Showing posts with label Patsy Cline. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Patsy Cline. Show all posts

Sunday, November 12, 2023

The Top 200 Country Songs of All Time

Country Music:

Top 200 Songs

The DMDB’s list of the top 100 country songs of all time was created by aggregating 90 best-of lists focused on country songs. This included awards for Best Song and/or Single from the Academy of Country Music, Country Music Association, the Grammys. See the resources at the bottom of this page. This was first posted on the DMDB Facebook page on April 3, 2011 and then on the blog on August 28, 2011.

Click here to see other genre-specific song lists.

1. Patsy Cline “Crazy” (1961)
2. George Jones “He Stopped Loving Her Today” (1980)
3. Tammy Wynette “Stand by Your Man” (1968)
4. Garth Brooks “Friends in Low Places” (1990)
5. Willie Nelson “Always on My Mind” (1982)
6. Randy Travis “Forever and Ever, Amen” (1987)
7. Johnny Cash “I Walk the Line” (1956)
8. Johnny Cash “Ring of Fire” (1963)
9. Lee Ann Womack with Sons of the Desert “I Hope You Dance” (2000)
10. Hank Williams “Your Cheatin’ Heart” (1953)

11. Marty Robbins “El Paso” (1959)
12. Charlie Daniels Band “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” (1979)
13. Roger Miller “King of the Road” (1965)
14. Kenny Rogers “The Gambler” (1978)
15. Tim McGraw “Live Like You Were Dying” (2004)
16. Lonestar “Amazed” (1999)
17. Hank Williams “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” (1949)
18. Conway Twitty “Hello Darlin’” (1970)
19. Dolly Parton “Jolene” (1973)
20. Loretta Lynn “Coal Miner’s Daughter” (1970)

21. Garth Brooks “The Dance” (1990)
22. Merle Haggard “Mama Tried” (1968)
23. Patsy Cline “I Fall to Pieces” (1961)
24. Dolly Parton “I Will Always Love You” (1974)
25. Glen Campbell “Rhinestone Cowboy” (1975)
26. Lady Antebellum “Need You Now” (2009)
27. Johnny Cash “Folsom Prison Blues” (1955)
28. Merle Haggard “Okie from Muskogee” (1969)
29. Carrie Underwood “Before He Cheats” (2006)
30. Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson “Mammas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” (1978)

31. Charlie Rich “Behind Closed Doors” (1973)
32. Jeannie C. Riley “Harper Valley P.T.A.” (1968)
33. Tennessee Ernie Ford “Sixteen Tons” (1955)
34. Willie Nelson “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” (1975)
35. Alan Jackson “Where Were You When the World Stopped Turning” (2001)
36. Charley Pride “Kiss an Angel Good Mornin’” (1971)
37. Kitty Wells “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky-Tonk Angels” (1952)
38. Waylon Jennings “Luckenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)” (1977)
39. Ernest Tubb “Walking the Floor Over You” (1941)
40. Ray Price “For the Good Times” (1970)

41. Hank Williams “Hey, Good Lookin’” (1951)
42. Sammi Smith “Help Me Make It Through the Night” (1971)
43. Kenny Rogers with Dolly Parton “Islands in the Stream” (1983)
44. Jim Reeves “He’ll Have to Go” (1959)
45. Lynn Anderson “I Never Promised You a Rose Garden” (1970)
46. Billy Ray Cyrus “Achy Breaky Heart” (1992)
47. Faith Hill “Breathe” (1999)
48. Alan Jackson “Chattahoochee” (1992)
49. Eddy Arnold “Make the World Go Away” (1965)
50. Hank Williams “Lovesick Blues” (1949)

51. George Strait “Amarillo by Morning” (1983)
52. Faron Young “Hello Walls” (1961)
53. Florida Georgia Line with Nelly “Cruise” (2012)
54. Waylon Jennings with Willie Nelson “Good Hearted Woman” (1975)
55. Shania Twain “You’re Still the One” (1998)
56. Ray Price “Crazy Arms” (1956)
57. John Denver “Take Me Home, Country Roads” (1971)
58. Buck Owens “Act Naturally” (1963)
59. The Carter Family “Can the Circle Be Unbroken (By and By)” (1935)
60. Lee Greenwood “God Bless the U.S.A.” (1984)

61. LeAnn Rimes “Blue” (1996)
62. Roy Acuff & the Smoky Mountain Boys “Wabash Cannonball” (1938)
63. Glen Campbell “Wichita Lineman” (1968)
64. Crystal Gayle “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue” (1977)
65. Tim McGraw with Faith Hill “It’s Your Love” (1997)
66. Reba McEntire “Fancy” (1991)
67. Deanna Carter “Strawberry Wine” (1996)
68. Johnny Horton “The Battle of New Orleans” (1959)
69. Brooks & Dunn “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” (1991)
70. Hank Snow “I’m Moving On” (1950)

