POLL of Many Colors - ILM Artists Poll #117 - Women of Country Music

https://i.imgur.com/G3wjTLm.png

Though often overlooked in award ceremonies and histories of popular music -- so rarely played on country music radio stations today as to be dismissively branded "tomatoes" in the salad of the genre -- women have arguably played a greater role than men in shaping the sound of country music since its conception. From The Carter Family to The Chicks, Patsy Cline to Patty Griffin, Kasey Chambers to Kacey Musgraves, a lineage of remarkably talented and innovative women have put soul to wax and found a way to overcome seemingly insurmountable barriers to be heard and be recognized for their craft.

Ballot #1 - Artists: Up to 30 artists. Rank as you see fit -- based on their entire body of work, influence on the genre/popular music, or just your personal favorites.

Ballot #2 - Albums: Up to 30 albums.

Ballot #3 - Tracks: Up to 30 tracks.

Vote here: https://forms.gle/3Hf5bmPcih6yh4Hj7

As I'm trying to wrap this up by March 24th, voting is open until Wednesday, Mar. 15, 2023 Midnight (Pacific Time).

No one will have a "perfect" ballot in two-and-a-half week's time, so if you're on the fence about whether to submit something, even a partial ballot, I strongly encourage you to do so. We all benefit when more people vote.

bookmarked

this is a complete blind spot for me and i'm here to learn. let's do this.

partial blind spot for me, but those 60s albums by Wanda Jackson and Dolly Parton are great

I'm not going to be putting any limitations on what is defined as country. If you want to vote for Bluegrass, Americana, et al., go for it.

However, I think it's probably best to limit this to artists that mostly worked within the genre, rather than include a spare country track by an artist that mostly worked in rock. Obviously there are grey areas, so if you feel passionately about something, vote for it.

Though we do not have time for nominations, please rep for your favorites in this thread. If helpful, I can start an artist google sheet with popular names and those mentioned in the thread.

Rosanne Cash, Patty Loveless, K.T. Oslin, Miranda Lambert, and Margo Price are delighted by this development.

so Bonnie Raitt counts? just asking. what about Linda Ronstadt?

Linda Ronstadt had two number ones on the country chart, so definitely fits.

Do yourself a favour and don’t neglect to check out

Albums:
Gillian Welch - Time (The Revelator)
Lucinda Williams - Sweet Old World

Tracks:
Iris DeMent - Our Town
Neko Case - Andy; Hold On, Hold On; Thrice All American

Especially looking forward to albums discussion, because most of what I know pre-1990 is from compilations — I have greatest hits by Loretta, Patsy, Dolly, a whole Tammy box set, Tanya Tucker, Skeeter Davis, probably some others I'm not thinking of, but I don't really know individual albums.

Track:
Eliza Gilkyson - Beauty Way

Album:
Emmylou Harris - at the Ryman

Artist:
Jean Shepherd

*Shepard

Album:
kd lang - Shadowland

A little known album/band that I will rep for here is the Reeltime Travellers - Livin' Reeltime, Thinkin' Old Time. There are at least 3 stunningly gorgeous tracks that qualify for this poll - "Little Bird of Heaven," "Hallelujah," and "Higher Rock," all written and sung by Martha Scanlan, who sadly hasn't released much music in recent years.

Also in the old-time/bluegrass end of this world, search Rhiannon Giddens and her old group the Carolina Chocolate Drops

I will do my best to update and keep updated this google sheet with names, tracks, and albums that are either explicitly mentioned or notable. If someone wants to create a Spotify playlist, I would be grateful.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wZG8IgHCDheS-83yJpnIQC0pu-cdciuZ9suKwPs0Q4E/edit#gid=0

Will try to fill in gaps in that later today and throughout the week.

And if a mod would be kind enough to throw that at the bottom of the first post -- along with the Spotify link if anyone ends up making one -- I'd be grateful for that, too.

Was coming here to mention Jean Shepard. Her Songs of a Love Affair was arguably country's first concept album — in 1954. And don't forget Susan Raye, who worked with Buck Owens and on her own in the late 60s and early 70s.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh0RSzPdjUQ

I am totally here for this and hope to see some alt-adjacent and twangpolitan / countrypolitan / ameripolitan voices praised. Cheri Knight, Kathleen Edwards, Honeycutters. Bring it. Also some of the classic/vintage and folk-adjacent artists in the Iris DeMent, Nanci Griffith vein.

I have definite feels about this topic. I don't know a lot about yr pop-country material between 1995 and the present.

This list from 2008 has 100 names for your consideration (not all of whom I know by any means): https://www.countryuniverse.net/features/100-greatest-women/

Of course it excludes the past 15 years, so no Miranda Lambert/Pistol Annies, Taylor Swift, Kacey Musgraves, etc.

(I take that back, Lambert is on there but at #90 — lower than she'd presumably rank today.)

hardcore dilettante I would ask you to check out some of the extremely fine covers of American country songs done by English trad singers. For some reason I have a soft spot for this. Kate Rusby does a version of "Our Town" that breaks my heart even a little bit more than the original does.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6hzXLwW6PY

And Kate also totally slays "Gulf Coast Highway" here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EGtH1Eth3Y

But the pinnacle of this microgenre is and shall always be the entrancing version of "When Will I Be Loved" done by Sandy Denny and Linda Thompson.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTVDvwduVnk

British women with crystalline voices plus bathetic American songcraft is an alchemy that I can't get enough of.

^^ SO GOOD

And I want to make sure that posterity records that Nanci Griffith (a fine artist in her own right) was an exquisite collaborator.

This is a weird video but it remains one of my favorite performances of all time. Had Nanci not been there it would be meh.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY0AAVKIMPI

Mostly here to learn but I'm a fan of the unknown singer Angel Dean. She was in a country band with Amy Rigby and another with the guy from The Scene is Now, twee af in the best possible way
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgAzBTlNsEQ

Cheri Knight, "All Blue":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjwUXBI5b40

^ Cheri Knight has other good songs but that is the one that sticks with me most.

Here are two utterly perfect songs from Amanda Anne Platt & The Honeycutters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXF3PXN-h0A

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y87LkhrPVg

Okay a few more more recommendations and I will shut up for a while

Kathleen Edwards, "Six O'Clock News"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcm6sdR6jOU

Kathleen Edwards, "Hockey Skates"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7QMVWhLPYE

Honorable mention: Hem's cover of "Angels Wanna Wear my Red Shoes":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pYs_vd4bz1c

Paula Frazer/Tarnation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrxEmVEXwzg

(Great posts yall!)
xxxxxxxpost Susan Raye had a duet alb w Buck Owens reissued by Omnivore in 2022: a few keepers, but most of it has no real spark, like maybe each artist rec in sep sessions, studios, even?
Before I forget/note to self, pre-ballot: Ffrom 2018 Nashville Scene ballot comments---"Edd" is venerable ilxor/Scene staple eddshurt, who still comes through these parts comet-like, and has turned me on to so much good-to-great stuff:

Another Edd pick, Jeannie Seely’s The Seely Style,
is also awesome but a bit too signed sealed stylized,
at least for this set of tracks, most of which could register
as bullseye gravitas in other contexts, but altogether they
can seem too slow and heavy, pulling even a rock-ready
wail into relics of ritual---yet/and as a fan of Nico and
Joy Division, I’m about to go listen again, esp. to
“I Fall To Pieces” and “Don’t Touch Me” (and right off,
she’s keeping a close watch on “what you’re turning to,
and turning into.”)
Perils and pearls of a serious adult woman urban country
album made and released in 1966!

x-post

We actually did a 10 year update to that list. Lambert's up to #19 with a bullet:

http://www.countryuniverse.net/features/100-greatest-women-10th-anniversary-edition/

Sara Watkins is on that list so I will rep for the utterly sublime "Reasons Why":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lyZQB1H_Zw

Somebody mentioned Bonnie Raitt---blues is a feeling that can be with country for sure, but in terms of a country-as-genre feel/sound, the only one of hers I can think of is "Sweet and Shiny Eyes"---any others?

"Love Has No Pride"?

Laura Cantrell, one of John Peel's favorites and mine.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkac2HkAjC4

This is all fascinating! In addition to my idiosyncratic kinda alt-adjacent and contemporary choices, I will totally endorse any and all praise for Dolly Parton, Patsy Cline, Emmylou Harris, and Loretta Lynn.

That said: Linda Rondstadt is, for me, in another league even from Dolly. Considering her as a great country artist (which she is) damns her with faint praise. She would also easily top several other lists; she was a force in rock and traditional Mexican music and light opera. Her work in the movie version of "Pirates of Penzance" alone was frkn all-time.

Cowboy Junkies, Lucinda Williams, Taylor Swift, Kacey Musgraves: very solid modern performers and they all have songs that resonate with me. "2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten" is perfect. So is all of Trinity Sessions.

Moving on... Wanda Jackson, various Carters and Cashes - respected but not necessarily adored.

There is another tier - let's call it the Shania / Miranda tier - that I just don't have much interest in. I won't apologize for being lukewarm about music that I have tried to like but failed to like.

When we submit the first page, with ilxor name etc, do we then get the ballot pages? All I'm seeing is the first page, not having hit Submit yet (please don't tell me it's because I'm stuck with Windows 7!)

I hope LeAnn Rimes gets some love on this poll...

Lee Ann Womack will, from me at least — as corny as it is, I'm a huge sucker for "I Hope You Dance."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RV-Z1YwaOiw

^ TS: LeAnn vs. Lee Ann

Suggestions:

Loretta Lynn - Loretta Lynn Writes'em and Sings'em
Rosanne Cash - Rhythm & Romance
K.T. Oslin - '80s Ladies
Patty Loveless - Honkytonk Angel
Lee Ann Womack - There's More Where That Came From

a reminder that this sunny sweeney masterpiece exists

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLOmpgLmtP0

Before we get too modern, wanna make sure no one forgets that Barbara Mandrell could play the HELL out of a pedal steel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2M_J16z9sk

Spotify playlist for tracks — I’m definitely not going to have enough time to explore albums I don’t know. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2B4LdLMbhBNRsJ2wNACJEc?si=zg1p5rQySD6lmL-iPTwupg

That aside, her "The Midnight Oil" is one of my singles of the high Billy Sherrill/Columbia era. xp to me

*favorite singles

From that same Sherrill/Columbia axis, I'd also add Tanya Tucker's "Delta Dawn" and "What's Your Mama's Name" to things people should be voting for. Child prodigies don't come more prodigious.

