also, those of you into this genre...

do you mind checking out http://www.obner.org/bb/viewtopic.php?t=42891
and leaving any feedback in either thread? I feel like we're country rock. I mildly wonder if we are not.

checking out now

I forgot about that Willis Alan Ramsey album. It wouldn't make my list but its not bad and I'd discovered it on similar lists. That muskrat love song though...granted I can't completely wipe the Captain and Tenille cover from my mind when I hear it but I'm not sure it would even matter that much if I could.

And yes, my list is definitely skewed toward rockers playing country. But that was my intention. Otherwise, it would be hard to keep it from becoming just another country list.

I'll listen to your stuff and post thoughts later.

I suspect it's entirely my own extreme bias showing, but Elton John is a huge turd floating in that otherwise tasty punchbowl.

Also, while I agree that the lines of demarcation can almost be drawn wherever one chooses, and this opinion might change next week, but I'd have to throw a Bottle Rockets album in there, because I think they fit, and because they are that good.

I prefer the way your list is skewed.

For me, it's all about Geraldine and the Honeybee

I think At Dawn would fit on that list.

If you are going to allow Elton John in there (very problematic), then Elvis Costello’s Almost Blue has always touched me.

In the implicit and idiosyncratic definitions of this genre you’ve created you need to have GD there somewhere… American Beauty and Workingman’s Dead.

And your #1 is indisputable… but why have you decided against ovaries? Emmy Lou Harris could any number of titles….Pieces of the Sky will do. And Lucinda Williams, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road… if you discount the distaff because of “not rockâ€

Firefall lol

I can't believe i forgot to include Jerry Lee Lewis. Oh well.

Harry I love Almost Blue. Good call. Is your problem with Elton John that you aren't a fan of Tumbleweed Connection or that you think it's not country rock enough?

Emmylou is country, not country rock to me. I've never been a fan of Lucinda Williams. If I were to have affirmative action and force a woman on the list, it would probably be Kimmie Rhodes which would help rectify any neglect of Texas also.

I completely agree that Doug Sahm probably belongs on this list but I've never heard a studio album and didn't want to include a compilation on the list. Not a Lyle Lovett fan at all though.

I don't know whether I really consider current alt country/americana to be country rock or not. I couldn't make a good logical argument as to why it should be considered different but the fact that I am a big country rock fan yet I don't like much alt country other than farrar tells me there must be some subtle difference.

Phil...my anti-virus software is blocking your links. not sure why.

So they don't fit into the No Depression era alt country movement? I like them, Zoysia is my favorite.

But if you include them, it'd be hard not to consider Old 97s, right? And I think that's definitely a second tier band compared to some of the other stuff on billy's list that I do know...

but what do i know?

Also, as far Elton John, Tumbleweed Connection is surprisingly good, but I think it's good compared to other Elton John output. I had a huge bias against him till a friend gave me a copy. He also gave me Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, which is good, but not as good as Tumbleweed Connection.

And billy, the links are still live, you want me to load them to any site in particular or e-mail them one by one?

I think when i had a pc i'd just turn off my antivirus to download stuff i knew was clean.

But that's been a long time, and i'm no computer geek.

Well, like I said, the lines get fuzzy, and your position is as valid as anyone else's. Is why I generally resist pigeonholing.

As for Elton, I just don't think anything he's ever done belongs anywhere near this pigeonhole, no matter who is defining it. Just my opinion, and yes, I loathe him.

I have to offer up a newer entry to the genre, because I've been a little obsessed with him:


Okay, so the music's not new, but the album was only released last year. Great, great stuff. But I know that I've already frothed on about him in previous threads.

I typed this yesterday, and then deleted it.

As a matter of fact, just typing it got

Theeeere's a hoooole in the world tonight

stuck in my head somehow, and it was still there kicking around this morning on the ride in. I forgot my ipod at work. I was pissed.

I think it's that he is too big and sparkly to fit into a country rock box. No question there are moments in TC that are great... but it all seems like he is trying on country-rock as a temporary trick, not authentic. Burn Down the Mission is Opera-Country. Hence Costello.

And yeah, you're right, Lovett shouldn't be anywhere near your list... any more than Kinky Friedman.

That would apply to The Byrds too, though, no?

Tumbleweed Connection may not quite fit the genre as well as most of the others do but I'd still consider it country rock. Also, Honky Chateau which I think he recorded right after has a similar sound as TC, and while it's not as good as TC could be seen as John's 'other' country rock record.

No, The Byrds BECAME a country rock outfit, that is for sure. I just think Ballad of Easy Rider or S/T is actually better than Sweetheart, which after years of pretending and/or really wanting to like, just fucking bores me.

No, just the opposite of the EJ observation... when they hired Parsons they moved from the superficial, try it country of Notorious and took a sharp left turn into the definitive country rock of Sweetheart. They moved from tourist to citizen.

Ha. Good call kid. I mean Liberace sparkly, not Nudies sparkly.

Tell me you see EJ in this:

I really should've gone with the Master, Mr. Porter Wagoner:

Yeah, I obviously need to listen to more Byrds from the Parsons era.

watching this weird country/rock movie called "the adventures of guy terrifico" seems to be based on the people mentioned in the list.

anyone else seen this?

Sweetheart is nowhere near Gram's or the Byrds' best work. Which, if you know anything about what they wanted the album to be, makes sense.

I'm a huge Gram fan, but Hillman's contributions to one of the most recent Flying Burrito Brothers books helped to clear up a lot of the legendary myth surrounding Gram. I'm sure some of it is due to jealousy, but after reading a few books on Gram and then reading the most recent piece with Hillman, the overstatement of Gram's influence makes a lot of sense.