If you could pick one country song per year for each of the last 70 years which songs would you pick? I thought this would be a fun exercise, so I gave it a try. Keep reading to see my picks. Or listen to them on this playlist.
Country songs tell great stories. Usually about poor white people living in a sucky present (“There’s a Tear in my Beer”) or an idealized past (“My Old Kentucky Home”). But from its inception, country musicians have jammed cultural codes. The first country stars were a pair of working women from Appalachia (The Carter Family) and a tuberculosis-ridden yodelin’ brakeman from Mississippi (Jimmie Rodgers). The sound of the music has changed since Fiddlin’ John Carson recorded “The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane,” but country musicians have never stopped singing about the struggle, the beauty, the sorrow, and the redemption of everyday life.
I am no fan of abstract art. I like paintings to look like something, movies to have a plot, and song lyrics to make sense. Which may be why I love these songs…
1950. Bill Monroe & the Bluegrass Boys, “New Muleskinner Blues”
1951. Lefty Frizzell, “Always Late With Your Kisses”
1952. Kitty Wells, “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels”
1953. The Stanley Brothers, “(Say) Won’t You Be Mine”
1954. Hank Williams, “Your Cheatin’ Heart”
1955. Tennessee Ernie Ford, “Sixteen Tons”
1956. Elvis Presley, “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Cry”
1957. Johnny Cash, “Fulsom Prison Blues”
1958. Don Gibson, “Oh Lonesome Me”
1959. Marty Robbins, “El Paso”
1960. Flatt & Scruggs, “When the Angels Carry Me Home”
1961. Patsy Cline, “Crazy”
1962. Hank Snow, “I’ve Been Everywhere”
1963. Loretta Lynn, “The Other Woman”
1964. Connie Smith, “Once a Day”
1965. Johnny Wright, “Hello Vietnam”
1966. Buck Owens, “Dust on Mother’s Bible”
1967. Merle Haggard, “I’m a Lonesome Fugitive”
1968. The Byrds, “Hickory Wind”
1969. Townes Van Zandt, “Be Here to Love Me”
1970. Kris Kristofferson, “Sunday Morning Coming Down”
1971. Dolly Parton, “Daddy’s Moonshine Still”
1972. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, “Will the Circle Be Unbroken”
1973. Jerry Jeff Walker, “Desperados Waiting for a Train””
1974. Linda Ronstadt, “Willin’”
1975. Willie Nelson, “Red Headed Stranger”
1976. Jessi Colter, “I’m Looking for Blue Eyes”
1977. Waylon Jennings, “Luckenbach, Texas”
1978. Kenny Rogers, “The Gambler”
1979. The Charlie Daniels Band, “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”
1980. George Jones, “If Drinkin’ Don’t Kill Me (Her Memory Will)”
1981. Ronnie Milsap, “(There’s) No Gettin’ Over Me”
1982. Ricky Scaggs, “Highway 40 Blues”
1983. George Strait, “Amarillo By Morning”
1984. John Prine, “Unwed Fathers”
1985. The Highwaymen, “Highwayman”
1986. Dwight Yoakam, “Guitars, Cadillacs”
1987. Nanci Griffith, “Ford Econoline”
1988. Steve Earle, “Copperhead Road”
1989. The Jayhawks, “Two Angels”
1990. Rodney Crowell, “If Looks Could Kill”
1991. Uncle Tupelo, “Sauget Wind”
1992. Iris DeMent, “Our Town”
1993. Blue Rodeo, “5 Days in May”
1994. Richard Buckner, “Blue and Wonder”
1995. Son Volt, “Windfall”
1996. Ween, “Help Me Scrape the Mucus off My Brain”
1997. Whiskeytown, “Dancing with the Women at the Bar”
1998. Lucinda Williams, “2 Kool 2 Be 4-Gotten”
1999. The Chicks, “Goodbye Earl”
2000. Emmylou Harris, “Red Dirt Girl”
2001. Gillian Welch, “April the 14th Part 1”
2002. Patty Griffin, “Making Pies”
2003. Drive-by Truckers, “My Sweet Annette”
2004. Old Crow Medicine Show, “Wagon Wheel”
2005. James McMurtry, “Childish Things”
2006. Taylor Swift, “Tim McGraw”
2007. Miranda Lambert, “Famous in a Small Town”
2008. Kathleen Edwards, “I Make the Dough, You Get the Glory”
2009. The Avett Brothers, “Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise”
2010. Mumford & Sons, “The Cave”
2011. Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit, “Alabama Pines”
2012. First Aid Kit, “Emmylou”
2013. Kacey Musgraves, “Follow Your Arrow”
2014. Robert Ellis, “TV Song”
2015. Chris Stapleton, “Tennessee Whiskey”
2016. Sturgill Simpson, “Welcome to Earth (Pollywog)”
2017. Margo Price, “Hands of Time”
2018. Ashely McBryde, “The Jacket”
2019. Orville Peck, “The Dead of Night”
2020. Jessi Alexander, “Mama Drank”