Over the years, Wilma Burgess has become known as "the lesbian Patsy Cline," which is all well and good. It was one of the worst kept secrets in the late 1960s. But it's a brief career I find thoroughly fascinating.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILack5otVfQ

FYI, I’m not adding tracks to the playlist unless they’re clearly marked as a choice for Tracks — e.g. the Wilma Burgess track posted seems to be in support of Wilma as an Artist

If I miss anything, please let me know either in the thread or through ilxmail and I’ll add it. I’ll probably be able to update the list once or MAYBE twice a day.

First time voting in one of these: Do we get some kind of confirmation email after we've submitted, or can we go back and look at our ballot?

xp that's ok, the Wilma Burgess tracks on Spotify are shitty re-recordings. Nothing of her originals exists there.

Kitty Wells forever

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKleTa94dC8

also Mother Maybelle & Sara Carter mean a lot to me, not sure what to pick but Wildwood Flower from the 1928 Carter Family is deeply unfuckwithable

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyw6G7TPLYo

Ola Belle Reed better get some...

If y'all want "trad" country, Lee Ann Womack's last four albums will satisfy the itch.

This will be a fun poll.

I will vote for Freakwater - Springtime as one of my album selections.

This track, Louisville Lip, about Mohammed Ali, will give a good taste of their sound

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UHt4U949YE

Yes, Freakwater!
I'm gonna incl. a couple of duet sets on Albums:
Emmylou's voice lifts Grievous Angel from what could have been GP's first-rate solo alb to his and her masterpiece.
Mary McCaslin is the seasoned shotcaller (Parsons figure, in that respect) on The Bramble and The Rose, her collaboration with relative studio noob Jim Ringer, who knows to trust her like Parsons did Harris, and vice-versa.
(I'm only listing one album per artist, but Way Out West is a good place to start with McCaslin's solo joints [she only did this one duo, far as I know].)

Otm re Grievous Angel

Speaking of werewolves of, I was somehow thinking there's a Zevon on The Bramble and The Rose, but no---could've been; she was always known for somehow folding songs from all over into her unassuming country folk 'n' westernverse---"You Keep Me Hanging On," "My World Is Empty Without You, Babe," "Pinball Wizard"---here they go bopping along in "Geronimo's Cadillac," hand-in-hand through "Copperfields," riding up through the night on "Strawberry Roan," to "O Death, ", o shit, the first time I ever heard it, on the resissue out several years before O Brother Where Art Though?.
And yeah she leads the way, seems like, vi though since the song selection is even better than usual overall, maybe he helped.

McCaslin's "Way Out West" is a stone cold classic.
I personally think GP is the better of the Parsons solo records, but I'm not going to argue about it.

For me, the original Carter Family are one of the greatest bands of all time. Maybelle, Sara, and AP. I collect their 78s; I have about 50 of them but they issued well over 100. Mostly for Victor (including Bluebird & Montgomery Ward) but also Conqueror, Okeh, Decca and various dime-store labels.
"Single Girl, Married Girl"
"I Ain't Going To Work Tomorrow"
"Black Jack David"
"The Storms Upon The Ocean"
"On The Rock Where Moses Stood"
"No Depression In Heaven"
"50 Miles of Elbow Room"
"When The Worlds On Fire"
"Wildwood Flower"
"Jealous Hearted Me"
"I'm Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes"
"Cannonball Blues" (w/ a rare AP vocal)

But I will leave you with this one, underrated IMO, from 1932. this is one of those songs that is restorative to me when I am feeling down.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzvAfrgxsUg

patty loveless is a personal favorite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4dROYMpoXls

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4fXV5hMhQ20

a very nice song, also recorded by Nanci Griffith on Other Voices, Other Rooms

Oh man, I love that Kate Wolf song. My wife and aunt actually sang it together at our wedding reception.

I could lobby for a bunch of Tanya Tucker tracks, but this has to be the gothiest country #1 ever.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFLdZ2JQ-bE

xpost - i'm a big fan of Nanci's version of "Dallas" by the Flatlanders.

also i love and adore kate wolf. writer of one of the saddest songs of all time - "you're not standing like you used to."

And she sings a remarkable version of this Paul Siebel song -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUF-ZIR7i9A

A couple of early '60s classics here: Skeeter Davis, "The End of the World," and Patsy Cline, "She's Got You."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHa6a3FtPJg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owNATIdymvs

Shoutout to another couple of pioneers - Eva Davis & Samantha Bumgarner
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMiF8QfmZqo

and this one... goodness me
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzZIXHRNVKs

In case nobody has mentioned it... Harper Valley PTA.

Hell yeah. Have you listened to the Cocaine & Rhinestones episode about that?

Spreadsheet has been updated with what was mentioned today. Let me know if I've missed anything.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wZG8IgHCDheS-83yJpnIQC0pu-cdciuZ9suKwPs0Q4E/edit#gid=0

When we submit the first page, with ilxor name etc, do we then get the ballot pages? All I'm seeing is the first page, not having hit Submit yet (please don't tell me it's because I'm stuck with Windows 7!)

― dow, Sunday, February 26, 2023 1:35 PM (six hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Hm, it should show one large form with 8 questions, not just the 1st username Q. Can someone else verify that the other questions are showing up?

First time voting in one of these: Do we get some kind of confirmation email after we've submitted, or can we go back and look at our ballot?

― jon_oh, Sunday, February 26, 2023 4:23 PM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

I don't believe you get a confirmation email but I'm happy to verify that I've received and/or share your ballots with you. I got your ballot and can email it to your email address if you like.

Also want to give shoutouts and seconds to the folks who mentioned Hem, Kathleen Edwards, and Lee Ann Womack today. I'd recommend Rabbit Songs, Asking for Flowers, and The Way I'm Livin' from each. I voted for the latter in the 2010's decade poll.

I think this is one of the most powerful country songs of the last decade:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jo6jTj1GEGI

re: the Linda Ronstandt discussion upthread, Trio will absolutely be on my ballot, and I may find room for her take on "Willin"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzI6jDqi7OY

Since Alison Krauss hasn't been mentioned, I'll throw out New Favorite (album) and her work on Oh Brother Where Art Thou as must-hears, too.

I went on a tear a few years seeing how many Dottie West albums I could find (there are approximately 873 of them), but this standout from the latter end of her career is fully a JAM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1IDSHa0UUo

Dottie West - A Lesson In Leavin'

There are a probably a handful of others I'll throw into consideration, but I'll need to revisit them to figure out which ones

xpost

Ronstadt's "Willin'" is definitive to me, it's the one I grew up on.

And definitely second Krauss, though for me the Now That I've Found You compilation is hard to beat. I think it stands as an independent album because some of it was unreleased and a bunch of songs were from scattered projects not widely available. And it includes this song, which I will probably vote for.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1SCOimBo5tg

(speaking of definitive covers)

Some greats:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxN2oEo1_7I

Pam Tillis

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miIqI9Gql9M

Roseanne Cash

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ElCpHuiWkA

Kathy Mattea

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zPG1n1B0Ydw

Jennifer Nettles

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VV956MtRFpM

Lee Ann Womack’s been mentioned but this song is a fucking killer

Yeah Krauss rescued bluegrass for me. I am decently steeped in the music (I live in Virginia and play the mandolin, after all) but I have never had any affection for the "high lonesome" male vocal sound.

To this day, pretty much the only bluegrass-esque voice I want to hear is hers. I mean

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jcRZ_J_VgNc

Don't believe anyone has mentioned Lone Justice. This Tom Petty penned track was my introduction to the band and remains my favorite. Will consider it for my tracks list:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atyxS9ty8NA

Tipsy I am no longer able to embrace "I Hope You Dance," or "Seven Year Ache" (both songs got overexposed for me) but Martina McBride's "Independence Day" gets me still.

I'll definitely vote for Lone Justice - their best stuff was probably the live and demo recordings they made BEFORE their first album.

re: k.d. lang, my favorite's always been this one - will probably vote for the album too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaxV7o__ewA

I always loved this song from their debut:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mn7bLEigTEw

I feel like some Mekons songs qualify here, but not all

crtl-f Patsy Cline Crazy not found, we can all agree on that yeah?

and check out this amazing compilation tracklist, I could basically vote for these plus Linda Ronstadt

https://www.discogs.com/release/12393307-Various-A-Womans-Side-Of-Love-Vol-1-

damn, this thread's made it through almost an entire day without a mention of ashley monroe. this can not be allowed, ilm.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyFD-YevcEM

I feel like some Mekons songs qualify here, but not all

Sally Timms' solo albums do, of course.

Also Carla Bozulich/Geraldine Fibbers, even though I haven't heard much of her solo stuff beyond her cover of the Red Headed Stranger album.

Going to kill me to narrow things down and pick one track or album from the legends:

Loretta Lynn - "Fist City," "You Ain't Woman Enough" or "Coal Miner's Daughter"?
Patsy Cline - "Walkin After Midnight," "Crazy," or my personal favorite, her cover of "Lovesick Blues"
Emmylou Harris - I am partial to Roses in the Snow and Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town, but there are at least three others worth consideration
Dolly Parton - "Jolene," "Coat of Many Colors," "9 to 5," or maybe even "Muleskinner Blues"

Will probably end up voting for a couple of Miranda Lambert albums and Hell on Heels, too. Am still partial to Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Platinum, though I know a lot of the board's gotten behind The Weight of These Wings.