71. Martina McBride “Independence Day” (1993)
72. Johnny Paycheck “Take This Job and Shove It” (1977)
73. The Oak Ridge Boys “Elvira” (1981)
74. Don Gibson “Oh Lonesome Me” (1958)
75. Ronnie Milsap “Smokey Mountain Rain” (1980)
76. Dixie Chicks “Wide Open Spaces” (1998)
77. Willie Nelson “On the Road Again” (1980)
78. John Michael Montgomery “I Swear” (1993)
79. Patsy Cline “Sweet Dreams of You” (1963)
80. Dolly Parton “Coat of Many Colors” (1971)

81. Patsy Cline “Walkin’ After Midnight” (1957)
82. Keith Whitley “When You Say Nothing at All” (1988)
83. Alan Jackson “Don’t Rock the Jukebox” (1991)
84. Johnny Cash “A Boy Named Sue” (live, 1969)
85. Buck Owens “I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail” (1965)
86. Bill Monroe “Blue Moon of Kentucky” (1947)
87. Freddy Fender “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” (1975)
88. The Statler Brothers “Flowers on the Wall” (1965)
89. Patti Page “Tennessee Waltz” (1950)
90. Jack Greene “There Goes My Everything” (1966)

91. Sons of the Pioneers “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” (1934)
92. The Carter Family “Wildwood Flower” (1928)
93. Leroy Van Dyke “Walk on By” (1961)
94. Tammy Wynette “D-I-V-O-R-C-E” (1968)
95. Taylor Swift “Love Story” (2008)
96. Faith Hill “This Kiss” (1998)
97. David Allen Coe “You Never Even Call Me by My Name” (1975)
98. Glen Campbell “Galveston” (1969)
99. Lefty Frizzell “Long Black Veil” (1959)
100. Ray Charles “I Can’t Stop Loving You” (1962)

101. Hank Locklin “Please Help Me, I’m Falling” (1960)
102. Jimmie Davis “You Are My Sunshine” (1940)
103. George Jones “She Thinks I Still Care” (1962)
104. Alan Jackson with Jimmy Buffett “It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere” (2003)
105. Randy Travis “On the Other Hand” (1985)
106. Miranda Lambert “The House That Built Me” (2010)
107. Rascal Flatts “Bless the Broken Road” (2004)
108. Hank Williams “Jambalaya on the Bayou” (1952)
109. Sugarland “Stay” (2007)
110. Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys “Faded Love” (1950)

111. George Strait “All My Ex’s Live in Texas” (1987)
112. Eric Church “Springsteen” (2011)
113. David Houston “Almost Persuaded” (1966)
114. Keith Urban “Somebody Like You” (2002)
115. Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash “Jackson” (1967)
116. Tanya Tucker “Delta Dawn” (1972)
117. Hank Williams “Cold, Cold Heart” (1951)
118. Gretchen Wilson “Redneck Woman” (2004)
119. Freddie Hart “Easy Loving” (1971)
120. The Band Perry “If I Die Young” (2010)

121. Dolly Parton “9 to 5” (1980)
122. Trisha Yearwood “She’s in Love with the Boy” (1991)
123. Bobbie Gentry “Ode to Billie Joe” (1967)
124. Osborne Brothers “Rocky Top” (1968)
125. Kenny Chesney “The Good Stuff” (2002)
126. Johnny Cash “Hurt” (2002)
127. Vince Gill “Go Rest High on That Mountain” (1994)
128. Hank Williams Jr. “Family Tradition” (1979)
129. Johnny Cash “Sunday Mornin’ Coming Down” (1970)
130. Jimmy Dean “Big Bad John” (1961)

131. Jimmie Rodgers “Blue Yodel #1 (T for Texas)” (1928)
132. The Highwaymen (Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash, & Kris Kristofferson) “The Highwayman” (1984)
133. Eddy Arnold “Bouquet of Roses” (1948)
134. Rosanne Cash “Seven Year Ache” (1981)
135. Tom T. Hall “Old Dogs, Children, and Watermelon Wine” (1972)
136. Dwight Yoakam “Guitars, Cadillacs” (1986)
137. Alabama “Mountain Music” (1982)
138. Thomas Rhett “Die a Happy Man” (2015)
139. Johnny Lee “Lookin’ for Love” (1980)
140. Sam Hunt “Body Like a Back Road” (2017)

141. Hank Thompson “The Wild Side of Life” (1952)
142. Donna Fargo “The Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A.” (1972)
143. Kenny Rogers “Lucille” (1977)
144. Loretta Lynn “Don't Come Home A’Drinkin’ with Lovin’ on Your Mind” (1967)
145. Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” (1950)
146. George Strait “Check Yes or No” (1995)
147. Kathy Mattea “Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses” (1988)
148. Patsy Cline “She’s Got You” (1962)
149. Brad Paisley with Alison Krauss “Whiskey Lullaby” (2004)
150. Connie Smith “Once a Day” (1964)

