Year: 1994
One of two Top 40 hits David Ball had on the pop charts (Riding With Private Malone).
Tag Archives: Country
John Anderson — Seminole Wind
Year: 1992
As rural a country singer as you’ll find while also an environmentalist. This video was filmed with the Seminole on their land with their permission.
Gary Allan — Tough Little Boys
Year: 2003
I always liked this song, but now that I have children I cry half the time I hear it.
I own Allan’s first six albums. Just something about his voice. Smooth as silk. Unlike Trace Adkins’ wife who shot him, Gary Allan’s shot and killed herself. His album after that was pretty dark. Songs he wrote were “I Just Got Back From Hell,” “Puttin’ Memories Away” and “Putting My Misery on Display.” And then a great cover of Vertical Horizon’s “Best I Ever Had.”
Alabama — I’m In A Hurry (And Don’t Know Why)
Year: 1992
Alabama steamrolled the charts in the 80s, thanks in part to little competition. And then in 1992 when all the competition was revving up they released one of the best country songs ever made. If it had been released ten years earlier or ten years later it would have climbed up the pop charts, too. Don’t know anyone who doesn’t like this song.
Still the most successful county band ever and they’re still going after 52 years.
Trace Adkins — There’s A Girl In Texas
Year: 1996
The first country song of many to come. Shut my mouth, slap your grandma!
This is his debut single. It’s nothing special, but it’s a good showcase for his vocal range and I find the coda hits the sweet spot. He’s not a terribly imaginative writer and after his first album I didn’t follow him much. But this song is in regular rotation.
He’s been married four times, major alcohol problem. Not especially interesting but no kidding the man has had a lot of trauma that would drive a lot of people to use chemicals. From various sources:
At age 17, Adkins was in an automobile accident in which his 1955 Chevrolet pickup truck hit a school bus head-on. He broke some ribs, punctured both lungs and his nose was partially torn off. Adkins was forced to give up college football after a severe knee injury at Louisiana Tech. Somehow he managed to come away from FIVE work-related accidents with his life and limbs intact. In 1982, he was involved in a bulldozer accident that caused such deep cuts to his hindquarters that “I thought I was fixin’ to lose both my legs.” Less than a year later, a tank containing 400 barrels of oil exploded while he was trying to repair a leak, and his left leg was totally crushed. In 1988, he flipped his truck on an icy overpass in Texas, putting him in a neck brace. A year after that, he accidentally cut off one of his fingers in another job accident. In 1989, Adkins, along with nine coworkers, were stranded on an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico during Hurricane Chantal. He was shot by his second ex-wife Julie Curtis in 1994.The bullet went through his heart and both lungs. He survived and chose not to press charges.
And then he released his first album!
3: The Chase (Garth Brooks)
Album: The Chase
Artist: Garth Brooks
Year: 1992
1. We Shall Be Free
2. Somewhere Other Than the Night
3. Mr. Right
4. Every Now and Then
5. Walkin’ After Midnight
6. Dixie Chicken
7. Learning to Live Again
8. That Summer
9. Night Rider’s Lament
10. Face to Face
In the middle of an amazing run where he had multiple albums on the charts and never stopped touring, Garth Brooks released what is still his best album. A fairly dark album as far as country music goes, The Chase includes some pretty heavy themes with the exception of Mr. Right, which is a short jingle about Garth professing his undying love for a woman, but is totally okay with just sex if she’s down with that.
We Shall Be Free is an anthem for civil rights, and something rarely heard on country radio. It even implied equal rights for homosexuals. Of course, we’d learn on his next album that his version of equal rights doesn’t extend to poor people, but it’s still a pretty good anthem. Somewhere Other Than the Night is a classic Brooks ballad about specific characters rather than ciphers that anyone can identify with. Every Now and Then is another song about Brooks pining for an old flame despite being married (see: Unanswered Prayers), but this one avoids being preachy and has a very pretty melody.
The next two songs are covers. Garth’s version of Walkin’ After Midnight doesn’t hold a candle to Patsy Cline’s, but it’s nice and inoffensive. Dixie Chicken is a cover of a 1973 Little Feat song about a guy who meets the woman of his dreams and lavishes her only to find out (in deliciously subtle fashion) that he’s about the hundredth guy who’s fallen for her.