Spreadsheet updated with a whole bunch of names I pulled from some of the links shared in this thread. Hopefully this is helpful as a pseudo Nominations list, but please keep the recommendations coming, and I will try to update accordingly.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wZG8IgHCDheS-83yJpnIQC0pu-cdciuZ9suKwPs0Q4E/edit?usp=sharing

Don't think Rose Maddox has been mentioned yet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zu7a3VKQeY

It was technically a bigger pop hit (#1) than country hit (#17), but I still think "Ode to Billie Joe" belongs in the mix.

Bit of a country dilletante, but adore this. Hopefully the brief snatch of George Jones doesn’t rule it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?HLdzZ7ovC8A

Hopefully this works.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLdzZ7ovC8A

This list from 2008 has 100 names for your consideration (not all of whom I know by any means): https://www.countryuniverse.net/features/100-greatest-women/

yeah, I discovered this site (and this list) 15 years ago, and it had a pretty big impact on my country taste.

I mentioned McCaslin's Way Out West as a great gateway, and I'm gonna list The Chicks' 2-CD Top of the World Live as gateway-retrospective-sumna of their selectively expansive repertoire up to that point (hopefully there will be a follow-up from more recent tours, like when they added "Nothing Compares To You" a few nights after Prince passed). Title track and others may do for Patty Griffin, whose songs can lend themselves to adventures in country per se, but her albums are more Adjacent--maybe limit mention of that, focusing more on the work of women who are brave-crazy enough to ride the Holy Nashvegas bullshit train for a while---

Deana Carter- Strawberry Wine (her most well-known song)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Up06CryWQpE

Her album Story of My Life was talked about a lot back on the Rolling Country threads--more rocking, not a hit, but very cool:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKepv-_LvEU

Trisha Yearwood

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyTriK6qpAQ

And someone has to mention the Judds ffs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=texxrsahb_k

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KRpBtjIcOEM

Faith Hill- Stealing Kisses
Masterpiece

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fM_jnS-MjY

Suzy Boggus

Ashton Shepard

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjHfGQv9JGE

I mentioned McCaslin's Way Out West as a great gateway, and I'm gonna list The Chicks' 2-CD Top of the World Live as gateway-retrospective-sumna of their selectively expansive repertoire up to that point (hopefully there will be a follow-up from more recent tours, like when they added "Nothing Compares To You" a few nights after Prince passed). Title track and others may do for Patty Griffin, whose songs can lend themselves to adventures in country per se, but her albums are more Adjacent--maybe limit mention of that, focusing more on the work of women who are brave-crazy enough to ride the Holy Nashvegas bullshit train for a while---

― dow, Monday, February 27, 2023 11:42 AM (twenty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, I struggle with how to rank Patty, as she's definitely more folk than country; however, her tracks have been covered and cited by so many different country musicians as to qualify her in my book. Living With Ghosts, in particular, feels worthy. Someone shared this ridiculously great video of Dolly and Bette Midler doing "Moses" in the Patty thread a while back:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWcFJbXA1X0

yeah, the songs are good for country, though her own production can get pretty out-there, in good-to-great ways, for the most part (now I think I am gonna incl. some adjacent or at least indie, Bloodshot etc. countryiod)

countryoid, that is.

I'll definitely vote for Lone Justice - their best stuff was probably the live and demo recordings they made BEFORE their first album.

re: k.d. lang, my favorite's always been this one - will probably vote for the album too:
---birdistheword

Working on cleaning up and plugging holes in the "nominations" spreadsheet, which now has 113 artists. If anyone has recommended albums for the 70 artists who currently do not have one (or others for ones that do), please post them, and I'll add them.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wZG8IgHCDheS-83yJpnIQC0pu-cdciuZ9suKwPs0Q4E/edit#gid=0

Also gave k.d. lang's Shadowland and Absolute Torch and Twang a spin this morning because of this thread. Good stuff.

I see Sara Evans on the spreadsheet. I really love her version of Radney Foster's "Real Fine Place to Start"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrdCBkXB91I

album noms:

Sunny Sweeney- Heartbreaker's Hall of Fame, Concrete

xpost Driving back from WI to IL yesterday I scanned through what felt like four country channels, and came across this great Sara Evans song:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06o-EYH9svs

more albums:

Elizabeth Cook- Balls
Kim Richey- Chinese Boxes
Tift Merritt- Tambourine
Laura Cantrell- Not the Trembling Kind
Mary Gauthier- Mercy Now
Lydia Loveless- Somewhere Else

Just so many to choose from. Here's a heartbreaker from Reba:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pdSzY5QbxU

xps I was going to post "Suds in the Bucket"; definitely among my favorite country radio hits of the early 2000s. "She left her suds in the bucket and her clothes hanging out on the line -- YEEHOOO!"

i have a spotify playlist of 100+ tracks from women in country music, some superstars and some w/about 40 monthly listeners -- no more than one song per artist (slight overlap w/miranda and ashley and angaleena having a pistol annies track too) -- happy to send via DM for those inclined to hear

it includes Suds in the Bucket!

That time Tuscon's Nancy Mccallion and Catherine Zavala saw The Pogues and Los Lobos on the same bill launched The Mollys. Hard to say which album is their countryest, but might actually be this late 'un, despite and because of its scars, as noted by me in 2004:

Nancy McCallion & The Mollys: TROUBLE (APN): the party's over (on this record, anyway). Now Nancy's hung her name overhead, but isn't (always) quite the right lone frontperson her pungent barstool ballads deserve (really it still takes two---so where are you tonight, Catherine Zavala?). Yet somewhere in the winter West, keyed-up, mixed-buttoned Accordion-Americans still prowl a mining town, ghost town, college town (all the same, if you stay long enough). Seven years after I started listening to these erotic pilgrims, notes begin to multiply again, like (a new generation or ten of) jackrabbits with every spin, so better hit PAUSE and send over my own round of label-peelings (TROUBLE songs' last lines): "I've paid off all the interest with my tears. Put the baby in the shopping cart and run. It's all spanking new like a white dress and vow, and you're a stranger now. If you don't stop to tell me that you want me back again, I won't stop to tell you it's too late. First class patrons be spilling their wine, never make the station on time. You will have him or you won't. This is my round put it here. It has done it before it will do it again. They wish us well and what the hell, tonight is all our own." Just don't let me get to first lines.

*Tucson's*, sorry!!

Thinking The Chicks could get vote split. Favorites? Fly will get my album vote but for tracks I'd struggle to choose a favorite...maybe "There's Your Trouble" or "Give It Up or Let Me Go"

I'm going to vote on all 3 ballots but full disclosure I don't have enough time to prepare so it will be really half-assed.

For Your Consideration this 2022 jam: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHpR-vbKEAw

Also I hate to triple post but what about songs/albums by groups with both male and female members, e.g. Little Big Town, Sugarland?

High Greg, I already hyped Gram Parsons feat. Emmylou's Grievous Angel, also Mary McCaslin & Jim Ringer's The Bramble and The Rose, by cracky.

Seems like Sugarland would be OK, Jennifer Nettles def. the main vocal presence.

Not going to impose any rules, so it's up to you all, but I for one am going to skip stuff like GP/GA where Gram's name and face is on the package and Emmylou has a (critical) supporting role. She's got enough incredible solo material to choose from as it is, though I'll consider it when ranking artists.

Country has a long history of male/female duets and albums, but is "Jackson" in contention? "Mississippi Woman, Mississippi Man"? I don't know... There's enough there that it could be its own poll. I'm going to prioritize songs and albums where the female is the lead.

*Louisiana Woman :)

My favorite Dolly track would have to be this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecPCXui2nEU

Sally Timms also does a great version of that!

I'm a country a dilettante at best (more a spectator here than a voter) but some days I'm convinced "Down From Dover" is the best song I'll ever hear in any genre.

Absolutely. (Dolly is also the sole credited songwriter as well.) It was included on her great 1975 Best of LP, but it's crazy that it fell out-of-print for at least decade during a long period when she let most of her best stuff become unavailable and focused on reissuing her later poppier hits. The four-CD Dolly box set was a godsend for that reason alone.

figure i'll just share my playlist here with a few special shoutouts to artists below:

https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6LaK3szO8vfdTjcw1e0R2x?si=412c5ca7099a4733

Ashley Monroe - Like a Rose

my top country album of recent years, at this point, represented by 'the morning after', which isn't one from this album that folks usually point to but it's my favorite track. really like her subsequent albums too, The Blade is almost as good, might get a vote from me as well. But this one is just her classic, to date.

Ida Red - Harmony Grits

this is from 2021, they have 18 listeners per month on Spotify, but it's a really terrific album. Don't know if they're an ongoing concern, highly recommended.

Michaela Anne - Desert Dove

Really great album from 2019, some pure lush country goodness here.

I did include Freakwater on here, but I also included 'Hex' by Freakwater's Catherine Irwin, which is one of the best country tracks you'll hear. Neko Case covered it on The Tigers Have Spoken, and she kills it, but I think the original version is the best.

on the more mainstream sounding sounds, I did include Little Big Town, Kellie Pickler, Sara Evans, Maren Morris, and some others, but my fave mainstream track here maybe is 'I Can't' by Caitlyn Smith, which feels a bit generic at first pass but she has a certain sui generis power.

But someone who i think is *really* unique in a lot of ways is Lilly Hiatt (John's daughter) -- she's not to be slept on. Every time I hear her i'm pretty impressed.

Overlooked a lot of the time: Whitney Rose, Jaime Wyatt, and Brennen Leigh.

i'm sure i forgot a few, i'll add to it as i go.

Like a Rose is marvelous

its brevity is its greatest strength. not a dis, just makes those 9 songs hit all the harder.

also included Esther Phillips' 'Release Me', since it was on her country album and it's mind-blowing imo.

Yeah I have no problem citing Margo Timmins as the main Cowboy Junkie, so I would admit Blood Oranges, Sugarland, Hem, and Nickel Creek under the same logic.

But doesn’t Chris Thile sing as much as Sara Watkins in Nickel Creek?

May as well just have Watkins as an artist and include any Nickel Creek songs she sings lead on

Little Big Town and Lady A are trickier since the women and men usually trade verses

when I think LBT I tend to think Karen Fairchild, her vox dominate for me even though the others are absolutely stellar lead vocalists too.

