50 Greatest Country Songs We’ll Never Stop Listening To

Country music is the sound of America, which is why we ranked the greatest country songs of all time.

50 Greatest Country Songs We’ll Never Stop Listening To

The vaunted songwriter Harlan Howard is credited with first saying that country music is little more than “three chords and the truth.” Its “big bang” is widely considered to be the so-called Bristol Sessions of 1927 when engineer Ralph Peer came to an unassuming recording studio in Bristol, a town split down the middle between Virginia and Tennessee. It was there that the Carter family, from the nearby Virginia hills, first recorded — and a new genre of music was born.

Country music has many ingredients — among them, the blues, Gospel music of the South and the Scots-Irish violin sounds native to Appalachia — that make their way slowly up from the Mississippi Delta. Even the banjo, that anthemic instrument of country music, came from Africa!

But however you choose to label it, country music is the soundtrack of America, providing us with thousands of songs over the past hundred years. Which country songs are the greatest, though? Well, we’ve come up with a subjective ranking of the ones that helped shape country music today and the ones that, whether or not you’re a country fan, you can’t stop listening to when you hear them play.

50. ‘Take This Job and Shove It’

Artist: Johnny Paycheck

Year released: 1977

Label: Epic

The Story Behind the Song

It’s guaranteed that we’ve all felt like telling a boss what to do with that awful job at least once or twice in our lives. But rather than do so, it’s a better idea to sing along with Johnny Paycheck, who lived up to his name when this anti-work anthem ruled the country charts at the top spot for several months.

Perhaps Paycheck took his own advice a bit too seriously, as he even spent some time in prison in the 1990s.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

One of these days I'm gonna' blow my top

And that sucker, he's gonna' pay

Lord, I can't wait to see their faces

When I get the nerve to say

Take this job and shove it

49. ‘Friends in Low Places’

Artist: Garth Brooks

Year released: 1990

Label: Capitol Nashville

The Story Behind the Song

The word around Nashville was that this kid Troyal Garth Brooks from Oklahoma had some serious songwriting chops. Country fans had already taken notice as his self-titled debut album climbed up to No. 2 on the country charts. But then came 1990’s “No Fences,” which launched Brooks into a superstardom the likes of which the country scene had never before seen.

Although Brooks didn’t actually write the album’s lead single, “No Fences,” it took off on the charts, cementing him as the top draw in country music in the ‘90s.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

'Cause I've got friends in low places

Where the whiskey drowns

And the beer chases my blues away

48. ‘Wagon Wheel’

Artist: Old Crow Medicine Show

Year released: 2004

Label: Nettwerk

The Story Behind the Song

Believe it or not, this song took more than 25 years to write. That’s because it’s co-written by Bob Dylan and Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show.

Dylan recorded the chorus in 1973, but it wasn’t until 2003 that Secor sought copyright for the song that he had finished (and was singing around town in his early music days). The two songwriters signed a co-writing agreement and agreed to a 50-50 split in authorship.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

I made it down the coast in seventeen hours

Pickin' me a bouquet of dogwood flowers

And I'm a-hopin' for Raleigh, I can see my baby tonight

47. ‘She’s in Love With the Boy’

Artist: Tricia Yearwood

Year released: 1991

Label: MCA

The Story Behind the Song

Tricia Yearwood of Georgia had the voice to be a star, but she needed a really catchy tune to make the establishment sit up and take notice. Enter “She’s in Love With the Boy,” written by John Ims, which tells the very country tale of a lady named Katie, whose father doesn’t take a shine to her new boyfriend. Katie’s mother reminds her father that at one point, he too was “just a hayseed plowboy without a row to hoe.”

In other words: Back off, Dad; Katie loves the boy, who is just like you were once! The song went to No. 1 on the Hot Country charts, and Yearwood’s career was off to the races. (She later married Garth Brooks!)

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

Her daddy say he ain't worth a lick

When it comes to brains

He got the short end of the stick

46. ‘Before He Cheats’

Artist: Carrie Underwood

Year released: 2005

Label: Arista

The Story Behind the Song

Many “American Idol” winners are barely heard from again, but then there’s Carrie Underwood. Shortly after winning Season 4 of “Idol,” Underwood got together with some of Nashville’s best songwriters for her debut album, “Some Hearts.”

