Assessing Rolling Stone’s “100 Greatest Country Albums of All Time”
The impulse for so many of us these days is to take a very cynical and negative approach to any list that is compiled for the purpose of helping you navigate through the increasingly cluttered world of music. With so many choices, and everything at our fingertips thanks to streaming, it’s made curation, criticism, and musical sherpas more valuable than less these days, despite what some will tell you.
Still, so many use the opportunity of lists to focus on either what they hate that’s included, or what they love that isn’t. But that’s not really the point. The point is to (hopefully) fill in the gaps in your body of knowledge to expose you to something you may enjoy to enhance your musical experience. It’s also worth expressing that no list is definitive. It’s simply the opinions of whomever made it.
Rolling Stone published a list of the The 100 Greatest Country Albums of All Time this week, and as per usual, it has many arguing its merits, omissions, and inclusions. There was a time when whatever Rolling Stone said was taken as the definitive word in music, especially when the immortal Chet Flippo was the one manning the country music beat. These days, the publication has been bought and sold to corporate masters, editor-in-chief Noah Shachtman is an embarrassment to journalism, and the publication has perjured itself so many times lately, it’s hard to take anything it publishes seriously.
But I think this 100 Greatest Country Albums List is fine. It’s certainly not my list, but it’s also not so out-of-bounds to be offensive. It’s Rolling Stone’s opinion, and they have a right to their opinion as much as anyone, and for that opinion to be respected. And though you may assume that Rolling Stone in 2022 would go “super woke” with a list like this—and it certainly does lean that way—it’s not demonstrative in that direction at all, and nothing that the semi-educated country music consumer can’t compensate for in their mind.
The truth is, a lot of the top entries on a list like this are long-established, and though Rolling Stone has switched a few things around, there’s nothing here that seems egregious. For comparative purposes, you can pull up Saving Country Music’s very outdated (2013), and needing of updating Greatest Country Albums of All Time, and a neutral party with CMT’s 40 Greatest Country Albums of All Time.
Here Are Rolling Stone‘s Top 20 Albums:
20 | Rosanne Cash | Seven Year Ache | 1981
19 | George Strait | Strait from the Heart | 1982
18 | Gary Stewart | Out of Hand | 1975
17 | Loretta Lynn | Coal Miner’s Daughter | 1970
16 | Tom T. Hall | In Search of a Song | 1971
15 | Patsy Cline | Showcase | 1961
14 | George Jones | I Am What I Am | 1980
13 | Miranda Lambert | The Weight of These Wings | 2016
12 | The Judds | Why Not Me | 1984
11 | Johnny Cash | At Folsom Prison | 1968
10 | Taylor Swift | Fearless | 2008
9 | Randy Travis | Storms of Life | 1986
8 | Shania Twain | Come On Over | 1998
7 | Merle Haggard | Serving 190 Proof | 1979
6 | Lucinda Williams | Car Wheels on a Gravel Road | 1998
5 | The Chicks | Fly | 1999
4 | Ray Charles | Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music | 1962
3 | Willie Nelson | Red Headed Stranger | 1975
2 | Waylon Jennings | Dreaming My Dreams | 1975
1 | Dolly Parton | Coat of Many Colors | 1971
We can’t be surprised Rolling Stone put a [Dixie] Chicks album in the Top 5, but it is surprising they chose Fly when Home is the album that has been long-established as the superior title. SCM has Home at #31, and CMT had it at #15 on their “Greatest” list. Similarly, it’s great to see Waylon Jennings at #2 with Dreaming My Dreams, which is a great album. But the established thought is Honky Tonk Heroes is the top Waylon title, with SCM placing it at #4, and CMT coming in at #10. Dreaming My Dreams is #39 on the SCM list, and #35 at CMT.
Putting Dolly Parton at #1 with Coat of Many Colors is also against established precedent. Willie Nelson’s Red Headed Stranger has long been thought of as the greatest country album of all time. But Coat of Many Colors is usually not far behind, and you can’t blame Rolling Stone for pandering for a retweet from Dolly for the placement. Coat of Many Colors is #16 on SCM’s list. It doesn’t appear on CMTs. They have Jolene at #26 instead.
Some are making a big deal about Car Wheels on a Gravel Road by Lucinda Williams coming in at #6, both positively and negatively. Seems a little high for a highly-influential, but decidedly alt-country title. But I’m fine with it. It came in at #37 on SCM’s list. Taylor Swift’s Fearless once again could be swapped with her much more mature Speak Now, which was also all written and produced by Swift (a landmark achievement for a country woman). You can argue what any Taylor Swift album is doing on a country list at all, but it’s fine. Miranda Lambert’s The Weight of These Wings is her greatest title, but seems slightly high on the list as well.
A bigger, more global question when compiling a list like this is if you choose to include compilations and “Greatest Hits” records. Saving Country Music chose to exclude such releases. An album isn’t just a collection of songs, it’s a concept. Hank Williams never released an “album” because they weren’t really around in his time. Instead, he released a succession of singles that were later compiled into albums, for example.
However, if you are going to include compilations like Rolling Stone does (and so did CMT), you’d have to include country music’s first Platinum-selling album Wanted: The Outlaws. A critical and commercial achievement that saved country music in its era, not including it at all was either a pretty serious oversight or a seriously poor decision since Rolling Stone included much less popular and influential compilations. CMT put Wanted: The Outlaws at #7 on its list. Also, long-time Rolling Stone writer Chet Flippo is who wrote the legendary liner notes for the compilation, which makes it even more strange it was overlooked.
Another compilation you would want to consider is the O Brother, Where Art Thou soundtrack from 2000, which won the superfecta of awards, and spawned a bluegrass resurgence we’re still in the midst of today. In fact, Rolling Stone‘s list is light on bluegrass in general, with really important albums like Bill Monroe’s Bean Blossom (SCM #20, CMT #21), and John Hartford’s Aereo-Plain (SCM #13) curiously missing.
Meanwhile, Rolling Stone includes compilation albums from Patsy Cline, The Carter Family, Bob Wills, Maddox Brothers & Rose, Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers, and others under the “well, we need something from these artists” idea when arguably some of these titles aren’t even the best compilations of these artists’ music. They also included at #64 From Where I Stand: The Black Experience in Country Music released by the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1998. A fine collection of music, and one that underscores how the black contribution to country was not completely erased as some love to claim. But do we think this obscure compilation is really better, more popular, or more important than Wanted: The Outlaws? They could have picked a Stoney Edwards or O.B. McClinton album to include here instead of this compilation.
The other element fans will complain about is the lack of some newer independent country artists. Purgatory by Tyler Childers is definitively an omission. It is one of the most important albums of the last decade, and perhaps is even beginning to rival Sturgill Simpson’s Metamodern Sounds in Country Music that comes in at #25. Fans would have loved to see The Adobe Sessions by Cody Jinks, or Diamonds and Gasoline by The Turnpike Troubadours. But looking who compiled this list, like so many things in society today, it comes from a close-knit crop of Twitter connected individuals mired in an echo chamber who maybe have heard those names, but don’t really understand the importance of these titles.