Female - male country duets are almost their own category. So many great ones. Gram and Emmylou got a shout out upthread. Here are two more tracks worth voting for

Alison Krauss and Dwight Yoakam - If I Were A Carpenter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gqNKJm2EWv4

KD Lang and Dwight Yoakam- Sin City

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lw0gdKJ5mpw

Whoops I missed indexed saying kinda saying something similar about female/male country duets. The two above have Dwight as guest duet partner not top bill so might be ok. Whereas with George & Tammy and Johnny & June, the two of them are the stars.

on that same note, I have genuinely tried with those Dolly Parton/Porter Wagoner records, I just can't hang with the dude he's too square

Porter Wagoner has some truly NUTS solo material; not for this thread but I'll hit you up inna group chat stylee.

Porter Wagoner had a great duet album with Skeeter Davis too.

Skeeter Davis will be high on my personal list. I did a deep dive on her stuff a few years back and was pleasantly surprised at how many great albums she had in the 60s. Will need to spend some time figuring out which songs//albums I’ll vote for.

Y’all got “Strawberry Wine” yet

re: omar little, thanks for sharing your playlist! Know a whole lot of it, but not all:

-Catherine Irwin is new to me, and what a discovery.
- Like a Rose is definitely my Ashley Monroe preference. I like the persona she carves out on its stories as an extension of her stuff in the Annies.
- Michaela Anne's Desert Dove is one of my favorite country albums in recent years. Dusty, border vibe with lots of space. A really creative record that sounds unique to me.
- I think I was the sole voter for Brennen Leigh's album in the EOY poll--nice to see it represented on your playlist. Also love Jamie Wyatt's Felony Blues; easily digestible at 7 tracks and 30 minutes.
- Will consider Allison Russell's Outside Child from your list -- an absolutely superb country-adjacent album that didn't get much attention here but made ripples a couple years ago.
- Sierra Ferrell from your list has not put out much but is one to watch. Captivating vocals.
- Kellie Pickler's 100 Proof is worth a listen and better than some probably remember
- Tami Neilson hasn't been mentioned yet but I love that record, especially "Cry Over You" below, which has an incredible chorus:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ry2cRem1AyA

Also know Katie Pruitt's Expectations was a hit here a couple years ago so will add that to the "noms" spreadsheet:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wZG8IgHCDheS-83yJpnIQC0pu-cdciuZ9suKwPs0Q4E/edit#gid=0

Another half a male/female duo but who absolutely belongs in contention - Mary Ford. So many great songs that are great because of her, not just Les Paul’s inventive guitar playing.

100%. Highly recommend the History of Rock podcast episode on "How High the Moon":
https://500songs.com/podcast/how-high-the-moon-by-les-paul-and-mary-ford/

Another modern album that deserves attention is Cam's Untamed, produced by Jeff Bhasker and Tyler Johnson, which did shockingly well on country radio but has since been a bit forgotten. Love this Luke Laird co-write, which has a chorus that recalls his work with Kacey Musgraves:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNEuFfmqnrw

A half-truth's still a lie
"I need my space" is still goodbye
A wrong size shoe could look good on you
But you'll be cussin' your feet at midnight
A half-cold beer ain't cold
"I'll be back soon" is still gone
"A half-smoked cigarette's still smoked
And a half-broke heart's still broke

Xpost Catherine Irwin. She sang most of the leads in Freakwater. If you like her voice and approach, highly recommend Freakwater’s Springtime lp which I mentioned upthread.

Thanks! I knew "Hex" from The Tigers Have Spoken but am unfamiliar with Irwin or Freakwater. Will spend some time there for sure.

Extremely 90s content but love this track. This record also had "Bye Bye" on it, and both somehow have over 50M Spotify plays.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-lBN5Jl7iU

Have to share one more...Digging through some old playlists and just rediscovered The Everybodyfields/Jill Andrews. This one always got me. Lovely, unadorned vocals. Looks like she's done a lot since but I lost track of her at some point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V7MrKW-nktg

Re: Kacey Musgraves. I want to go on record saying that her most popular songs - e.g., "Merry Go Round," "Follow Your Arrow," "Rainbow" - are justifiably so, and they work. I am not going to contrarianly rep for deep KM tracks, because I just think those three are perfect.

Note that I am omitting "High Horse." I feel it attempts something that it doesn't achieve. That sounds weirdly abstract, but it is the best way I can explain it. In my view, it is not just not a country song, but it is un-country. Anti-country. The brightness of the production and the aggressive melisma make it feel both too glossy and too idiosyncratic.

My choices will never strictly adhere to the formula, which is of course (3 * (number of chords)) + (the truth) = country. But that formula does inform my judgement and "High Horse" is difficult for me to process as a country song.

“High Horse” is kind of a disco song, in the vein of late ‘70s Nashville pop crossovers.

Speaking of which: Let’s add Terri Gibbs’ excellent “Somebody’s Knockin’” to the playlist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-_xjKYJ_us

Personally I can do without "Somebody's Knockin'" as well as "High Horse."

But de gustibus etc.

high horse is good, too bad it's not country

Is "Here You Come Again" a country song?

(Sorry, not trying to be contrarian)

Just trying to clarify my own thinking more than anything. Canciones de Mi Padre is a mariachi album by someone who is a country artist. Bonnie Raitt's version of "Angel from Montgomery" is a country song and remains so in her hands, but I still would not classify her as a country artist. Dolly Parton's "look at me, didja know I can RAWK" song is not going to make it to the poll under any rubric.

Hence I am just going to embrace the artists/tracks/albums distinction as Indexed intended. I like that approach. Thanks, Indexed.

xp not really tbh!

lol so you mean I can't vote for disco Dolly?

https://i.discogs.com/uA4T_rhqKdR3WPVAEzppqNEENEH5Zxwya1FGAxnYsLw/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTMzMzM3/OS0xMzgzOTM1NTI3/LTM4NTIuanBlZw.jpeg

On a quick scan didn’t see Reba McEntire mentioned. Both Fancy and The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia should be nominated as tracks. She has such a great storytelling voice.

Is "Here You Come Again" a country song?

does the fact that it hit #1 on the billboard country chart carry any weight? and is it possible to come up with an actual definition of country that excludes it but doesn't exclude, say, "i will always love you" (which also was a country #1)?

Nice to see fcc!

Sometimes that song is presented as her entry to pop, is all. Of course I will vote for it because I am a Dolly stan.

I’m not an arbiter of what you can or can’t vote for!

"I Will Always Love You" (Dolly's version) is totally a country song. "Here You Come Again" is kinda Burt Bacharach-y.

I will reiterate that if you want to vote for something, go for it. I'm keeping the spreadsheet updated with anything that's mentioned in the thread or voted for, so if you see it in there, someone else may be voting for it! "I Will Always Love You" will likely be on my ballot :)

Porter Wagoner had a great duet album with Skeeter Davis too.

Skeeter Davis will be high on my personal list. I did a deep dive on her stuff a few years back and was pleasantly surprised at how many great albums she had in the 60s. Will need to spend some time figuring out which songs//albums I’ll vote for.

speaking of skeeter, the Davis Sisters - "I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know" is one of THE great singles of country music, by anyone.

Good call, and will add Rock A Bye Boogie to the list, too

Not sure how people feel about early rock/rockabilly more generally but Wanda Jackson's "I Gotta Know," which shifts back and forth between classic honky tonk and 50s rock n roll, is an old favorite.

My brief tenure in a rockabilly band introduced me to the lovely Sticks & Stones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYr8AUZoIMU

The way Wanda's voice gets that growly breakup is fucking amazeballs. She could bring sweetness as well, as I'm sure, but that distorted sound is... special.

Love Wanda. And as essential as her rockabilly stuff is, her more trad country of the 60s and into the 70s is really great too.

Another one I haven't seen mentioned yet - Connie Smith. "Once a Day" is all-time.

My overall bias in country is toward loads of stuff from 60s and a good amount from 50s and 70s. Then there is a huge drought in the 80s and most of the 90s and 10s, with exception of the alt country trends of the late 90s/00s. Then it comes back fairly strong in the last 5-10 years. That's true of the genre overall but it's exceptionally apparent when I narrow down to women only. Looking at my collection you'd think Lucinda Williams, Gillian Welch and Neko Case were the only women doing anything worthwhile in the genre for like 15 years. Ugh. Looking forward to the results of this poll to fill in massive knowledge gaps. And apologies in advance for skewing the results at all.

ha my perception is that the 00s were a golden age

yep

I'm not familiar with careers like Patty Griffin, Kathy Mattea, etc.

i think a lot of the country from the 00s was maybe overlooked by me a bit, w/the most vocal support for country on this board at the time was for big and rich, maybe gretchen wilson, some others...none of which really appealed to me, to be nice about it.

some of the alt-country stuff worked as a gateway drug (freakwater, neko case) as well as some of the classic sounds, but what got me hooked more was probably kathleen edwards and sara evans, then the pistol annies, ashley monroe solo, etc...

Then there is a huge drought in the 80s and most of the 90s and 10

That should read 00s, not 10s.

Keyes, which artists do you have in mind when you say that? I'm sure it's true. It's only in the last few years that I've really been trying to catch up on so much of the genre that I missed.

a lot of the artists mentioned in this thread, especially Lee Ann Womack, Sunny Sweeney, Miranda Lambert, Sugarland, etc. Along with male artists like Eric Church, Gary Allan, Jamey Johnson, and Alan Jackson's "Like Red From a Rose" one of my favorite albums ever.

Seconding my affection for Like Red from a Rose

I liked Kellie Pickler's 2012 album a lot and it holds up.

Yeah for me there was a lot going on from 1998 onward, because I got into a huge amount of folk-adjacent country.

Say, between Other Voices, Other Rooms and Red Dirt Girl.

Then came Van Lear Rose and the prominence of duderiffic alt-country like Whiskeytown, Ryan Adams, Jason Isbell, etc.

