With four hungry children and a crop in the field

[johncorrigan]

Thanks for that Global - I spotted this on there too and couldn't resist its charms.

http://open.spotify.com/track/41ysNscs72mHUxpbaoE3Jr

[zola]

Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen : Seeds and Stems Again

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OEg9FbuaSCk

Joe Ely : West Texas Waltz....which criminally doesn't seem to be on youtube.

[Lateralthinking1]

Many thanks to all for your latest. Quite a marathon. Here are a few comments before breakfast......

Zola - Thank you for the Commander Cody clip. I really enjoyed that and it was new to me. I always think that music in the early seventies was underrated. Would that be Charlie Rich on piano? It sounded like him to me. I will put it in the main list along with the Joe Ely track. Here it is on Spotify:

http://open.spotify.com/track/2QNDpyGTHIY0fas3PBLIBE

John Wright - Many thanks for those songs from the 1920s and the 1930s. A really fascinating selection and very educational. I liked "Ride that Mule" by Charlie Bowman best - extraordinary spirit. Also enjoyed Doctor Lloyd and Howard Maxey's "Girl I Left Behind Me" - a song I think I know as "Waxie's Dargle" by the Pogues. I thought I heard a slight hint of George Formby in the vocals of the Jimmy Revard and His Oklahoma Playboys' song "Someone Else You Care For". Vernon Dalbart was good and so too Bob Wills and His Texan Playboys although the performance in the latter seemed a little strange to me. A bit camp perhaps but I think that goes partially with the era. Is this the same Bob Wills who is already on the main list. I am guessing that it is and have made your one a duplicate. All of the others you have mentioned have gone directly into the main list.

You have also included two by Buddy Jones. I liked "Rockin' Rollin' Mama" best, particularly given the importance of its title historically, but it is "She's Sellin' What She Used To Give Away" that has gone into the main list as it seems more country. "Mama" therefore goes into the duplicates. Incidentally, I did stop to look at some of the clips mentioned alongside the recommended ones. There are some astonishing artist names - The Hickory Nuts, Dr Smith's Champion Hoss Hair Pullers - and song titles - Cacklin' Hen and Rooster Too, Great Big Taters in a Sandy Land. Clearly there is a whole world to explore there!

Global and Calum - Many thanks for broadening the discussion. It is always helpful to have a bit of fire. While I like the Stranglers, Mulatu Astake, Steely Dan, Pop Maynard and the brilliant Sun Ra, I don't think that in all honesty we can include them in our lists. I watched them all in their entirety and thought that the burlesgue video to "Haitian Divorce" was excellent. I couldn't understand the miserable comments posted by some people about the timing of pictures to music which I thought was mainly spot on. The Sun Ra clip was great for its weirdness and "No More Heroes" took me back to university. Good song but if you are going to have heroes, surely musical ones are best. Pop Maynard's "Our Captain Calls All Hands" sounded to me remarkably like the hymn "To Be A Pilgrim". The Karen Dalton offering is definitely in. I swear there is some "Baba O'Reilly" in there towards the end. I also look forward to a Lambchop suggestion, if not something from Willard Grant Conspiracy, and are we also doing Wilco, not that I am overly keen? By the way, don't you think in this brash era, mawkish sounds fresh again?

PatrickOD - Thank you for your very enjoyable clip, The Best of Bluegrass. It is going into the main list. You have given me quite a task there in making sure that I mention all the artists. I am filing under "J" for John Harford. Do let me know if I have got any of the names wrong or have missed anyone out. Incidentally, I would be very interested to know roughly when that clip was filmed as it looks like quite a while ago and I hadn't realised that Alison Krauss had been around for so long. John C -I thought your Rosanne Cash clip was excellent so that one's in. I really like her more and more with every track I hear. She often seems to have some celtic sounds in her arrangements and I remember the comments on that in her interview on R3 recently - I think that was with Mary Ann Kennedy. I have also included Iris DeMent and "Let the Mystery Be". Regrettably, I don't think we can run with the one by Belle Stewart, although enjoyable.

Paul - Your suggestions of songs from the Everly Brothers and the Louvin Brothers are now in the main list, for which many thanks. So too your suggestion for Charlie Rich along with Tom T Hall's "Homeaway" and Calexico's "Tulsa Telephone Book". I'm sure "Rawhide" is there in that arrangement. I don't think that we can really include Little Milton, however good. Bobby Bare's version of "500 Miles" is included along with the Rosanne Cash version and I have filed both under "B". I really liked the Iris DeMent duet with Emmylou Harris so that is in too. Emmylou actually looks in that clip like my neighbour across the road - a very nice woman. I do find Iris DeMent's mannerisms, as well as her delivery, quite extraordinary, and I would be fascinated to see how she comes across in interview. As for Global's comments about her name - and the cross-reference to the incredible sounding Lewis - I always think of it as a mixture of peppermint and mental. It is definitely green.

