Country music

[Tom Storer]

Any country music fans out there? Besides Squaredancecallingsteve, of course, whom I'm expecting to show up soon!

I'm wondering if anyone can recommend a good Merle Haggard greatest-hits collection.

[jaka]

Discreetly monitoring this thread. Thanks Tom.

[Brian Olewnick]

Does Senegal count?

[bluenoter]

Old-timey (a quainter cousin of bluegrass), yes. Country, no--not to speak of.

[Tom Storer]

Nah, Senegal doesn't count.

I like old-time music, too, Bluenoter. A friend of mine introduced me to Doc Watson many years ago and I cut a modest swathe through his output, Alan Lomax material and so on. But now I'm interested in exploring country music. I've been listening to a Merle Haggard live set and enjoying it quite a bit, so that was my starting point for this thread. Come on, all you closet country music fans, stand up and be counted!

[Gary Sisco]

There are many Merle Haggard greatest hits-type CDs out there, Tom. Thing to do is go by the songlists and find the one that has the most of your faves on it. I'm not surprised you like the live recording. The Strangers are a top notch band. I've heard Merle & The Strangers live, twice. Both times were great.

[Enforcer]

I played in a band that did mostly country music a few years ago, but I really only knew the music we played. I like some of it quite a bit. I'm not qualified to hand out recommended listening, though.

[antboy]

I doubt if this really qualifies as "country music" or not but I listen to heaps of a singer/guitarist/songwriter named Will Oldham ( who plays under his own name, Palace Music, Bonny Prince Billy etc...)
one of his more recent albums:

BONNIE "PRINCE" BILLY
sings GREATEST PALACE MUSIC

http://www.dragcity.com/catalog.html

kinda rocky but I think he used heaps of country studio musos for this one,

Highly reccomended!

( but if you asked me I'd probably say I hate country music!!

[Coda]

I used to love the Nitty Gritty Dirt band. Will the circle be unbroken?

[John L]

I like a lot of country music.

For some reason, country music has always been a mine field for greatest hits compilations. Aside from the usual problem of each label claiming that its recordings of a particular artist are his "greatest hits," country artists tend to re-record their hits on previous labels with new labels. Budget labels put out concert recordings as "greatest hits." So there are a lot of greatest hits country compilations that have all the songs you want. But when you put the disc on, it might be some poorly-recorded and uninspired concert made a couple of years ago.

For Merle Haggard, I bought a 2-disc greatest hits set that turned out, to my surprise, to be recently re-recorded material. But it was actually quite good, recorded in the studio and made with genuine commitment. I ended up picking up most of the original albums to get the original versions. As I recall, a two or three disc retrospective of Haggard came out this year or last year that looked like a compilation of the original material. Somebody else can clarify this.

[Gentle Giant]

Since the expanded reissue of the Byrds' Sweetheart of the Rodeo came out, I've been much more interested in country, but mainly from a country rock perspective. I really like Mike Nesmith's solo work, and John Prine and folks of that ilk. I also like bluegrass and the Bela Fleck/Mark O'Connor/Dave Grisman/Jerry Douglas/Sam Bush contingent. And Johnny Cash, of course. I also am impressed with Vince Gill's voice, but don't like much of what I've heard of his own music.

I haven't heard any of the Hee Haw contemporaries since I was a kid, but I suppose it would be fun to hear Yesterday When I Was Young, Behind Closed Doors, etc.

[Tom Storer]

Well, greatest hits aren't going anywhere. I went online shopping and picked an album called "Roots Volume 1," not a compilation but a relatively recent album of Merle playing music that influenced him. The reviews sounded good. While I was at it I ordered a 2-CD compilation of Lefty Frizell, who I don't know at all yet. But apparently he was great and one of Haggard's idols, so I'll follow the thread.

[Chris D]

I'm mainly interested in the titans -- Johnny, Willie, Merle, Dolly in her bluegrass phase -- and do like some of the current people outside of the mainstream. I used to work for a paper that was a stone-solid country market, so I went to a LOT of shows.

As for a Merle collection, outside of the huge Bear Family box, the best bet is "The Lonesome Fugitive: The Merle Haggard Anthology," a two-disc set on Razor and Tie. It's got most of the great Capitol singles as well as a couple of earlier rarities.
More than moderately interesting in a Merle vein is "Tulare Dust," a compilation of mostly outsider country younguns and roots rockers taking on his best known songs.

[Tom Storer]

Thanks, Chris. Actually it's an unofficial recording of a concert of the Tulare Dust hommage that I've been listening to--Merle plays the last set. I'll have to get the original CD.

[cookie]

Yes. I've mentioned it several times over the years here.

[Noj]

I've come to the conclusion that all music has redeeming qualities by which it was established, so I bet there is country music I would like. I just haven't heard it yet. I used to quote a comedian who called country the "special olympics of music," now I'll wait until I've fully examined what I'm critiquing.

[clinthopson]

[Boris Badenov]

Tulare Dust is a fine tribute album. For a superb compilation of the man himself, I think the four-disc Down Every Road is still in print. While it doesn't have every essential cut (that would require at least two more discs), it's still an excellent sampling of his career up through maybe the early 90s.