Before that, my favorite country music would prolly have been, like, Hal Ketchum or Rodney Crowell.

early '90s reminder: lorrie morgan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gr3GcGGu4dQ

@Alfred re: Patty Griffin, she has been touring and collaborating with Emmylou Harris for ages -- see: "Mary," a song Lucinda Williams has said she wished she wrote, but also don't miss "Truth #2," which The Chicks play live and will likely make my ballot. The Chicks named Fly after closing track "Let Him Fly," which was on Patty's first album, the mostly acoustic Living With Ghosts. "Top of the World," which closes Home, is a tune from Patty's Impossible Dream, one of my favorite albums. That one also has "When It Don't Come Easy," which LeAnn Rimes chose for her first dance (ditto), and Emily Scott Robinson covered beautifully last year. Would recommend those two albums for starters. Also noteworthy: Miranda's Crazy Ex-Girlfriend contains a Patty cover ("Getting Ready").

(Crowell, yeah, and he's been pretty consistent for quite a while, though a bit too woolgathering lyrically at times, always a good producer, of self and others.)
Cosign w Keyes---I only started keeping up with country in the late 90s and early 00s, because Chuck Eddy was paying me to, and I got spoiled, thought it was gonna keep being like that re frequently amazing country pop, at least for an album or two (Montgomery Gentry!), but did have the rise of those artists cited by Keyes, also the great decade of Justin Townes Earle, plus other hardy indie country.

Griffin's "Top of the World" made another top Chicks track.

Oh yeah but if you want some heavy shit here it is

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VPpAZ9_qAw

like, I remember hearing this on the radio and wondering how many listeners grasped how fucking heavy it was

Ditto this offering from Beth Nielsen Chapman ("Sand and Water"), who had every reason to go there:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5M_HYg2S870

Like, I'm pretty sure we all love music about drinking and fucking and being silly and having fun. Like, those are three of my five favorite things. But listen to those songs. Please.

Sean Hannity used to use Independence Day as the theme song of his radio show, which seemed like a lot of not getting it

"Independence Day" is one of the greatest singles of the '90s in any genre.

She came close to matching it only a couple times. "Love's the Only House" for instance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzM_lxnzi64

Sean Hannity used to use Independence Day as the theme song of his radio show, which seemed like a lot of not getting it

― INDEPENDENTS DAY BY STEVEN SPILBERG (President Keyes), Wednesday, March 1, 2023 12:30 PM (two minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I did not know this. Amazing.

"Independence Day" was problematic and Hannity-vulnerable for being simultaneously female agency x gun solution---obviously sometimes it comes to that in real life, but in country music esp. ending song w celebration, even if heavy sound, eliding the aftermath, like maybe legal and certainly what it feels like to have done that as well as what led up to it, and what now, in life, longterm: could be fascinating for follow-through on that but this ain't that---

It's a graver ancestor of Gretchen Wilson and Miranda Lambert's gunpowder-and-lead stuff.

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/independence-day-martina-mcbride-real-meaning-855248/

So many fantastic songs being shared ITT. It's going to be super hard to narrow down the ballot to just 30 tracks. Could easily fill up the ballot with tracks from Lucinda, Gillian Welch, Miranda Lambert, and Emmylou ... Could we increase the tracks ballot to 50 tracks??

Like leaving it vulnerable to such oh just let my people have guns (husband too), rather than say she escapes in car, looking in rear view rather than big boom solution---would seem like better way to go---

xps

ok absolutely not endorsing sean fucking hannity here but

if these songs don't move you, you are made of some unmoveable substance and I am not sure I can relate to you

They do move me, but

ok dow, you do you.

I am currently in a headspace where I want to be moved, in the way that these songs move me. But I also know I need to calibrate the dosage. Not enough and my life is bland. Too much, and I want to just curl up with the feelz.

Getting the right balance is tricky.

That should read 00s, not 10s.

Keyes, which artists do you have in mind when you say that? I'm sure it's true. It's only in the last few years that I've really been trying to catch up on so much of the genre that I missed.

― sctttnnnt (pgwp), Wednesday, March 1, 2023 11:45 AM (forty-nine minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

I really considered the late 90s/00s a golden era. There was so much good alt-country each year with Uncle Tupelo/Wilco, Drive-By Truckers/Jason Isbell, Ryan Adams/Whiskeytown, Old 97s, Lydia Loveless, JTE, Neko Case, Waco Bros, Bloodshot in general... and the emergence of The Chicks, Miranda Lambert, Taylor Swift. Also had legends like Dwight Yoakam, Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Lucinda Williams, et al. putting out some of the finest stuff of their long careers.

So many fantastic songs being shared ITT. It's going to be super hard to narrow down the ballot to just 30 tracks. Could easily fill up the ballot with tracks from Lucinda, Gillian Welch, Miranda Lambert, and Emmylou ... Could we increase the tracks ballot to 50 tracks??

― that's not my post, Wednesday, March 1, 2023 12:37 PM (thirteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Feel free to post your top 50 but I'd like to keep it to 30 for the sake of keeping this manageable in a relatively short amount of time. Hoping you all submit ballots!

xpost Golden Era ^OTM

A gem from the early 00s. This is the song I immediately hear in my head when I think of Neko Case

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScT9eo5cljk

Where does this mean world cast its cold eye
Who's left to suffer long about you
Does your soul cast about like an old paper bag
Past empty lots and early graves
Those like you who lost their way
Murdered on the interstate
While the red bells rang like thunder

Another shout-out to Indexed for running this. So much fabulous material here; regardless of the poll results it's an enjoyable exercise.

Xpost Catherine Irwin. She sang most of the leads in Freakwater. If you like her voice and approach, highly recommend Freakwater’s Springtime lp which I mentioned upthread.

― that's not my post, Tuesday, February 28, 2023 10:11 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

So this is pushing every button I have. Thank you for the recommendation!

Also should have mentioned Songs:Ohia/Magnolia Electric Co./Jason Molina in my 'golden era' post.

awesome, very into this. I think most of those 50M listen's for Jo Dee Messina that were mentioned up thread are my wife and I listening to Alright & Bye-Bye over and over again. Will definitely vote independence day. Also Shania for sure, No One Needs To Know is sometimes my favourite song ever.

some other tracks worth voting for...

Love Is - Emmylou Harris
This is better than the Matapedia version that Kate & Anna recorded.

Where No One Stands Alone - Asleep at the Wheel
I assume that when Chris O'Connell signs AATW songs count?

Change of Heart - The Judds
Years - Barbara Mandrell
Queen of Hearts - Juice Newton
Right in Time - Lucinda Williams
Roll Um Easy - Linda Ronstadt
She's In Love With the Boy - Trisha Yearwood
Stuck Like Glue - Sugarland

Does Tennessee Waltz by Patti Page count or is that too pop? I would vote Someday Soon as well, but probably the Judy Collins version even if the Canadian in my feels I should vote Ian & Sylvia.

My Chicks song of choice is Easy Silence
Before He Cheats is a 2000s classic of course, Redneck Woman would get my vote too.

For more modern tracks I would definitely rep for Compass by Lady A, Half Broke Heart that was mentioned upthread, my favourite Maren Morris is Once, Day Drinking by LBT, Tuxedo by Clare Dunn and The Weight of These Wings might just be my favourite overall album by a female country singer ever.

Great post, Will! The late 70s-early 90s is probably where I need to do the most catching up. Added all of your suggestions, everything else mentioned today, and my Emmylou Harris track of choice to the spreadsheet, "Easy from Now on," a Susanna Clark & Carlene Carter tune that Lambert also did a killer cover of on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. I considered "Jordan," but it's maybe too indebted to Johnny Cash and will be voting for Roses in the Snow anyhow.

re

she escapes in car, looking in rear view

Chely Wright's note to self, ca. 1997:

And I had to break your heart to make you see
That he's the one who will be missing you
And you'll only miss the man
That you wanted him to be
Shut up and drive
Don't look in the mirror
Turn the radio on
Get out of here
Shut up and drive
Shut up and drive
Shut up and drive

Don't know her albums from that era, but 2010 Crowell-produced Lifted Off The Ground brought a new country pop btw-gay mainstream; 2016's Joe Henry-producedI Am The Rain takes introspection further, in a good way, w some Crowell, Emmylou, Milk Carton Kids backing vox.

More heavy tunes …

Iris DeMent - No Time To Cry (her voice kills me)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfyqbkuV_e8

Reba McEntire - Fancy (mentioned upthread. It’s a Bobbie Gentry song. Also will fill in blind spots for 80s country)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zplc4Ienkws

One of Merle Haggard's best late performances is his DeMent cover.

Any mention of Allison Moorer yet? Here's one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mOdh9-g5l8

"The Hardest Part" was one of my fave albums at the time (2000).

to skeptics of early '90s country I submit

Mary Chapin Carpenter singing "He Thinks He'll Keep Her"
featuring:
Suzy Boggus
Patty Loveless
Pam Tillis
Trisha Yearwood
Kathy Mattea
Emmylou Harris

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EH2hzModqCk

I just discovered Lari White. She passed away a few years ago. Neo-Traditionalist. Her first album was produced by Rodney Crowell. This video is, uh, pretty insane:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9K1gknVDPeE

^ I'm such a sucker for uptempo dance hall stuff like this. Per Wikipedia: ""Wild at Heart" subject to controversy due to its music video. Said video was withdrawn from CMT and The Nashville Network after only a month due to protests from mental health organizations." Sadly don't see the album on Spotify but the opening track with Shelby Lynne & Trisha Yearwood is also a total stomper:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMsvHPFVsto

Any Kasey Chambers fans? 1999's The Captain has a number of quality tunes. My favorite is probably "You Got the Car":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Noc8BSQZF4

The record she did with Shane Nicholson in 2008 Rattlin' Bones is a more even listen, going back to great male/female duet records. Try "Wildflower" for a taste:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30bqMc0LldE

A couple years prior Caitlin Cary of Whiskeytown found a Ryan Adams sound-alike in Thad Cockerell and released one of my favorite country albums of the era, Begonias. Highly recommend it to anyone who likes perfect male/female harmonies and/or the early 00s alt-country sound.