Among the many singles released from that record was “Before He Cheats,” written by Josh Kear and Chris Tompkins. Imagine that: Slagging off on the dude before he steps out! Music lovers agreed with the sentiment and gravitated to the song like nobody’s business. Underwood’s career has been gangbusters ever since.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

Right now, he's probably slow dancin'

With a bleached-blond tramp and she's probably gettin' frisky

Right now, he's probably buyin' her some fruity little drink

'Cause she can't shoot whiskey

45. ‘New San Antonio Rose’

Artist: Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys

Year released: 1940

Label: Okeh

The Story Behind the Song

Those of us of a certain age have vivid memories of the records our grandparents used to spin, which were often plaintive cries of pining love (little has changed). One of those tunes of the pre-war years was “New San Antonio Rose” by Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys.

If you listen closely to its horn section, it seems to have more in common with the Big Band sounds of Glen Miller and Tommy Dorsey than with classic country. Which once again goes to show how numerous were the influences upon what we came to know as “country” music.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

Broken song, empty words I know

Still live in my heart all alone

For that moonlit pass by the Alamo

And rose, my rose of San Antone

44. ‘The Thunder Rolls’

Artist: Garth Brooks

Year released: 1991

Label: Capitol Nashville

The Story Behind the Song

Another single from “No Fences” was Garth’s reimagining of a Tanya Tucker tune, which he rewrote and put his unique stamp on. The “Thunder” of the song’s title is both literal and figurative, as a fighting married couple engages in a stormy argument as dark clouds roll in and the sky overhead booms.

Brooks scored yet again with “Thunder,” which became king of the Hot Country Charts in 1991.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

She's waitin' by the window, when he pulls into the drive

She rushes out to hold him, thankful he's alive

But on the wind and rain, a strange new perfume blows

And the lightnin' flashes in her eyes

And he knows that she knows

43. ‘Whiskey Lullaby’

Artist: Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss

Year released: 2004

Label: Barista Nashville

The Story Behind the Song

Written by Bill Anderson and Jon Randall, this song was a duet recorded by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss on Paisley’s 2004 album, “Mud on the Tires.”

Written about Randall’s whiskey-drinking habit after a divorce, the relatable lyrics turned it into an international success, even earning the 2005 Country Music Association Song of the Year Award.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

She put him out like the burnin' end of a midnight cigarette

She broke his heart, he spent his whole life tryin' to forget

42. ‘Always on My Mind’

Artist: Willie Nelson

Year released: 1982

Label: Columbia

The Story Behind the Song

A great many artists recorded “Always on My Mind,” including Elvis Presley in 1972. However, the song’s most famous iteration was by Texas’s own Willie Nelson. Nelson’s version found an audience not only with country fans, but it crossed over onto the pop charts as well.

Nelson’s rendition is slow and spare, with his voice putting absolute pain into the lyrical longing of the tune. We challenge you to listen to it without getting misty-eyed.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

If I made you feel second best

Girl I'm sorry I was blind

You were always on my mind

41. ‘Good Old Mountain Dew’

Artist: Grandpa Jones and His Grandchildren

Year released: 1947

Label: Gusto Records

The Story Behind the Song

You know that horribly wonderful very yellow soda that people either love or hate? Well, betcha didn’t know that “mountain dew” is actually Appalachian slang for moonshine, a homemade alcohol that was made by moonlight in the days of Prohibition so as to avoid detection.

The song was a standard in Appalachia, and Grandpa Jones (born Louis Marshall Jones) put his imprimatur on the tune about delicious — or so we’ve heard — moonshine.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

Well my uncle Snort he's sawed off and short

He measures four feet two

But feels like a giant when you give him a pint

Of that good old mountain dew

40. ‘ Streets of Bakersfield’

Artist: Buck Owens and Dwight Yoakam

Year released: 1988

Label: Reprise

The Story Behind the Song

Buck Owens, king of the Bakersfield Sound, teamed up with Dwight Yoakam for this ode to the Central Valley city where Owens found his voice. Owens recorded an initial version in 1973, but it found a whole new audience when Yoakam sought to cover it for his own album, “Buenas Noches from a Lonely Room.”

Thankfully, Owens agreed to the duet, which repopularized his composition from 15 years prior.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

I came here in looking for somethin'

I couldn't find anywhere else

Well, I don't want to be nobody,

Just want a chance to be myself.

39. ‘Me and Bobby McGee’

Artist: Kris Kristofferson

Year released: 1970

Label: Monument

The Story Behind the Song

Janis Joplin’s 1971 cover of this famous song written by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster is arguably the most recognizable version out there — so much so that Kristofferson’s record label reprinted his self-titled debut album as “Me and Bobby McGee” to capitalize on the song’s popularity.