151. Darius Rucker “Wagon Wheel” (2013)
152. Kacey Musgraves “Follow Your Arrow” (2013)
153. Carrie Underwood “Jesus Take the Wheel” (2005)
154. Kenny Rogers “Coward of the County” (1979)
155. Zac Brown Band “Chicken Fried” (2008)
156. George Strait “Love Without End, Amen” (1990)
157. Eddy Arnold “The Cattle Call” (1945)
158. Alabama “Love in the First Degree” (1981)
159. Lefty Frizzell “If You’ve Got the Money, I’ve Got the Time” (1950)
160. Vince Gill “When I Call Your Name” (1990)

161. Patsy Montana & the Prairie Ramblers “I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart” (1936)
162. Vern Gosdin “Chiseled in Stone” (1988)
163. Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys “San Antonio Rose” (1939)
164. Hank Williams “Kaw-Liga” (1953)
165. Ray Price “Heartaches by the Number” (1959)
166. Dolly Parton “Here You Come Again” (1977)
167. Garth Brooks “If Tomorrow Never Comes” (1989)
168. C.W. McCall “Convoy” (1975)
169. John Denver “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” (1974)
170. Johnny Cash “Daddy Sang Bass” (1968)

171. Elvis Presley “Heartbreak Hotel” (1956)
172. Clint Black “A Better Man” (1989)
173. Little Big Town “Girl Crush” (2015)
174. The Everly Brothers “Bye Bye Love” (1957)
175. Kenny Rogers “Lady” (1980)
176. Gene Autry “Back in the Saddle” (1939)
177. Travis Tritt “Here’s a Quarter, Call Someone Who Cares” (1991)
178. Tim McGraw with Patty Loveless “Please Remember Me” (1999)
179. Glen Campbell “Gentle on My Mind” (1967)
180. Bebe Rexha with Florida Georgia Line “Meant to Be” (2017)

181. The Judds “Grandpa, Tell Me ‘Bout the Good Old Days” (1985)
182. Hank Williams “I Saw the Light” (1948)
183. Sonny James “Young Love” (1956)
184. The Judds “Mama He’s Crazy” (1984)
185. Don Gibson “I Can’t Stop Loving You” (1958)
186. Buck Owens “Together Again” (1964)
187. Hank Williams Jr. “A Country Boy Can Survive” (1981)
188. Carl Butler & Pearl “Don’t Let Me Cross Over” (1962)
189. Toby Keith “How Do You Like Me Now?!” (1999)
190. Charlie Rich “The Most Beautiful Girl” (1973)

191. Dan + Shay “Tequila” (2018)
192. Porter Wagoner “Green, Green Grass of Home” (1965)
193. Dixie Chicks “Cowboy Take Me Away” (1999)
194. Brooks & Dunn “My Maria” (1996)
195. Tex Williams “Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)” (1947)
196. Merle Haggard & the Strangers “Today I Started Loving You Again” (1968)
197. Shania Twain “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” (1997)
198. Hunter Hayes “Wanted” (2011)
199. Roger Miller “Dang Me” (1964)
200. Randy Travis “Three Wooden Crosses” (2003)

Resources/Related Links:

First posted 8/3/2011; last updated 11/12/2023.

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Saturday, May 6, 2023

Willie Nelson: Top 100 Songs

image from michaelcorcoran.net

Willie Nelson

Top 100 Songs

Country singer/songwriter Willie Nelson was born on 4/29/1933 in Abbott, TX. He wrote hits for others before becoming a successful singer in his own right. He moved to Nashville in 1960 and moved back to Texas in 1970. He pioneered the “outlaw” country movement. He appeared in several movies including The Electric Horseman (1979), Honeysuckle Rose (1980), and Barbarosa (1982).

Dave’s Music Database initially posted its ranking of the top 10 Willie Nelson songs on its Facebook page in response to a July 12, 2010, Paste magazine list of The 10 Best Willie Nelson Songs. It was updated and expanded to a top 80 list here in honor of Nelson’s 80th birthday (April 30, 2013). In 2023, it was expanded again – this time to a top 100 list – in honor of Nelson’s 90th birthday and the announcement that he would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

This list includes songs written by Nelson but performed by others (noted in parentheses) and songs Nelson covered which have DMDB higher-ranked versions by other artists (*).

For a complete list of this act’s DMDB honors, check out the DMDB Music Maker Encyclopedia entry.

Click here to see other acts’ best-of lists.

Awards:

Top 100 Songs

Dave’s Music Database lists are determined by song’s appearances on best-of lists, appearances on compilations and live albums by the featured act, and songs’ chart success, sales, radio airplay, streaming, and awards. Songs which hit #1 on various charts are noted. (Click for codes to charts.)