^Two Different Things off Begonias is such a great tune

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYvKAYKlsv4

I like Kasey Chambers, and "You Got the Car" is absolutely my favorite. I like that whole album, really. The one after it was pretty good, then I kind of stopped paying attention. I also love "We're All Gonna Die Someday."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_oqQ0evQ0U

I missed La Ronstadt's Canciones de Mi Padre the first time around, but amazed by 2022 Deluxe Edition (the bonus track is "Lagos Azul," casting off at the end of a musical evening for the Sea of Dreams, since bayous ain't blue on this side, unless some kind of spill/dump). Wondering about Latina country inclusions on my ballot---maybe this, something by Eva Ybarra y Los Conjuntos---I'm sure the xpost Mollys knew all about her---Rosie Flores, Tish Hinojosa, Carrie Rodriquez? Did Selena ever do any Tejana country pop?

Pointless digression: for some reason, my mother thought it was important to match dinner music with dinner.

When we had Chinese food she always played the Last Emperor soundtrack. Pasta? Moonstruck.

Whenever we had tacos, she would inevitably put on Cantonese di mi Padre, and I cannot shake those associations to this day.

Fuck autocucumber. Canciones di mi Padre.

Cantonese di mi Padre would work for a Chinese/Mexican fusion record, though. And the resulting moo shu burritos

I’ve got a track list narrowed down to about 80…

I like Kasey Chambers, and "You Got the Car" is absolutely my favorite. I like that whole album, really. The one after it was pretty good, then I kind of stopped paying attention. I also love "We're All Gonna Die Someday."

― a man often referred to in the news media as the Duke of Saxony (tipsy mothra), Thursday, March 2, 2023 4:47 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

Same. Learned yesterday that she has been quite a force of nature in Australian radio. Per wikipedia:

Five of her twelve studio albums have reached No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart, Barricades & Brickwalls (September 2001), Wayward Angel (May 2004), Carnival (August 2006) Rattlin' Bones (April 2008) and Dragonfly (January 2017). In November 2018 she was inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame and has won an additional fourteen ARIA Music Awards with nine for Best Country Album. Kasey Chambers has most wins with 9 awards from 9 nominations, more than any other artist or band in this category.

I'd only ever really listened to Mountain Soul (a classic) and am getting caught up on the rest of Patty Loveless's catalog. Rather uneven but the hits sure hit.

Wild that we've gotten over 200 posts deep and no one's mentioned Jessi Colter. Her 70s stuff wasn't on streaming for a long time, so she may have slipped from the public consciousness, but it's there now so get hip.

Speaking of Jessi Colter that Sammi Smith record He’s Everywhere that was outlaw adjacent too is really great.

By the way, for those of you who like vinyl, almost all this stuff (60s-80s) can still be had for dirt cheap!

Some albums from the last 5 years that I haven’t seen mentioned. Maybe hard to crack a top 30 for some folks but all worth checking out!

2017 - Natalie Hemby: Puxico (track: Time Honored Tradition)
2019 - Lillie Mae: Other Girls (track: Other Girls)
2020 - Waxahatchee: St Cloud (track: Lilacs)
2021 - Margo Cilker: Pohorylle (track: Tehachapi)
2022 - SG Goodman: Teeth Marks (track: When You Say It)

And while I probably won’t nominate her (very good) albums, I’m considering two tracks from Erin Rae, “Putting on Airs” and “Modern Woman”.

2020 - Waxahatchee: St Cloud (track: Lilacs)

I almost forgot about that album - that will definitely get a vote from me.

Everything Waxahatchee did for the 7-8 years prior to St Cloud was average or just above average but her turn toward country was inspired—easily my favorite album of the 20s so far.

Great picks pgwp. I really love Puxico but the more recent Hemby album wasn't as successful for me, as she tried to make the jump from songwriter to star. I'm considering her for my artists ballot though, given Puxico, The Highwomen, and her incredible catalog of songs (some of my favorites: Lambert's "Fine Tune," "Girls," "Smokin & Drinkin," and "Ugly Lights"; Jon Pardi's "Heartache Medication"; Kacey Musgraves' "Butterflies," "Velvet Elvis," and "Rainbow"; Kelly Clarkson's "Don't Rush"; Little Big Town's "Pontoon").

Speaking of The Highwomen and more recent records, Maren Morris's HERO is worth a mention. It's big pop hooks and cross-over appeal pair well with Cam's Untamed and Lambert's Platinum.

I’ve been meaning to try Hemby’s second album again, but my first impression was the same as yours - didn’t grab me nearly as much as Puxico. But I discovered both albums at about the same time so I feel like I didn’t really give the second one a fair shake.

Also didn’t realize she wrote “Fine Tune” which is one of my favorite Lambert songs.

Don't think Kelly Willis has been mentioned (!) who has a number of great albums both as a solo artist and with her (now ex?) husband Bruce Robison. Revisiting her self-titled album this morning, and it's great.

Her album "Translated From Love" was very good, as I remember

more albums:

Lydia Loveless- Somewhere Else

― INDEPENDENTS DAY BY STEVEN SPILBERG (President Keyes), Monday, February 27, 2023 2:44 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

May sneak onto my ballot

And I never did want you in my way well at least not every day
I never did want you to be mine
Well at least not all the time but
I wanna be on your mind
Well I wanna be on your mind
It feels like I'm gonna die if I can't talk to you
It feel like I'm gonna die only if you don't fill my wound up
But I feel like I'm gonna die either way
Feel like I'm gonna die either way
Feel like I'm gonna die
Whyyyyyyyyyyy

I like Kelly Willis, actually just listened to What I Deserve a month or two ago.

so i am trying to get my vote in before i leave on holiday, how are we handling the two iterations of the Carter Family/Mother Maybelle and the Sisters in the artist vote? Two separate groups?

Good question. I'm inclined to combine the Carter Family votes, but if anyone objects, let me know. There are others like The Judds/Wynonna where I'm torn. You can refer to the spreadsheet to see how I'm grouping things as of now:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wZG8IgHCDheS-83yJpnIQC0pu-cdciuZ9suKwPs0Q4E/edit#gid=0

alright! my vote is in, excited to see the results I should be back right when things start to roll out!

I've had King's Record Shop on vinyl for years so had never heard the bonus tracks before today when I played it on Spotify. "707" is a jam!

Looked and not only has the record never been polled here, Cash doesn't even have a dedicated thread? Hopefully this or the results thread can give us a place to discuss in years to come.

We have had four votes thus far, and you all have just over one week to get 'em in. Hoping to see ballots from all those who've chimed in here...

She does!

Rosanne Cash, classic or dud?

Best Song on Rosanne Cash's Hits 1981-1989

Rosanne Cash - The River & the Thread

A+ spelling on my part...thanks, Alfred!

We have had four votes thus far, and you all have just over one week to get 'em in.

― Indexed, Tuesday, March 7, 2023 5:43 PM

I keep forgetting there's an actual vote taking place lol

ha, no worries, Indexed! I've often added an e.

There are five more Jessi Colter tracks, incl. two duets w Waylon, added to the excellent 20th Anniversary Edition of Wanted! The Outlaws, released in 1996.
2006 brought her also **excellent** Out of the Ashes, and 2017 delivered The Psalms, featuring Lenny Kaye, and sounding like something Patti Smith could get into.

from my Nashville Scene comments on Out of the Ashes:

Comments: Jessi Colter, whose early songs are credited to Margaret
Eddy, from when she was married to Chuck's Uncle Duane, emerged for
me, a little bit in the lemon-scented penumbra of her first and
biggest Jessi hit, "I'm Not Lisa," and much moreso on the expanded
reissue of Wanted: The Outlaws, but was and is still a reserved
journeyman. An artist of poise and potential, a masterful student. Out
Of The Ashes is a startling breakthrough, yet she seems shadowy, not
furtive or coy, just driving her low, rumbling keyboard over high,
rocky desert roads. Just like a woman, or some of 'em, no matter how
much she tells you, there's a fair, if implied, warning, that there's
a lot more where that came from, and a lot of it may stay Over There.
For instance,there's a brief, vividly allusive, yet elusive critique
of a certain outlaw, but in passing, as he's passing. She seems wise
to have waited this long after Waylon's death to record again, to have
gained perspective, but she doesn't dwell on it, except insofar as her
home seems in motion: "His Eye Is On The Sparrow" and "Rainy Day
Women" aren't the best performances, but they both move along at their
and her own chosen speed, and they're both equally emblematic of her
sensibility (And His eye surely must have noticed how they stone ya,
counted by every one of Shooter's drumbeats on the collaboration
originally commissioned by M-M-Mel Gibson for the companion album to
The Passion Of The Christ, and must also have noticed that this
sweatlodge session abjures the exploitational aspects of the stone-Ya
in The Passion, or the similar sequence in On The Waterfront, while
being scarier than either, just because of such unblinking austerity).

Came back to that track in a Shooter feature:

In 2004, Shooter and Jessi co-wrote and recorded a song. "Please Carry Me Home" is about sweating yourself dry of temptation's power, cold turkey, and step by bare step. (Shooter's drums count out the cost, slowly, mercilessly). It's a disturbing song, because it implies the risk of losing desire along with temptation. Not a good idea, because, Smokey Robinson put it, "If you can want, you can care," and then (maybe), as long lost Southern Rockers Hydra put it, you can "care enough to survive." But Shooter and Jessi know this, and hearing is believing: although "Please Carry" is the only track he appears on, it's a fittingly dramatic climax to Jessi's new Out Of The Ashes (Shout! Factory), her first album, except for a couple of kiddie-song sets, in over 20 years. Out Of the Ashes may well be the best country album of 2006, and the rumble and flow of Jessi's gospel-schooled, piano-driven twists and turns may well have provided some of the juice for Shooter's new Electric Rodeo

Thanks for the links, Alfred. Maybe I've underrated KRS?