Kristofferson’s rendition of his own song is understandably less manic than Joplin’s — and way more country. In fact, Krisofferson is heard, on the record, introducing the song with these wise words: “If it sounds country, man, that’s what it is.”

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

From the Kentucky coal mines to the California sun

Yeah, Bobby shared the secrets of my soul

Through all kinds of weather, through everything we done

Yeah, Bobby baby kept me from the cold

38. ‘You Don’t Know Me’

Artist: Ray Charles

Year released: 1962

Label: ABC-Paramount

The Story Behind the Song

Despite country music having a reputation of being a White genre, artists such as Charley Pride and Ray Charles broke through its color barrier with crossover hits of their own. For Charles’s seminal 1962 album “Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music,” the pianist included a cover of a song written earlier by Cindy Walker.

Charles made “You Don’t Know Me” his own, infusing the country song with soul and pathos — and earning him many new fans in the process.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

No, you don't know the one

Who dreams of you each night

And longs to kiss your lips

And longs to hold you tight

37. ‘Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way’

Artist: Waylon Jennings

Year released: 1975

Label: RCA Nashville

The Story Behind the Song

By the 1970s, country music had been around long enough for its artists to be critical about the industry itself. Which is precisely what Waylon Jennings did in 1975 when he criticized the “rhinestone suits and new shiny cars” that country’s biggest stars were showing off as signposts of their wealth and success.

Jennings, cracking down hard on his contemporaries, rhetorically asked if Hank Williams, the “hillbilly Shakespeare,” would approve? It’s hard to know, considering Williams’ career was just starting to take off when he died at age 29.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

Rhinestone suits and new shiny cars

It's been the same way for years

We need a change

36. ‘Don’t Get Above Your Raisin’

Artist: Ricky Skaggs

Year released: 1975

Label: RCA Nashville

The Story Behind the Song

Not getting “above your raisin” was an old Southern saw about staying grounded. In 1951 Earl Scruggs and Lester Flatt penned a musical poem about how it’s important to stay true to yourself, even as fame and fortune came your way.

Ricky Skaggs covered the song in 1975, reminding a whole new generation of country fans that it’s crucial to remember your roots — even while broadcasting such sentiments coast to coast on radio and television.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

Now looky here gal you better be yourself

And leave that other stuff on the shelf

You're country, baby

That's plain to see

35. ‘Somebody Should Leave’

Artist: Reba McEntire

Year released: 1984

Label: MCA

The Story Behind the Song

A loveless marriage is a terrible scenario in which to find oneself. Even worse is when you know it must end, but you’re terrified that the children won’t understand why. That’s the heartbreak Reba McEntire sings of in “Somebody Should Leave,” in which the plaintive narrator realizes that one or the other spouse in this dead-end marriage must get out — but whom?

That no-win scenario has been faced by countless couples, and in her song, McEntire tapped into something universal about when relationships end.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

I read a book you watch TV

As our love dies quietly

I'm so sad I don't know what I just read

34. ‘Kiss an Angel Good Morning’

Artist: Charley Pride

Year released: 1971

Label: MCA

The Story Behind the Song

As previously mentioned, Charley Pride proved that country music knew no color: What mattered was the truth of the lyrics and the beauty of the music. Pride’s biggest splash came in 1971, when he released “Kiss an Angel Good Morning,” in which the narrator can’t believe his good fortune at being able to wake up to a wonderful woman each day.

Sadly, Pride, who was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2000, passed away in December 2020 due to COVID-19 complications. He was 86.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

Well, people may try to guess

The secret of happiness

But some of them never learn it's a simple thing

The secret I'm speakin' of is a woman and a man in love

And the answer is in the song that I always sing

33. ‘Coal Miner’s Daughter’

Artist: Loretta Lynn

Year released: 1970

Label: Decca

The Story Behind the Song

Loretta Lynn was indeed the scioness of a man who worked in Kentucky’s coal mines — and about this aspect of her upbringing she was unapologetic. Yes, they were poor, but the house was filled with love, and the family’s abiding religious faith kept them smiling.

