlessly punctuated with a steadily controlled…
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The Everly Brothers ‘They’re Off & Rolling’ (1958)
The Everly Brothers were at the crossroads of country music and R&B in the late 1950’s and served as an influential act on a generation of bands that followed them in the 1960’s. The most notable band they influenced was The Beatles– early in John Lennon and Paul McCartney’s career they actually referred to themselves…
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George Strait ‘Strait From The Heart’ (1982)
George Strait is the epitome of old school classic country. Possessing a crystal clear voice and a backing band that’s solid as nails, Strait rolls through his vintage brand of country music effortlessly during 10 songs that span an efficient 29 minute runtime on Strait From The Heart. This was the album that put Strait…
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Zach Bryan ‘American Heartbreak’ (2022)
It’s not often you get a non-compilation triple album, but there’s nothing really normal about Zach Bryan’s rise to fame. A U.S. Navy veteran who enlisted at the age of 17, Bryan rose to prominence five years ago the way so many breakthrough artists are nowadays– through a viral YouTube video. This led to his…
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The War and Treaty ‘Healing Tide’ (2018)
The War and Treaty is a a wife-husband duo comprised of Tanya Trotter and Michael Trotter Jr. Their debut album Healing Tide is a wonderful throwback to traditional country music with elements of Memphis soul and blues music blended into their sound. The vocal performance of Tanya and Michael is the true highlight of this…
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Merle Haggard & The Strangers ‘Mama Tried’ (1968)
“Mama Tried” is the song country legend Merle Haggard is best known for and it’s actually a semi-autobiographical one. At the age of nine years old Haggard’s father died of a brain hemorrhage, a moment that had a materical impact on the young Haggard. With the absence of a father figure in his life Haggard…
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Johnny Cash ‘At Folsom Prison’ (1968)
I’ll be in attendance at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville tonight for the first time in my life and cannot wait. This is the birthplace of American country music, the Mecca where it all started, and has long been on my bucket list of places to see a live show. It’s going to be…
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Jamey Johnson ‘That Lonesome Song’ (2008)
Jamey Johnson is a country throwback in nearly every way– a deep voice that booms like a bass drum with a bit of a marble mouthed drawl, meandering acoustic guitars that tell a story all to themselves, and a backing band that understands when to hit their spots and when to take center stage. 2008’s…
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Waylon Jennings ‘Honky Tonk Heroes’ (1973)
Waylon Jennings is an almost mythical force in the history of outlaw country, a sub-genre that bucked the norms of the Nashville establishment in the early 70’s. Disillusioned with both the artistic and sonic constraints of producers like Chet Atkins who favored slick production over a more organic and natural sound, artists like Jennings and…
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David Allan Coe ‘Longhaired Redneck’ (1976)
David Allan Coe has always been country’s crazy old drunk uncle, a freewheeling individualist that stood out even in a genre that was filled to the brim with them. Like one of his country music icons Merle Haggard (whom he namedrops in the title track), Coe’s outlaw country bonafides were the real deal– the early…
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Midland ‘Let It Roll’ (2019)
There are few country artists today who are able to expertly walk the line between contemporary appeal and old-school roots. It’s a delicate balance to strike between popularity and parody. Midland is one of those bands, the best at playing that game in 2023, and maybe the only country music act who makes me feel…
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Dan + Shay ‘Dan + Shay’ (2018)
Dan + Shay is the pinnacle of modern country pop. Lush vocal arrangements transposed over expertly manicured production, with nary a note out of place. It’s effective as hell at being excellent background music that’s easy to listen to and just frankly beautiful in the most inoffensive way. It’s perfect coffee house ambiance music. “Tequila”…
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Florida Georgia Line ‘Anything Goes’ (2014)
I have pangs of self-loathing every time I listen to Florida Georgia Line for the very simple reason that intellectually I understand what they’re doing is just tapping into sounds that don’t challenge my brain at all, but emotionally I can’t help getting amped up and start singing along every time one of those big…
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Justin Townes Earle ‘Kids in the Street’ (2017)
Americana has been having somewhat of a renaissance in the past decade or so, both in pop culture as well as in popular music, and the late Justin Townes Earle was a beloved figure in that sphere of the world. He possessed an unrelenting honest approach to the craft of songwriting that both celebrated the…