Meanwhile, Margo Price comes in at #81 with Midwest Farmer’s Daughter, and Brandy Clark at #82 with 12 Stories. They’re both quality records, but you would have liked to see a little bit more representation of Texas artists and independent artists on this list in general if they were including albums that were critically-acclaimed, and commercially undervalued over the last decade.
Another omission is Loretta Lynn’s Grammy-winning Van Lear Rose produced by Jack White. CMT has it at #18, and SCM at #51. Dwight Yoakam’s Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc. also feels like it’s missing (#24 SCM, #24 CMT).
Again, it’s really easy to pick anyone’s “Greatest” list apart, and this Rolling Stone one gives you some fair openings to do so. But it also includes some really excellent country records, including from both older artists, and independent artists that hopefully will benefit from the exposure. After all, that is the point here—to turn you onto something you may have missed. The Rolling Stone list does a decent job fulfilling that goal, and giving us all something to discuss.
September 1, 2022 @ 9:33 am
You know, I could go off on a long, extended tangent on why this list frustrates me so much with the usual standbys (weird picks from artists that have better selections, bizarre inclusions/exclusions, the compilations issue, the fact that Rolling Stone is shoveling out these lists for clickbait traffic because someone realized they’re long past their prime and need some way to maintain relevance)…
But truth be told, it’s nowhere near as bad as the list for rap and hip-hop. Frankly, I was just pleased to see Terry Allen make it, that album goes overlooked by way too many.
September 1, 2022 @ 9:52 am
I don’t know much about hip-hop, but after seeing the incredible backlash they got for that list, as well as their last updates to the “Greatest 500 Albums of All Time,” I actually think they learned their lesson to some extent, and actually tried to present the content in a fair manner as opposed to so obviously pushing an agenda that they made a mockery of themselves.
Sure, I can see them saying, “We NEED to have a woman at #1, and the Chicks in the Top 5.” But “Coat of Many Colors” is a good album, and the Chicks do deserve some recognition.
Really, the worst part about this list is who published it, and that’s what I’m seeing the greatest criticism for. You can only post so many egregiously false stories before people tune you out. The “gunshot victims turned away due to Ivermectin overdoses” story was so completely over-the-top, it made the Duke LaCross story look harmless.
This list is not good, but this list is not bad. It’s just a list.
September 1, 2022 @ 7:59 pm
The rap list was by far their worst. Just horrific.
September 2, 2022 @ 8:37 am
Spectrum Pulse,
I just wanted to hop on and say that I really appreciate your content. You and Saving Country Music have introduced me to so many good artists that are now a regular part of my listening, merch buying, show-going repertoire. Thanks for all you and SCM do for quality music and independent artists!
October 10, 2022 @ 1:03 pm
Seriously Rolling Stone?
Where’s “I’ve Never Been To Bed With An Ugly Woman But I Sure Woke Up With A Few” (Bobby Bare) and It’s Hard To Kiss The Lips At Night That Chew Your Ass Out All Day Long” (Cherry Bombs)?
And no “Nashville Skyline”?
Pah!
September 1, 2022 @ 9:54 am
You can argue all day about what should be where (or in at all), but the overall Top 100 doesn’t appear to have anything egregious. I’d swap out Patty Loveless’ “When Fallen Angels Fly” for “Mountain Soul” and I wouldn’t have included the compilations. Biggest oversights off the top of my head are Dwight’s “Guitars…” and Vern Gosdin’s “Chiseled In Stone,” along with some of the new independent stuff. It was good to see Gary Stewart and Tom T. Hall get some Top 20 love.
September 1, 2022 @ 9:59 am
How do they not put Hank 3’s “Straight To Hell” on that list
September 1, 2022 @ 2:10 pm
Yea, what a mystery that Rolling Stone didn’t include an album with the lyric “I don’t wanna be country with some faggot looking over at me.”
Truly shocking stuff folks
September 2, 2022 @ 11:27 am
That would make sense if they didn’t rank Eminem’s “Marshall Mathers LP” on their best rap album list. As I’m sure you know that album contains a lot more of those slurs than Hank’s does.
September 5, 2022 @ 4:05 am
In fairness, MMEP is absolutely one of the greatest rap albums of all time.
September 1, 2022 @ 6:32 pm
You can say that again
September 1, 2022 @ 10:03 am
As lists go, that’s not a bad one – it would certainly give anybody new to the genre plenty of good stuff to explore.
The Rolling Stone article notes that “The question ‘what is country’ has been asked endlessly, and definitions can become frayed, contested, and deeply personal.” I always like the UK artist Hank Wangford’s reflection on that question, namely: “Beware of country purists and bigots telling what is and isn’t country to you. If you like it, it’s good – and always remember if it’s sincere it must be country.”
September 1, 2022 @ 10:04 am
Excellent! write up, Trigger. I enjoyed your commentary. I was going to skip the list, your intro gave a great taste of it
September 1, 2022 @ 10:04 am
In principle, I agree with you about respecting their opinion. And I did, despite the fact that I disagree with a lot of this top 20, until I saw the Dixie Chicks in there. Sorry. No more respect. I do have some self-respect and some limits.
September 1, 2022 @ 10:07 am
Rainbow Stew, Live at Anaheim Stadium will always be my number one; don’t really have the rest organized. “Gordon Terry on the fiddle…[applause][wait]…Merle Haggard on the fiddle…[more applause]”
September 1, 2022 @ 10:08 am
I agree 100% in regards to hoping to have seen the some more of the Mt. Rushmore of the modern independant classics, Adobe Sessions, Purgatory, Diamonds & Gasoline. They are deserving of a spot and would no doubt serve as a great gateway to exposure to independent artists. I think you hit on the valid points as to why not & they spell out in the article: “What you won’t find much of is alt-country, country rock, and Americana, as we tried to keep this list focused on music produced by the Nashville system (or in direct response to it) and marketed to the country audience.”. A missed opportunity.
September 1, 2022 @ 10:59 am
That statement is such a cop out. Lucinda Williams and “Car Wheels on a Gravel Road” are pure alt-country. Lucinda came up in Houston and Austin. Jason Isbell’s “Southeastern” is pure Americana. I don’t have a problem with either being on a “country” list. They both belong here. But what they’re really saying here is, “We’re captured like the rest of the industry by the myopic Nashville mindset, and instead of reaching out to experts who can consider the Texas scene, The Kentucky/Appalachian scene, and other influences, we’re just going to stay within our comfort zone.”