With all apologies to late Steely Dan and Ms. Ronstadt, King’s Record Shop is the finest studio-rock ever recorded; imagine songs as tough as Fleetwood Mac’s 1975 eponymous album, with playing to match, and Cash channeling Stevie Nicks, Christine McVie, and Lindsey Buckingham and you get an idea of her achievement. She’s now a super-sponge, covering John Stewart, John Hiatt (turning “The Way We Make A Broken Heart” into a gauzy homosexual reverie) and Johnny Cash himself. Her singing has never been finer. Note the terrified way in which she whispers “I’m worried about you, I’m worried about me” in the big (country) hit “Runaway Train”; or how her dusky contralto won’t cede an inch to bathos on “I Don’t Have To Crawl.” With DeVito and the Mellencamp guitarist she can now afford (Larry Crane) injecting muscle and grit into Crowell’s tautest arrangements, the likes of “Somewhere, Sometime” and “If I Can’t Change Your Mind” register as intense psychodramas and great pop songs, depending on your tolerance. But “Rosie Strikes Back” wants it both ways: a spousal abuse number qua self-empowerment ode, in which the drums and guitars snap, slap, whip, and whirl in a furious simulation of the beat-up wife’s eventual exit.

http://web.archive.org/web/20140330025039/http://stylusmagazine.com/reviews/rosanne-cash/seven-year-ache-kings-record-shop-interiors.htm

lol at my hyperbole 17 years ago

That's good---and dusky contralto, yeah, the sensuous depth-weight can do a lot when she lets it, like "Tell Heaven" is theme worthy of Douglas Sirk and Frederick's of Hollywood catalogs because she's so deadpan brave and tendah with it---also brings flattens some twee lyrics while bringing out melodic muscle of "Biloxi," like Jesse Winchester's original vocals don't (he's always got that little oh-my-goodness! tremolo).
The List is a good covers album: when she told her father she was thinking of going pro in country, he questioned her, was disturbed by her ignorance, brought her a list of songs, some of which she very eventually recorded.

also *flattens*

Charlie McClain anyone?

It's too late to love me now
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_CqRIndoXOA

Spotify playlist for tracks — I’m definitely not going to have enough time to explore albums I don’t know. https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2B4LdLMbhBNRsJ2wNACJEc?si=zg1p5rQySD6lmL-iPTwupg

― The land of dreams and endless remorse (hardcore dilettante), Sunday, February 26, 2023 3:50 PM (one week ago) bookmarkflaglink

Really enjoying this playlist -- thank you again for keeping it updated! A few additions I'm considering:

- Iris DeMent - Let The Mystery Be
- Gillian Welch & Alison Krauss - I'll Fly Away
- Bonnie Raitt - Angel from Montgomery

My Life definitely makes my list. Tough call on Bonnie because her albums cover a lot of roots, not just country, but her first three would be the ones I'd pick.

considering:

- Iris DeMent - Let The Mystery Be
- Gillian Welch & Alison Krauss - I'll Fly Away
- Bonnie Raitt - Angel from Montgomery

All great

If you’re waffling about including Gillian Welch on your artist list, this is from their amazing BBC 2004 is worth checking out. Fierce.

Gillian Welch - Caleb Mayer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nugXkgd_-84

How do they make so much music with just two guitars and two voices? Best ever.

I was fortunate enough that a friend took me to one of their live sets years ago. I barely knew their music at the time and left the theater with my jaw on the ground.

Would love to see a few more ballots come in today...

Anyone voting for Olivia Newton-John? Would appreciate any recommendations on where to start with her 70s country catalog, as I'm a total neophyte.

ballot submitted

Got it, thanks!

I have just 5 ballots so far and would feel really good if we hit 20.

You all have 3 days to get yours submitted.

Just rushed one in. Heavy on a few alt-country faves so better get one in if you want to counteract that.

I just submitted mine.

i filled out the "vote here" link at top but it didn't lead me to a place to actually put down a ballot or anything. . .i'm a bit daft yeah but still what's the deal?

Looks like you "voted" but didn't fill out the ballots. There are three ballots each with small gray text that say "Your Answer." You type your ballot in there, such as:

Dolly Parton
Loretta Lynn
Kitty Wells
etc.

Then select whether each of your three ballots is weighted/unweighted/mixed. Then click submit.

If you can't figure it out, I can email you at the address you submitted and get your ballot that way.

lol i'll get back to it and try again when i have the chance. thx, Indexed

Also if I could plug the spreadsheet one more time, I am keeping it updated with anything mentioned in the thread or that anyone votes for, so it's a bit of a pseudo noms list.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wZG8IgHCDheS-83yJpnIQC0pu-cdciuZ9suKwPs0Q4E/edit?usp=sharing

Thanks.

I am still thinking.

I'm late to the party so doubt you'll have time to put any of these into your playlist, but think of them as tracks nominations. (LOL at trying to find them on Spotify anyway.)

To call my knowledge of country music "spotty" is to overestimate the number and size of the spots and to underestimate the vast amount of blank space. But last June when Tom's Peoples Pop Polls were doing 1966, I did a kind of dive for country music, especially looking for country women to toss into the Suggestions Box.

In the meantime here's one from 1985:

Lacy J. Dalton - Over You
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlcl4WCml4o
Deep burnt voice, makes me want to hear more.

Hmmm. Was trying not to embed; thought putting URL tags around the link would take care of that. Let's see how this works (another track from 1985):

Louise Mandrell - Devil In A Fast Car
Sounds more Flashdance than her sister.

zero female posters itt, bums me out

Hey indexed I voted for He’s Everywhere by Sammi Smith but it got retitled as Help Me Make It Through The Night and it looks like someone voted for it under that name so they should count as votes for the same album!

From hither and yon. Yes, I can find a way to put hip-hop into a country poll!
The Forester Sisters - Crazy Heart
More heart than crazy, but the guitars mince some garlic over in the cutlery section of Bed Bath & Beyond.
Faith Hill - One
Keep forgetting how good Faith Hill is. This is quiet storm, basically, that doesn't forget to get a little noisy.
Bonnie Guitar - Hello, Hello Please Answer The Phone
Question, what genre has the most telephone songs? Think country's a contender.

Norma Jean - The Gambler And The Lady
You're either on the boat or you're off the boat.
Haley Georgia - Becky
"Becky" is blissful and buoyant and one of the great songs of 2017 and when all the online creeps kept telling Haley it was shit she must've listened, 'cause it's been wiped off the Internet except for this snippet.
LeAnn Rimes - Family
Saw a live clip of this where LeAnn says "And just admit you have a dysfunctional family" and she raises her hand really high.
LeAnn Rimes - No Way Out
And she didn't know a way out.

Taylor Swift - You're Not Sorry
Taylor Swift - Lose Yourself
SHeDAISY - Lucky 4 You
Carrie Underwood - Jesus Take The Wheel
Allison Moorer - Dancing Barefoot

Sarah Buxton - Space
Laura Bell Bundy - Giddy On Up
Sarah Darling - Whenever It Rains
Cassadee Pope - Wasting All These Tears

Amazing how many of these aren’t on Spotify.

I don’t think anyone mentioned 16th Avenue by Lacy J Dalton yet, maybe it’s too obvious but it’s still all-time for all that

Submitted and not gonna think about everything I left out

having a tough time but will get a ballot of some sort in.

Sent!

Awesome, 11 ballots in, so we are over halfway to my goal of 20 with about 36 hours left to vote. Judging by the commenters in this thread I think we might get there. Vote!

If it wasn't obvious from the spreadsheet, everyone has a different favorite Emmylou Harris album!

I'm not a fan except as a background vocalist/harmonist :(

zero female posters itt, bums me out

xpost Emmylou. I voted for Wrecking Ball. Not her most country lp but I like what Lanois added to her sound.

Most of the cows have left the barn already, but here's 1966. Among my surprises and discoveries when diving into '66 was how much country was still wrestling with rock 'n' roll and, for the women, wrestling with the girl group sound. For instance, Dolly Parton's "Don't Drop Out," produced by Ray Stevens, was going for a Spector/Shadow Morton/Shangri-Las sound. This is while, out on the pop charts, the girl groups were either disappearing or – in the case of the Supremes and the Marvelettes – morphing into mid '60s soul.

Of course, the country acts were not trying to absorb or meld with the (barely yet named) "rock" genre. Lots of country acts covered "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'," but they got no closer.

One happy surprise, though, was hearing Bonnie Guitar and Margaret Whiting veer towards the art-pop of Petula Clark, say, or Burt Bacharach. Bonnie Guitar (see upthread) is especially interesting – I'd never heard her, but she's terrific. She sounded as at-home on Bacharach type stuff as on Carter Family type stuff, and I could imagine her singing a Bond theme. If you can tell me more about her, I'd be grateful. In the Suggestions Box I was also posting for someone who couldn't figure out how to post, and I ran his choice of Scott Walker's "Mrs. Murphy" right into Bonnie's "Grey Rain Years."

I made a couple of Sixties playlists with a bunch of stuff incl. these and some male-sung country tracks; the second playlist includes the Bonnie-Scott merger. And the first playlist's got my Suggestion Box segue from Norma Jean's "The Shirt" to the Rolling Stones' "Mother's Little Helper." This segue is one of the meanest things I've done in my life.

As much as I love the '66 country tracks, after 10 of them in a row I feel like I'm in an airless closet. If I'd been a kid in a country-listening family, I would've seized on the Stones as a giant bear claw to claw my way out.

In the '00s I wrote that country should change its genre name to "Resentment." For the '60s you could call the genre "What A Drag It Is Getting Old." –An interesting exception was Wanda Jackson; not that she's better than the others, but in going all Jimmie Rodgers she was arriving like a breeze of air and space.

In my actual 1966 – a mostly unhappy year for me – I was trapped in a room not with country but with the Rolling Stones. But since the Stones sounded like they were trying to claw their way out of themselves, I was able to ride with them.

To sum up, though, I'm impressed at the extent that country '66 was willing to engage with other people's present.