DMDB Top 1%:

1. Crazy (recorded by Patsy Cline, written by Willie Nelson; 1961)
2. Always on My Mind (1982) #1 CW

DMDB Top 2%:

3. On the Road Again (1980) #1 CW

DMDB Top 5%:

4. Mammas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys (with Waylon Jennings, 1978) #1 CW
5. Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain (1975) #1 CW
6. Good Hearted Woman (live with Waylon Jennings, 1975) #1 CW
7. Georgia on My Mind (1978) * #1 CW
8. To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before (with Julio Iglesias, 1984) #1 CW
9. Pretty Paper (written by Willie Nelson, performed by Roy Orbison, 1963)
10. Hello Walls (recorded by Faron Young, written by Willie Nelson; 1961) #1 CW
11. Pancho and Lefty (with Merle Haggard, 1983) *
12. Yesterday (2014) *

DMDB Top 10%:

13. The Highwayman (with Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, & Kris Kristofferson, 1985) #1 CW
14. Blue Skies (1978) #1 CW *
15. All of Me (1978) *
16. My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys (1980) #1 CW

DMDB Top 20%:

17. City of New Orleans (1984) * #1 CW
18. Just Breathe (2012) *
19. Heartbreak Hotel (with Leon Russell, 1979) * #1 CW
20. September Song (1978) *

21. America the Beautiful (2001) *
22. Mona Lisa (1981) *
23. Baby It’s Cold Outside (with Norah Jones, 2009) *
24. Fire and Rain (1975) *
25. Funny How Time Slips Away (written by Nelson, performed by Al Green with Lyle Lovett, 1994)
26. Help Me Make It Through the Night (1979) *
27. Without a Song (1983) *
28. Beer for My Horses (with Toby Keith, 2002) #1 CW

Beyond the DMDB Top 20%:

29. Live Forever (with Lucinda Williams, 2022)
30. Whiskey River (live, 1978)

31. It Was a Very Good Year (with Ray Charles, 2004) *
32. Let It Be Me (1982)
33. If I Were a Carpenter (with Sheryl Crow, 2007) *
34. What a Wonderful World (1988) *
35. Night Life (written by Willie Nelson, recorded by Rusty Draper, 1963)
36. (Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay (with Waylon Jennings, 1982) *
37. If You’ve Got the Money, I’ve Got the Time (1976) * #1 CW
38. Pretty Paper (1963)
39. Crazy (1962)
40. I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter (1981) *

41. Remember Me (1975)
42. Just to Satisfy You (with Waylon Jennings, 1982) #1 CW
43. Night Life (1965)
44. Forgiving You Was Easy (1985) #1 CW
45. Funny How Time Slips Away (1962)
46. That Lucky Old Sun (with Kenny Chesney, 2008) *
47. Funny How Time Slips Away (written by Nelson, recorded by Jimmy Elledge, 1961)
48. Seven Spanish Angels (with Ray Charles, 1984) #1 CW
49. Night Life (written by Nelson, recorded by Ray Price, 1963)
50. Everything’s Beautiful in Its Own Way (with Dolly Parton, 1982)

51. Take It to the Limit (with Waylon Jennings, 1983) *
52. Pretty Paper (with Kenny Chesney, 2003)
53. Angels Flying Too Close to the Sun (1981) #1 CW
54. Twilight Time (1988) *
55. Hello Walls (1962)
56. Living in the Promiseland (1986) #1 CW
57. Funny How Time Slips Away (Danny Davis & the Nashville Brass with Willie Nelson, 1980)
58. Nothing I Can Do About It (1989) #1 CW
59. Uncloudy Day (1976)
60. Bloody Mary Morning (1974)

61. Faded Love (with Ray Price, 1980) *
62. Me and Paul (1972, re-recorded in 1985)
63. Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning (1982)
64. Half a Man (1963)
65. The Party’s Over (1967)
66. Good Times (1968)
67. Crazy Arms (1970) *
68. Heart of Gold (1986) *
69. On the Street Where You Live (2009) *
70. Stay All Night (Stay a Little Longer) (1973)

71. Yesterday’s Wine (1971)
72. Touch Me (1962)
73. Willingly (with Shirley Collie, 1962)
74. Funny How Time Slips Away (written by Nelson, recorded by Billy Walker, 1961)
75. Reasons to Quit (with Merle Haggard, 1983)
76. If You Can Touch Her at All (with Waylon Jennings, 1978)
77. I’d Have to Be Crazy (1976)
78. Shotgun Willie (1973)
79. Midnight Rider (1979) *
80. Sweet Memories (1979)

81. She’s Not for You (1965)
82. The Last Letter (1963)
83. Why Do I Have to Choose (1983)
84. Little Old Fashioned Karma (1983)
85. You Took My Happy Away (1964)
86. If I Could Only Fly (with Merle Haggard, 1987)
87. I Love You a Thousand Ways (1977)
88. Something to Brag About (with Mary Kay Place, 1977)
89. Wabash Cannonball (with Hank Wilson, 1984) *
90. I Still Can’t Believe You’re Gone (1974)

91. You Ought to Hear Me Cry (1977)
92. I’m a Memory (1971)
93. One in a Row (1966)
94. Bring Me Sunshine (1968)
95. I Hope So (1969)
96. Blackjack County Chain (1967)
97. Graceland (with Paul Simon, 1993) *
98. Little Things (1968)
99. Once More with Feeling (1970)
100. I Just Can’t Let You Say Goodbye (1965)

Resources and Related Links:

First posted 4/30/2013; updated 5/6/2023.