This 1970 tune, written by Lynn herself, topped the Hot Country charts and became Lynn’s signature tune. Indeed, the 1980 biopic about Lynn — which netted star Sissy Spacek an Oscar — borrowed the song as its title.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

Daddy loved and raised eight kids on a miner's pay

Mommy scrubbed our clothes on a washboard ever' day

Why I've seen her fingers bleed

To complain, there was no need

She'd smile in mommy's understanding way

32. ‘This One's Gonna Hurt You (For a Long, Long Time)’

Artist: Marty Stuart with Travis Tritt

Year released: 1992

Label: MCA

The Story Behind the Song

Mississippi native Marty Stuart was seen extensively as a talking head in Ken Burns’ 2019 documentary “Country Music,” and for good reason. Stuart has been a force to be reckoned with in the genre for decades, and he and pal Travis Tritt knocked one out of the park with this duet.

Country fans in America and Canada dug the song, and it did quite well during the summer of 1992.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

There's a bottle on the table, to help me understand

How love can go so wrong between a woman and a man

31. ‘Wabash Cannonball’

Artist: Roy Acuff

Year released: 1936

Label: Hickory Records

The Story Behind the Song

The standard “Wabash Cannonball,” about American train travel, dates back to the 1880s and is one of the tunes that has been covered many many times over the years. The Carter Family recorded it during the Bristol Sessions of 1929, and country pioneer Roy Acuff also covered it in 1936.

Acuff sang about America’s can-do spirit as millions were being put back to work thanks to the New Deal. Millions of Americans, fed up with the Depression, plunked down their hard-earned cash to buy the record.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

Well she came down from Birmingham one cold December day

As she pulled into the station you could hear all the people say

She's from Tennessee she's long and she's tall

She came down from Birmingham on the Wabash Cannonball

30. ‘Folsom Prison Blues’

Artist: Johnny Cash

Year released: 1955

Label: Sun

The Story Behind the Song

Not only is Johnny Cash one of the greatest country musicians of all time (you’ll see him again and again on this list), he also managed to bring attention to the penal system. Keep in mind this was the 1950s, and very few celebrities would give inmates a second thought, let alone take the time to perform for them.

Cash did just that for his live album, “At Folsom Prison” in 1968.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

I bet there's rich folks eating in a fancy dining car

They're probably drinkin' coffee and smoking big cigars

Well I know I had it coming, I know I can't be free

But those people keep on movin'

And that's what tortures me

29. ‘Mean’

Artist: Taylor Swift

Year released: 2010

Label: Big Machine

The Story Behind the Song

Before she was the queen of pop — heck, in 2020 alone, she released not one but two lockdown albums — Tay Tay was making quite a name for herself around Nashville. “Mean” seems rather light in subject and melodic maturity considering her later work, but then again, she was just 21 years old at the time.

Years later, Swift would later revisit “Mean’s” subject matter — clapping back at an overbearing public who criticized her every move — with “Shake It Off.”

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

And I can see you years from now in a bar

Talking over a football game

With that same big loud opinion

But nobody's listening

Washed up and ranting about the same old bitter things

Drunk and grumbling on about how I can't sing

28. ‘Hello Walls’

Artist: Faron Young

Year released: 1961

Label: Capitol

The Story Behind the Song

A cardinal rule of the music business is that if you’re trying to become a singer-songwriter, try writing music for other people. Thus, while trying to make his start, one Willie Nelson slipped this love song to Faron Young, affectionately known as “the Hillbilly Heartthrob.”

“Hello Walls,” which bears more than a bit of the doo-wop sound, topped the country charts for Young in 1961. As for Nelson, he didn’t do so bad himself, as we shall see.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

Hello ceiling, (hello) (hello)

I'm gonna stare at you awhile

You know I can't sleep

So won't you bear with me awhile?

27. ‘Blue Yodel No. 1 (T For Texas)’

Artist: Jimmie Rodgers

Year released: 1928

Label: Victor

The Story Behind the Song

Jimmie Rodgers was the first superstar of country music, and his connection to the music goes all the way back to those aforementioned Bristol Sessions. Accordingly, “Blue Yodel No. 1” was produced by Ralph Peer, who had recorded those sessions along the Virginia-Tennessee border the year prior.

So much of what would become the DNA of country music is right there in “Blue Yodel,” including those simple guitar chords and Rodgers reaching for the stars with his famous yodelings.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

If you don't want me, Mama

You sure don't have to stall

'Cause I can get more women

Than a passenger train can haul

26. ‘I Saw the Light’

Artist: Hank Williams

Year released: 1948

Label: MGM

The Story Behind the Song

The gospel influence on country music was perhaps never more evident than on this post-war tune from Hank Williams, aka “the Hillbilly Shakespeare.” Its lyrics are almost stupidly simple, revolving around a man coming to a spiritual awakening following a hedonistic life on the edge — calling back to that biblical story of the blind man whom Jesus made see.

