Greatest country song of all time?

[Mind Flayer Monk]

https://youtu.be/Bj6e8xpxomo

[136 or 142]

For Akwilly since he seems to like the more country rock songs, based on his liking "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road" 

I hope he enjoys (some of) these songs.

Canadian content
Charlie Major "I'm Gonna Drive You Out of My Mind"  This song is one of my favorites.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wY4rwOcXBw

[136 or 142]

Speaking of Driving, classic late 1970s country rock
Eddie Rabbit "Driving My Life Away"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_tvEvBUG8mY

[136 or 142]

One more Eddie Rabbit
"Love a Rainy Night"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebt0BR5wHYs

[akwilly]

I do like some Eddie Rabbit!

[136 or 142]

I do like some Eddie Rabbit!

[136 or 142]

Dwight Yoakam
"Ain't That Lonely Yet"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4APfLNbdao4

[136 or 142]

Not as hard rock as the others, but despite the disputes, I think Gram Parsons in the unquestionable creator of country-rock.

This is all from me for now.
Gram Parsons, "Sing Me Back Home"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgAVzk2T4jU

[akwilly]

https://youtu.be/KVdQuwIp3Gk
I think this is his best song

[21st Century Man]

Not as hard rock as the others, but despite the disputes, I think Gram Parsons in the unquestionable creator of country-rock.

This is all from me for now.
Gram Parsons, "Sing Me Back Home"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgAVzk2T4jU

I would go along with that especially his work with the Byrds on Sweetheart Of the Rodeo.  I think Rick Nelson could also make a claim on that title though.

[21st Century Man]

Eddie Rabbitt was the shit!!!  It's a shame he died so young.

[21st Century Man]

R.E.M's 'Don't Go Back to Rockville' is absolutely a country song.  I suggest you actually listen first before commenting on something you know nothing about, not that that's ever stopped you in the past.

From wiki (not that you can't determine that it's country by listening to it yourself):
Peter Buck has stated that the song was originally performed in a punk/thrash style, and that it was recorded for this single in its now more-familiar country-inspired arrangement as a joke aimed at R.E.M. manager Bertis Downs.

Even though it was recorded that way as a joke, they are excellent musicians and they obviously took the recording seriously.

I also wrote that R.E.M's Wendell Gee isn't really a country song, but that it has a very nice banjo solo, the banjo often being played in country music, and that solo does sound country.

I can go along with that.  I'm just not crazy about REM.  I liked some of their songs but Micheal Stipe had an annoying voice that grated on me much of the time.  To be honest,  I never played country music growing up except for maybe Johnny Horton and Johnny Cash.  I was a rock and roll kind of guy who listened to new wave and punk but also classic rock like Elvis and the Beatles.  I mainly enjoyed country songs by rock artists.  Stuff like Sally G by Paul McCartney and the odd Beatles country songs.  Charlie Daniels straddled genres and I was a fan of his and also the Eagles but I tended to make fun of country artists.   However, as I've gotten older,  I've become very nostalgic and now enjoy many of the artists that I used to make fun of.  My uncles and cousins were all hard-core country and I guess it rubbed off on me a little.

[Dr. MD MD]

I fucking love this song! It's gotta be this version though. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGjaXWY6S9k

[Dr. MD MD]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgCa79RaO_c

[Dr. MD MD]

R.E.M's 'Don't Go Back to Rockville' is absolutely a country song.  I suggest you actually listen first before commenting on something you know nothing about, not that that's ever stopped you in the past.

From wiki (not that you can't determine that it's country by listening to it yourself):
Peter Buck has stated that the song was originally performed in a punk/thrash style, and that it was recorded for this single in its now more-familiar country-inspired arrangement as a joke aimed at R.E.M. manager Bertis Downs.

Even though it was recorded that way as a joke, they are excellent musicians and they obviously took the recording seriously.

I also wrote that R.E.M's Wendell Gee isn't really a country song, but that it has a very nice banjo solo, the banjo often being played in country music, and that solo does sound country.

Yeah, I always got that from them too. I think Fables of the Reconstruction is, in general, a very country inspired album. They're from Georgia so I figure they have to be at least somewhat influenced by it. I think the 80s REM is great stuff but they started losing me in the 90s.

[Dr. MD MD]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nx658DGXCmc

[Dr. MD MD]

Townes Van Zandt original of To Live is To Fly

"Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that," - Steve Earle.

Yeah, Earle moved to Nashville specifically to meet and hang out with him. Speaking of which, this is from an awesome new album by him and Shawn Colvin:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZkDU2jdBMY

[136 or 142]

This is the person who argues that Gram Parsons wasn't the creator of country-rock.

John Einarson, who wrote a book called "Desperados: The Roots of Country Rock  (Cooper Square Press)

This is the write up on it by Bob Cannon in the July 10, 2001 edition of Country Weekly

"Nearly every artist on today's country charts pays homage to country rock pioneers like the Eagles, The Flying Burrito Brothers or Poco. But as historian John Einarson points out, those bands were by no means the originators of the music style.