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Monday, November 22, 2021

Dave's Music Database Hall of Fame: Albums (Nov. 2021)

Originally posted 11/22/2021.

January 22, 2019 marked the 10-year anniversary of the DMDB blog. To honor that, Dave’s Music Database announced its own Hall of Fame. This month marks the twelfth group of album inductees. These are classic country albums, excluding previous inductee At Folsom Prison by Johnny Cash. By “classic” I mean that the focus is on albums before 1990. Modern country will be represented down the line.

See the full list of album inductees here.

Hank Williams 40 Greatest Hits (compilation: 1947-53, released 1978)

Inducted November 2021 as “Classic Country Albums.”

Country legend Hank “Williams lived fast and worked fast, too, recording relentlessly from 1947 until his alcohol-related death in 1953. This compilation shows how craft transcended the demon booze. Of these 40 hits, more than a quarter topped the country charts.” BL “As a one-stop shopping place for Hank’s basic repertoire, 40 Greatest Hits is as good as it gets.” MD Read more.

Ray Charles Modern Sounds in Country & Western Music (1962)

Inducted November 2021 as “Classic Country Albums.”

When Ray Charles left ABC-Paramount for Atlantic Records in 1959, he was a well-established R&B singer rooted in the gospel tradition. The move gave him artistic freedom, which he immediately tested when he opted to record an album of cover songs. The record company thought it was a joke and critics were certain it would destroy Charles’ career. It became the biggest success of his career, spending 14 weeks at #1 on the album chart. Read more.

Patsy Cline 12 Greatest Hits (compilation: 1957-63, released 1973)

Inducted November 2021 as “Classic Country Albums.”

Patsy Cline was only 30 years old when she died in a plane crash in 1963. Despite her short career, she has been celebrated as “one of the greatest singers in country music history” AMG thanks to gems like I Fall to Pieces, Crazy, and She’s Got You. Ten years after her death, she became the first female performer inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. This collection of her biggest hits became the first album by a female country artist to go double platinum. By 2005, the album was certified for diamond, or ten-times platinum. Despite the massive sales, the album has never charted on the Billboard album chart. Read more.

The Byrds Sweetheart of the Rodeo (1968)

Inducted November 2021 as “Classic Country Albums.”

The Byrds are one of the most important band’s in the history of American music. In the latter half of the ‘60s, they were at the forefront of the folk-rock movement, then psychedelic rock, and finally country-rock. The latter owed much to Chris Hillman recruiting Gram Parsons. His previous group, the International Submarine Band, is credited with the “the first bona fide country-rock album” WK “but with its gorgeous three-way harmonies and sweet pedal steel, [Rodeo] remains the best.” DC The album served “as a blueprint… for the entire nascent 1970s Los Angeles country-rock movement.” WK Read more.

The Flying Burrito Brothers The Gilded Palace of Sin (1969)

Inducted November 2021 as “Classic Country Albums.”

After the Byrds created the template for country rock with Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman formed the Flying Burrito Brothers and created another of “the finest and most influential albums the genre would ever produce.” MD John Firminger of Country Music Review said the album “quite clearly stands as a complete definition of the term country rock.” WK Read more.

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band Will the Circle Be Unbroken (1972)

Inducted November 2021 as “Classic Country Albums.”

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band “was a young…band with a hippie look” WK “known for their country-rock and jug band music.” NRR They dreamed up an all-star country project that would “tie together two generations of musicians” WK including Roy Acuff, Mother Maybelle Carter, Earl Scruggs, Merle Travis, Doc Watson, and others. The album “introduced acoustic country music to a new generation of audiences and revived the careers of several of the guest performers.” NRR Read more.

Gram Parsons Grievous Angel (1974)

Inducted November 2021 as “Classic Country Albums.”

Parsons became “the patron saint of alt-country” MD from his work with International Submarine Band, the Byrds, and Flying Burrito Brothers before a pair of solo albums. The latter, Grievous Angel, was released after Parsons died of a drug overdose at age 26 in 1973. It infused…cosmic tang with melancholy soul, breathing new life into both country and rock & roll.” BL The duet with Emmylou Harris on Love Hurts is “so quietly impassioned and delicately beautiful that it’s enough to make you forget Roy Orbison ever recorded it.” MD Read more.

Willie Nelson Red-Headed Stranger (1975)

Inducted November 2021 as “Classic Country Albums.”

Wille Nelson had been a fixture on the country charts since 1962, but he didn’t reach #1 until 1975 with Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain from Red Headed Stranger. The concept album tells the story of a renegade “preacher on the run after murdering his departed wife and her new lover.” AMG It is “perhaps is the strangest blockbuster country produced.” AMG It sounds “like a tale told around a cowboy campfire.” AMG It made Nelson an international superstar and remade his image as that of a country music outlaw. Read more.

Kenny Rogers Greatest Hits (compilation: 1969-80, released 1980)

Inducted November 2021 as “Classic Country Albums.”