Learning to Live Again is my favorite country song hands down. A touching, painful song about a guy with severe depression trying to force himself to socialize again by going on a double date. It doesn’t tie everything up in a pretty bow and echoes the experiences of many in a similar emotional state.
That Summer is the most popular song from the album, reminiscent of Maggie Mae, but incredibly ham-fisted. It tries to be subtle with all the sexual innuendo but I’d much rather hear a real story about these two people without all the dress-up.
Night Rider’s Lament is a tribute to the cowboy lifestyle where Garth takes his shot at yodeling and does a fine job. Face to Face wraps things up with the album’s darkest song about bullying, rape, and hate. It’s a cold song, and I’m glad Garth did it, but it feels a bit out of place as the final song on an album.
As Garth’s home life went to hell his songwriting sputtered as well, though it may have been coincidence. Nevertheless, his later albums are mixed with a few brilliant songs and a lot of unimaginative trash. His final album, Scarecrow, released in 2001, was a slight improvement and I’m looking forward to if and when he ever records again. He committed to not recording and touring until he raised his daughters, and his last one is finishing up high school, so maybe soon. Though, I wonder if the second best selling artist of all time has anything left in the tank.
8: Brand New Man (Brooks & Dunn)
Album: Brand New Man
Artist: Brooks & Dunn
Year: 1991
1. Brand New Man (D)
2. My Next Broken Heart (D)
3. Cool Drink of Water (B)
4. Cheating on the Blues (B)
5. Neon Moon (D)
6. Lost and Found (B)
7. I’ve Got a Lot to Learn (D)
8. Boot Scootin’ Boogie (D)
9. I’m No Good (B)
10. Still in Love with You (B)
I’ve pretty much run out of things to say about Brooks & Dunn. So I’ll just say their debut album is sensational, the first song I ever danced to was Neon Moon, and I have a client with paranoid schizophrenia who loves playing Lost and Found for me on his guitar.
10: Come On Come On (Mary-Chapin Carpenter)
Album: Come On Come On
Artist: Mary-Chapin Carpenter
Year: 1992
1. The Hard Way
2. He Thinks He’ll Keep Her
3. Rhythm of the Blues
4. I Feel Lucky
5. The Bug
6. Not Too Much to Ask (with Joe Diffie)
7. Passionate Kisses
8. Only a Dream
9. I Am a Town
10. Walking Through Fire
11. I Take My Chances
12. Come On Come On
It was really hard not to view this album through a wave of nostalgia. It was the first CD I ever owned and is one of the few I still have. Three songs turned me onto country music. Boot Scootin’ Boogie by Brooks & Dunn, Runnin’ Behind by Tracy Lawrence, and I Feel Lucky by Mary-Chapin Carpenter. But this album is more than nostalgia. It’s truly an exceptional collection of songs. Not that the radio is the best barometer for quality, but Come On Come On had seven singles and all seven were Top 20. Even more amazingly, the best two charting singles were the sixth and seventh.
Carpenter is a smoker and there’s a bit of gravel in her voice that works for me, especially on her ballads. Combine that with mature songwriting (she wrote every song except Passionate Kisses) and you get some really moving songs. He Thinks He’ll Keep Her is a refreshing and honest look at divorce from a women’s perspective. Rhythm of the Blues is as soulful as one will get from contemporary country. Then we get I Feel Lucky, a very fun fantasy about winning the lottery. What would Mary-Chapin do with 11 million dollars? First things first: buy a pack of Camel’s, a burrito, and a Barq’s. She also entertains fighting off Lyle Lovett and Dwight Yoakam’s sexual advances. Great stuff.
The Bug and Not Too Much to Ask are okay filler and Joe Diffie was definitely not needed for the duet. The flip side of the album is where its at. Passionate Kisses is about a basic need of Carpenter’s that Maslow forgot to add to his hierarchy. Only a Dream is an amazing introspective ballad. I Am a Town is pretty good poetry to music. I Take My Chances is a better written version of the “Don’t follow the crowd” trope in country music. The title track is the perfect ending to the album, a powerful lullaby.