So identified was Williams with the song that when he died unexpectedly in 1953 — only 29 years old — a bereaved Hawkshaw Hawkins performed the song live for a disbelieving crowd.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

I was a fool to wander and stray

For straight is the gate and narrows the way

Now I have traded the wrong for the right

Praise the Lord, I saw the light

25. ‘Can the Circle Be Unbroken’

Artist: The Carter Family

Year released: 1935

Label: Banner

The Story Behind the Song

A.P. Carter brought his family down “from the mountains” of extreme southwestern Virginia to the Bristol Sessions in 1927 so that some of the traditional songs he and his family performed around their hilly community could be recorded for posterity. One of the songs he and his family put to tape during those sessions — June wasn’t added to the brood until 1929 — was a turn-of-the-century spiritual called “Will the Circle Be Unbroken.”

Paterfamilias Carter changed the first word to “Can” and did some reworking of the rest of the lyrics, and it’s been known by that name ever since. It’s such a seminal song that filmmaker Ken Burns used it as the first track of the soundtrack for his 16-hour 2019 documentary “Country Music.”

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

Oh, I followed close behind her

Tried to hold up and be brave

But I could not hide my sorrow

When they laid her in the grave

24. ‘Walking the Floor Over You’

Artist: Ernest Tubb

Year released: 1941

Label: Decca

The Story Behind the Song

Ernest Tubb had lost his ability to yodel by the end of the 1930s and feared his career in country music was over before it even began. But Tubb refused to say die and kept on writing and recording, even as his voice had lost much of its early luster.

And it didn’t matter, as his 1941 composition “Walking the Floor Over You” proved a hit with listeners, many of whom found a certain joy in Tubb’s less-than-perfect singing style. The song has been covered many times, and Tubbs is referred to as one of the earliest honky tonk singers.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

Now someday you may be lonesome to

Walking the floor is good for you

Just keep right on walking and it won't hurt you to cry

Remember that I love you and I will the day I die

23. ‘Angel From Montgomery’

Artist: John Prine

Year released: 1971

Label: Atlantic

The Story Behind the Song

This song has been covered countless times, perhaps most famously by Bonnie Raitt, but it was John Prine who originally recorded the song for his self-titled album.

The song is about a middle-aged woman who feels older than she is, and Prine used Montgomery for the song’s setting as an ode to Hank Williams, who’s buried in the Alabama town.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

If dreams were lightning

And thunder were desire

This old house would've burned down

A long time ago

22. ‘Ring of Fire’

Artist: Johnny Cash

Year released: 1963

Label: Columbia Nashville

The Story Behind the Song

The “Man in Black” had been traveling around and performing with the Carter family of singers for quite some time when he gave a listen to a song by eventual wife June Carter’s sister, Anita.

It was then called “(Love’s) Ring of Fire,” and though it got Anita some positive notice, Cash thought it needed that special something to really make it dance. Accordingly, Cash reconfigured the arrangement, plugged in his guitar and added in those oh-so-wonderful mariachi horns, and the rest is history.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

The taste of love is sweet

When hearts like ours meet

I fell for you like a child

Oh, but the fire went wild

21. ‘The Gambler’

Artist: Kenny Rogers

Year released: 1978

Label: United Artists

The Story Behind the Song

Songwriter Don Schlitz had penned a tune about encountering a cardsharp on a “train bound for nowhere” in 1976 when he was 23. It bounced around Nashville for a while until Kenny Rogers, the white-beared doyen of country, put his own imprimatur on the song in 1978.

Rogers’ take on “The Gambler” rocketed up the charts and earned him a Grammy in the process. Often imitated but never equaled, “The Gambler” remained Rogers’ signature tune right up until his death in March 2020 at 81.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

Every gambler knows

That the secret to survivin'

Is knowin' what to throw away

And knowin' what to keep

20. ‘If You’ve Got the Money, I’ve Got the Time’

Artist: Lefty Frizzell

Year released: 1950

Label: Big Columbia

The Story Behind the Song

Today, Lefty Frizzell is considered country music royalty, but even he had to start out somewhere. Hungry to get his message across to listeners, Frizzell co-wrote this upbeat mid-century tune about making the rounds of the honky tonks and dive bars with a special someone — or even with a not-so-special someone.

