1. I Walk The Line

2. Crazy

3. I'm So Lonesome...

4. He Stopped Loving Her Today

5. Blue Yodel No. 9 (Standin' On the Corner)

6. Stand By Your Man

7. You Don't Know Me

8.Mama Tried

9. Jolene

10. Mamma, Don't Let Your Babies..

11. Man of Constant Sorrow

12. I've Got A Tiger By the Tail

13. Blue Moon of KY

14. Setting the Woods On Fire

15. It Wasn't God Who Made ***** Tonk Angels

16. Wichita Lineman

17. New San Antonio Rose

18. All My Ex's Live In Texas

19. Don't Come Home A Drinkin'

20. The Gambler

21. Will The Circle Be Unbroken

22. Walking The Floor Over You

23. If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time

24. Mean

25. Take This Job And Shove It

.....

 

#11 is like nails on a chalkboard to me.

.....

 

#11 is like nails on a chalkboard to me.

 

I dig it.

 

The list is invalidated by even thinking about including Johnny Paycheck.

You could add a couple more by Johnny Cash and improve the list (Ring of Fire leaps to mind).

So Rolling Stone is telling me that "Mean" by Taylor Swift is the best country song since 1987? Nope.

I would not put Crazy at #2

 

I'm the biggest Johnny Cash fan ever but #4 should be #1 on any list of country music songs ever made...with all respect to David Allen Coe, "He stopped loving her today" Is the Perfect Country Song!

"Mean" does not deserve to be on the list..."Golden Ring" does

This is amusing to me. The lovely lady and I had this discussion today because we always fight over the radio in the car. She loves country, I loathe it. I told her I just don't understand how people like it. She then proceeded to tell me I was the only family member that didn't like it and that I was the problem. All you do is listen to that 70's junk, she tells me. Now dems fightin' words. Don't mess with the memories of my life. Every song has a place in my memory bank. Who I was with, what I was doing. The rule is if you are driving you get the radio.

I loathe it. I told her I just don't understand how people like it.

 

Wholeheartedly agree. Country music is the scourge of the earth IMO.

 

Having said that, the songs on this list (well, most of them) are much more tolerable than any country song from Garth Brooks to today.

I am no country music person at all, but how Coal Miner's Daughter by Loretta Lynn isn't on this list is beyond me.

 

One of my favorites is I Hope You Dance by Lee Ann Rimes

 

Another one that comes to mind is Your Cheatin Heart.

 

However, I am not really sure how you decide what makes a country song good or great.

Edited June 9, 201412 yr by Voice of Reason

Don't mess with the memories of my life. Every song has a place in my memory bank. Who I was with, what I was doing.

Which is maybe why she does not like 70s music. Because she knows it takes you away from the present moment with her?

#10

Love Whalon Jennings.

Luckenbach, Texas

Good Hearted Woman

 

I grew up listening to the old stuff because my dad was always listening to country.

 

And I do enjoy the new country music as well.

Not sure I agree with all the list.

 

And like it or not, Taylor Swift is an amazing country talent. Despite how young she is, she is not just a flavor of the month singer. She is the real deal.

Edited June 9, 201412 yr by hoops5

This is amusing to me. The lovely lady and I had this discussion today because we always fight over the radio in the car. She loves country, I loathe it. I told her I just don't understand how people like it. She then proceeded to tell me I was the only family member that didn't like it and that I was the problem. All you do is listen to that 70's junk, she tells me. Now dems fightin' words. Don't mess with the memories of my life. Every song has a place in my memory bank. Who I was with, what I was doing. The rule is if you are driving you get the radio.

 

How do you remember the 70's???

#9 Jolene - Is that Bobby Mackey's song that he sometimes performs at his place? Been several years since I've been down there and heard him sing it.

This list is pretty bad IMO. Of all of the Willie Nelson songs that could have been included, Mama's don't let your babies should not have been in his top 10. No Hank Jr, entertainer of the year for a decade? No Garth Brooks, I'm not a huge fan but he is the biggest selling country artist ever and it's not close. His "Much Too Young" should have made the list. Several of the songs are bluegrass and not country, yes there is a huge difference. No "Hello Darlin"? Glenn Campbell at 16, he represented the worst era of country music besides the one we are experiencing right, now in that light Luke Bryan should have had a song on here....

 

Songs I would have included: "Much Too Young", "Hello Darlin", "A Country Boy Can Survive", "Dixie Land Delight", "My Hero's have always been Cowboys", "Smokey Mountain Rain", "Kiss an angel good Morning" and "Chisled in Stone"

 

Rolling Stone should stick to rock lol.