1970's Country Songs POX or whatever

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So I've been listening to Glen Cambell's Wichita Lineman over and over today and I've decided that I need to buy/download more country songs from this decade. This is a segment of music that I've sorely overlooked, so feel free to be as obvious or obsure as you want. Help me ILM. You're my only hope.

― darin (darin), Friday, 21 October 2005 21:46 (twenty years ago)

Download the entirety of Willie Nelson's Red Headed Stranger.

― polyphonic (polyphonic), Friday, 21 October 2005 21:47 (twenty years ago)

"Wichita Lineman" is from 1969, no?

Anyway, Gram Parsons entire solo output to thread!

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 21 October 2005 21:57 (twenty years ago)

Was it from '69? I had no idea. Ok, if anyone has any 60's suggestions, throw them in too.

My parents owned Red Headed Stranger and I remember really liking it as a child.

― darin (darin), Friday, 21 October 2005 22:05 (twenty years ago)

Richard and Linda Thompson: I Wanna See the Bright Lights Tonight

― Cunga (Cunga), Friday, 21 October 2005 22:22 (twenty years ago)

Skeeter Davis - "Bus Fare To Kentucky"

― milton parker (Jon L), Friday, 21 October 2005 22:57 (twenty years ago)

I luvs me some Lee Hazelwood. What else should I be listening to? (aka, the 60s & 70s country thread)
good country songs from the 70s

― Keith C (lync0), Friday, 21 October 2005 22:58 (twenty years ago)

Those links are great.

BTW, does anyone know of any decent box sets out there that collect this "countrypolitan" kind of stuff?

― darin (darin), Friday, 21 October 2005 23:03 (twenty years ago)

Jerry Lee Lewis - She Even Woke Me Up to Say Goodbye

I was listening to this just this morning and it still floors me. Also 1969, I think.

― whenuweremine (whenuweremine), Friday, 21 October 2005 23:21 (twenty years ago)

Gram Parsons and all that stuff is really great, but if you're looking for a primer of 70's Classic Country, I'd suggest you start with these:

10.) "Sleeping Single in a Double Bed" by Barbara Mandrell
9.) "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" by Freddy Fender
8.) "If We Make It Through December" by Merle Haggard
7.) "Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?" by Waylon Jennings
6.) "Don't the Girls All Get Prettier at Closing Time" by Mickey Gilley
5.) "Heaven's Just A Sin Away" by the Kendalls
4.) "Tulsa Time" by Don Williams
3.) "Behind Closed Doors" by Charlie Rich
2.) "Golden Ring" by George Jones & Tammy Wynette
1.) "Southern Nights" by Glen Campbell

I cannot stress enough just how incomplete this list is.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 21 October 2005 23:36 (twenty years ago)

1970s:

Charlie Rich, Memphis and Arkansas Bridge
Gary Stewart, Out of Hand
Gary Stewart, Single Again
Moe Bandy, This Time I Won't Cheat on Her Again
Bobby Bare, Amarillo Highway
Merle Haggard and the Strangers, California Cottonfields
Jerry Lee Lewis, Rita Mae
Gram Parsons, $1000 Wedding
Narvel Felts, Let My Fingers Do the Walking
Freddy Fender, Junko Partner

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Friday, 21 October 2005 23:45 (twenty years ago)

Good luck finding some of those to download.

― Pleasant Plains /// (Pleasant Plains ///), Friday, 21 October 2005 23:48 (twenty years ago)

Dolly Parton's mid seventies hits: "Jolene," "The Bargain Store" and "I Will Always Love You." Lynn Anderson's "Rose Garden."

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Friday, 21 October 2005 23:48 (twenty years ago)

A lot of good mentions - I'll add Terry Allen "Lubbock (on everything)" from '79, which I think is an essential 70s country record. The songs are incredible and Allen is a damn funny guy. Nothing countrypolitan about it though.

― TRG (TRG), Saturday, 22 October 2005 00:22 (twenty years ago)

Conway Twitty, "Hello Darlin'"
George Jones, "The Grand Tour"
Waylon Jennings, "Pretend I Never Happened"
Merle Haggard, "Silver Wings"
Tom T. Hall "Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine"

― Keith C (lync0), Saturday, 22 October 2005 00:28 (twenty years ago)

David Allan Coe - "You Never Even Called Me By My Name"

the perfect country western song!

― van igloo (van smack), Saturday, 22 October 2005 00:44 (twenty years ago)

Countrypolitan.... Guilty Pleasure or Blight on the Cosmos?

― Burger abortion i don't ask it i demand it!!!! (jaxon), Saturday, 22 October 2005 01:01 (twenty years ago)

all the stuff listed so far is so great, anyhoo here's some of my own faves...

