Tag Archives: Country

Music

53: Solid Ground (John Anderson)

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Album: Solid Ground
Artist: John Anderson
Year: 1993

1. Money in the Bank
2. I’ve Got It Made
3. I Fell in the Water
4. Bad Love Gone Good
5. All Things to All Things
6. Where I Come From
7. I Wish I Could Have Been There
8. Nashville Tears
9. Can’t Get Away From You
10. Solid Ground

John languished in mediocrity in the 80’s when country music was pretty bad, so it was surprising when he finally became popular in the early 90’s (during his late 30’s), starting with Seminole Wind. He then put together five solid years of top ten hits. His best album is Solid Ground, which had four hits.

Money in the Bank was the first song released and his last number one as an artist. I’ve Got It Made is a really sweet song about being satisfied with your current lot in life. But the album’s killer tune is I Fell in the Water, about idolizing the wrong woman. Most of the rest of the album is John singing about keeping life simple and the environment clean (a common theme throughout his career). It’s repetitive, but pleasant all the same. I Wish I Could Have Been There is his version of Cat’s in the Cradle and was another hit for him.

John never strayed from his Grand Ol’ Opry roots, and most of his stuff is either too silly or too dull for my tastes. Solid Ground hits the sweet spot and is a good introduction to his music.

 

 

 

Music

64: This Time (Dwight Yoakam)

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Album: This Time
Artist: Dwight Yoakam
Year: 1993

1. Pocket of a Clown
2. A Thousand Miles from Nowhere
3. Home for Sale
4. This Time
5. Two Doors Down
6. Ain’t That Lonely Yet
7. King of Fools
8. Fast as You
9. Try Not to Look So Pretty
10. Wild Ride
11. Lonesome Roads

Dwight takes the best of Buck Owens’ sound and makes it more palatable for my generation. Unfortunately, his songwriting often lacks anything special. Most of his albums have one to three pretty good songs and a lot of boring filler. My two favorite songs of his (Sorry You Asked? and Nothing) appear on the album Gone, but not much else does. This Time, however, is pretty consistent from beginning to end.

A Thousand Miles from Nowhere is a powerful ballad that is easily the highlight here. Fast as You emphasizes Dwight’s sultry voice that made the ladies go crazy twenty years ago. Pocket of a Clown is a fun, whimsical tune.  Try Not to Look So Pretty is also a very pleasant song. The rest are nothing special, but are easy sing-a-longers that haven’t begged me to skip them. If you ever wanted to check him out, this album is a pretty good representation of what he has to offer. Or you can you watch him beat his wife in Sling Blade. He’s good at that, too.

Music

66: Diamond Rio (Diamond Rio)

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Album: Diamond Rio
Artist: Diamond Rio
Year: 1991

1. Meet in the Middle
2. This State of Mind
3. They Don’t Make Hearts Like They Used To
4. Mirror, Mirror
5. The Ballad of Conley and Billy (The Proof’s in the Pickin’)
6. Nowhere Bound
7. It’s Gone
8. Norma Jean Riley
9. Mama Don’t Forget To Pray for Me
10. Pick Me Up
11. Poultry Promenade

Diamond Rio won the Horizon Award after bursting out onto the country scene with their debut self-titled album, and it’s easy to see why. Their music easily fit in with the more modern sound country was adopting while utilizing acoustic guitars, mandolins, and extensive use of keyboards. And for the most part, their lyrics were upbeat and optimistic, something not often heard in this genre.

Meet in the Middle, Mirror Mirror, and Norma Jean Riley are the crowd favorites. The first two are fine, but have lost something over the years. However, Norma Jean Riley, a song about a guy telling his friends where to go while he tries to pick up a woman out of his league, is still a great tune. Nowhere Bound is less interesting lyrically, but is a perfectly crafted song with great hooks. The Ballad of Conley and Billy heavily features the mandolin and is a treat to listen to. Even more so is Poultry Promenade, a pure instrumental, and a home run to end the album. It’s fast despite feeling effortless, and suggests a confidence that the band knew they were going to be around for a while.

And they were around for a while. In 12 years they released 7 studio albums and had 5 number one hits (as well as a slew of top tens), never letting up with the energy or optimism. They haven’t done much since 2002, as their sound seems to have lost popularity. But they were a breath of fresh air for country music in the 90’s.

Music

67: Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy (Chris LeDoux)

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Album: Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy
Artist: Chris LeDoux
Year: 1992

1. Call of the Wild
2. You Just Can’t See Him from the Road
3. Little Long-Haired Outlaw
4. Making Ends Meet
5. Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy (w/ Garth Brooks)
6. Hooked on an 8 Second Ride
7. I’m Ready If You’re Willing
8. Look at You Girl
9. Cadillac Ranch
10. Western Skies

There are at least a dozen county stars, if not more, that I like more than Chris LeDoux that don’t have an album on this countdown. In fact, Chris released 31 studio albums, and I like about 13 of his songs. It just so happens that ten of them were on this album.