“If You’ve Got the Money, I’ve Got the Time” caught fire and was later covered by everyone from George Jones to Merle Haggard.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

Yes, we'll go honky tonkin', make every club in town

We'll go to the park where it's dark, we won't fool around

But if you run short of money, I'll run short of time

'Cause you with no more money, honey, I've no more time

19. ‘Wichita Lineman’

Artist: Glen Campbell

Year released: 1968

Label: Capitol

The Story Behind the Song

One reason that country music reverberates so much with audiences is that so many of its songs deal with the common man and his workaday troubles. Accordingly, Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman” (written by Jimmy Webb) weaves a yarn about a telephone operator in Kansas whose lonely job is to connect calls from near and far.

Yes, this was an actual job for many people in the old days before area codes — and text messaging — allowed us to reach out to someone without a human intermediary. Considered the first "existential country song," the lineman Campbell describes is meant to represent loneliness.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

I know I need a small vacation

But it don't look like rain

And if it snows that stretch down south

Won't ever stand the strain

18. ‘Don't Come Home a’ Drinkin (With Lovin’ on Your Mind)’

Artist: Loretta Lynn

Year released: 1966

Label: Decca

The Story Behind the Song

The original coal miner’s daughter, Loretta Lynn had plenty to sing about by the time she turned 24 in 1966. By that point, she had already been married for nine years and had a few children with husband Oliver Vanetta “Doolittle” Lynn, who was rather fond of putting back a beer or five — and showing up back at the homestead in a rather unfortunate state.

“Don’t Come Home a’ Drinkin” became Lynn’s first No. 1 hit.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

Just stay out there on the town and see what you can find

'Cause if you want that kind of love well you don't need none of mine

So don't come home a drinkin' with lovin' on your mind

17. ‘All My Ex’s Live in Texas’

Artist: George Strait

Year released: 1987

Label: MCA

The Story Behind the Song

Years before Garth Brooks was a household name, George Strait was country music’s biggest “crossover” star, with his songs wending into jukeboxes far away from the honky tonks of the Deep South.

“All My Ex’s” was written by Sanger D. Shafer and his fourth wife, Lyndia J. Shafter, and told of a man escaping all of his Lone State paramours by “hanging my hat in Tennessee.” The song found its way to “King George” and soon was No. 1 on the country charts.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

All my exes live in Texas

And Texas is a place I'd dearly love to be

But all my exes live in Texas

That's why I hang my hat in Tennessee

16. ‘Blue Moon of Kentucky’

Artist: Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys

Year released: 1945

Label: Columbia

The Story Behind the Song

Not surprisingly, “bluegrass” music emanated from Kentucky, whose nickname is the Bluegrass State. Native son Bill Monroe melded the fiddle sounds he heard growing up in the southwestern portion of Kentucky with gospel, swing and other music — all of which became the genesis of bluegrass.

A few years after Monroe recorded “Blue Moon of Kentucky,” the song was covered by another talented Southerner by the name of Elvis Aaron Presley. “Blue Moon of Kentucky” remains Monroe’s most famous song and is now his home state’s official bluegrass song.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

The stars were shining bright

When they whispered from on high

15. ‘Settin’ the Woods on Fire’

Artist: Hank Williams

Year released: 1952

Label: MGM

The Story Behind the Song

Songwriters Fred Rose and Ed G. Nelson handed this rather simple tune off to Hank Williams, who turned it into a seminal country-fried anthem of how important it was to fight for your right to party (and this was decades before the Beastie Boys, mind you).

The tune features some rather forced rhyming schemes and isn’t super complicated, but what it lacks in complexity it more than makes up for in its unvarnished emotional honesty.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

I don't care who thinks we're silly

You'll be daffy I'll be dilly

We'll order up two bowls of chili

Settin' the woods on fire

14. ‘Goodbye Earl’

Artist: The Dixie Chicks

Year released: 1999

Label: Monument

The Story Behind the Song

Two decades before these talented ladies dropped the word, “Dixie,” from their name — but only a few years before Natalie Maines earned some serious backlash for unflattering remarks about a certain former president — the Texas trio got bigtime airplay with “Goodbye Earl,” released in late 1999 ahead of their album “Fly.”

