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Music > Features > Country's Top 100 
Country's Top 100All-Time Best Songs 100-81[13 September 2007] By Shirley Jinkins and Malcolm MayhewMcClatchy Newspapers (MCT) Country’s Top 100: All-Time Best Songs 100John Conlee“Rose Colored Glasses”
The mortician-turned-singer struck gold in 1978 with this beautiful tear-jerker.  99Mel McDaniel“Louisiana Saturday Night”Don Williams wrote this ode to dancing in the kitchen till the morning light, but McDaniel skyrocketed with it.  98Earl Thomas Conley“Holding Her, Loving You”One of countless country songs about being with one person yet loving another. Few are as moving as this 1983 hit.  97Emmylou Harris“If I Could Only Win Your Love”Harris has dabbled in so many genres, it’s easy to forget her honky-tonk background. This is a reminder from her incredible 1975 record, Pieces of the Sky.  96Don Williams“I Believe in You”Williams’ easygoing vocal style and poetic lyrics perfectly married on this 1980 hit.  95Waylon Jennings“Ain’t Livin’ Long Like This”Ha!—Jennings outsmarted this `70s staple by living a nice, long and extremely meaningful life. Rodney Crowell version  94Alan Jackson“Drive (For Daddy Gene)”If Father’s Day had an anthem, it would be Jackson’s 2002 nod to dear old dads.  93Burl Ives”(Ghost) Riders in the Sky”This song rose only to No. 21 in 1949. Over time, artists and fans began to appreciate the strange tale of fire-breathing cattle getting chased by ghostly cowboys, and many singers covered it, including Johnny Cash, Duane Eddy and, of course, the band Riders in the Sky. Johnny Cash with the Muppets version  92Sons of the Pioneers“Tumbling Tumbleweeds”This 1934 song, chugged out by the famous cowboy group that featured Roy Rogers, made such an impact that it inspired a Gene Autry movie.  91Charley Pride“Kiss an Angel Good Morning”One of the few black male singers in country music had his profile heightened considerably with this insanely catchy 1971 chart-topper, which won Pride the Country Music Association’s Entertainer of the Year award. (best available video quality)  90Johnny Cash“I Still Miss Someone”No other version of this song can match the haunting and emotionally numbing reading Cash gave it on his appropriately named 1958 album, The Fabulous Johnny Cash.  89Merle Haggard“My Favorite Memory”Hag’s sweetest, most melancholy song.  88Bobbie Gentry“Ode to Billie Joe”This was a 1967 B-side, but DJs sniffed a hit and played it, catapulting it to No. 17 on the country charts and to No. 1 on the pop charts, turning the singer into a superstar.  87The Oak Ridge Boys“Ya’ll Come Back Saloon”The Oaks’ official switch from gospel to country paid off big time with this 1977 hit.  86George Jones & Tammy Wynette“Golden Ring”“Golden Ring” is NOT the song you want played at your wedding, despite its optimistic title. 85Johnny Cash“Hurt”You can’t get grimmer than Nine Inch Nails, but Cash did in 2002, with his bare-bones reading of this NIN heartbreaker. 84Alan Jackson“Don’t Rock the Jukebox”
Not exactly one of Jackson’s more pensive moments but still a lot of fun.  83Dixie Chicks“Am I the Only One (Who’s Ever Felt This Way)”
The Chicks have marvelous taste in covers, such as their devastatingly believable cover of this Maria McKee song.  82Brooks & Dunn“Neon Moon”A wonderfully written ballad, with that unforgettable refrain, “watch your broken dreams dance in and out of the beams.” 81Dixie Chicks“Travelin’ Soldier”This bittersweet tale of a young girl whose love is killed in Vietnam is one of the Chicks’ finest moments. 
 Country’s Top 100: All-Time Best Songs |
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Comments
Music lists are a stupid institution that will hopefully be lost with the rest of humanity as the result of a nuclear war or similar global cataclysm, but still I take the bait. I nearly punched the ceiling when I read this dumb list. There are more problems with this list than I can coherently deal with, but here’s a try. “When I stop dreaming” doesn’t make the top twenty? Doesn’t make the top 50? #73 right after “Elvira?” Really? Maybe you should listen to that song again. Only one Louvin brothers song on the whole list? Have you ever listened to the Louvin Brothers? Go back and listen again and then listen to the Ray Charles songs you chose. Then fix your junky list. Three Johnny Cash songs in the top twenty? Is he really the best country artist of all time, or just the one with the most cache at the present cultural moment? Where is Faron Young? Where is Jim Ed Brown? Where is Ferlin Husky? Have you ever heard his song “Gone?” What about “the End of the World” by Skeeter Davis? “Stand by Your Man” isn’t in the top 100? Two Ray Charles songs in the top twenty? The problem is systematic: there is not enough Hank Williams and too much Hank Williams Junior and similar; there is not nearly enough late fifties early sixties country; and way too much post-1970 country. Maybe someone who actually listens to the genre concerned should write your lists.
Comment by Jesse from Tucson — September 21, 2007 @ 6:15 pm
where is Toby Keith? He has done lots…for country—great artist and as a bonus (he supports our military)
Comment by will — November 3, 2009 @ 11:23 pm