Jody Miller "I Remember Mama"
Former folkie who foreshadows Emmy Lou/Ronstadt sogginess, which is actually perfect for the big fat sentiments of the song.
Jan Howard "You Really Know"
This track's in the country and girl-group zone: her voice can wail, but's got a whip.
Connie Smith "Same As Mine"
Excuse me, you've got the wrong house.

Margaret Whiting "The Wheel Of Hurt"
Brings formidable style to the sobbing bucket.
Patti Page "Custody"
The emptiest house in the world.
Norma Jean "The Shirt"
What a drag it is getting old.

Bonnie Guitar "Grey Rain Years"
Deep grey voice but with mirth playing around the edges.
Jan Howard "Bad Seed"
Traveling the more conventional country track, Jan is just as warm and dangerous as on the rock 'n' roll side; and that harpsichord might actually, after all, be a nod to the shiny new stuff over on the pop charts.
Wanda Jackson "Tuck Away My Lonesome Blues"
Loretta Lynn "Saint To A Sinner"
Wasn't God who made honky tonk angels.

Interesting thing about Jody Miller: I read in Wikip that in the early '60s she would appear on a television folk show hosted by Tom Paxton. In my folkie days I'd got an album I liked by Paxton, Ramblin' Boy. A few years later, in my rock nihilism days,* I read an old Sing Out! article circa 1965 called "Folk Rot" by Tom Paxton, a savage denunciation (iirc) of the new electric rock 'n' roll direction by erstwhile folk heroes like Bob Dylan. Beginning summer vacation of '71 I left my Sing Out!s on a friend's porch with a note lending them to his older brother, who was learning guitar (the mags had lyrics and chords). Neither the friend nor the brother ever saw them. I suspect a parental intevention, though maybe a dog ate them. Anyway, when Clark McGregor put together his anthology of old commentary about Dylan, Paxton refused to let him reprint "Folk Rot." So I haven't seen it since, but I remember it ending with Paxton quoting from and sneering at a crossover chart hit, "Home Of The Brave": "Home of the brave, land of the free, why won't you let him be what he wants to be." By Jody Miller. Maybe Paxton felt betrayed.

*which haven't ended, by the way; but neither have my folkie days.

Turned in a ballot and suddenly remembered a favorite:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JRpScJzx41U

Would probably leave out the song (I topped out at 30), but would squeeze the album (Rabbit Fur Coat) in between Emmylou Harris's Wrecking Ball and Linda Ronstadt's Heart Like a Wheel.

I can add it for you. Thanks for voting!

LAST DAY TO VOTE!

Nearly two-hundred artists have been named or voted for. Not too shabby.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1wZG8IgHCDheS-83yJpnIQC0pu-cdciuZ9suKwPs0Q4E/edit#gid=0

Can I add this one to my unweighted ballot? I totally forgot it.
Patsy Cline - She's Got You

Done.

Also, Alfred, you voted for the same song twice if you want to add another track to your list.

I've been procrastinating. Torn between bolstering the chorus of enthusiasm for acknowledged great stuff, and throwing curveballs of relative obscurity.

Like, it's one thing to be the lone vote for "The Hatfield Side" by Cheri Knight or the Cowboy Junkies' "Oregon Hill." Quite another to make sure that "She's Got You" or "Drunken Angel" gets its due.

Same here, but decided to leave out most of the obvious or much-cited choices, unless it was something I just couldn't resist.
Great comments from Frank, and speaking of mixed feelings about 60s, see upthread what I pasted from Scene ballot comments about reissued The Seely Style, though I damn near put it on the ballot. Also, speaking of Connie Smith, I still need to check out her 60s, but here's what I said about her 2021 (60s-wise) album:

Connie Smith's The Cry of The Heart is named for her definition of and specialty in country music, the kind of relentlessly cyclical treks- on-gilded-splinters-of-the-heart trad, sometimes funereal, that I tend to resist, as seen below in comments on Lucinda's urn ov same (wine-and-lipstick-stained butts incl., OK). Nevertheless, she picks songs about being knowing, struggling with being stuck inside a mobile, turning like a vane of dislocation in layers of strangely familiar, the stranger for it, weather: apologizes to her heart for being about to take another chance on prospect they both know better than; later, "I just don't believe me any more—I wouldn't trust my own eyes, if I saw him walking through the door," and gets to overview, "There are three s-i-i-i-des, to ev-ery sto-ry: his side, her side, and the truth": tricky, could get to truthie, jesting Pilate, sense of futility, reckless, even: interesting cusp—also, that chorus reminds me of "Love Is Strange," including a possible cross-influence with proto-reggae, and my other favorites here also have that out of the box, 60s crossover appeal that her accompanists, mainly Mary Stuart & his Superlatives, are so good at—-another starts with an acoustic country suggestion of "Pinball Wizard"—also "A-l-l-l, The Time" could be Orbison singing Jimmy Webb or himself, likewise omg yall fave is "Here Comes My Baby Back Again," with a kettledrum hook, even, also her voice, now reputedly shy of a few top notes of her 60s-70s commercial heyday, especially mighty and booming from the gut here, w/o overdoing it. This song rec also to Everly Bros., and eerie observational "Jesus Take A Hold" for Mavis (who will be doing some shows w Bonnie Raitt this summer btw). But some of the other, more generically constrained trad country ballads, are ballast, for sure, keeping whole thing bubbling just under my Top Ten.

If I'd done a Singles ballot for this thread, would def. have picked:

"Here Comes My Baby Back Again," with a kettledrum hook, even, also her voice, now reputedly shy of a few top notes of her 60s-70s commercial heyday, especially mighty and booming from the gut here, w/o overdoing it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_fX0QWTTx4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLloC8P_-ao

^ I prefer the Karla Bonoff version but this is the more country one

Bobbie Gentry - Delta Sweete needs to be on the list.

I’m hopefully going to get mine in tonight before midnight pst!

voted!

voted.

In with three minutes to spare

Thanks, all -- we are up to 16 ballots. If there's anyone who missed that cutoff that wants to get a ballot in sometime in the next ~5 hours, go for it.

Also, Alfred, you voted for the same song twice if you want to add another track to your list.

― Indexed,

Sorry. Still time?

hey i mistitled an album i voted for. the Whitney Rose should be called Rule 62.

sorry bout that but it was 11:45 pm or so :/

i ultimately voted a little strategically and also threw in personal favorite albums by some artists vs ones that were maybe considered more classic. overall pretty happy w/the list though i'm sure i'll remember someone during the rollout and kick myself.

Sorry. Still time?

― the very juice and sperm of kindness. (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Thursday, March 16, 2023 10:20 AM (four hours ago) bookmarkflaglink

Yeah, np

Keep meaning to give a shout to ian for sharing that Kate Wolf song a couple of weeks ago. Had never heard of her before and am hooked.

I've been procrastinating. Torn between bolstering the chorus of enthusiasm for acknowledged great stuff, and throwing curveballs of relative obscurity.

Like, it's one thing to be the lone vote for "The Hatfield Side" by Cheri Knight or the Cowboy Junkies' "Oregon Hill." Quite another to make sure that "She's Got You" or "Drunken Angel" gets its due.

― Minivan Morrison (Ye Mad Puffin), Wednesday, March 15, 2023 10:14 AM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

You voting?

Got my ballot in, tracks only, with maybe an hour-and-a-half to spare. While my number 30, "Suds In The Bucket," is a rockin' little record, it's surely not the 30th best woman-sung country song of all time, just the 30th best that I, my ignorant self, could think of (while restricting myself to only one song per artist except I invoked The Taylor Swift Exception and gave Taylor two: finally choosing "Should've Said No" over "Lose Yourself" as the second on the grounds of better (in)fidelity).

Only six that I linked/"nominated" above actually made my list; voted a different LeAnn Rimes ("Blue") and a different Sarah Buxton ("Stupid Boy"). My guess is my ballot's the only one with Cassadee Pope and Daveigh Chase. Never saw Big Love but from what I remember people telling me, Chase played either a screwed-up character or a character in a screwed-up situation; anyway, her "Happiest Girl In The Whole U.S.A." adds a grabbing passion to the song's supposedly staid and comfy happiness. I have no memory whatsoever of Cassadee Pope's "Wasting All These Tears" prior to three days ago except I must've heard it when it came out 'cause it made my 2013 Nashville Scene ballot. Is an angry self-pitying wailer that you'd think'd want an Avril Lavigne or an Amy Lee to drive it threw the wall, but Pope's thin reeds manage to do just fine.

As you may have figured, I'd no trouble voting "country" songs that sound like they're invading or being infected by another genre.

Thanks for voting, Frank!

I am done with the Artists tabulation but won't get to Tracks and Albums until tomorrow, so if anyone wants to submit a late ballot for either/both of those, go for it.

And I got your 30th track, Alfred.

Two questions for those who voted:
1. Any preference on order of the roll out? I was thinking Albums / Tracks / Artists.
2. Should I start a new thread, as I believe is custom, for results, or do we want to keep everything in here? Nice to have one thread to come back to in the future, but there's also a ton of youtubes in here that I know are making it awfully slow on my end.

I am somehow unaware of the passage of time, and so did not get round to submitting a ballot, and so of course my opinion counts for nuffin, but I’d be inclined toward Artists/Albums/tracks, as the granularity increases that way & so more surprises/suspense to the end.

1. No preference.
2. No preference. Whatever makes the most sense to you. My CPU is 11 years old so loading can be a problem with all the YT embeds, but they don't embed when I'm logged out so I stay logged out when I read; only log in to post.

Proofreading my text: "want an Avril Lavigne or an Amy Lee to drive it threw the wall" - Avril and Amy must be really strong to throw an entire wall. Anyway, "through."

Whoops, I ran out of time and wasn't able to vote on this, but I'll watch the results with great interest (the results will undoubtedly be better without my ballot anyways, which would have been no more than 1/4 or 1/8-assed instead of the half-assed ballot I promised above)

Anyone who wants to submit an Albums or Tracks ballot before noon CST today (~4 hours), even partial and/or unweighted, is welcome to do so.