100 great country albums

Provoked by this dumb list

100 Take This Job and Shove it - Johnny Paycheck
99 I Ain't Honky-Tonkin' No More - Joe Sun

Blimey, don't people get uptight about a poll with some options missing?

98. Laura Cantrell – When the Roses Bloom Again
97. Lucinda Williams – Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
96. Gillian Welch – Time (The Revelator)

95. Waylon - Dreaming My Dreams
94. Merle - Same Train, Different Time

93. Bill Monroe - The Essential Bill Monroe and His Blue Grass Boys (1945-1949)

92. Loretta Lynn - Loretta Writes Em & Sings Em
91. Charlie Rich - The Fabulous Charlie Rich
90. Waylon Jennings - Honky Tonk Heroes
89. Willie Nelson - Phases & Stages
88. Willie Nelson - Shotgun Willie
87. Willie Nelson - Red Headed Stranger

86. Ray Price - Night Life

tricky, since so many of my favorites are compilations: hank williams, don williams, tom t. hall, tammy wynette, lefty frizzell, johnny cash, patsy cline, etc.

85. George Jones - I Am What I Am
84. Keith Whitley - I Wonder Do You Think Of Me
83. Gary Stewart - Out of Hand
82. Tom T. Hall - In Search Of A Song

81. Merle Haggard - Serving 190 Proof
80. Merle Haggard - Big City

79. Dolly Parton - My Tennessee Mountain Home
78. Dolly Parton - Coat Of Many Colors
77. Reba McEntire - Have I Got A Deal For You

76. Billy Joe Shaver - I'm Just An Old Chunk Of Coal

75. George Jones & Tammy Wynette - We Go Together
74. Rosanne Cash - Seven Year Ache
73. Rosanne Cash - King's Record Shop
72. George Strait - Strait Country

tricky, since so many of my favorites are compilations: hank williams, don williams, tom t. hall, tammy wynette, lefty frizzell, johnny cash, patsy cline, etc.

Wouldn't rule out comps. necessarily......

I really need to find 'Same Train, Different Time'

pre-1970 country is best consumed on comps IMHO

71. Merle Haggard - Branded Man
70. The Louvin Brothers - Satan Is Real
69. Emmylou Harris - Luxury Liner
68. Buck Owens - Together Again
67. Buck Owens - You're For Me
66. Buck Owens - Together Again
65. David Allan Coe - Once Upon A Rhyme
64. Kris Kristofferson - Kristofferson
63. Joe Ely - Honky Tonk Masquerade
62. Waylon Jennings - I've Always Been Crazy

61. Waylon Jennings - Lonesome On'ry and Mean
60. Waylon Jennings - This Time
59. Waylon Jennings - The Ramblin Man
58. Bobby Bare - Lullabys, Legends, And Lies
57. Merle Haggard - If We Make it Through December

2 'Together Again' s in dad a's list so

57 is Ol' No. 1 - Guy Clark

Together Again's really that good, it deserves two places! No, it was just an oops, I meant for one of them to be Buck's I Don't Care. So that's 56 I guess.

55. Everly Brothers - Songs Our Daddy Taught Us
54. Dillard & Clark - Through The Morning, Through The Night

^^ Yes!!! to both.....

53. The Very Best of Dwight Yoakam

52. Keith Whitley - Don't Close You Eyes
51. Keith Whitley - I Wonder Do You Think of Me
50. The Judds - Why Not Me

Need to pick up some Keith Whitley. Had a friend in high school who use to play that "Tell Lori I Love Her" song all the time.

'I Wonder do you Think of Me' already in at 81- so we're still on 51

84 even

it's so great it needs to be on twice (i.e I'm a dumbass)

Turn Back the Years - The Essential Hank Williams collection

49. Alison Krauss - I've Got That Old Feeling

48. John Anderson - Wild & Blue

47. Merle Haggard - Live At Anaheim Stadium
46. Conway Twitty - The #1s Collection (2CD) there are dozens of Conway collections this is close to the best.

45. David Allen Coe - Longhaired Redneck
44. Hank Williams Jr. - Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound

45. Jonathan Richman-Jonathan Goes Country

ok, make that 43

since we're including compilations,

42. Lefty Frizzell - Look What Thoughts Will Do

^^essential to any country collection

don't know where to start w/bob wills & the texas playboys.

The Columbia Country Classics for Wills is great but I'm guesing it just skims the surface.

41. Flatlanders - More a Legend Than A Band
40. George Jones - I Am What I Am
39. Taylor Swift - Fearless
38. Jerry Lee Lewis - Killer Country

37. Ween - 12 Golden Country Greats

36. lynn anderson - big girls don't cry
35. johnny paycheck - everybody's got a family...
34. jean shepard - heart, we did all that we could
33. lefty frizzell - saginaw michigan
32. charlie louvin - lonesome is me
31. porter wagoner - the cold hard facts of life
30. tanya tucker - what's your mama's name
29. merle haggard - mama tried

Killer Country is killer country, indeed. forgot all about it.

xxx-post: i have a vinyl bob wills collection on MCA -- the classics re-recorded in the late 50s -- and even that is great.