There is a reason I’m based in Austin and not Nashville. It’s because you can see things better from the outside looking in, and I know the Austin scene is currently in the shitter. In Nashville, folks think Margo Price is a superstar, because that’s all they hear. But as soon as you reach the Nashville city limits, the drop off is precipitous. No offense to Margo Price, but the incredible praise she receives is the reason I’m forced to offer perspective on her so much.
You have to get out in the field, go to festivals across the country, follow people on Twitter you disagree with as opposed to block them, and see the world through someone else’s eyes. That’s how you figure out what artists and albums are truly resonating, and where the music is headed. Not that I have it all figured out because I don’t. But knowing this, I can address those blind spots, and reach out to people with more knowledge than me. If you’re going to put together a list like this, that is what you have to do instead of acting like music outside of Nashville doesn’t matter.
Like Waylon said on Rolling Stone’s #2 Greatest Album of All Time:
You can hear the Grand Ol Opry
In Nashville, Tennessee
It’s the home of country music
On that we all agree.
But when you cross that ol’ Red River hoss
That just don’t mean a thing
Once you’re down in Texas
Bob Wills is still the king.
September 5, 2022 @ 4:07 am
Chief is one of my favorite Pop/Rock Country albums of the last 20 years…but it is a sin to rate it over Southeastern and Guitar Town (which is like my 3rd or 4th favorite Steve Earle album, but I know I’m an exception on that front).
September 2, 2022 @ 8:33 am
They did keep the list fairly focused with a few exceptions, and it is a good reminder of some albums I should go back and listen to again. Of course some changes could be made and the order of the list is curious in some places. Maybe the list needs to be longer than 100, to fit in those you mention, and then do you include influential early alt groups like Uncle Tupelo, etc?
September 1, 2022 @ 10:21 am
I believe this is a good way to put Country Music in highlights and I admire it. This is a old article by Rolling Stones that they updated and change the positions in a very differente ways. Well it’s differente point of view and I really think that what we most need nowadays is good information. So what defines “Greatest Country Albums of All Time”? The article didn’t mention what was the criteria to consider the list, if was the awards, the popularity “in the time the album was released” x “the polulaton in World”. Or was the number of awards the album received? Was the quality of songwriting? Or even was the impact of an album did in Country Music?
As all it said I would say that ranking is something can skew the information, in my vision when there’s no criteria mentioned you can’t compare a Kitty Wells album from 1956 with Miranda Lambert or Taylor Swift from 2010s, because it a different world of Streaming, shows, information, etc.
In a gereration of don’t go deep on information, don’t have a “time” to read different sources of information, and creates a truth sometimes in a simple post of Social Media, I believe everyone needs to listen and create their own “best country album” list.
Additionally, Saving Country Music maybe could create some and updated pool or talk about what should be the “50 Greatest Country Albums” in SCM vision.
September 1, 2022 @ 11:14 am
Lists are impossible to take seriously. Its all opinion. Not based on tangibles such as sales numbers, awards, chart position , airplay etc. Though you could do a list entirely on those metrics, it would end up still flawed because some albums have come to be highly regarded over time, yet in the day, werent thick with hits or awards. So IMO lists mean nothing unless you are the creator of the list. If all if us regulars on SCM put together our lists, it would be 50 radically different looking lists. Taste is individual and subjective. For example, i may have Ernest Tubb, Cowboy Copas, Webb Pierce, George Jones and Johnny Horton on my list, and your list may not include anything prior to 1992. Then there are the Americana folks and alt country people on here, who have little to no knowledge of mainstream country music from the last 60 years, but they love some Isbell or Simpson.
Ive noticed that these lists always leave out an enormous swath of the music entirely. Vocal harmony groups like The Gatlin Bros, Statler Bros, Oak Ridge Boys, etc are seldom mentioned. Also, the great vocalists in general are ignored. Don Williams, Ed Bruce, Keith Whitley, Gene Watson, Ray Price, Johnny Bush, Conway Twitty, Vern Gosdin, Lefty Frizzell etc.
Might be fun to put together a list of actual country artists or albums you never see on lists.
September 1, 2022 @ 4:09 pm
Totally agree! Well explained!
September 2, 2022 @ 4:40 am
I agree 100%. A very reasonable and sensible take. And of course, with Rolling Stone, there is always an agenda.
September 2, 2022 @ 6:43 am
Oh yes The Statler Brothers should definitely be there
September 2, 2022 @ 7:06 am
Yep, country bluegrass fan
Just off the top of my head, the Atlanta Blue album comes to mind, it introduced Jimmy Fortune, and that album put them back on the charts and made them relevant again. Since we are talking about albums specifically. Four for the Show was another good one.
September 2, 2022 @ 12:11 pm
Oh yes love those. How about this one: The Statler Brothers: Country Music Then & Now Album
September 3, 2022 @ 5:46 pm
The Statlers’ “Pictures of Moments to Remember” is a stone-cold classic.
September 1, 2022 @ 10:24 am
Agree, not the worst list and I think there was some catering for clicks, for instance the Highwomen album is good but should not be sniffing any top 100 list. I also agree the biggest omission is Purgatory, there’s no way it shouldn’t be on that list considering the impact it’s had and continues to. I’m surprised that none of the American sessions from Cash made the list as well as Jamey Johnson The Guitar Song.
September 1, 2022 @ 10:30 am
Actually, one American Recordings album and it was the second one (Unchained). I will say that I think that they got that one right in the respect that if you’re going to include one of them, I think that one’s the best.
September 1, 2022 @ 10:38 am
Dang completely missed that, guess that’s one less thing I have to complain about
September 1, 2022 @ 10:26 am
One album that is overlooked and my personal number 1 is Chris Ryden’s album Notebooks. Another highly regarded album connected with him is Here To Jackson by Harris and Ryden. My two favorites in my collection.
September 1, 2022 @ 10:26 am
They have a Taylor Swift album at #10.
Rolling Stone continues to be a joke.
September 1, 2022 @ 10:55 am
I’m afraid you are off on this one. It’s true that country has driven women like her away so arguably that influence should be lower. Nonetheless while she was country she was the most important artist of her generation and surpassed the influence of many from previous generations. Just ask people who ran guitar stores in that time period. She was the key figure driving new interest in playing guitar and music in general for that decade.
September 1, 2022 @ 12:15 pm
The list isn’t the top 100 influential singers ever. It is the top 100 greatest albums.
Fearless is nowhere near the top 10,000 albums.
September 1, 2022 @ 1:22 pm
To add to the sentiment, she rose to the top as a 15 year old who wrote much of her own music, played her own guitar and sang her own songs (hmm, second Aaron Watson allegory I’ve had in two days….). Regardless of whether the artist is pleasing to my ear, on those merits I can respect any artist in any genre. She was the the most important artist in the mainstream country genre for several years before transcending into pop.
September 2, 2022 @ 5:21 am
Again that has nothing to do with making a great album.