The song tells a tale of a narrator getting revenge on her lover for domestic violence. This raised many an eyebrow and even got the tune banned from several country stations.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

Well, the weeks went by and spring turned to summer

And summer faded into fall

And it turns out he was a missing person who nobody missed at all

13. ‘It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels’

Artist: Kitty Wells

Year released: 1952

Label: Decca

The Story Behind the Song

Long before rappers beefed with other rappers in song, country artists had the game down pat. Nowhere was this more true in country music’s early days than in “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” — written in response to Hank Thompson’s “The Wild Side of Life,” which painted the narrator’s lady love as a harlot.

Accordingly, Kitty Wells’ tune is a proto-feminist screed calling out cheating husbands and unfaithful boyfriends and was such a sensation it became the first No. 1 solo country hit for a female artist.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

I flew to the moon, but it wasn't far enough away from you

'Cause all our problems, they follow me

12. ‘Man of Constant Sorrow’

Artist: Stanley Brothers

Year released: 1951

Label: Columbia

The Story Behind the Song

The origins of this folk tune go back to the late 19th century when it was a church standard. It was interpreted many times over the ensuing decades, yet the version by the Stanley Brothers of 1951 brought it to mainstream audiences.

It’s a rather simple affair, which is likely why so many subsequent artists put their own stamp on the tune. Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Judy Collins all did covers, and “Man of Constant Sorrow” even crossed into the 21st century thanks to a rendition by the Soggy Bottom Boys for the 2000 film, “O Brother, Where Are Thou?”

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

For in this world

I'm bound to ramble

I have no friends to help me now

11. ‘I've Got a Tiger by the Tail’

Artist: Buck Owens and the Buckaroos

Year released: 1964

Label: Capitol

The Story Behind the Song

Not all country music came from the South; an explosion of the genre was also taking place way out west in California. Buck Owens of Bakersfield experimented with various instrumentations and cheeky lyrics, culminating in his most-renowned tune, “I’ve Got a Tiger by the Tail,” which legend says was inspired by a billboard for Esso gasoline.

Owens remains the granddaddy of the “Bakersfield sound,” and today, you can visit Owens’ Crystal Palace, a performance venue he oversaw completion of in 1996.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

Well, I thought the day I met you, you were meek as a lamb;

Just the kind to fit my dreams and plans.

But now, the pace we're livin' takes the wind from my sails

And it looks like I've Got A Tiger By The Tail.

10. ‘Mama Tried’

Artist: Merle Haggard

Year released: 1968

Label: Capitol

The Story Behind the Song

After getting out of the joint, Merle Haggard made good on his vow to walk the straight and narrow and give music an honest try. They say write what you know, and Haggard did precisely that with “Mama Tried,” which spins a tale about a ne’er-do-well fellow who strayed rather far from the path of righteousness preached by his mother — and wound up, naturally, in the slammer.

Haggard never went back to prison but spent the rest of his life making money singing about outlaws, scoundrels and highwaymen.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

Despite all my Sunday learning

Towards the bad I kept on turning

Till Mama couldn't hold me anymore

9. ‘Standing on the Corner (Blue Yodel No. 9)’

Artist: Jimmie Rodgers

Year released: 1930

Label: RCA Victor

The Story Behind the Song

Even though Jimmie Rodgers, widely considered the father of country music, had often performed in blackface, he nonetheless invited an up-and-coming trumpet player named Louis Armstrong to accompany him on a sultry solo for the recording of “Standing on the Corner.” Armstrong’s killer trumpet provides an amazing counterpoint to Rodgers’ signature yodeling, making “Blue Yodel No. 9” one of the great early meetings of country and jazz.

Music has the power to break down all kinds of barriers, with skin color but one of them.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

I said, "You'll find my name on the tail of my shirt

I'm a Tennessee hustler, I don't have to work"

8. ‘He Stopped Loving Her Today’

Artist: George Jones

Year released: 1980

Label: Epic

The Story Behind the Song

George Jones’ career was often troubled by alcohol abuse and the singer’s mental fugues, and by 1980, he had gone several years without a hit. Rolling Stone reports that because of his unfocused state, it took well over a year for Jones to complete the recording of “He Stopped Loving Her Today.”

Afterwards, he very publicly criticized the work as treacly and saccharine. But audiences felt differently, and the song earned Jones a Grammy, reminding country fans of his prodigious skill.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

Kept some letters by his bed

Dated nineteen sixty-two

He had underlined in red

Every single "I love you"

7. ‘Stand By Your Man’

Artist: Tammy Wynette

Year released: 1968

Label: Epic

The Story Behind the Song

The message of “Stand by Your Man” could be viewed in 2021 as decidedly un-woke. Tammy Wynette co-wrote this encouragement to keep by your fellow no matter what (or whom) he does. (Never mind that Wynette was divorced four times in her life.)

