Country music week

December 16, 2012 • 6:44 am

Yesterday I found an old file on my computer listing my favorite songs in various genres (and also a list of the “worst songs”), and decided to put up some songs from one genre: country music.

Now, I’m not a huge country music fan: I don’t listen to country stations or follow the “stars.” But some country songs are great, and many of these have crossed over to the “popular” charts. Those are the country songs I know, and the ones I’ll feature this week. I have 21 songs, and will put up three a day until next Sunday.

I’ll begin with the classics, and try to feature live performances when I can.

Hank Williams (1923-1953) is of course one of the brightest stars in the country music firmament, and had many good songs (“Jambalaya,” “Your Cheating Heart,” and so on), but this one, which came out the year I was born, has always been my favorite. It’s been covered many times.

According to Wikipedia,

Rolling Stone ranked it #111 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. It is the second oldest song on the list, and one of only two from the 1940s.

I can’t find a live version of this, so you’ll have to do with the original recording.

Like Williams, Patsy Cline died at age 30, but in a plane crash —and I remember the news, Her voice is unmistakable, and she also had many hits, including “Walking after midnight.” But this one, “Crazy“, is my favorite. Music-trivia buffs will know that it was written by Willie Nelson—in 1961. I still think it’s the best thing Nelson ever wrote.  This version was recorded live (without video) at the Grand Ole Opry:

Finally, a song that’s been criticized for praising the subjugation of women. I won’t argue about that, but I will claim it’s a classic country song, with all the power of Tammy Wynette’s spectacular voice. (Wynette lived from 1942-1998; she had many health problems and I’m sure a lot of us remember her death.) “Stand by your man” was cowritten by Wynette, released in 1968, and, according to Wikipedia:

It proved to be the most successful record of Wynette’s career and is one of the most covered songs in the history of country music. The song was placed at number one on CMT’s list of the Top 100 Country Music Songs.

Check out that CMT list!

. . . The song remained contentious into the early 1990s, when soon-to-be First Lady Hillary Clinton told CBS’ 60 Minutes during an interview that she “wasn’t some little woman ‘standing by my man’ like Tammy Wynette.”

This version was recorded live on The Johnny Cash show:

24 thoughts on “Country music week”

  1. I have to say something that you probably won’t like… I think Patsy Cline had a mediocre voice. Try Etta James, or Ella Fitzgerald.

    1. Hmm… I just noticed that my previous comment came across as pretty bitchy. I don’t mean it like that at all – I just like the big, strong voices of the jazz/r&b/soul greats more than the type of voice commonly considered great in the world of country.

    2. Cannot agree on that one! Her voice had a tone that was simply unmatched. Listen to “Sweet Dreams (Of You)” or or “I Fall to Pieces” or “San Antonio Rose”. Smooth as silk. It is impossible not to recognize Cline’s voice when you hear the first few words.

      The sexism inherent in “Stand by Your Man” is almost more amusing than offensive. It is not simply a plea for unconditional forgiveness in the face of infidelity, it implies that females aren’t too bright – to the listener, it’s rather obvious why her “man” is “doing things you don’t understand.” I almost have to smile whenever she says that line. I agree with Jerry; sexist but great.

    3. By technical standards Bob Dylan’s voice is terrible. That didn’t prevent his songs from moving people.

      For me what is compelling about Patsy Cline is the emotion, the intensity with which she conveys heartache and pain. She’s the queen of heartache, and one of her finest, not mentioned here by Jerry, is “I Fall To Pieces”. But yes, probably “Crazy” and “Walking After Midnight” are her best two.

      I don’t usually like country music much, but the combination of sentimentality tempered by hard realism and salt of the earth grit in some performers has real power.

      Patsy Cline is one I like. Another is Johnny Cash. Here are a couple of my favorites:

      This song has a line that might be the most tersely tragic line in all of popular music: “I shot a man in Reno, just to watch him die”, which is sung with regret but also a kind of resignation to the inevitability of pain, trouble, and violence in the narrator’s life.

      Folsom Prison Blues

      This one is a light hearted talking ballad of an auto factory employee who builds his dream car, which he can’t afford to buy, by smuggling the parts out of the factory one piece at a time over a few decades. I love this song, and every time I hear the end, when he tries to identify the make and model of his vehicle over the CB radio, I chuckle.

      One Piece at a Time

      1. Any of Bob Dylan’s songs is better sung by almost anyone else. You don’t realise what a great tune they have until someone else sings them!