Waylon’s album is #2 because it is a masterpiece not because he was the Balladeer on the Dukes of Hazzard or was the driving force behind the Outlaw movement.
And by those metrics, you would rank Swift over George Strait and a bunch of other legends. So she wrote her own teenage slop? I prefer singers that pick great songs over singing their poor handwritten material.
September 2, 2022 @ 7:31 am
I am curious as to why you think Country music drove Swift away. She quickly became a country music star, won numerous country music awards, sold millions of albums, and had a large following of country music fans who were very disappointed she switched genres. By all accounts she highly successful and accepted by country music. Was she driven away, or did she like many teenagers coming of age, just mature and decide she was interested in going in another direction?
September 2, 2022 @ 9:21 am
Big Machine owner Scott Borchetta did everything he could to keep Taylor Swift in country. She was the one that decided to break free because she felt like it was dishonest to continue to call herself country when her music was clearly pop. I have a lot of respect for Taylor Swift for doing that. There are some other artists currently in country who should follow her example.
September 2, 2022 @ 9:32 am
Exactly. She was not driven away, she herself decided she wanted to go in a different direction. And, she was arguably the biggest star in country music when she decided to do so.
September 3, 2022 @ 10:56 am
By that rationale, Keith Urban should leave country music and consider himself a pop artist. However, if he did that everything he does for the Country Music Hall of Fame year after year might well end, too. So you might not like his music but he most definitely supports country music with this endeavor.
September 3, 2022 @ 5:30 pm
Another thing Taylor Swift did right before she exited country music was make a $4 million donation to the Country Music Hall of Fame. It was basically a “Thank You” gift to country music for starting her career. Again, I have a lot of respect for her for that.
The Country Music Hall of Fame will be fine without Keith Urban, but I do respect the work he does for the Hall of Fame too.
September 5, 2022 @ 4:11 am
Speak Now was definitely the pick over Fearless, though.
It’s honestly aged quite well, for what it is.
I’ve also found the Antonoff albums far more interesting lyrically than the Max Martin ones ever allowed her to be.
September 1, 2022 @ 10:43 am
Patsy Cline’s Showcase album is NOT a compilation, it is one of the 3 major albums released in her lifetime, BTW.
September 1, 2022 @ 10:49 am
Considering how absolutely awful their other “top 100” lists are I was really pleasantly surprised by this.
My main quibble is that if you are going to include those “greatest hit” compilation records then I think Hank really has to be #1 and Jimmy Rodgers has to rank at least as high as the Carter family if not higher. These are, after all, the songs that set the template for all of country music and where key influences for Bob Dylan and the “Great American Songbook.” But at least with they do rank the people who have legitimate claim to have surpassed the people who set the template with a few quibbles over things in the top 10 that I don’t think belong there. I mean, I think they are probably right about how important Taylor Swift, Shania Twain, Lucindia Williams, and The Chicks are as artists and may still be to country in the long term. But as of now country has driven women like them away so it’s a bit odd to rank them higher than something like “At Folsom Prison” which continues to increase in influence.
September 1, 2022 @ 11:02 am
All these lists are necessarily somewhat arbitrary or even random.
I’ll throw in just a couple of criticisms of Rolling Stone’s list:
(1) Contemporary “Greatest Hits” albums are one thing. But Including compilation albums that were assmbled many years after the recordings were made–or even after the subject artists have died–strikes me as invalid.
(2) “5 | The Chicks | Fly | 1999”–Hey, Rolling Stone, Cut the crap. The album “Fly” was made by the DIXIE Chicks. If they want to call themselves something else now, fine. But don’t go re-writing history to suit whatever your current P.C. strictures dictate.
September 1, 2022 @ 11:03 am
Not having Hank Sr in the top 5 is just wrong.
September 1, 2022 @ 12:16 pm
Hank wasn’t an album guy.
September 1, 2022 @ 11:09 am
I feel about this list the way I typically feel about their best country albums of the year lists. Strange bedfellows. For example, Taylor Swift’s Fearless stuck between Johnny Cash’s At Folsom Prison and and Randy Travis’s Storms of Life (Fearless is actually the album I know best by TS, as it was on the hard disk of of one of the family cars and so I heard it a fair amount. I thought of it as a good singer/songwriter bubblegum rock album). There are some inspired picks in there, like Infamous Angel by Iris Dement and Every Time You Say Good Bye by Alison Krauss and Union Station.
So Hank Williams appears once and it’s for Moanin’ The Blues, which apparently was an actually album release from 1952 (Allmusic lists it as such)? And that seems to be why his 40 Greatest Hits release from ’78 isn’t on here, although they make reference to it in the write-up for Moanin’ The Blues.
September 1, 2022 @ 11:09 am
Meh. It’s not that bad. The biggest issue I have is putting “Fearless” so high. Yes, in impacted the INDUSTRY. Just don’t think it impacted country MUSIC much.
Honestly, I just keep coming back here to check for the rant I hope is coming about the Morris/Aldean dustup
September 1, 2022 @ 12:44 pm
“The biggest issue I have is putting “Fearless” so high. Yes, in impacted the INDUSTRY. Just don’t think it impacted country MUSIC much.”
Good point.
My stance on Jason Aldean’s wife’s Instagram account is that Jason Aldean’s wife’s Instagram account has nothing to do with country music. Taylor Swift has more to do with country music than it does. Simultaneous to all that happening, I was up to my elbows in trying to find Luke Bell, and then reporting on his death. I can’t express how trivial and petty all of that stuff seemed in comparison. We’re only here for a finite time, and throwing grenades back and forth on social media is how we’re going to spend it?
I may have something on it eventually, but it will be a cool-minded, dispassionate assessment how social media and cultural decay is robbing us of civility and wisdom.
September 1, 2022 @ 12:48 pm
I get it. Actually that was exactly what I wanted you to say, as only you can say it. My casual country music listening friends have been so up in arms over it, but it means nothing in the grand scheme of things.
I don’t comment a lot here anymore. But I always enjoy your commentary and I truly appreciate the work you put into highlighting real country music and real stories.
Just cause we don’t always say we appreciate you, doesn’t mean we don’t.
September 1, 2022 @ 12:54 pm
Thanks CCB.
September 2, 2022 @ 11:34 am
Morris is anti-Country values.
There. Issue dealt with.
September 4, 2022 @ 7:25 am
But marrying your mistress is not?
September 1, 2022 @ 11:11 am
I loved seeing Gary Stewart and Tom T. Hall in the top 20.
September 1, 2022 @ 11:15 am
Agreed, the list is not so bad. But Swift? Please.
I especially miss Townes Van Zandt, Lyle Lovett, and Bobby Bare. I would also like to have Chip Taylor on the list, Doug Sahm, Lone Justice, maybe Kevin Welch, Kelly Willis …
September 1, 2022 @ 11:48 am
I’m not a huge fan of these types of lists because there are always going to be the legacy albums that have to be at the top. Somewhat like the argument over “greatest NBA player” or “greatest movie of all time,” there seem to be default answers that you have to give, which ultimately makes the list less an exercise in identifying the truly greatest anything and more a signal of veneration for long-established norms.