Despite some lyrics that would make today’s social justice warriors fume with rage, it remains insanely catchy, and you can’t help but sing along when it comes out of the speaker.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

You'll have bad times, and he'll have good times

Doin' things that you don't understand

6. ‘The Dance’

Artist: Garth Brooks

Year released: 1990

Label: Capitol Nashville

The Story Behind the Song

Garth Brooks was all the rage in the 1990s, and while we love gathering around a jukebox and singing the previously listed “Friends in Low Places,” it’s his song, “The Dance,” that earns a top spot on our list. It’s message about life and looking at the bigger picture is one that continues to resonate with fans even after 30 years.

His second No. 1 hit, this one is quintessential Brooks, and he’s been quoted saying it’s his own personal favorite.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

Our lives are better left to chance

I could have missed the pain

But I'd have had to miss the dance

5. ‘Mammas, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys’

Artist: Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson

Year released: 1978

Label: United Artists

The Story Behind the Song

Thanks to the likes of Merle Haggard, Kris Kristofferson, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings, a subgenre of country music came about known as “outlaw country.” (Haggard really did serve time behind bars and was actually in the “captive” audience for Cash’s famous San Quentin concert in 1969.)

Jennings called up pal Willie Nelson to duet on a cover of Ed Bruce’s cautionary tale, which warned mothers to keep their sons away from the wild life. The two crooners took the song to the top of the charts.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

Cowboys ain't easy to love and they're harder to hold

They'd rather give you a song than diamonds or gold

4. ‘Crazy’

Artist: Patsy Cline

Year released: 1962

Label: Decca

The Story Behind the Song

Although Willie Nelson wrote this mournful dirge about love unrequited, it was singer Patsy Cline who will forever be married to his composition. Cline was then at the heights of her fame in the music world and on the hunt for new material to reach audiences. After several other artists had passed on Nelson’s song, Cline took it into the studio and wove it into audio gold.

Tragically, Cline died in a plane crash the following year at just 30 years old, which no doubt helped “Crazy” become as immortal as her legend.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

I'm crazy for trying

And crazy for crying

And I'm crazy for loving you

3. ‘I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry’

Artist: Hank Williams

Year released: 1949

Label: MGM

The Story Behind the Song

If you could only take one song to another planet to explain to aliens what “country music” is all about, bring none other than Hank Williams’ seminal “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry.” In just three short minutes, the so-called Hillbilly Shakespeare packs a serious emotional punch, giving simple yet profound voice to the narrator’s serious desolation.

Covered many times by other artists but never equalled, this is country music at its absolute best.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

The silence of a falling star

Lights up a purple sky

2. ‘I Walk the Line’

Artist: Johnny Cash

Year released: 1956

Label: Sun

The Story Behind the Song

It may be among the simplest popular songs ever written, but what an impact it had! Johnny Cash was 24 when he walked into Memphis’ Sun Studios, desperate to impress label svengali Sam Phillips. Legends abound about precisely what happened next, but Phillips recognized that there was something to this kid from Arkansas and his opus “I Walk the Line.” The recording is almost comically simple, with Cash humming to get his pitch and tapping his guitar because, as he later said, he couldn’t afford a drummer during the session.

The song has been interpreted in countless ways, some even saying he was actually singing “I Walk the Line” to God, making it simultaneously both country and gospel.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

You've got a way to keep me on your side

You give me cause for love that I can't hide

For you I know I'd even try to turn the tide

Because you're mine, I walk the line

1. ‘Jolene’

Artist: Dolly Parton

Year released: 1973

Label: RCA Victor

The Story Behind the Song

There actually was a real Jolene, an 8-year-old who was lucky enough to be front and center at a Dolly Parton concert. Parton asked the girl her name and liked it so much that she wrote a hit song about it.

The subject matter about a floozy after Dolly’s man is much less innocent, but it had such a ring of truth to it that record-buyers lined up in droves when the song hit the stores in 1973. It’s widely considered to be the greatest country song ever written about cheating husbands — and, in our opinion, is the greatest of all time.

Our Favorite Lyrics From the Country Song

Dolly Parton, Elizabeth Moore, Mary Fogarty, Rosemary Prinz, Susan Masur, Connie Shulman, Betsey Aidem

Your beauty is beyond compare

With flaming locks of auburn hair

With ivory skin and eyes of emerald green