From the Ryman to the Opry
Will had an audition in Nashville for drum corps, so Dave and I took advantage of a weekend away to explore. When he asked me what I wanted to do, I only had one answer: attend the live WSM broadcast of the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday night. Why? I'm not much of a country music fan, but I respect the history. The date we were going was after the 100th anniversary show, which meant we would be in attendance as the Opry kicked off its second century of existence.
What we got was a show that mixed old and new, as a couple of kids made their Opry debut and one of the oldest, most renowned bluegrass bands returned, with grandpa, dad, and son all playing. Oh, and the guy who wrote The Gambler was there to tell the story and play it. June and Johnny Cash's kid was there with his wife to do a Christmas song, and let's do mom and dad's song "Jackson" for the hell of it.
So that got me on a kick to start listing what I think are the best country songs out there. Then I ran into a snag. I don't know much about country music, and the genre blurs lines: is it country or country and western? Or is it gospel? Folk? Country rock? Bluegrass? Western swing? Rolling Stone, in its countdown of the greatest country songs ever (which was a guide to help me pick my own), says of country music, "...another reminder that genres are largely arbitrary concepts."
If you know, you know. And if you don't, you just feel it in your heart and ask for forgiveness instead of permission.
I'm not going to saddle myself with numbers, since in this case, while I have some solid favorites, a one is as good as a five. And when I was worried about getting a hundred, I shot right past that number. And if I limit myself to 100 this year, while I listen to Willie's Roadhouse and ponder, I can easily come up with many more as my memory is jogged.
So here's the big guns, the ones I will drop everything to belt along with the rest of y'all:
Dottie West, Country Sunshine
Bobby Bare, Daddy What If
Donna Fargo, Happiest Girl in the Whole USA
Olivia Newton-John, Let Me Be There
John Denver, Calypso
Bobbie Gentry, Ode to Billy Joe
Patsy Cline, Crazy
Johnny Cash, Ring of Fire
Marty Robbins, El Paso
Willie Nelson, Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground
Jo-El Sonnier, Jambalaya
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