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Country - great albums?

#21
Complete Albums...

Since others have covered the Willie concept albums... I'll go toss in some female

Suzy Bogguss - voices in the wind or aces
Courtney Patton - So This is Life
Jason Eady - Daylight and Dark
McBride and the Ride - Sacred Ground
Bob Wills - Round Up
There is a disk set of Hank Sr of his Louisianna Hayride live recordings that are cool

For more current...
Randy Rogers, Jason Boland, Cody Jenks etc.
 
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#24
Country has always been a singles-driven style. So "greatest hits" albums are always the best place to start. Lots of great suggestions, but definitely you need as compete a set of Hank Williams recordings as possible. Nowadays there are box sets up the wazoo!

Just like any pop genre, you can easily get lost in the hundreds of great artists over the years. I haven't seen Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys mentioned yet, so I'll add him to the list because he invented the very important C&W subgenre known as Western Swing. Again, there are many inexpensive box sets available.
 
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#29
Jerry Lee Lewis Live at Boutwell is considered the only recording of the killer that truly captures his live sound. Not easy to find but worth the effort.

David Allen Coe Penitentiary Blues is another rare gem that would be essential for a country fan.

DAC Rides Again gets a bit salty and is arguably his biggest selling album, but some cuts may be a bit much for those who didn't actually grow up in a country state of mind.

Roy Clark and Gatemouth Brown did an album together that is a steller mashup of Clark's world class chickin pickin and the broke and lonesome blues of Mr. Brown. A bonus is Gatemouth's masterful take on the country fiddle.

Anything by any of these is worth checking out.

Charlie Pride
Patsy Cline
Reba
Merle Travis
The Flying Burrito Brothers
Radney Foster
Pure Prarie League

and many others

Also don't overlook some of the greatest country songs ever done just because they were done by rockers. Ain't Nothing to Me by Johnny Winter and Country Honk or Far Away Eyes by the Rolling Stones come to mind.

Country is a deep rabbit hole but is also a very rewarding journey as it's filled to the brim with incredible musical performances and clever lyrics as it reflects the recent history of America in song. At least until the advent of corporate country. Sadly, the coal miner's daughter and the singing cowboy writing about their lives have been replaced with a bunch of Connecut yankees lifestyle coached on how to act "country" while singing endless pop with a twang churned out by Nashvegas' version of the Brill building.
 
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#30
brianrost said:
Country has always been a singles-driven style. So "greatest hits" albums are always the best place to start. Lots of great suggestions, but definitely you need as compete a set of Hank Williams recordings as possible. Nowadays there are box sets up the wazoo!

Just like any pop genre, you can easily get lost in the hundreds of great artists over the years. I haven't seen Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys mentioned yet, so I'll add him to the list because he invented the very important C&W subgenre known as Western Swing. Again, there are many inexpensive box sets available.
Click to expand...


Good point about the singles recordings and greatest hits... I was going to suggest a few (like Dirt Band 20 Years of Dirt)...

For current remakes of Bob Wills ... Asleep at the Wheel... much of the Texas Sound is based in this...

I'd add something from the Monroes... like a Bill Monroe

If some of these are a bit edgy for your taste... Id' suggest Alison Krauss Lonely Runs Both Ways.

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If just starting out (assuming you're from the pop rock history) ... a quick search on "Cow Punk" may be interesting... it's a sub genre based on rockabilly
 
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#33
And then there's Country Rock. The Byrds are one of the forefathers of this genre. Here's a few of their albums that do it well. The "Untitled" album is a good place to start as it's a double album with two sides live and two sides studio.
Buffalo Springfield and Poco are a couple more bands worth checking out in that genre. And so is The Eagles especially their earlier stuff.
 
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#35
ahc said:
And then there's Country Rock. The Byrds are one of the forefathers of this genre. Here's a few of their albums that do it well. The "Untitled" album is a good place to start as it's a double album with two sides live and two sides studio.
Buffalo Springfield and Poco are a couple more bands worth checking out in that genre. And so is The Eagles especially their earlier stuff.
Click to expand...

And, of course, Michael Nesmith: Magnetic South, Loose Salute

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#40
Complete Hank Williams. Almost everything he ever recorded, 225 tracks. It's Hank, it's all there, what else is there to say?
Dixie Chicks Top of the World Tour:Live. Roscoe Beck plays incredibly.
New Riders of the Purple Sage, first album of same name. Country before country rock was cool.
Patsy Cline Collection. She did more than sing Crazy on "Lost" episodes.
 
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