Kris Kristofferson - Me And Bobby McGee/Sunday Morning Coming Down
Linda Rondstadt - Desperado
Dolly Parton - Coat Of Many Colours
Charley Pride - Kiss An Angel Good Mornin
Crystal Gale - Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue
Marty Robbins - My Woman, My Woman, My Wife / You Gave Me A Mountain (1969, I know but I thought I'd sneak it in anyway)

― VegemiteGrrl (VegemiteGrrl), Saturday, 22 October 2005 02:03 (twenty years ago)

Although he's usually not included in the countrypolitan genre, B.J. Thomas's "Hey Won't You Play Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" has to be considered for this.

― Joe McCombs, Saturday, 22 October 2005 02:08 (twenty years ago)

Til I Can Make It On My Own--Tammy Wynette
Tips and Tables--Billie Jo Spears
I Still Can't Believe You're Gone--Gary Stewart
Life's Little Ups and Downs--Charlie Rich
Right Now I'd Come Back ands Melt In Her Arms--George Jones
Hit and Run--George Jones
I Just Don't Give A Damn--George Jones
Pretend I Never Happened--Gary Stewart
Touching Home--Jerry Lee Lewis
The Way I Lose My Mind--Carl Smith

― lastdance, Saturday, 22 October 2005 04:39 (twenty years ago)

Flatlanders - "More A Legend Than A Band"

― TRG (TRG), Saturday, 22 October 2005 13:37 (twenty years ago)

Lots of good stuff here....especially Jolene

Also, there':

Tom T. Hall--Turn It On, Turn It On, Turn It On
Merle Haggard--The Old Man From The Mountain
Adoration--Glen Campbell
and basically the Glen Campbell album "Reunited with Jimmy Webb" in its entirety.

and if you extend the time period from 1968 to 1980, you can certainly add:

She Still Comes Around--Jerry Lee Lewis
He Stopped Loving Her Today--George Jones

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Saturday, 22 October 2005 14:19 (twenty years ago)

Jennifer Warnes' two singles, "I Know A Heartache When I See One" and "Right Time Of The Night," are great stuff. As is the latter's soundalike, Pure Prairie League's "Let Me Love You Tonight," cheesy sax solo and all.

― monkeybutler, Saturday, 22 October 2005 16:11 (twenty years ago)

well now podner, if we're going to extend it to albums, and start messing with the timeframe, def. the 70s double-LP compilation of Charlie Rich's 60s tracks, titled Fully Realized, cos Peter Guralnick, who put Charlie in the crits' pantheon, considered these his most fully realized recordings. Def pre-countrypolitan, in that they're too powerful for elevators, but they are refined enough. See The Complete Sun Sessions too. And Jerry Lee Lewis' London Sessions, from early 70s. And see robertchristgau.com, the 70s stuff there is great: Merle Willie Charlie Tom T. Gary (Stewart) and a bunch of others, all in their prime.

― don, Saturday, 22 October 2005 16:28 (twenty years ago)

I once downloaded and collected 80 minutes worth of nothing but covers of "Wichita Lineman" onto one cd. When I get home I'll list the artists I chose.

― hello uniform, Saturday, 22 October 2005 17:33 (twenty years ago)

hello uniform, that's a hell of an idea. Pleas list them, I can't wait.

Glen Campell fans should look for The Capitol Years 1965-1977, a double CD that has tons of great stuff on it.

― kornrulez6969 (TCBeing), Saturday, 22 October 2005 17:41 (twenty years ago)

More good Dolly hits: "Lonely Coming Down," "Love Is Like a Butterfly"

Donna Fargo - "Happiest Girl in the Whole U.S.A."
Tanya Tucker - "Delta Dawn" and "What's Your Mama's Name"

― Tim Ellison (Tim Ellison), Saturday, 22 October 2005 17:44 (twenty years ago)

Wichita Linemen
A Compilation Of "Wichita Lineman" Covers

Jimmy Web
Gil Trythall
The Troggs
Tom Jones
Smokey Robinson
Sergio Mendes
Ray Conniff
R.E.M
The Nite-Liters
Justus Kohncke
Johnny Cash
I Nomadi
Glen Campbell & Michelle Schocked
Glen Campbell
Friends Of Dean Martinez
Freedy Johnston
Dwight Yoakam
Dennis Brown
Cassandra Wilson
Andy Williams
Acker Bilk
+ 2 unknown artists

― hello uniform, Saturday, 22 October 2005 17:57 (twenty years ago)

Harper Valley PTA, where's the love for it?

― g'bye jeans, Saturday, 22 October 2005 18:12 (twenty years ago)

Harper Valley fuck yes! Allowed Tom T. Hall to live comfortably for a few years too.

