I’m a big fan of country music.
I remember walking around Nashville when I was eighteen and listening to the music outside the honky-tonk bars in the cold because I was still below the legal drinking age, so I couldn’t enter.
A few years later, I made up for it in a Memphis bar listening to immensely talented country performers as my friends and I travelled down the Mississippi river.
Years later I listened to Malcolm Gladwell’s podcast ‘The King of Tears’ where he says the magic of country is in its specificity. Country artists describe specific places, moments, conversations, and emotions. When compared with most other genres that speak in obscure metaphors, there is something vulnerable and relatable about country music. Gladwell’s point of view stuck with me.
So I’ve started to make my way through the Rolling Stone’s Top 100 Country Albums of All Time. I’ve got through the first ten, and I intend to continue through the rest. When a song catches my ear, I save it to this playlist, which will include songs from albums in the Top 100, but I’ll also add other country songs that catch my ear.
I’m drawn to the happier and upbeat albums, so ‘Fly’ by The Chicks (#5), ‘Come on Over’ by Shania Twain (#8), and ‘Fearless’ by Taylor Swift (#10), were my favourites.
If you’ve got country artist recommendations, send them my way. Despite loving the genre, I don’t really have a great map of the best artists and albums, which is why I started with the Rolling Stone list.