My favorite country albums part 1

These are 5 of the albums that I have on my Spotify that when they come on there is not a single song that I would skip.

Album cover- I think that this cover is perfect for a simple country album celebrating Joey+Rory’s musical inspirations. The cover is simple and down home but yet beautiful like the songs on the album.

Favorite song- The song I find myself going back to more than any of the others is I’m not Lisa. Jessi Colter wrote this song about what it is like to be in love with someone who is still in love with someone else. I love these type of songs and it reminds me of another song that I will discuss in the article Don’t close your eyes by Keith Whitley. I also like that is multiple ways to interpret the song you can interpret that lisa has left with another man or that she has died. In my opinion the best songs have multiple ways for people to interpret them.

Best lyric- “Paper roses, paper roses, Oh how real those roses seem to me, But they’re only imitation, Like your imitation love for me” This song was written by Fred Spielman and Janice Torre. This line stood out to me because it is so honest and interesting.  The giver of the roses thinks that everything can be made better using flowers. While the receiver lets them know that paper roses would be more fitting because it is fake like the love they share. I have heard this song used as a romantic song but people should really listen to the lyrics to understand it is not very romantic but actually the opposite.

Coolest sound- I love Joey Feek’s voice but the song on this album I think she sounds best on is Don’t it make my brown eyes blue. I love Crystal Gayle’s version but Joey’s voice takes this song to another level.

Fun facts- The story behind Don’t it make my brown eyes blue is an interesting one. Would you believe me if I told you it was written about a dog. As the songwriter Richard Leigh discusses in the video the song was inspired by his brown eyed dog. Something I found particularly interesting is that his dog ended up going blind in one eye and the dogs one eye did turn blue. What is the chances of this happening?!

Album cover- This cover makes it look like Keith is looking into the distance pondering his life. This album has songs like every Keith Whitley album that make you think about life.

Favorite song- Don’t close your eyes written by Bob McDill is my favorite song on the album. The sad music accompanying the painful words works so well. I think that is so is so honest and that many people can relate to this feeling. Everyone wants to be #1 and it is especially hard to try and replace someone who is no longer there. I like to think about the woman in this song fantasizing about a boyfriend/husband that has died and she still cannot get him of her mind.

Best lyric- The song with the lyric I find the most appealing is When you say nothing at all written by Paul Overstreet and Don Schlitz. These two songwriters have a way with words such as in the song, Forever and Ever, Amen by Randy Travis. and this song is no exception. “But when you hold me near you drown out the crowd, Old Mister Webster could never define, What’s being said between your heart and mine” To me this lyric is the man in the story telling the woman that when he is with her nothing else around matters which is really sweet. When they are together they forget the stresses of everyday life.

Coolest sound- The song I enjoy the music the most is Lucky dog. The lyrics are a funny story about the man pretended to be a dog. It is not a deep song but it is a lot of fun to sing along and dance around to when you are in a good mood.

Fun facts- This album was the last album released during Keith’s lifetime. This album produced 3 number 1 hits. With having only released 2 albums and having a good chunk of hits Keith could have been a superstar if he had been around longer to keep releasing new music.

Album cover- This album cover is very fitting for the mood of the album. The black and white adds a somber feeling to the cover so you know what you are in for before stating to listen. This is a very sad album because it came out after Reba lost members of her band in a plane crash. The theme of this album is very sad. All of the songs tell a story and some have very depressing lyrics.

Favorite song- My favorite song on this album is Bobby written by Reba McEntire and Don Schlitz. It is a great storytelling song that includes an evolving chorus(a chorus that changes meaning in different parts of the song). In this song the evolving lyrics are when Bobby’s father is singing to his wife and then it changes to Bobby singing to his dad. “Day after day, he sat alone, Night after night, they’d hear him sing his song (he’d sing), Baby, I’ll take care of you, I’ll never let you down, No harm will ever come to you as long as I’m around i am not afraid of what people say or do, The only thing I fear is being here…without you”

Best lyric- The song with my favorite lyrics is The Greatest Man I Never Knew written by Richard Leigh and Layng Martine Jr. “Then the days turned into years, and the memories to black and white, he grew cold like an old winter wind blowing across my life” I think that a lot of people can relate to this song. Everyone knows someone who is not very good at expressing their emotions and they wonder how they really feel about them. In this song the daughter is singing about the years passing with her father and because they do not know each other very well it feels like he is just like wind blowing quickly through her life. This song shows the importance of telling people how you feel before this life is over.