[Surfer]

I love country music. The best Merle Haggard collection is Lonesome Fugitive, by far. You could also just buy the individual albums: Mama Tried, Swinging Doors, Big City. Those are some of the 60s classics.

As far as Lefty, I have this comp and love it.

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

Tom: the two you started with are excellent. Merle's "Roots Vol 1" was released by an indie punk label and is an outstanding tribute to Lefty. It includes one of Merle's best recent originals, "More Than My Old Guitar." The 2 volume set of Lefty Frizzell is probably 'Look What Thoughts Will Do", which is a great compilation. You'll recognize a couple of Lefty's songs: The Long Black Veil (The Band, Joan Baez) and If You've Got The Money I've Got The Time (Willie Nelson).

Categories, of course, bleed into each other, but putting aside the contemporary Bluegrass & Folk artists (Grisman, Bush, Jerry Douglas, Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris, etc.) to focus just on the Country section of your record store, here are some for a starter collection:



Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys -- The Essential Bob Wills (Columbia) collection is fine greatest original hits comp. I actually prefer the sound of the later, jazzier band that made the Tiffany Collection, material the band recorded for radio play. The pick of those is vol 2, The Best of The Tiffanies, and vol 3, Basin Street Blues, but there are no duds.

Hank Williams (any comp will work. I have the 3-CD collection of complete singles, which includes some of the Luke The Drifter stuff as well as some cuts with the Dreaded Audrey)

Patsy Cline (I need to upgrade my comp, actually)

Hank Snow (RCA Country Classics, for a one volume comp -- great voice, and songs)

The Essential Connie Smith (the best voice of them all -- ask Dolly Parton! -- and some great songs)

The Louvin Brothers (When I Stop Dreaming -- the greatest in close harmony. Stellar!)

George Strait (Greatest Hits, vol 1 & 2 -- the best of the contemporary artists, although his work has become increasingly commercial and uninteresting over the past 10 years. But his early work, on these two comps, is prime country, swinging dance numbers and beautiful ballads)

And of course Willie, Dolly, Waylon, Johnny Cash... but you know about them


Roy Acuff's great dobro player, Brother Oswald, made a self-titled instrumental album for Rounder that's stunning -- I use it at gigs all the time. (Oswald's other solo efforts are less interesting, featuring him singing as well as playing.)

Asleep At The Wheel -- Tribute To Bob Wills (the first one is better than the second, but not by much)

Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant -- Stratosphere Boogie is the place to start, but they're all pretty great: country be-bop!

Chet Atkins -- RCA Country Legends avoids the more commercial stuff and focuses on his country-jazz chops

Buck Owens and The Buckaroos -- can't find my comp now, but this is excellent dance music!

The Delmore Brothers -- Freight Train Boogie (roots of rock!)

Junior Brown (wonderful contemporary player, monster guitarist. I like the album Semi Crazy best, with its jaw-dropping medley of The Ventures beach music)


Marty Robbins, Dottie West, Kitty Wells, Eddie Arnold (the yodeling single of Cattle Call may be the single most requested song I play), Glen Campbell, Dwight Yoakum, Randy Travis...

all for now, but I'm sure Captain Hate, Root Doctor, Henry Mc and others will have some contributions here.

[Dr Dave]

I only like country bands where the guitar player goes through a Marshall stack, which basically means Joe Ely (David Grissom totally rocked).

[Boris Badenov]

The square man is full of excellent suggestions. I'd add the Loretta Lynn box Honky-Tonk Girl. MCA has an awfully good-looking boxed set of Bill Monroe, though I don't have that particular one. The great compilation Outlaws, with Willie Nelson, Waylon Jennings, Jessi Coulter and Tompall Glaser, is worth your money. Then there's this must-buy: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...samples#disc_3

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

Originally Posted by Squaredancecalling Steve

I'm sure Captain Hate, Root Doctor, Henry Mc and others will have some contributions here.

Should have included Boris, of course!

(Yeah, I've got to catch up on Loretta Lynn.)

[Boris Badenov]

Square, I'm obviously one of the "others," in the same sense that the Professor and Mary Ann were "the rest"!

[Tom Storer]

Originally Posted by Squaredancecalling Steve

Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys -- The Essential Bob Wills (Columbia) collection is fine greatest original hits comp. I actually prefer the sound of the later, jazzier band that made the Tiffany Collection, material the band recorded for radio play. The pick of those is vol 2, The Best of The Tiffanies, and vol 3, Basin Street Blues, but there are no duds.
[...]
Asleep At The Wheel -- Tribute To Bob Wills (the first one is better than the second, but not by much)

Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant -- Stratosphere Boogie is the place to start, but they're all pretty great: country be-bop!

Chet Atkins -- RCA Country Legends avoids the more commercial stuff and focuses on his country-jazz chops
[...]
Junior Brown (wonderful contemporary player, monster guitarist. I like the album Semi Crazy best, with its jaw-dropping medley of The Ventures beach music)

I'll keep this in mind, but I'm thinking more of singers and songs than the musical performances.