September 2, 2022 @ 4:43 am
That Lone Justice debut album is a classic. I still listen to it.
September 1, 2022 @ 12:45 pm
Yes, it’s just a list. Nothing more, nothing less.
September 1, 2022 @ 1:53 pm
Being that it’s RS, the answer to your “why Fly?” question is Rick Rubin.
Thanks for posting the list so that I didn’t have to give them a click though. Always good to see things haven’t changed over there. Miranda Lambert and TayTay albums definitely top Southeastern and Metamodern, and Meg White was a better drummer than Travis Barker. All is still right in the world of the “allies”.
September 1, 2022 @ 2:45 pm
Don’t Close Your Eyes.
September 1, 2022 @ 3:08 pm
I prefer to sleep with one eye open. We got them gators nearby
September 1, 2022 @ 6:42 pm
Remember the song “Some Old Side Road”?
September 1, 2022 @ 3:07 pm
Compare this to the weekly Billboard charts…. That boy with the mullet occupies the Top 10 leaving no room for the new releases…
September 1, 2022 @ 3:12 pm
Example: Jon Pardi’s new album will likely only reach #3 because Morgan’s old album is stuck at #1 (same goes to Combs)
September 1, 2022 @ 6:32 pm
I’m not so sure about that. I could see Jon Pardi’s album spending one week at #1. Surely it can sell more albums than Combs and Wallen for ONE WEEK. I’m just happy to see “Last Night Lonely” becoming a hit, as it just reached #1 on Airplay, and is now in the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100… as it’s always nice to see a traditional country song become a crossover hit, as it shows that real country music
still has some mass appeal.
September 1, 2022 @ 7:41 pm
Morgan has been #1 on the country album chart for some time. Not even Thomas Rhett or Maren Morris were able to go #1 this year with their newest releases because the Dangerous Album stayed at #1.
I think Pardi can take over Combs’ Growing Up album and maybe Zach’s American Heartbreak. So a solid #2 seems more likely.
I think Wallens album routinely brings in 40k units each week. I’m guessing Pardi’s will only bring in around 20k
September 1, 2022 @ 8:01 pm
I’m hoping this album gives Pardi at least 5-6 hit singles.
September 1, 2022 @ 3:33 pm
Personally, I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that anything “controversial” about this list isn’t intentional, done out of sheer desperation for clicks. One of which they won’t get from me.
September 1, 2022 @ 4:14 pm
Picking apart and building “greatest” lists is a time-honored tradition. Would be interesting to hear a podcast pick apart the Rolling Stones list in the style of “Unspooled” (a film podcast that picked apart the American Film Institute Top 100 list).
September 1, 2022 @ 4:42 pm
Don’t agree with all of it (of course), but at least it doesn’t seem as lazy as some lists I’ve seen. For instance, they didn’t just put Tammy Wynette’s Stand By Your Man just because of the title song. Woulda been nice if they had also dug a little deeper in selecting a Loretta album. And especially re Johnny Paycheck.
Re Waylon, I agree with Dreaming My Dreams over Honky Tonk Heroes. Peak Waylon (ie Waylon perfecting his sound) is the best Waylon.
As a big Connie Smith fan, I’m not sure what alternative pick I would have made – a lot of her albums are sloppily assembled. I will say her Xmas album is stellar.
September 1, 2022 @ 6:27 pm
I agree, Julius.
September 1, 2022 @ 5:54 pm
I dont agree with having compilation albums in there. It should be original albums. Now soundtracks like oh brother are fine. I find some peoples views odd. They say swift shouldn’t have albums there but she was probably the biggest country star of her time commercially anyway. Regardless of personal opinion of her, that means a lot. I’m also not as big on country albums far as them being themed as say rock albums so the hundred greatest rock albums would mean something more to me. I know there are themed country albums but most are just a collection of songs that could as well be any other collection of that artists songs. Far as country goes, I’m more into the artist and the individual songs and very few of the top albums on this list have songs that I would rate as some of the greatest but that’s just me.
September 1, 2022 @ 6:23 pm
Pasty, Elmer’s Glue white, upper middle-class, urban degenerates, publishing a list of music, birthed from a culture they hate and know nothing about, for other pasty, Elmer’s Glue white, upper middle-class, urban degenerates to ironically enjoy, and pretend to care about.
September 1, 2022 @ 7:55 pm
You’re an extremist threat to country music democracy.
September 2, 2022 @ 10:47 am
Oh how I wish that were true.
September 3, 2022 @ 7:53 pm
Hashtag MeToo
September 1, 2022 @ 9:28 pm
The pasty checklist?:
Dolly over Waylon and Willie….check.
The top 20 = 50% female quota…check.
The Dixie Chicks in the top 5…check.
Shania & Taylor in the Top 10…check.
If they didn’t love masks so much, they could have gone all in and ticked ALL them boxes by making the top 5: Lavender County, Mickey Guyton, Margo Price, Orville Peck, and Breland. In a way I’d actually be impressed if they did.
September 2, 2022 @ 6:16 am
That’s a legit list, but in my opinion you should add the token inclusion of Ray Charles. That was clearly a very pasty decision.
September 2, 2022 @ 8:39 pm
What’s your top 10 country albums of all-time?
September 3, 2022 @ 8:06 am
Hello Mr. Dacca,
I have no idea; I listen to songs.
September 3, 2022 @ 3:57 pm
I find that a bit hard to believe, but you do you. What would be a quick and dirty top 10 country songs of all-time for you? Doesn’t have to be definitive, you can just list favorites.
September 4, 2022 @ 6:49 pm
Dacca,
I found your request impossible. But here’s some I love.
‘Smokey Mountain Memories’
‘Color of The Blues’
‘Good Ol Boys Like Me’
‘Too Cold At Home’
‘Drinking Thing’
‘A-11’
‘I Wonder Do you Think of Me’
‘Brand New Mister Me’
‘Living Proof’
‘Old Dogs, Children, and Watermelon Wine’
‘Always Wanting You’
‘Home’
‘What A Way To Live’
‘Once You’ve Had The Best’
‘Dreams Of A Dreamer’
‘Don’t Take Her She’s All I Got’
‘I’d Rather Love You’
‘Forbidden Wine’
‘Walk Out Backwards’
‘I Won’t Mention It Again’
‘Homecoming’
‘Hank Western’
‘City Lights’
‘I’m Always On A Mountain When I Fall’
‘Send Me Down To Tucson’
‘Nothing Sure Looked Good On You’
‘Two Dollar Toy’
‘In The Shadows Of My Mind’
‘Heaven In My Woman’s Eyes’
‘Do You Believe Me Now’
‘Honky Tonk Stardust Cowboy’
‘I Hate You’
‘She Needs Someone To Hold Her When She Cries’
‘Nothing’s News’
September 5, 2022 @ 6:30 am
That’s a great list! A nice mix of different eras and artists, presuming I’m identifying some of the songs correctly, like “Home” (Joe Diffie, right?) and “Living Proof” (Hank Jr. or Ricky Van Shelton?).