― uniform hello, Saturday, 22 October 2005 18:19 (twenty years ago)

Tanya Tucker - "Delta Dawn" and "What's Your Mama's Name"

Two of my wife's favorite songs of all time. She puts them on and sings along very loudly. "What's Your Mama's Name" is a real tearjerker.

Anyway, Emmylou Harris needs a mention here. I'm partial to Blue Kentucky Girl, although her records are all kind of the same mix of country standards and pop covers.

― gypsy mothra (gypsy mothra), Saturday, 22 October 2005 23:33 (twenty years ago)

Mickey Newbury, 'specially his 1971 album, FRISCO MABEL JOY. Contains his hit "An American Trilogy," which later became a staple of Elvis Presley's live show.

FEELS LIKE RAIN is fine as well.

― Rev. Hoodoo (Rev. Hoodoo), Sunday, 23 October 2005 06:01 (twenty years ago)

Where's the love for Kenny Rogers - "You Picked A Fine Time To Leave Me Lucille", "Ruby Don't Take Your Love To Town", "The Gambler", "Coward of the County" etc?

(this might stretch from late 60s, but we seem to have dispensed with exact timeframes now).

― ailsa (ailsa), Sunday, 23 October 2005 09:52 (twenty years ago)

let's dispense w/songs now too. POX 70s (late 60s)country albums:

The Fabulous Charlie Rich Charlie Rich
Loretta Lynn Writes Em And Sings Em Loretta Lynn
Honky Tonk HeroesWaylon Jennings
In Search of a SongTom T. Hall
My Tennessee Mountain HomeDolly Parton
Phases and StagesWillie Nelson
Lewis CountryJerry Lee Lewis
Out of HandGary Stewart
Serving 190 ProofMerle Haggard
I Am What I AmGeorge Jones

― m coleman (lovebug starski), Sunday, 23 October 2005 10:45 (twenty years ago)

And also this kind of chamber, art-country, but not arty-country, like Dusty In Memphis, which I'm pretty sure Ron Jovanovic sez in his new Big Star history, was an influence on Third/Sister Lovers!(I don't wan get hooked on reading that book all over again, but pretty sure that's the basic template that Chilton and producer Jim Dickinson were going for: orchestral, but intimate, uncomfortably so, in Chilton's Southern Gothicky twisted way, o course. Which in turn was an influence on Freakwater's End Time and new Thinking Of You, and they also mentioned (John Cale's Paris 1919 and) "Elvis in Memphis," meaning, I think, his own sort of orchestral late 60s, like "Kentucky Rain," "In The Ghetto," Dylan's "Tomorrow Is A Long Time" (EP's the only good version of this I've heard), and "Don't Think Twice" (kind of a jam on the end of that one), "Burnin' Love," which is one of the very greatest singles of its kind, up there with Be My Baby" and "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'." (Both of which could have been accepted as country if they'd been recorded in Nashville of Memphis; hell, Brenda Lee coulda worked for Spector, if she'd wanted to, from what I've been told, but she was too smart for that madness.) And xpost Charlie Rich's Fully Realized fits with all 'at too.

― don, Sunday, 23 October 2005 13:21 (twenty years ago)

gary stewart's album "your place or mine" is superb. jerry lee lewis' late-'70s elektra album, the one with dylan's "rita may" on it, is fine. for a great dylan covers album, coulson, dean, mcguinness and flint's '73 "lo and behold" is really good--just found that one yesterday for seven bucks on LP; the raven reissue from '96 goes for high prices these days.

and the two charlie rich albums from '70, "boss man" and "fabulous charlie rich," are quite possibly his finest moment.

also in '70s: stoney edwards' LPs are well worth checking out. james talley's "got no bread" is excellent, in the lefty-folkie vein.

― edd s hurt (ddduncan), Sunday, 23 October 2005 17:25 (twenty years ago)

The Essential Dolly Parton and The Essential Willie Nelson include (but are not limited to) all of their essential (sorry) '70s hits. And a good George Jones & Tammy Wynette best-of (of their duets, I mean) is very necessary, too.

― Thomas Inskeep (submeat), Monday, 24 October 2005 00:25 (twenty years ago)

Slightly on the obscure side, but Stax had a black country singer on their Enterprise sub-label: O.B. McClinton. Four albums in all, every one worth hearing, but the two best were LIVE AT RANDY'S RODEO and OBIE FROM SENATOBIE. Look for them.

(Dusty Springfield = COUNTRY???)

― Rev. Hoodoo (Rev. Hoodoo), Monday, 24 October 2005 03:50 (twenty years ago)

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