28. Jamey Johnson - That Lonesome Song
27. Johnny Cash - Orange Blossom Special

26. Connie Smith - s/t
25. Connie Smith - Cute 'n' Country
24. The Osborne Brothers - Bobby and Sonny

http://images.uulyrics.com/cover/j/johnny-cash/album-the-johnny-cash-childrens-album.jpg

23. Porter Wagoner - Bottom Of The Bottle (awesome concept album about life as a boozehound)
http://bowlingtrophy.files.wordpress.com/2008/07/bottle01.jpg

xxxx post

Scott's list is awesome: 3 records i love - Jean Shepard, Porter W. and Mama Tried is my favourite Merle - so now I gotta find the rest.

oh, and as gatekeeper, i Am What I Am is in already (41 and 85) and so we're still on 23

22. Charlie Feathers - Get With It - The Essential
21. Tammy Wynette - Your Good Girl's Gonna Go Bad
19 - 20. Ray Charles - Modern Sounds In Country & Western, Vols. 1-2
18. a good comp of trucker songs w/ some Dave Dudley, Red Sovine, Del Reeves, etc.

17. Kenny Rogers - Greatest Hits

Featuring
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ZYcqlEZxGQ

what, do you guys hate hillbillies or something?

!6. jimmie rodgers - the yodelling brakeman
15. charlie poole & his north carolina ramblers - 1927-1930
14. tom darby & jimmie tarlton anthology on arhoolie
13. riley puckett - waiting for the evening mail
12. the stanley brothers - the complete rich-r-tone recordings

11. jerry jeff walker - five years gone

another brilliant porter wagoner cover is the one scott listed--
http://www.morethings.com/music/porter_wagoner/cold_hard_facts_of_life.jpg

Yeah, incredible cover. Love the details like the smoke in his hand and the plastic-covered lampshade, not to mention the expressions on their faces.
The song "Julie" on that album is incredible too - and just as creepy as the title track.

Riley Puckett - represent! Ragged but Right is such a great song....

srsly the riley puckett comp on County is ESSENTIAL listening for people interested in the roots of commercial (as opposed to traditional, i guess) country music.

Yes, and i hope the bastard who stole it from me realises this.

tons of great stuff on here including a lot I've never heard (individual LPs can be kinda hard to find sometimes) well done guys

10. Mandy Barnett - I've Got A Right To Cry
9. Bobbie Cryner - Girl Of Your Dreams
8. Kelly Willis - What I Deserve
7. Clint Black - Killin' Time
6. Joe Ely - Honky Tonk Masquerade
5. Louvin Brothers - Tragic Songs of Life
4. Garth Brooks - No Fences
3. Townes Van Zandt - Live at the Old Quarter
2. Charlie Rich - Fabulous Charlie Rich
Ah, the hell with it, I'll throw in a #1
1. Willie Nelson - Stardust

speaking or Riley Puckett, Ragged But Right: Great Country String Bands of the 1930's is a great single-disc comp of some of the more vigorous, danceable string band music of the era, gathering up sides by Riley, the Prairie Ramblers, Wade and J.E. Mainer's bands, and the Skillet Lickers. A couple of my favorite tracks are the Prairie Ramblers' "Go Easy Blues," a deadpan talking blues novelty that prefigures Tex Williams by about a decade, and "Montana Plains" which gets bonus points for introducing me to Patsy Montana.

I've heard this type of music described as "proto-bluegrass," but to my ears it had as much of an impact on early honky tonk (think Roy Acuff, Hank Snow, Molly O'Day, and the like) and western swing as it had on Bill Monroe and his followers.

1
6. Joe Ely - Honky Tonk Masquerade

2. Charlie Rich - Fabulous Charlie Rich

Both in already, so I get to do the top slots:

2) Will the Circle Be Unbroken
1) At Folsom Prison - Johnny Cash (Obvious, but unavoidable)

Aw, no Charlie Rich - Behind Closed Doors? let's make that -1, then.

Just noticed no Carter Family .....WTF?

No lots of other stuff too. Troubled with finite lists.

Trouble

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzdhZeG0aeo

-2 Chip Taylor's Last Chance

We can do this over the integers, not just the natural numbers. Keep the negative #s coming.

-3 Toby Keith, Shock'n Y'all

-4. Gary Alan- Tough All Over

listened to San Quentin's First Lady by Leona Williams today. 1976 concert at the prison with The Strangers backing her up. Really like it a bunch. Especially when she sings Merle's song "San Quentin" and the convicts go nuts. "San Quentin Prison I learn to hate you more each visiting day." Gave me chills.