12: In Pieces (Garth Brooks)
Album: In Pieces
Artist: Garth Brooks
Year: 1993
1. Standing Outside the Fire
2. The Night I Called the Old Man Out
3. American Honky-Tonk Bar Association
4. One Night a Day
5. Kickin’ and Screamin’
6. Ain’t Goin’ Down (‘Til the Sun Comes Up)
7. The Red Strokes
8. Callin’ Baton Rouge
9. The Night Will Only Know
10. The Cowboy Song
Let me start out by saying that this is some of the best cover art I’ve seen for a country music album.
Garth was already the most popular country artist ever before In Pieces and this album turned him into a freaking legend. Ain’t Goin’ Down was liked across genres and in one live show he was suspended from wires, flying through the stadium while a ring of pyrotechnics exploded all around him. There’s a reason he won Entertainer of the Year more than once.
What’s so impressive about this album is the wide range of emotionally resonating subjects he sings about. The Night I Called the Old Man Out is about the singer and his brothers getting pissed at their dad and getting into physical brawls with him. The Night Will Only Know is about a couple witnessing a murder but not going to the police about it to hide their affair. Standing Outside the Fire is a fairly generic song about standing up for what you believe in, but the music video places it in the context of Down’s Syndrome and it makes the song all the more powerful.
The ballads are universally powerful. One Night a Day is a showcase for Garth’s voice with only a piano in the background. The Red Strokes was very popular and also had a pretty awesome music video. The Cowboy Song is a simple campfire song but a very pretty lullaby.
The only reason this album isn’t in the top five is American Honky-Tonk Bar Association. It exploded up the charts, and it has a pretty catchy tune. But it’s the only song of Garth’s that offends me as it takes multiple shots at welfare recipients. Garth is one of the more liberal country singers ever, so it’s sad that this unnecessary drudge stains his discography.
16: Hard Workin’ Man (Brooks & Dunn)
Album: Hard Workin’ Man
Artist: Brooks & Dunn
Year: 1993
1. Hard Workin’ Man (D)
2. We’ll Burn That Bridge (D)
3. Mexican Minutes (B)
4. Heartbroke Out of My Mind (D)
5. She Used to Be Mine (D)
6. Rock My World (Little Country Girl) (B)
7. That Ain’t No Way To Go (D)
8. Texas Women (Don’t Stay Lonely Long) (B)
9. Our Time Is Coming (D)
10. I Can’t Put Out This Fire (B)
11. Boot Scootin’ Boogie (Dance Mix) (D)
Brooks and Dunn’s first album was Brand New Man, so it was hilarious that they decided they were a Hard Workin’ Man for their second album. It was hard to make jokes about it, though, after just two minutes as the title song is just about the perfect country song. Loud, energetic, great guitar work. Definitely a top five song of all time for me, and my favorite driving song despite clocking in at less than three minutes.
The album doesn’t let up there as We’ll Burn That Bridge is a perfect follow-up song. Lyrically it’s nothing all that special, but the chorus has an insane crescendo that keeps the blood pumping. The pace slows down for Mexican Minutes, appropriately. It’s pretty solid, showing off Brooks’s then good voice. Then what was a perfect album flies off the rail thanks to a terrible song by Dunn. Heartbroke Out of My Mind sounds lame and and it is. Awkward rhythm, blah piano, insipid lyrics.
Dunn makes up for it with She Used to Be Mine, which is as simple as you can get from a ballad but it showcases his powerful voice. Rock My World is an overrated country line dance number that actually ends with the studio crowd singing along. That Ain’t No Way To Go was another huge hit for Dunn, and in addition to showing off his amazing voice again, has a fantastic guitar intro. Texas Women approaches country swing and is fine filler.
Unfortunately, Dunn regurgitates another awful ballad in Our Time Is Coming. It’s a sad song that inspires no emotion. It’s not near as bad as Heartbroke, but I usually skip it all the same. The album saves itself with a rare great ballad by Brooks. I Can’t Put Out This Fire has a solid chorus and Dunn sings a good harmony.
It feels weird to include a dance remix of a song in this review, but Boot Scootin’ Boogie (off their first album) is actually improved in this version as it adds a motorcycle, more harmonica, more piano, and a few more choruses. It’s one of the most popular line-dance songs ever and how to make it better other than doubling everything that was awesome?
Hard Workin’ Man is easily a top 5 album if not for two missteps by Dunn, but it leaves a really impressive nine-song album to listen to anyway.
Death By Troggles 
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