A national rodeo champ, he eschewed Nashville and wrote and recorded songs on his own label. He received occasional airplay, but he was only a hit amongst his rabid fans who enjoyed his songs about bull-riding and tobacco. Yes, he has more than one song that is an ode to Copenhagen.

He became a little more famous after Garth Brooks dropped his name in one of his songs, and LeDoux eventually relented and signed with Liberty Records. This is his second album and easily his most successful. While four of the songs here were on previous albums, they’re polished up a bit to make them more palatable for my ears. And there’s only one rodeo and zero tobacco songs, so that helps, too.

His two greatest hits, the duet with Garth and Cadillac Ranch, still hold up today. My favorite, though, is about a lonely old rancher, still going at it in You Just Can’t See Him from the Road. Look at You Girl is a pretty sweet ballad as well.

LeDoux died from an autoimmune disease in 2005 at the age of 56, so we won’t be hearing any more from him, though his musical peak seemed to have faded long before then.

Music

Album Creator: Johnny Cash

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While making this countdown I lamented some artists who didn’t have any of their albums make the cut. So I figured every once in a while we’ll stop the countdown to talk about them and I’ll post a fantasy album of theirs that would have made the cut if it existed.

Johnny Cash started his career when buying singles was way more popular than buying entire albums. Albums would sometimes leave off high-charting singles, or conversely, a high-charting single would make it on four or five different albums, making some albums seem retroactively like greatest hits collections. However, his career did span over 40 years and he did release 55 studio albums. I haven’t listened to all of them, but I have listened to a great deal of his work and have always found a lot of the album filler to be lacking. He had a late resurgence in the 90s with the American albums, but I don’t really care much for those either.

A lot of Cash’s songs center around the underprivileged and he tells a lot of stories, which I appreciate. His guitar playing was always a bit rudimentary and he didn’t always uh…get rhythm, but he put out enough great songs that I could make an awesome album out of them.

I figure fifteen songs should be the max for this experiment, as any good album should never be too long. So, as such, these are my fifteen favorite songs by Johnny Cash.

Hey Porter
Folsom Prison Blues
I Walk the Line
Rock Island Line
Big River
Oh, What a Dream
Home of the Blues
Give My Love to Rose
The Ways of a Woman in Love
Frankie’s Man Johnny
Tennessee Flat Top Box
Understand Your Man
Sunday Morning Coming Down
Cocaine Blues
Hurt

Any songs you would have to add to your fantasy album?  Would any of Cash’s albums make your theoretical countdown?

Music

74: Waitin’ on Sundown (Brooks & Dunn)

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Album: Waitin’ on Sundown
Artist: Brooks & Dunn
Year: 1994

1. Little Miss Honky Tonk (D)
2. She’s Not the Cheatin’ Kind (D)
3. Silver and Gold (B)
4. I’ll Never Forgive My Heart (D)
5. You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone (B)
6. My Kind of Crazy (B)
7. Whiskey Under the Bridge (D)
8. If That’s the Way You Want It (D)
9. She’s the Kind of Trouble (B)
10. A Few Good Rides Away (B)

Brooks & Dunn’s career spanned from 1990 to 2010.  During that time, they released ten albums and fifty singles.  Twenty of those singles reached #1 on the country charts. They were definitely stronger during the first half of their career together. What’s unique about this duo is that they almost never sing together on a song, with the possible exception of the chorus. They almost never wrote songs together either.  Dunn would write a song, sing it, and Brooks would rock out the guitar. Or Brooks would write a song, sing it, and Dunn would do the same. I put their initials after each song so you can see the breakdown.

Waitin’ on Sundown is their third album. It isn’t their strongest, but what it does do avoid some of the faults prevalent on their later albums, mainly boring power ballads by Dunn and awful singing by Brooks as his voice went to hell during the last decade.

For the third album in a row, they start out with a loud, rockin’ number in Little Miss Honky Tonk that’s great to sing and dance to (not that I dance). Another hit follows right after that showcases Dunn’s spectacular voice. Silver and Gold is the underrated gem of the album, similar in theme to She’s Not the Cheatin’ Kind, but more original. You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone is one of Brooks’s best and most popular songs. In fact, only six of his songs were ever released as singles (despite him contributing about 50% to each album), and this was the only number one. There’s nothing special about it lyrically, but it’s wrought with sadness that comes through in his voice.

The last half of the album is a bit weaker. My Kind of Crazy is inoffensive enough that I usually don’t skip it, but there’s no reason to listen to it. The next two songs sound fine, but are really, really boring thematically (but not as boring as Dunn gets on later albums, trust me). Brooks ends with two songs, both of them above average. She’s the Kind of Trouble is goofy fun, and A Few Good Rides Away is a sappy but pleasant story about a Texas waitress going through rough times.

All in all, nothing really stands out, either good or bad, making it just good enough to make the countdown.