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Willie Nelson ‘Red Headed Stranger’ (1975)
Willie Nelson’s 1975 album Red Headed Stranger was a watermark moment for country music in that it moved the genre beyond a collection of singles pressed onto a 12-inch circular piece of polyvinyl chloride (i.e. a vinyl record) and into a singular world that had a common thematic structure. Put another way, the art of…
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Garth Brooks ‘Double Live’ (1998)
I don’t do too many live album reviews for a handful of reasons, the primary one being they end up effectively being a compilation of hit songs for many artists and not necessarily a true reflection of what an album stands for. We’ve made exceptions this year (1971’s At Fillmore East by The Allman Brothers…
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The Statler Brothers ‘Flowers on the Wall’ (1966)
The Statler Brothers were a gospel country quartet that rose to the prominence in the late 60’s and early 70’s, enjoying an extensive career that lasted until their final goodbye tour in 2002. Infusing their gospel music roots with traditional country instrumentation and barbershop quartet inspired vocal arrangements, the group was known for being one…
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Pecos & the Rooftops ‘Pecos & the Rooftops’ (2023)
Pecos & the Rooftops is a throwback to mid-2000’s alternative rock and modern country (think Nickelback meets Dylan Wheeler) and is here to do nothing but keep it simple and straightforward. The band actually shot to prominence off their single “This Damn Song” which was released over four years ago and got incredibly popular during…
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Moe Bandy & Joe Stampley ‘Just Good Ol’ Boys’ (1979)
Moe Bandy and Joe Stampley were outlaw country stalwarts in the mid-70’s. Taking influence from the rough and tumble honky tonk of Hank Williams, their individual solo careers were filled with barroom ballads covering topics like lost love, cheating, and whiskey (three topics that are natural fits together) and helped drive redneck regalia to the…
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The Lone Bellow ‘Half Moon Light’ (2020)
The Lone Bellow’s vocal melodies have never failed to delight, and their 2020 effort Half Moon Light is no exception. This album marked a turning point from a pure folk-country sound into more of a psychedelic gospel sound, doubling down on their eclectic influences that reach deep into a bag of tricks and come out with a…
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Brooks & Dunn ‘Red Dirt Road’ (2003)
Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn are nothing short of icons in country music, a duo entirely synonymous with the honky tonk mainstream country sound that dominated the airwaves in the 90’s and early aughts. You know exactly what you’re getting when you throw on a Brooks & Dunn record– Telecasters with crunchy tone, drums that…
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Taylor McCall ‘Black Powder Soul’ (2021)
Black Powder Soul by Taylor McCall sounds like if Dustin Kensrue from Thrice and The Black Keys got together to write an outlaw country record. In other words, it sounds pretty fucking awesome. This has all the elements that check the box for what I love about outlaw country music. Acoustic guitars in minor keys,…
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Marcus King ‘El Dorado’ (2020)
Marcus King is only 27 years old but has already established himself as one of the finest guitar players of this generation. King reminds me a lot of some of my favorite guitarists from the 60’s and 70’s, like Duane Allman and Merle Haggard, guys who can rip with the best of them but also…
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Jerry Reed ‘East Bound and Down’ (1977)
Jerry Reed is the kind of guitarist that you listen to for the first time and it either inspires you to further dedicate yourself to the craft or causes you to give it all up and pivot your hobby to knitting quilts. The man is that good. Reed is a fingerstyle guitar player which is…
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Old Dominion ‘Happy Endings’ (2017)
Good country music has a tight narrative structure that tells a compelling story with a satisfying conclusion. Great country music has a tight narrative structure that tells a compelling story with a satisfying conclusion, but (and this is important) at some point the song introduces a pattern interrupt along the way. This is the bucket…
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Pat Green ‘Wave on Wave’ (2003)
It’s been nearly 20 years since I’ve listened to Pat Green (as an old friend recently reminded me, Green was the soundtrack to many late nights of debauchery during high school), which meant that during the album listen I was stuck somewhere in between the present tense and the past, filled with nostalgia for country…
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Linda Ronstadt ‘Simple Dreams’ (1977)
Linda Ronstadt is one of the most well-rounded singers in history, effortlessly spanning genres. Throughout her 45-year career she effortlessly put out pop, rock-n-roll, folk, opera, and ranchera albums, covering an incredible range of styles. Simple Dreams is the highest selling album of her career, and probably the one she is most recognized for as…
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