featured country albums
-
- Taylor Swift
- Red
- Taylor Swift makes her big pop crossover move on Red.
- Johnny Cash
- The Complete Columbia…
- Mammoth 63-disc box containing all the albums Johnny Cash recorded for Columbia, along with his first Sun LP and two discs of non-LP singles.
-
- Toby Keith
- Hope on the Rocks
- Toby Keith strips his music down to the basics on the satisfying Hope on the Rocks.
- Martina McBride
- The Essential Martina…
- This set collects the hits and other important tracks from Martina McBride's career, and they show a singer with accessibility and grace.
-
- Chicago
- Ultimate Christmas Collection
- Two discs of highlights from Chicago's latter-day holiday records.
- John Hartford
- Aereo-Plain/Morning Bugle:…
- John Hartford's two 1970s Warner Bros. albums were alternative folk before anyone even had the notion of such a thing.
-
- Billy Ray Cyrus
- Change My Mind
- Change My Mind is a loose, rowdy record that's one of Billy Ray Cyrus' best.
- Lady Antebellum
- On This Winter's Night
- On This Winter's Night is a big, bright album for the hustle and bustle of the holiday season.
-
- Patsy Cline
- On the Air: Her Greatest…
- A nice set of 14 archival audio performances from TV appearances in 1962 and 1963, most of them drawn from WSM-TV's Pet Milk Grand Ole Opry show.
- Bobby Bare
- Darker Than Light
- Darker Than Light is a remarkable comeback record from country legend Bobby Bare.
-
- Uncle Kracker
- Midnight Special
- Uncle Kracker refashions himself as a country singer on the sunny, laid-back Midnight Special.
- Freddy Fender
- Before the Next Teardrop…
- Raven's 2012 two-fer combines 1974's Before the Next Teardrop Falls and its 1975 sequel, Are You Ready for Freddy?
-
- Bobby Bare
- As Is/Ain't Got Nothin'…
- Raven two-fer pairs two Bobby Bare LPs: 1981's Rodney Crowell-produced As Is and its 1982 sequel Ain't Got Nothin to Lose.
- Wooden Wand
- Blood Oaths of the New…
- Leaving behind the roosty full-band bluster of their 2011 album, these spare songs ring of isolation, pastoral moodiness, and spiritual weariness.
-
- Punch Brothers
- Ahoy!
- This EP includes spirited renditions of songs by Josh Ritter, Gillian Welch, and Mclusky, as well a new original.
- George Jones
- Heartaches and Hangovers
- Budget-line collection that rounds up ten sides -- some hits, some not -- from George Jones' '60s recordings for Musicor.
-
- Blake Shelton
- Cheers, It's Christmas
- Blake Shelton's Cheers, It's Christmas is a cozy, old-fashioned holiday album.
- Red Sovine
- I'm the Man: A Starday…
- Most of Red Sovine's recordings fall closer to traditional honky tonk than they do the sentimental narratives that brought him his greatest success.
-
- Marty Cooper
- I Wrote a Song: The Complete…
- This set collects two of Marty Cooper's albums on one disc, 1972's A Minute of Your Time and 1979's If You Were a Singer.
- Cledus T. Judd
- Parodyziac!!
- Filled with parodies, this 2012 comeback is the country comedian's funniest album in a decade.
significant music
- image
- list
about country
Country music is about tradition, yet its simple form lends itself to endless variations on similar themes. Like blues -- the two genres often shared themes, melodies and songs -- country is a simple music at its core. Most of its songs are built around three chords and a plain melody, but these forms are so basic, they allow for many different styles, from the gritty sounds of honky tonk to the jazzy improvisations of Western Swing. Country music grew out of American Southern folk music, both Appalachian and blues, and old-time country was simple and folky, with just guitars and fiddles. As the genre progressed, old time music evolved into the rhythmic guitar-and-fiddle driven traditional country that became the foundation of modern country music, from honky tonk and Western Swing to the pop-oriented Countrypolitan and rock-inflected Bakersfield Sound.