September 5, 2022 @ 7:25 am
Yes, Joe Diffie.
I was referring to the Hank Jr. song. RVS’s ‘Living Proof’ is a good song, but it’s probably not in my top-10 RVS songs.
September 1, 2022 @ 6:25 pm
I’m surprised Lavender Country’s 1973 debut album ‘Lavender Country’ wasn’t on the list. Not because it’s good (it’s not that good aside from a few well-written tracks), but it is the first openly gay country music album, and I figured it would be another way Rolling Stone could “go woke”.
September 1, 2022 @ 6:37 pm
Thanks for the laugh. Well played, sir.
September 1, 2022 @ 8:04 pm
That is what I first expected when I saw this list, and as some have pointed out about their recent hip-hop list, that’s where Rolling Stone has gone recently. That is why despite my quibbles here and there, I was somewhat surprised that this list mostly makes sense with only some outliers. It’s surprisingly reasonable for a generally unreasonable moment in history, and for Rolling Stone.
September 1, 2022 @ 7:35 pm
I’ll take it as a highlight of many long forgotten albums while also paying tribute to those who have maintained public consciousness.
I’m going to have to spend a lot of time exploring these albums. All one needs to do is look up how many albums David Allen Coe created to realize just how overwhelming it is trying to sift through the 1900s to find those gems that stood the test of time.
I want to personally affirm The Dixie Chicks’ Fly album being placed in the top 5.
As a 13 or so year old, I was at an age where you’re going with the flow. Until 2 years ago, I had not listened to anything besides a few of their songs that had lingered in my music collection.
In the last 5 years I come to realize they were right about the War in Iraq. Then YouTube pushed their ~2006 documentary on me. Hearing her comments… they were made in a semi-playful tone. Nothing like the aggressiveness you hear today from public figures. The Iraq mission was so weakly justified that they couldn’t even afford a casual dissent from a Dixie Chick for fear of America smelling the fraud. So ‘they’ carpet bombed her. Honestly I overlook the nuttiness of Natalie today as a sad result of the extreme and unjustified mental damage they did to her. Go back and listen to what she said and listen to her tone.
But that’s all secondary. Find a good set of speakers or head phones. Press play on the Fly album and close your eyes. Take it in.
Country music isn’t about boots or trucks or any of that. It’s about portrayal of raw human emotion. The human experience. Life. The type that cracks open your hard defensive shells, lets those emotions come gushing out and leaves you with healing or at least feeling like you’re not alone.
Fly does just that. Having not heard any of this music for 15 years, by Cold Day in July, tears were streaming down my face. That’s when you know you have something special.
In any way I could judge music, Fly found it’s place in my top albums.
As for Dixie Chicks legacy in general, listen to their first album especially You Were Mine. That’s some incredibly deep and profound work especially for a first album.
I have not scrolled through the entire 100 yet. My only hope is Dwight Yoakam was given his due recognition.
Thanks for your analysis!
September 1, 2022 @ 9:30 pm
Boring, subjective, and mostly inaccurate list of albums.
In other news, why no article on SCM about FL GA Line’s LAST SHOW EVER!!!!!
lol
September 1, 2022 @ 10:40 pm
Any list without Hank 3’s masterpiece Straight To Hell in the top 10 is a joke. That record is still the most important country album of the 21st century. It essentially spawned every great country band playing today. I haven’t heard anything in the last 30 years that even comes close to its impact.
September 2, 2022 @ 5:25 am
Any list without Marty Robbins’ landmark Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs album in the top 10 is illegitimate.
But hey, we got Shania and Swift instead. And Trigger thinks this list is reasonable.
September 2, 2022 @ 6:50 am
I was surprisingly impressed my many of the albums included on the list, but I thought even Rolling Stone would have appreciated The Pilgrim.
September 2, 2022 @ 7:19 am
This looks like they took an established list of the top country albums and then stuffed in some woke feel good albums at various points to impress their readership. Hell, they probably stole Trigger’s list as the base point.
Just my opinion, but any top country album list that doesn’t have Hank Williams Sr. or Jr. at the top of it is somewhere is worthless. You can throw III in there somewhere too.
September 2, 2022 @ 8:12 am
Shania Twain?
Um, yeah, okay.
September 2, 2022 @ 8:18 am
I thoroughly enjoyed the list. I understand gripes with it, I have plenty of my own, but as the beginning of this article states, that is not really the point. I love country and know a whole lot about it, but there is always more to learn and people to revisit. Lists like these not only turn you on to artists and albums you may have missed or need a refresher on, but they also let you know how other people perceive the genre and its history.
It might not be perfect but it seemed like it hit most of the right notes throughout and they have a plenty respectable list.
I would really love to see an updated on from you, Trigger.
September 2, 2022 @ 9:09 am
The fact that the Highwomen’s album was on here, but not the Highwayman album by the Highwaymen shows what a joke this publication is. Still nice to see the oft-forgotten Gary Stewart in the Top 20, honestly surprised to see him on the list at all.
September 4, 2022 @ 7:36 pm
@Gary. That’s pretty funny. The “Highwayman” album was a landmark in introducing the four artists as a mystical or ethereal group, and they made the title song come alive in a way that the original Glen Campbell solo version could not.
“Highwomen” was fun to listen to–and the gals are very good–but it came off more as an homage–or even a parody–than a song.
September 2, 2022 @ 11:07 am
No one will ever agree with such a list. There are some obvious omissions on any objective level and some inclusions are somewhat surprising, However, there are many great albums on the list. It is not the worst list I have seen but the publication lost me and my respect many years ago.
September 2, 2022 @ 1:32 pm
To touch on Trigger’s point of “filling in the gaps,” Hazel & Alive made it into my current rotation. Having never heard of them, and currently digging into old AF bluegrass, that artist is a welcome addition.
September 2, 2022 @ 8:41 pm
One look at the list and you know the writers at Rolling Stone, a useless rag, have very little knowledge of country music. It’s not surprising, given how far RS has fallen from its glory days. They should have hired Trig to write this list.
September 3, 2022 @ 6:33 am
2013 Trigger, yes.
2022 Trigger would have come up with a similar list.
September 3, 2022 @ 7:49 am
My 2022 list would/will be dissimilar to this list in many ways. What it would be similar to is my 2013 list with a few tweaks.
September 3, 2022 @ 5:41 am
Surprised by what they picked. As in a lot of cases I saw lesser albums when there was stronger stuff by the same artist. Also, it seems clear they were trying to give most artists only one shot maybe two at most on the list. Even if they had three or four albums that should be there.