Prior to 1977, Kenny Rogers had never gone higher than #19 on the country charts. However, “Lucille” changed that, giving him his first of 21 #1 country songs. Seven of those, including “The Gambler,” “She Believes in Me,” “You Decorated My Life,” “Coward of the County,” and “Lady,” are featured on this collection alongside other early favorites as “Ruby, Don’t Take Your Love to Town” and “Reuben James.” Read more.

Alabama Greatest Hits (compilation: 1980-86, released 1986)

Inducted November 2021 as “Classic Country Albums.”

In the first half of the ‘80s, Alabama landed 18 #1 songs atop the country chart on their way to becoming the most successful act in the history of the genre. Only seven of those chart-toppers are gathered here on this, their first compilation, and two albums (The Closer You Get, Roll On) from this era are inexplicably overlooked completely. Still, this set offers a fantastic overview of the band’s most successful years. Read more.
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Saturday, October 27, 2012

Traditional Country Music Hall of Fame

The website offers little explanation of the Hall, including when it began or if it is even still operational, but acknowledges is neither has a building nor gives actual tangible awards to inductees. Categories include artists, songs, session players, writers, publishers, sidemen, background vocals, producers, and humor. Inductees in the “artists” category are listed below.

See other Hall of Fames.

A

B

  • Moe Bandy
  • Bobby Bare
  • Jack Barlow
  • Joe Berry
  • Eddie Bond
  • Johnny Bond
  • Owen Bradley
  • Jim Ed Brown
  • Jimmy Bryant
  • Jimmy Buffett
  • Pearl & Carl Butler
  • Johnny Bush
C

  • Archie Campbell
  • Glen Campbell
  • Bill Carlisle
  • The Carter Family
  • Anita Carter
  • June Carter
  • Maybelle Carter
  • Wilf Carter
  • Johnny Cash
  • Tommy Cash
  • Guy Clark
  • Roy Clark
  • Jack Clement
  • Vassar Clements
  • Patsy Cline
  • Jerry Clower
  • Hank Cochran
  • David Allen Coe
  • Tommy Collins
  • Jessi Colter
  • John Conlee
  • Earl Thomas Conley
  • Spade Cooley
  • Wilma Lee Cooper
  • Carolina Cotton
  • Floyd Cramer
  • Billy “Crash” Craddock
D

  • Vernon Dalhart
  • Lacy J. Dalton
  • Jose Daniel
  • Charlie Daniels
  • Mac Davis
  • Skeeter Davis
  • Jimmy Dean
  • Kathy Dee
  • Delmore Brothers
  • Iris Dement
  • John Denver
  • Al Dexter
  • Hazel Dickens
  • Little Jimmy Dickens
  • Col. Buster Doss
  • Pete Drake
  • Roy Drusky
  • Dave Dudley
E

F

G

  • Larry Galtin & the Gatlin Brothers
  • Crystal Gayle
  • Geezinslaws
  • Don Gibson
  • Kenny Gill
  • Mickey Gilley
  • Johnny Gimble
  • Glen Glenn
  • Vern Gosdin
  • Claude Gray
  • Jack Greene
  • Lee Greenwood
H

I-J

K

L

M

  • Uncle Dave Macon
  • Rose Maddox
  • Fred & Maddox Brothers
  • Barbara Mandrell
  • Grady Martin
  • Hack Martin
  • Troy Martin
  • David Mayfield
  • Leon McAuliffe
  • O.B. McClinton
  • C.W. McCall
  • Joe Manuel
  • Del McCoury
  • Mel McDaniel
  • McGee Brothers
  • Ron McMunn
  • Roger Miller
  • Ronnie Milsap
  • Bill Monroe
  • Patsy Montana
  • Bob Moore
  • George Morgan
  • Col. Robert Morris
  • Moon Mullican
  • Anne Murray
N

  • Ken Nelson
  • Willie Nelson
  • Jimmy C. Newman
  • Juice Newton
  • Roy Nichols
  • Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
O

  • Oak Ridge Boys
  • Molly O’Day
  • Old Joe Clark
  • Osborne Brothers
  • Bashful Brother Oswald
  • Paul Overstreet
  • Buck Owens
  • Vernon Oxford
P-Q

R

S

  • Jeannie Seely
  • Billy Joe Shaver
  • Jerry Shea
  • Jean Shepard
  • T.G. Sheppard
  • Billy Sherrill
  • Ricky Skaggs
  • Cal Smith
  • Carl Smith
  • Connie Smith
  • Margo Smith
  • Sammi Smith
  • Warren Smith
  • Hank Snow
  • Red Sovine
  • Joe Stampley
  • Stanley Brothers
  • Statler Brothers
  • Ray Stevens
  • Wynn Stewart
  • Cliffie Stone
  • George Strait
  • Marty Stuart
T-U-V

W

X-Y-Z

Resources/Related Links:

First posted 10/27/2012; last updated 5/5/2022.
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Friday, June 1, 2012

Country Music’s All-Time Classics According to the Classic Pop Yahoo Group

Classic Pop Yahoo Group: Country Music’s All Time Classics,

Top 100 Songs

Steve Sullivan was one of my early fans on my Dave’s Music Database Facebook page. I was delighted when I found out he did the research behind one of my music bibles – Pop Memories 1890-1954, published by Record Research.