        1. It’s all a matter of personal taste. I haven’t listened to his music produced after the mid-70s, but I’ve heard bits and pieces and there isn’t much interesting to me. But his older music was a really important part of my youth.

          There is something authentic in the originals that can’t be reproduced. Many have sung his songs with better voices, or better musicianship, but there is something raw and powerful in his early music that I like dispite the rough voice (which was better when he was younger).

          Here’s a few samples I like from his second album:

          Bob Dylan’s Dream
          Masters of War

          I listened to his early albums a lot in my early teens, so this stuff is etched into my brain. Hearing somone else do Blowin’ in the Wind is nice, but not the same as the original and always lacking something of value that the songs were created with.

  2. Okay, maybe it was that first glass of wine for the day. But I started “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” and then started “Crazy,” and on my ancient Windows XP machine both songs played well _simultaneously_. A very poignant, bizarre effect. Try it.

  3. My favourite Hank William’s song is “Move it on Over”, a 1947 precursor to rock, or at least rockabilly. Carl Perkins who was playing pre Elvis in the very early 50’s was greatly influenced by Williams.

    1. Excellent point. You can see commonalities between this song and the first bona fide rock ‘n’ roll hit, “Rock Around the Clock.”

  4. You were looking for a Hank Williams Sr. live recording of Lonesome ~ well there’s THIS ONE on the radio…

    It’s from the Health and Happiness Show ,1949
    People used to say Clapton is God. They were wrong it’s Hank of course.

    1. We have what’s called “National Treasures” in the UK. I’m not sure about the US, but if they do then Dolly sure deserves that accolade.

  6. I’m with you on this one, Jerry. I’ve heard some good Country music — and you picked some good examples — but I’ve never been compelled to seek it out.

    I’ll bet you a good lunch that you’d also like Bluegrass, such as on the soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou?

    Cheers,

    b&

    1. What, if I like bluegrass I have to buy lunch? No way! And yes, I like it, but the classic stuff like Bill Monroe, or Doc Watson jamming with others.

    2. Agreed, Ben. The “O Brother, Where Art Thou” soundtrack’s a worthy addition to anyone’s collection, if only for Norman Blake’s two tracks. Here’s a sample for those poor souls who aren’t familiar with Mr Blake:

    1. For all the hell that rap music gets for various reasons, I’ve often thought that “wholesome country music”, like the Jimmie Rodgers that I posted above, should get a parental advisory notice on the CD cover too. LOL.

      One last favorite (not nasty in any way), The Sons of the Pioneers and Along the Santa Fe Trail:

      youtube.com/watch?v=ZwzgYYcWC30

  10. Stand By Your Man was the intro (IIRC) track on Five Easy Pieces, too. I’m a big fan of all three ov the above, but at risk of being accused of heresy, for my money Tracy Nelson’s covers of SBYM and I’m So Lonesome, on her 1969 Country album, are better than the originals. Neither seem to be available on YT, but clips can be heard on Amazon – just enter Tracy Nelson Country.

  11. I love the above songs, even the somewhat misogynistic SBYM, which begs the question, ‘Why am I (a man) special?’ I plainly am not, and actually favor converse. And while not a Country Music fan as well, many of those songs seem to hit deep on emotional issues. One that I’ll never forget comes to mind.

    Got a letter from a friend from the 60’s about a guitarist who tutored, when we were playing our garage-band stuff, mostly Beatles pieces. I was twenty, and Harland Schellar was ~ sixteen, and a great guitarist, technique wise.

    A few years after we parted, Harland had been jailed for drug possession, a real ‘threat’ to society. Yeah, right. And while incarcerated, he lost several fingers in a kitchen incident, told to me by another band member. Since it was his left hand, guitar playing was no longer possible.

    In the letter, I was told that after release, he roomed with the guy who wrote me. Harlan seemed somewhat out of it, and one night, left in his car for no specific reason, hit an overpass abutment, and was killed. We both feel it was intentional.

    Learning this, I immediately grabbed a flight to LA, and stayed the night with his roommate. In his honor, we played some of his LP’s, including Rosanne Cash’s 1983 album which include, “Looking For a Corner (to back my heart into).”

    While written about a failed romance, its bottom line nonetheless spoke implicitly to my emotional state. That night, rain on the windows and me laying down on Harland’s bed, I played that piece over and over. All his stuff was in that room, shoes by the bed, but me there instead of him. I’ll never forget that night.

    So yes, country music has its place, as it often speaks of the pitfalls that confront us, and our deepest thoughts regarding. I now know that first hand.

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