Also, Country Music is a tough place to pick greatest albums as in a lot of cases the artists don’t really set out to make cohesive albums in the way the Rock world (post Beatles and Dylan) did.
That really didn’t happen until the Outlaw movement and I would argue that even then it wasn’t something people inside the Nashville system aspired to. Instead, the producers and artists were looking for a hit or two and then they surrounded it with filler cause one hit could sell a truckload of CDs.
George Strait is great. George Strait is not an album artist.
On my list Red Headed Stranger would have been 1, Garth Brooks would have been much higher (I was a teen when he was at the height of his popularity) and there probably would have been three more albums from Steve Earle and Dwight Yoakam.
I think the stuff Margo Price puts out now is terrible but I can’t argue that her first album is a stone cold classic.
But if the goal was to highlight a bunch of different artists and give casual listeners something new to check out then I think this list is fine.
September 3, 2022 @ 7:47 am
When putting together a list like this you can fall into the trap of focusing more on artists instead of albums—wanting to make sure you highlight so and so, and in a certain position. Then you line up an album for whatever slot you’ve chosen. There are a few names on this list where the slot is right for the artist, but the album is wrong.
September 7, 2022 @ 7:50 pm
What SE album would you have put? For me, it would have been El Corazon, but that Townes tribute was brilliant and could have killed two birds with one stone.
September 3, 2022 @ 7:06 am
“Top Music Lists of All Time” are now completely out of Rolling Stone Magazine’s wheelhouse, especially Country Music. Back in the day, the only Country music Rolling Stone Magazine would ever write about would be Ryan Adams because they considered him alt-country.
These lists are now built using woke-ism as the foundation and nothing more. Not that most of the artists don’t deserve to be respected but it isn’t genuine. If RSM needed a token to represent the Top 20, I would have rather seen Charlie Pride on the list instead of Ray Charles. Ray was known for his R&B, Soul, and little Rock N’ Roll — Charlie Pride was pure country.
Any idea, thought, or publication from Big Media can’t be trusted if it’s newer than 2015.
September 3, 2022 @ 8:13 am
Marty Robbins Gunfighter Ballads at 85??? Give me a break, thats a top 10 maybe top 5 country album
September 3, 2022 @ 10:47 am
20. Turnpike Troubadours – s/t
19. Pinto Bennett and the Famous Motel Cowboys – Ravages of Time
18. Gram Parsons – GP
17. Dwight Yoakam – Guitars, Cadillacs
16. George Strait – Strait from the Heart
15. Gary Stewart – Out of Hand
14. Sons of The Pioneers – Sunset on The Range
13. Willie Nelson – Country Willie
12. Townes Van Zandt – Rear View Mirror
11. Tanya Tucker – Strong Enough to Bend
10. Loretta Lynn – You Ain’t Woman Enough
9. Waylon Jennings – This Time
8. Merle Haggard – Big City
7. George Jones – Trouble in Mind
6. Lefty Frizzell – Columbia Sessions
5. Marty Robbins – Gunfighter Ballads
4. Merle Haggard – Going Where The Lonely Go
3. Patsy Cline – Patsy Cline
2. Willie Nelson – Red Headed Stranger
1. Hank Sr. – pick an anthology
September 3, 2022 @ 11:35 am
Here’s a list of just male albums.
Merle Travis, Folk Songs of the Hills
Jimmy Bryant, Country Cabin Jazz
Ernest Tubb, Country Dance Time
Marty Robbins, Gunfighter Ballads
Willie Nelson, And Then I Wrote
Merle Haggard, Strangers
Merle Haggard, Going Where the Lonely Go
David Allan Coe, Tattoo
Johnny Cash, Live from Folsom Prison
Waylon Jennings, Honky Tonk Heroes
Gary Stewart, Out of Hand
Marty Stuart, Souls’ Chapel
John Prine, Sweet Revenge
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Will the Circle Be Unbroken
Dwight Yoakam, This Time
Randy Travis, Always & Forever
Wayne Hancock, A-Town Blues
Sam Outlaw, Angeleno
Zephaniah OHora, This Highway
Mike & The Moonpies, Cheap Silver
Tyler Childers, Purgatory
Heavy hitters are missing because I’m thinking just albums as albums. There’s an ocean of great singles, of course. Albums were a thing. Now there are just “playlists” of songs.
September 3, 2022 @ 3:37 pm
One of the main reasons I like SCM is that Trigger bends over backwards to be fair. But I think he bent over backwards way too far on this one. Shania Twain in the top 10 country albums of all time? Come on.
September 3, 2022 @ 4:24 pm
If I am guilty of anything here, it is that I dreaded what I was going to find with this list and my expectations were so low because of how bad Rolling Stone has become and how they so demonstrably screwed up their recent “Top 100 Hip-Hop Albums” list, that when I actually saw it, I was pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t terrible. Like I said in the article, you can pick one name and go crazy over it (Shania, Taylor Swift, The Chicks). But look at who else is in the Top 20 that we wouldn’t expect: Tom T. Hall, Gary Stewart, Waylon Jennings. I’m not saying it is a good list by any stretch. I have multiple issues with it. But I think it is a fine list, and I think it shows that Rolling Stones learned from their mistakes from the hip-hop one.
And by the way, we may want to pull our hair out over Shania being in the Top 10, but get ready for her to be inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in the next few years. It’s going to happen. I don’t have a problem with her being on here, I just would have put “The Woman In Me” instead of “Come On Over,” and probably put it much higher on the list. That album is actually country.
September 3, 2022 @ 6:06 pm
Sorry, have to disagree with you on this one. It seems to me the list ought to be judged on its merits, period, rather than on a perception that it could have been worse, and on the surprise that there are actually some decent names on it. You’re not saying it’s a good list, but you are saying it’s a fine one. I assume fine in this case means okay. If the standards with Rolling Stone’s lists are so low, maybe it’s best to just to ignore them.
September 3, 2022 @ 7:23 pm
Doug,
I’m not saying that I judged the list based on my perceptions. I try to be as judicious and objective as I can be about everything. All I’m saying is that I really have no desire to “bend over backwards” for Rolling Stone. I have been extremely vocal about my disdain for that outlet, and even laid out some specific with links in this article. But even with that, I was impressed how they didn’t completely screw this up. If you look at it, it’s really not that far off from my own list in 2013. Yes there are differences, but generally speaking they (mostly) stuck to the established precedent on this matter.
September 3, 2022 @ 8:16 pm
Using that line of thought means you are waging a war of attrition and losing badly.
It is a terrible list. 2011 Trigger would have ripped it to shreds. Not say it could have been worse.