His post on May 31 ranks more than 1000 all-time country and bluegrass songs. He taps more than 50 sources, including Billboard’s country charts from 1939 through 2011, the Grammy Hall of Fame, the National Recording Registry, country music awards, National Public Radio, the works of multiple music authors, and nearly every issue of the Journal of Country Music from 1970 through 2006. I’ve posted the top 100 songs from that list, but the links for all four parts of the list are posted below. Dave’s Music Database has done a list of the top 100 country songs of all time as well. You can check it out here.

Click here to see other genre-specific song lists.

1. Patsy Cline “Crazy” (1961)
2. Tammy Wynette “Stand by Your Man” (1968)
3. George Jones “He Stopped Loving Her Today” (1980)
4. Johnny Cash “I Walk the Line” (1956)
5. Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys “New San Antonio Rose” (1944)
6. Kitty Wells “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” (1952)
7. Hank Williams “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” (1949)
8. Roy Acuff “Wabash Cannonball” (1947)
9. Johnny Cash “Folsom Prison Blues” (1956)
10. Patsy Cline “I Fall to Pieces (1961)”

11. The Carter Family “Wildwood Flower” (1928)
12. Jimmie Rodgers “Blue Yodel (T for Texas)” (1928)
13. Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys “Blue Moon of Kentucky” (1946)
14. Loretta Lynn “Coal Miner’s Daughter” (1970)
15. Ray Price “Crazy Arms” (1956)
16. Hank Williams “Your Cheatin’ Heart” (1953)
17. Hank Snow “I’m Movin’ On” (1950)
18. Marty Robbins “El Paso” (1959)
19. Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs “Foggy Mountain Breakdown” (1950)
20. The Carter Family “Can the Circle Be Unbroken (By and By)” (1935)

21. Tennessee Ernie Ford “Sixteen Tons” (1955)
22. Merle Haggard “Mama Tried” (1968)
23. Ernest Tubb “Walking the Floor Over You” (1941)
24. Roger Miller “King of the Road” (1965)
25. Sons of the Pioneers “Tumbling Tumbleweeds” (1934)
26. Hank Williams “Lovesick Blues” (1949)
27. Johnny Cash “Ring of Fire” (1963)
28. Dolly Parton “Coat of Many Colors” (1971)
29. Jimmie Davis “You Are My Sunshine” (1941)
30. Jim Reeves “He’ll Have to Go” (1960)

31. Willie Nelson “Blue Eyes Crying In the Rain” (1975)
32. Hank Thompson “The Wild Side of Life” (1952)
33. Gene Autry “Back in the Saddle Again” (1939)
34. Johnny Horton “The Battle of New Orleans” (1959)
35. Fiddlin’ John Carson “The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane” (1923)
36. Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys “Mule Skinner Blues” (1940)
37. Patsy Montana “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart” (1935)
38. Bobbie Gentry “Ode to Billie Joe” (1967)
39. Sammi Smith “Help Me Make It Through the Night” (1971)
40. Willie Nelson “Always on My Mind” (1982)

41. George Jones “She Thinks I Still Care” (1962)
42. The Stanley Brothers “Rank Strangers” (1960)
43. Hank Williams “Jambalaya (On the Bayou)” (1952)
44. Charlie Rich “Behind Closed Doors” (1973)
45. Al Dexter “Pistol Packin’ Mama” (1943)
46. Eck Robertson “Sallie Gooden” (1922)
47. Sons of the Pioneers “Cool Water” (1941)
48. Faron Young “Hello Walls” (1961)
49. Hank Williams “Hey Good Lookin’” (1951)
50. Dolly Parton “I Will Always Love You” (1974)

51. Roy Acuff “The Great Speckled Bird” (1936)
52. Vernon Dalhart “The Prisoner’s Song” (1925)
53. Glen Campbell “Wichita Lineman” (1968)
54. Charlie Daniels Band “The Devil Went Down to Georgia” (1979)
55. Ted Daffan “Born to Lose” (1943)
56. Red Foley “There’ll Be Peace in the Valley” (1951)
57. Conway Twitty “Hello Darlin’” (1970)
58. Glen Campbell “Gentle on My Mind” (1967)
59. Ray Price “For the Good Times” (1970)
60. Webb Pierce “There Stands the Glass” (1953)

61. Glen Campbell “By the Time I Get to Phoenix” (1967)
62. Lefty Frizzell “If You’ve Got the Money, I’ve Got the Time” (1950)
63. Eddy Arnold “Bouquet of Roses” (1948)
64. Garth Brooks “The Dance” (1990)
65. Garth Brooks “Friends in Low Places” (1990)
67. Eddy Arnold “Make the World Go Away” (1965)
68. Lee Ann Womack with Sons of the Desert “I Hope You Dance” (2000)
69. Carl Perkins “Blue Suede Shoes” (1956)
70. Ray Charles “I Can’t Stop Loving You” (1962)