Finally - to the liberties I have taken. I have added to the main list my suggestions of songs by Alison Krauss and Union Station, Allison Moorer, Rosanne Cash with Johnny Cash, the Bhundu Boys with Hank Wangford, Whiskeytown and, erm, Boxcar Willie. For now, I have placed Abigail Wasburn, who I see is going to Womad, in "Country Crossover". After much deliberation, I have moved Glen Campbell's "Wichita Lineman" up from "Country Crossover" to the main list. I have added Linda Ronstadt to "Pending". Also added to that section are Lambchop and Wilco plus George Strait and Loretta Lynn, neither of whom seem to have been mentioned yet. On a quick count, I think that we have 84 on the main list now. Do shout if there are errors or major disagreements. It would also be interesting to hear how people first came to country music. Surely it wasn't westerns?

[Lateralthinking1]

Updated Lists

(Please note that new comments are in the above post #213).

Part 1

Alison Krauss and Union Station - Paper Airplane
Allison Moorer - A Soft Place To Fall
Bhundu Boys and Hank Wangford - Ring of Fire
The Blue Sky Boys - Somebody Makes Me Think of You
Bobbie Gentry - Ode To Billie Joe
Bobby Bare/Rosanne Cash - 500 Miles
Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash - One Too Many Mornings
Bob Wills - Stay a Little Longer
Boxcar Willie - Wabash Cannonball
Buck Owens and the Buckaroos - Act Naturally
Buck Owens and Dwight Yoakam - Streets of Bakersfield
Buddy Jones - She's Sellin' What She Used To Give Away
Calexico - Tulsa Telephone Book
The Carter Family - Engine 143
Charlie Bowman and the Hillbillies - Ride That Mule
Charlie Rich - I Can't Even Drink It Away
Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen - Seeds and Stems Again Blues
Corb Lund - The Truck Got Stuck
Crystal Gayle - I've Cried The Blue Right Out Of My Eyes
Doctor Lloyd and Howard Maxey - Girl I Left Behind
Dolly Parton - Jolene
Don Williams - Gypsy Woman
Emmylou Harris - My Father's House
The Everly Brothers - Put My Little Shoes Away
The Family Singers - Tarira Nguva
George Jones - The Image of Me
Gillian Welch - Annabelle, A Study of American Sharecroppers
The Girls of the Golden West - Cross Eyed Beau
Glen Campbell - Wichita Lineman
Gram Parsons - Brass Buttons
Guy Clark - Desperados Waiting For a Train
The Handsome Family - So Much Wine
Hank Thompson - Six Pack To Go
Hank Wangford - Riding High in the Saddle Again
Hank Williams - Honky Tonk Blues
Hank Williams III - The Grand Ole Opry (Ain't So Grand Anymore)
Hugh Tracey introduces the Kipsigis Tribe - Chemirocha
Iris DeMent - Let the Mystery Be
Iris DeMent and Emmylou Harris - Our Town
Janis Joplin - Me And Bobby McGee
Jeannie C Riley - Harper Valley PTA
Jimmie Rodgers - I'm Free From the Chain Gang Now
Jimmy Dean - Big Bad John
Jimmy Revard and His Oklahoma Playboys - Someone Else You Care For
Joe Ely - West Texas Waltz
John Hartford with Del McCoury, Jerry Douglas, Alison Brown, Alison Krauss and Union Station, Mark O'Connor, Stuart Duncan, Tony Rice Unit, Sam Bush and the Nashville Bluegrass Band - Roll in My Sweet Baby's Arms
Johnny Cash - Man In Black
John Prine - Speed of the Sound of Loneliness
Karen Dalton - Katie Cruel
Kenny Rogers and the First Edition - Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town
Kinky Friedman - They Ain't Making Jews Like Jesus Anymore
Lefty Frizzell - Don't Stay Away
Leon Payne/Jim Reeves - I Love You Because
Lester Flatts and Earl Scruggs - Foggy Mountain Breakdown
The Louvin Brothers - I Don't Believe You've Met My Baby
Martha Midgette - Tommy
Mary Chapin Carpenter - I Am A Town
Mary Gauthier - I Drink
Merle Haggard - The Bottle Let Me Down
Nanci Griffith - Tecumseh Valley
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Paulette Carlson - Lovin' on the Side
OC Smith - Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp
Patsy Cline - I Fall To Pieces
Porter Wagoner - The Cold Hard Facts of Life
Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton - Jeannie's Afraid Of The Dark
Riley Puckett - I Wish I Was Single Again
Rosanne Cash and Johnny Cash - September When It Comes
Roy Orbison - In Dreams
Roy Rogers with the Sons of Pioneers - Dust
Sawyer Brown - The Race Is On
Slim Dusty and his Bushlanders - Click Go The Shears/The Overlander Trail/Waltzing Mathilda
Steve Earle and The Del McCoury Band - The Mountain
Steve Young - Montgomery in the Rain
Tammy Wynette - D.I.V.O.R.C.E
Terry Allen - New Delhi Freight Train
Tex Ritter - High Noon (Do Not Forsake Me)
Thomas Fraser - Lonely Boy on the Prairie
Tim O'Brien - Look Down That Lonesome Road
Tom T Hall - Homeaway
Townes Van Zandt with Seymour Washington - Waitin' Around To Die
Vernon Dalbart - Wreck of the Old 97
Whiskeytown - Jacksonville Skyline
Wilf Carter - When the Ice Worm Nests Again
Willie Nelson - Funny How Time Slips Away