Einarson gives credit to where it's due, going all the way back to Buck Owens' driving Bakersfield Sound and to the 1960s rockers like The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield.  From there, he connects the dots from the Southern California scene of the early '70s to today's stars like Dwight Yoakam and Emmylou Harris.

Desperados is loaded with interviews with all the significant artists of the era, but what really makes the book enjoyable is Einarson's refusal to perpetuate myths.  He rejects the theory that Gram Parsons invented country-rock, and points out that for all its historical significance, the genre was a commercial disaster until the Eagles took flight.  Desperadoes also puts the spotlight back on long forgotten bands like The Dillards and Hearts and Flowers, as was all instrumental aces like guitarist Clarence White and the Eagles' Bernie Leadon, both of whom were always near the center of the action."

[akwilly]

I thought Elvis was the original guy to make country/rock

[21st Century Man]

This is the person who argues that Gram Parsons wasn't the creator of country-rock.

John Einarson, who wrote a book called "Desperados: The Roots of Country Rock  (Cooper Square Press)

This is the write up on it by Bob Cannon in the July 10, 2001 edition of Country Weekly

"Nearly every artist on today's country charts pays homage to country rock pioneers like the Eagles, The Flying Burrito Brothers or Poco. But as historian John Einarson points out, those bands were by no means the originators of the music style.

Einarson gives credit to where it's due, going all the way back to Buck Owens' driving Bakersfield Sound and to the 1960s rockers like The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield.  From there, he connects the dots from the Southern California scene of the early '70s to today's stars like Dwight Yoakam and Emmylou Harris.

Desperados is loaded with interviews with all the significant artists of the era, but what really makes the book enjoyable is Einarson's refusal to perpetuate myths.  He rejects the theory that Gram Parsons invented country-rock, and points out that for all its historical significance, the genre was a commercial disaster until the Eagles took flight.  Desperadoes also puts the spotlight back on long forgotten bands like The Dillards and Hearts and Flowers, as was all instrumental aces like guitarist Clarence White and the Eagles' Bernie Leadon, both of whom were always near the center of the action."

I really think country rock owes a lot to Nelson and other bands like The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.  THE NGDB were making country-rock records in late 1966/early 1967.  I'm rather fond of them because they are from my home town, Long Beach.  I have Buffalo Springfield's first record but I don't consider it country-rock.  It is straight rock/pop with tinges of country.

[21st Century Man]

I thought Elvis was the original guy to make country/rock

Especially the Sun stuff.  Though that was really rockabilly and rockabilly isn't really country-rock.

[136 or 142]

I thought Elvis was the original guy to make country/rock

As has already been said that's rockabilly, and it wasn't just Elvis but also Carl Perkins and then later Buddy Holly.  I had this discussion with somebody else just a few days ago.

[21st Century Man]

As has already been said that's rockabilly, and it wasn't just Elvis but also Carl Perkins and then later Buddy Holly.  I had this discussion with somebody else just a few days ago.

Perkins is my man.  He lived in my Mom's hometown and my Mom would see him hanging out at diners with his brothers getting ready for gigs or coming back from them. Carl's brother was in my Mom's classes.  He dropped out after Carl became popular.

[Dr. MD MD]

I thought Elvis was the original guy to make country/rock

Tru dat! 

[Robert]

Does it matter which country?  Too long a thread to wade thru to see if anybody's asked that yet.  Because I think "Guantanamera" would be up there.

[Dr. MD MD]

Does it matter which country?  Too long a thread to wade thru to see if anybody's asked that yet.  Because I think "Guantanamera" would be up there.

Good song. It would probably be more appropriate in The Greatest Folk Song of All Time thread though. 

[Robert]

Good song. It would probably be more appropriate in The Greatest Folk Song of All Time thread though. 

What's the difference between folk & country?

[Dr. MD MD]

What's the difference between folk & country?

Educate yourself, my son. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_music

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_music

[Robert]

Educate yourself, my son. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_music

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Folk_music

But what can you listen for in them to distinguish them?

The one thing I see in it from the Wikipedia descriptions is that the only country for country music is the USA, so although there are other countries, they don't have their own country music by that term.  But folk music can still be from any folk.

The thing I knew already is that western music is whatever's sung by someone in a cowboy hat (even if there's a yamuka under it), preferably sitting in a saddle (even if the saddle's on a saw horse).

[136 or 142]

For Akwilly. 

I forgot about this yesterday when posting country rock songs that I think he'll like and it's Canadian too.  Kate and Anna McGarrigle   "Love Over and Over"  Either Kate or Anna McGarrigle married Loudon Wainwright and is the mother of Rufus Wainwright.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R_mqt_q-7yg