71. The Everly Brothers “Bye Bye Love” (1957)
72. Hank Snow “I Don’t Hurt Anymore” (1954)
73. Randy Travis “Forever and Ever, Amen” (1987)
74. Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” (1978)
75. Eddy Arnold “The Cattle Call” (1944/1955)
76. Vernon Dalhart “The Wreck of the Old ‘97” (1924)
77. Patti Page “Tennessee Waltz” (1950)
78. Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys “Steel Guitar Rag” (1936)
79. Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs “Earl’s Breakdown” (1951)
80. Webb Pierce “Slowly” (1954)

81. Hank Williams “Cold, Cold Heart” (1951)
82. Emmett Miller & His Georgia Crackers “Lovesick Blues” (1928)
83. Gid Tanner & Skillet Lickers “Soldier’s Joy” (1929)
84. Elton Britt “There’s a Star-Spangled Banner Waving Somewhere” (1943)
85. Roy Rogers & Dale Evans “Happy Trails” (1952)
86. George Jones “The Grand Tour” (1974)
87. Willie Nelson “On the Road Again” (1980)
88. Gene Autry “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” (1949)
89. Ray Price “City Lights” (1958)
90. Jimmie Rodgers “In the Jailhouse Now” (1928)

91. The Carter Family “Keep on the Sunny Side” (1928)
92. The Delmore Brothers “Blues Stay Away from Me” (1949)
93. Buck Owens “I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail” (1965)
94. Charlie Poole “Don’t Let Your Deal Do Down Blues” (1925)
95. The Flying Burrito Brothers “Sin City” (1969)
96. Jimmie Rodgers “Waiting for a Train” (1928)
97. Elvis Presley “Don’t Be Cruel” (1956)
98. Tex Williams “Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)” (1947)
99. Merle Travis “Dark As a Dungeon” (1946)
100. Woody Guthrie “This Land Is Your Land” (1944)

Resources and Related Links:

Steve Sullivan Song Lists:

First posted 6/1/2012; last revised 12/16/2022.

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Sunday, October 9, 2011

50 years ago: Patsy Cline charted with “Crazy”

Crazy

Patsy Cline

Writer(s): Willie Nelson (see lyrics here)

Recorded: August 21, 1961

First Charted: October 9, 1961

Peak: 9 US, 13 CB, 9 GR, 11 HR, 2 AC, 2 CW, 14 UK, 56 AU, 1 DF (Click for codes to charts.)

Sales (in millions): -- US, -- UK, -- world (includes US + UK)

Airplay/Streaming (in millions): 2.0 radio, 22.73 video, 61.28 streaming

Awards:

Click on award for more details.

About the Song:

Before Willie Nelson became one of country music’s top singers, he broke into the industry as a songwriter after “having tried everything from encyclopedia selling to hawking vacuum cleaners door-to-door.” HL After Faron Young took Nelson’s “Hello Walls” to the top of the country charts, seemingly everyone in town wanted a Willie song. Patsy Cline was looking for a follow-up to “I Fall to Pieces” which had potential to cross over to the pop charts. AC She loved his song “Funny How Time Slips Away,” but Billy Walker, whose relationship with Nelson went back to their Texas days, AC got to it first.

Cline was furious, but Willie and Billy thought her voice was perfect for another song Walker had demoed. AC When told the song title was “Crazy,” she shot back, “It sure is.” RS500 She was looking for the up-tempo fare she was more accustomed to singing. A slow-torch song was not what she had in mind. NPR Cline’s producer, Owen Bradley, was convinced of the song’s potential, believing it to be well suited to “her vocal talents and expressive style.” NPR

She was on crutches when she recorded the song. She had a fractured hip and near-fatal head injuries HL after she and her brother were in a head-on collision SS that threw her through the car’s windshield. HL “With a lush arrangement and understated backing vocals” RS500 from the Jordanaires alongside the “slow-burn sex appeal” RS500 she infused in the lyrics, she made the song her own. She recorded the vocal in one take TC for her “best-remembered performance.” HL It was “a perfect vehicle to showcase [her] poignant, heartbreaking voice and superb musicianship.” NRR It “bears the marks of Nelson’s idiosyncratic personality – it’s pop and jazz and western and not quite pure country.” TC

It became more than just Cline’s only top-10 pop hit and signature tune. Willie Nelson called it “the favorite of anything I ever wrote.” AC “The most enduringly popular ballad in country music history” SS is also the top jukebox single of all time. NPR It launched a new sound in country music called “countrypolitan” RS500 which gained popularity in the wake of rock and roll’s explosive success. NRR Sadly, Cline herself wouldn’t be around to see where country music was headed; she died in a plane crash in March 1963.

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First posted 8/21/2011; last updated 4/14/2023.

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