Coolest sound- The song I enjoy the sound of most is Buying her Roses written by Joe Doyle and Rick Peoples. Reba’s vocals excel in this song and the backing music accompanies it very well. I love when Reba shows off her incredible range which she does in this song.

Fun facts- The music video for the song If I had Only Known features scenes of children benefiting St. Jude’s hospital.

Album cover- This album cover is so pretty. It features Loretta wearing one of her classic gowns and holding her engraved guitar. The choice of colors work so well together the purple of the dress pops with the gray background and the brown of the guitar pops on the purple.

Favorite song- My favorite song is one that was re-recorded for this album Fist City written by Loretta Lynn. This song includes humor and great storytelling and is one of my go to songs when discussing why country music is so great. Loretta is a great storyteller and this song is no exception to that fact. Loretta goes into detail about the story behind this song and many of her other hits in the book Coal Miner’s Daughter. If you enjoy reading about the history of country music it is a must read book.

Best lyric- Wine into water written by Bruce Burch, T. Graham Brown, and Ted Hewitt has some of my favorite lyrics on the album. “ They’ve stood by me but how much can they stand.” This song is a soft tempo plea to god from the narrator to turn the wine back into water. The singer has drinking problem and she is trying the last thing she knows how to do and asking for a miracle. She has realized that this problem is not only affecting her but the people close to her as well. I can see this song really hitting home for anyone who may know someone struggling with an addiction to alcohol or has one themselves. This song is the epitome of releasing yourself and your problems to the hands of god.

Coolest sound- Black Jack David written by A. P. Carter has the sound I enjoy most on the album. The sound and the lyrics are so catchy I find myself singing the words at random times. This song incorporates a mountain sound that is found in few songs on album and is the music that Loretta grew up on. This music is so simple but yet so complex it is hard not to get sucked in.

Fun facts- This album was produced by Patsy Lynn Russell and John Carter Cash. Patsy is the daughter of Loretta Lynn and John is the son of Johnny Cash and June Carter. These two children of legends came together to make something legendary of their own.

Album cover- The theme of this album is traveling or moving on 6 out of the eleven songs found on this album talk about driving or moving forward in the music business. This is a great album for someone who feels like a drifter or is trying to make it in the music business. This makes it very fitting that the cover would have Ashley behind the wheel on the way to chasing her dreams.

Favorite song- The title track Girl Going Nowhere written by Ashley McBryde and Jeremy Bussey is my favorite on the record. This song creatively tells the struggle of how hard it is to chase your dreams especially when the people around you are less than supportive. The video below shows Ashley’s first time preforming the song on the Opry and it is very emotional as you can see her really feeling the lyrics and being happy that she has made it past where people told her she would.

Best lyric- In my opinion some of the best lyrics are found in The Jacket written by Ashley Mcbryde, Neal Coty, and Olivia Rudeen. The song describes the meaning that something as simple as a jacket can hold for someone. “It’s my heart on the sleeve. It’s my life in these patches.” The Jacket has been with the Narrators father for quite a while and has experienced many memories in that time. This song is very interesting to me because it is almost like the jacket is personified to have a life of it’a own.

Coolest sound- My favorite sound on the album is found on Radioland written by Ashley Mcbryde, Autumn McEntire, and Chris Robert. The timing and instruments make this a very danceable song and the lyrics tell a story which is always the making of a good song to me. This is a definite song that you can bang the steering wheel too while traveling down the highway or an old backroad.

Fun fact- Garth has covered girl going nowhere. This just shows how much an artist can relate to the song. The lyrics are so truthfully and relatable to many performers.