Are These Really the 100 Greatest Country Songs of All-Time?
The great folks over at the Nashville Tennessean have set off quite the debate this morning. Their article on the 100 all-time greatest country songs has made for quite the intriguing water cooler discussion.
We like the standard they put on the list, even if it does make for a lot of great songs being left off: Only one song per artist (excluding duets). That means some of the truly greatest songs of all time have to be sacrificed at the expense of adding another artist to the list.
Some notable inclusions that we are loving:
- Deanna Carter – “Strawberry Wine”
- Rosanne Cash – “Seven Year Ache”
- Jerry Reed – “Eastbound and Down”
- Marty Robbins – “El Paso”
- Charley Pride – “Kiss an Angel Good Morning”
- Larry Gatlin and the Gatlin Brothers – “All the Gold in California”
- John Anderson – “Swingin'”
And some songs that we would have gone a different route on for a particular artist:
- Don Williams – “I Believe in You” (Excluding their choice – “Good Ole Boys Like Me”)
- Keith Whitley – “When You Say Nothing at All” or “Don’t Close Your Eyes” (Excluding their choice – “I’m No Stranger to the Rain”)
- Buck Owens – “Streets of Bakersfield” (Excluding their choice – “Act Naturally”)
- Alabama – “18 Wheeler” (Exlcuding their choice – “My Home’s in Alabama”)
- Kacey Musgraves – “Space Cowboy” (Excluding their choice – “Follow Your Arrow”)
- Kenny Chesney – “Better Boat” (Excluding their choice – “The Good Stuff”)
- Waylon Jennings – “Luckenbach, Texas” – (Excluding their choice – “Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line”)
And maybe some songs that should have shown up on the list…though we admit we’re not sure what in the world would possibly come off to make room:
- Jason Aldean – “Amarillo Sky”
- Eddie Rabbit – “I Love A Rainy Night”
- Crystal Gayle – “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue”
- Sylvia – “Nobody”
- Collin Raye – “Little Rock”
- Johnny Lee – “Lookin’ For Love”
- The Oak Ridge Boys – “Elvira”
- Juice Newton – “Queen of Hearts”
- Barbara Mandrell – “I Was Country When Country Wasn’t Cool”
- Mel McDaniel – “Baby’s Got Her Blue Jeans On”
What do you think? What songs are missing from the list? What shouldn’t be on there? Share your thoughts in the box below.