Roy Acuff's great dobro player, Brother Oswald, made a self-titled instrumental album for Rounder that's stunning -- I use it at gigs all the time.

But this does sound interesting!

Hank Snow (RCA Country Classics, for a one volume comp -- great voice, and songs)

The Essential Connie Smith (the best voice of them all -- ask Dolly Parton! -- and some great songs)
[...]
George Strait (Greatest Hits, vol 1 & 2 -- the best of the contemporary artists

All people I have yet to hear. I wonder if my local library has much in the way of country?

And of course Willie, Dolly, Waylon, Johnny Cash... but you know about them

I know about them more than I know them, with the exception of Cash.

Marty Robbins, Dottie West, Kitty Wells, Eddie Arnold (the yodeling single of Cattle Call may be the single most requested song I play), Glen Campbell, Dwight Yoakum, Randy Travis...

What about George Jones? Is he as great as they say he is?

Thanks to everybody and keep 'em comin'!

[Squaredancecalling Steve]

Asleep At The Wheel and Junior Brown are mostly vocals. The Wheel's tribute albums both have all-star guests.

George Jones is central, mostly but not exclusively for heartbreaking ballads.

[Andy Jones]

Let me second Chris' recommendation of the two-disc "The Lonesome Fugitive." The Capitol years are generally regarded as Merle's best, and this set does a good job of hitting the high spots. As a "hits" compilation, however, it also misses a lot of worthwhile material: a double album's worth of train songs, the "Bonnie and Clyde" soundtrack, and tributes to Jimmie Rodgers, Bob Wills, Hank Williams, and Lefty Frizzell, to name just a few. Haggard put out two or three albums a year (four in 1968!) during his Capitol tenure, and many of them were very good, and most at least interesting. The thing was that, unlike so many of his contemporaries, he was a fine, prolific songwriter (and an unabashedly expressive one at that) as well as an excellent interpreter of others' songs, so that his own "Silver Wings" or Lefty Frizzell's "I Never Go Around Mirrors" hold their own next to hits such as "Mama Tried" or "It's Not Love (But It's Not Bad)." But not everything could be a hit, and so much was left behind.

If "The Lonesome Fugitive" leaves you wanting more, you can turn to "Down Every Road," an outstanding four-disc set on Capitol that gathers many of these overlooked gems and presents a well-rounded portrait of a performer who often resisted (and still resists) rounding. As a Capitol set, it is understandably heavy on the years between 1965-1976, but also includes several of Haggard's best recordings for MCA (1977-1981) and CBS/Epic (1981-1988) on the fourth disc. (There's a nigh-unto definitive version of Townes Van Zandt's "Pancho and Lefty" with Willie Nelson that holds its own with any other song in the set.) If you find yourself enjoying this last disc, though, you're stuck, because the MCA and Epic compilation discs range from perfunctory to downright insulting.

Then, of course, there's always the five-disc "Untamed Hawk" collection on Bear Family, and some pretty good more recent recordings on Epitaph too, including "Roots" and "If I Could Only Fly." It would be great if someone could do for Haggard what Rick Rubin did for Johnny Cash, but I have a feeling that (a) Cash's American Recordings were sui generis, and (b) Haggard would probably resist the effort to turn him into an icon anyway.

Good luck, Tom! (Incidentally, it's best to avoid most other Haggard compilations, as many of them are live or newly re-recorded. In an effort to regain control of his masters, Haggard himself re-recorded versions of his most popular songs on John Prine's Oh Boy! label, but they tend to suffer markedly in comparison.)

[Surfer]

My tastes tend to run more towards the "outlaw" side of things, so in addition to the fine recommendations made by steve and others above, I would recommend these (*=essential):

Waylon Jennings, The Taker (if you can find it), Lonesome, On'ry, and Mean, Honky Tonk Heroes*, Waylon Live*, Dreamin My Dreams

Willie Nelson, Yesterdays Wine, Redheaded Stranger*, Shotgun Willie*

Merle Haggard, Swinging Doors, Mama Tried, Big City

Johnny Paycheck, The Little Darlin' Years

Billy Joe Shaver, Old Five and Dimers Like Me

Tompall Glaser, The Outlaw

Johnny Cash, Live at Folsom Prison

Hank Sr. - 20 Greatest Hits*

Others: Steve Earle, Jerry Jeff Walker, Kris Kristofferson, Charlie Rich, Hank III, Jason and the Scorchers, Tom T Hall, Flatlanders, Joe Ely, Guy Clark, Gram Parsons, Emmylou Harris, Uncle Tupelo, etc.

[Gentle Giant]

Always nice to hear from a new, informed source. Welcome AJ.

Who's the chick who did the original of "End of the World" (covered by Herman's Hermits and most recently by Nina Gordon)? I heard a compilation of her work and liked it.

Also a big fan of Glen Campbell, but it took this thread, I guess, to feel comfortable saying so.

[Sergio Zamora]

Originally Posted by Tom Storer

I went online shopping and picked an album called "Roots Volume 1," not a compilation but a relatively recent album of Merle playing music that influenced him.

Tom, that's one of my favorite albums of the last few years in any genre.