Part 2

Country crossover

Abigail Washburn - Sometimes
Bill Brandon - Rainbow Road
Candi Staton - You Don't Have Far To Go
Dean Martin - Little Ole Wine Drinker Me
Jolie Holland - Old Fashioned Morphine
Judy Collins - The City of New Orleans
Light Crust Doughboys - Tiger Rag
Marty Robbins - El Paso

Duplicates

Bob Wills and His Texan Playboys - Sittin' on Top of the World
Buddy Jones - Rockin' Rollin' Mama
George Jones - Where Grass Won't Grow
Guy Clark - The Guitar
Jimmie Rodgers - Blue Yodel No 1
Johnny Cash - Walk The Line/I Won't Back Down/Hurt/The Man Comes Around
Kinky Friedman - Amelia Earhart's Last Flight
Merle Haggard - Why Am I Drinkin'?
Porter Wagoner - The Rubber Room
Willie Nelson - Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain/She Is Gone/Crazy/My Heroes Have Always Been Cowboys

Pending

The Eagles - ?
George Strait?
kd Lang - ?
Linda Ronstadt - ?
Lambchop -?
Loretta Lynn - ?
Wilco - ?

[johncorrigan]

Lat - commendable work there - only thing, I think El Paso should be in the main list.

I'd like to suggest that 'Sunday Morning Coming Down' is in there - I love the J Cash Version but I think Kris Kristopherson should be in and it's a brilliant song - he's probably better at it now than in the past.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDCZCCQVbRs

I was looking for a decent recording of Jackson by Lucinda Williams but maybe this song will do - maybe she's too R'n'b to be country.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-5GifxO_h0&feature=fvsr

here's Lucinda's Jackson from Spotty:

http://open.spotify.com/track/0CNDVxCspTqonw2DVWITi6

Which brings to mind, what about Nancy and Lee doing 'Jackson' - too poppy? I think not.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnkuRQ8tjIE

[Lateralthinking1]

JC - Many thanks. I will now certainly elevate El Paso. Look forward to hearing your other suggestions very shortly - Lat.

[Globaltruth]

It would also be interesting to hear how people first came to country music. Surely it wasn't westerns?

I 'blame' PS*; and have to confess to not being a convert.

But since I've redefined it for myself to include anything recorded in the country in the western world, I'm a lot happier.

'You see, in this world, there's two kinds of people, my friend....'

I don't dig.

By the way, don't you think in this brash era, mawkish sounds fresh again?

The jackdaws round here do a lot of mawking. I never weary of trying to work out what they're up to (variations on food, sex & power wrangles) - with humans though I like either a bit more thought in the lyrics or the immediate hit of something clearly written in 10 mins. Not tired cliched stuff. Unless it's the blues. How very inconsistent...


* but in a good way - he's introduced me to some excellent music amongst the plethora. I admire his singlemindedness.

[Lateralthinking1]

Not a problem, Global - we will probably call it a day at 100. I've been enjoying it and a lot of it has been new to me.

[Globaltruth]

Not a problem, Global - we will probably call it a day at 100. I've been enjoying it and a lot of it has been new to me.

:cool2: then can we do the Blues one ;) ?

or even maybe some World Music?

[Lateralthinking1]

I am happy to be a reader of the blues one. It is not a strong area for me - I probably start further back than I did on country.
I do have in my head future ones for Africa, Latin America, reggae and folk but it seems best to leave suitable time gaps for those. As for country and the world dimension, I justify this exercise on the basis of the word "roots".

[Lateralthinking1]

NEWSFLASH - What the ****? - Rick WHO?!!!!!!!!!!

[PatrickOD]

Don't know if this fits the bill, Lt.

It tells a story;
It's about country folk and relationships;
It's about working, and involves roots;
It has a Floyd Cramer-ish piano;
It's mawkish-ish;
It's different, and
I like it.
Yes, I do.
Did you ever hear a teardrop?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s1q-gyw5L4

[johncorrigan]

Don't know if this fits the bill, Lt.

It tells a story;
It's about country folk and relationships;
It's about working, and involves roots;
It has a Floyd Cramer-ish piano;
It's mawkish-ish;
It's different, and
I like it.
Yes, I do.
Did you ever hear a teardrop?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1s1q-gyw5L4

It's got to go in there Patrick - that piano, that mule, that voice! Lat'll jump at getting that one in. Thanks.

[Paul Sherratt]

John,

Has the really real Mr Heartache, entered the fray yet ?
Johnny Paycheck, folks ...


Pardon Me, I've Got Someone To Kill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x2gjWHfqVtc

It Won't Be Long ( And I'll Be Hating You )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZlZcXJtzsw

Just Between You And Me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtVL0ums4uA

The Cave

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-8KQRxKM1P0

Paycheck in jail

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mg51PSzTL04

Jim Reeves he is not ...

http://www.talentondisplay.com/JohnnyPaycheck.html

[Paul Sherratt]

As heard on popular tv. Blimey

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b011w4g0