September 3, 2022 @ 8:29 pm
Ah, so now you’re having to downgrade from 2013 Trigger, to 2011 Trigger. And in this case, I would actually agree, because 2011 Trigger was kind of a dumbass who was still getting his feet beneath him with this thing, and just ripped shit to feel self important and draw attention to himself. 2013 Trigger was much more wise and effective with his actions, and 2022 Trigger is hopefully even more in that direction.
September 4, 2022 @ 6:26 am
It is OK, Trigger. All revolutionaries grow softer in old age. It is a historical maxim.
I liked 2011 Trigger. He is what drew me to this site in the fight for country music. Now we are seeing comments deleted like this is Country Universe. But it is still the best country music site around bar none.
September 4, 2022 @ 7:35 am
I asked people FOUR TIMES to stop leaving political comments on the Tyler Childers article, and said very specifically that if you left more political comments, they were getting deleted. Not to mention that you and others have been requested and warned HUNDREDS of times to not engage in that behavior. And still, you came in and left two comments, and now are complaining they got deleted. And now it’s YOUR comments, CountryKnight, that got the entire Tyler Childers comments section shut down. Not Honky’s, not anyone else’s. It was yours. You and others have given me absolutely no choice but to delete comments because your actions are actively hemorrhaging readers from my site, and there will be no Saving Country Music left if I don’t take action. It is absolutely beyond the pale that you and others can’t keep from veering the discussion into divisive political subjects that have absolutely nothing to do with the topic at hand.
September 4, 2022 @ 9:54 pm
Weird that you bring my name up for no reason. You can probably count on one hand, the number of times in a decade that I’ve been the instigator.
You should stop repeating that bullcrap line about hemorrhaging readers. If you were losing readers, they wouldn’t be here all the time complaining about other peoples’ comments. Give it a rest and let people talk. Quit whining about it all the time. We are your customers, and you should be thankful we’re here.
September 5, 2022 @ 4:04 pm
To quote my man Shaggy…IT WASN’T ME!
That is all.
September 7, 2022 @ 9:20 am
CLS,
Shaggy said “Zoinks!”
September 3, 2022 @ 4:29 pm
There is no way Miranda Lambert deserves to be on the top 20 of that list. What a joke RS is. ????
September 3, 2022 @ 8:21 pm
Besides many great suggestions already in the comments, I’d include two from the same year: “My Life” by Ronnie Milsap, and “Red On a Rose” By Alan Jackson.
Also, while I agree that Seven Year Ache is Rosanne’s best, I’m surprised that the more critic-friendly “King’s Record Shop” isn’t there instead
September 5, 2022 @ 6:27 pm
Among other things, it was nice that they included TRIO, although perhaps a little low at #47, given the three uber-legendary women involved (Dolly Parton; Linda Ronstadt; Emmylou Harris).
Weird as it may be to say this, TRIO wasn’t exactly warmly greeted by the Nashville establishment of its time (1986-87), because the three of them made it well outside the purview of the Music Row system (is L.A. as far outside as you can go from that?, he asked rhetorically), and because its very traditionalist mountain music stylings were in such sharp contrast to the arguably blatant pop crossover mentality of the time. Of course, they kind of changed their minds when it went on to sell somewhere around 2.5 million copies, and hit #1 on Billboard’s C&W Album Chart, and #6 on its Top 200 Album Chart.
This is probably a very bold statement to make, but I kind of doubt that Miranda Lambert, Ashley Monroe, and Angaleena Presley would have ever had the nerve to become The Pistol Annies had Dolly, Linda, and Emmylou, who had known each other since the early 1970’s, not had the temerity and the unmitigated gall to do the female supergroup thing first.
September 6, 2022 @ 5:42 am
100% co-sign this post, but the only thing that would have made “Trio” project – an even bigger success – would have been the proposed arena tour – which Emmy comically nicknamed, “The Twisted Sisters Live”.
The idea being that their mutual & many hits would have taken a back seat – to performances of the entire “Trio” album, along with the other tracks, the three had previously recorded – for each other’s indivdual album projects (“Mr. Sandman” – “Even Cowgirls Get the Blues” – “I Never Will Marry”).
The plan was derailed by Dolly’s muliti-million dollar deal with ABC – for a variety show – which began in the fall of 1987.
And – it was more-often-than-not Dolly’s lucrative – if not always artistically benefical – non-musical projects – that kept that tour from ever happening – and – as the year’s passed – these various “side gigs” delayed and then – nearly killed – the entire production of the follow-up “Trio II” project – as well as Dolly’s friendship with Linda – a fracture that has only recently healed.
That said – these ladies still made some fantastic music – together – and it deserves to rate much higher – than 47th place.
September 6, 2022 @ 6:48 am
I think Emmy may have cracked wise when she made that “Twisted Sisters” arena comment because, while it might have been a fun idea, she likely knew that Linda wouldn’t go for it because Linda was not a fan of performing in arenas.
And the main reason that TRIO II almost didn’t come together at all was because Linda and Dolly were just utterly different in their approaches, with Dolly often having so many irons in the fire all at once, and Linda taking a lot of time (arguably far too much) in making an album and being a perfectionist about it (“perfectionist” being the arts/entertainment euphemism for someone who is a pain in the ass). The two did mend their friendship in time to actually get down to the business of putting TRIO II out, and all three talked about doing a third album. But that went out the window in 2013, when Linda announced that her voice had been stilled by what she initially thought was Parkinson’s, then re-diagnosed in late 2019 as Progressive Supranuclear Palsy.
In any case, the three of them set a very high bar with that initial collaboration, and it may have been set so high that it might make it impossible for anybody else to even touch it, at least in the present time (IMHO).
September 7, 2022 @ 2:32 pm
Highest Alan Jackson album at 78…..list is a joke.
September 8, 2022 @ 12:14 pm
I was just pleasantly surprised Kris Kristofferson made the list as he often gets overlooked. However, I probably would have put him in the Top 15, maybe even Top 10 and likely would have swapped the S/T for Silver-Tongued Devil.
September 21, 2022 @ 9:50 pm
Way late to the party but I found the pick of Merle’s 190 Proof as his top 10 album to be interesting. Not angry, but found that surprising as I thought Back to the Barrooms or Big City were slightly more highly regarded out of that holy trilogy (and I see people in comments are like me and put Going Where the Lonely Go in there to make it a quartet).
In any event I was pleasantly surprised they picked a non 60s Merle album for his top spot. So many people miss out on the bulk of his catalogue (I did for 15 years) by just reading that you should listen to his 60s/early 70s classics and then not exploring further. He was shockingly great through the 80s, particularly when Freddy Powers was co-writing songs with Clint Strong on guitar. I’d put 83-87 on par with 79-82 and my personal crusade is to have Chill Factor recognized as one of his top 5-10 albums.
October 3, 2022 @ 11:01 am
Shame rosanne cash didn’t marry and divorce more often Sure gave us good music. Seven year ache, indeed!