100 Best Americana and Country Songs of 2018 - Part 2 (#80-61)

by Julian Spivey

80. "I Can Only Dance to Country Music" by Jay Bragg

​Jay Bragg’s “I Can Only Dance to Country Music” reminds me of the kind of country music that was being recorded in the 1990s, especially by an underrated artist like Mark Chesnutt. This was a special era for many country fans and it’s so nice to hear something that could’ve been a huge hit back then. The song tells of a man who’s out with a woman but can’t dance to the pop and EDM at the club and needs a little something country to two-step with. The twangy track is incredibly fun to sing – and of course – dance along with. 

79."Crooked+Straight" by American Aquarium 

​“Crooked+Straight” is a great life lesson from American Aquarium frontman and songwriter B.J. Barham’s father to himself with a chorus that goes: “Son, the road ain’t easy/it’s all just a series of mistakes/but you’ve gotta learn how to take the bruises with the breaks/the love with the heartaches/the crooked with the straight.” Between the life lesson and the Heartbreakers-esque rocking, this is one you can certainly jam out with. 

78. "Mr. Jukebox" by Joshua Hedley 

​Joshua Hedley is a throwBACK with an emphasis on the back because he pretty much brings you all the way back to the countrypolitan days of Nashville. His “Mr. Jukebox” sounds like it could have been a hit for Ray Price in his heyday. Sounding nothing like any kind of music today – even in the country and Americana genres – “Mr. Jukebox” tells the story of a sentient jukebox who will “play your favorite song just one more” no matter what kind of mood you’re in, as long as you keep feeding it your nickels and dimes. If only jukeboxes today would play any song for less than $1. 

77. "Whiskey & Wanting You" by Tom Buller

​Tom Buller’s “Whiskey and Wanting You” sounds to me like something George Jones might have recorded in the ‘60s, Merle Haggard might have recorded in the ‘70s and Keith Whitley might have recorded in the ‘80s. It’s good old-fashioned, cry-in-your-beer honky tonk music. I love every second of it. This Nebraska boy was born to sing country music and his classic country croon is one of the best vocals you’ll hear all year. 

76. "Kelly's Bar" by Trampled by Turtles 

​It’s interesting that some of today’s best bluegrass music is coming from bands not necessarily known as bluegrass bands. If you Google Trampled by Turtles, you’d see them listed as a “rock band.” Wikipedia has them first listed as a more accurate “indie-folk,” but “bluegrass” does come third after “alternative-country.” Any way you spin it, “Kelly’s Bar” is one of the best picking and plucking songs of the year. Everything that makes bluegrass music so damn fun to listen to – fiddle, banjo and mandolin – is at breakneck pace on this banger. 

75. "Nashville Tennessee at 3 a.m." by Pat Reedy & the Longtime Goners 

​Every year you’re going to hear a good song or two about trying to succeed in Nashville, but Pat Reedy & the Longtime Goners have certainly done the “hard luck on Music Row” theme better than most on “Nashville Tennessee at 3 am.” I think that part that really makes this song stand out is it kind of gets to the bullshit about the Nashville dream and how it’s not all roses. One of the best lines in the song is: “Everyone’s an outlaw until the cocaine wears off/the only thing that’s cheap in these bars is talk.” Are you going to be a pretender, or will you be standing with The Longtime Goners in Nashville, Tennessee at 3 a.m.? 

74. "Look Away" by Old Crow Medicine Show 

​Old Crow Medicine Show have done their own special blend of country, Americana, folk and bluegrass for almost two decades now and continue to release stellar new pieces of work like “Look Away” off their eighth studio album Volunteer. “Look Away” is a tribute to the American South and everything that makes it great. The ballad featuring terrific fiddle and steel guitar is sort of a rewrite of the Southern anthem “Dixie,” which according to Nashville Scene, O.C.M.S. songwriter Ketch Secor was inspired to write when he learned it was written by Thomas Snowden, a freed slave. 

73. "Dealing Despair" by Billy Strings 

​It’s great to hear some fast picking bluegrass music that isn’t afraid to get down and dirty with the times and that’s what you get from Billy Strings and “Dealing Despair,” a song made for our times in which we “don’t want your opinion/I just want to blow out your brains.” Strings was asked by Rolling Stone if he felt it was important for bluegrass musicians to carry the political flag, as their folk brethren have long done. Strings said: “People are like, ‘you should just stick to music.’ No, this is exactly what I’m supposed to do. We need to do something. This is our platform. I’m on a stage, I have a microphone, I need to be able to raise my fist up and say, ‘This is for the LGBT community. This is for all of you who have been put down your entire lives because of the color of your skin.’” 

72. "Empty Rooms" by Corey Smith 

​“I wouldn’t trade my freedom for a minute on your stage/I’d rather play in empty rooms” sings sharp-tongued Corey Smith on “Empty Rooms,” a rocking track about maintaining credibility as an artist instead of selling out to hit the music charts. It’s a track that many “musicians” within the genre of country music currently need to hear. 

71. "Like Patsy Would" by Lori McKenna 

​Lori McKenna’s brilliantly written song “Like Patsy Would” about trying to always give it your all has one of my favorite choruses of the year: “I wanna pray like Jesus is listenin’/I wanna play it like I’m made of strings on wood/I wanna write it down like Hemingway/Like it’s the last damn thing I’ll ever say/And try to sing it like Patsy would.” It’s apparent that McKenna is living her own advice because her recent body of work proves she’s doing all of these things and I believe Patsy Cline would be mighty proud.  

70. "Higher Wire" by Eric Church

​Eric Church’s sixth studio album Desperate Man sees the country superstar getting a little experimental with his music and “Higher Wire” is one of the most obvious examples of this with a reverb heavy soulful number that sees Church singing the highest he ever has on record. The song, co-written by Church, Casey Beathard and Travis Hill, tells of a woman who’s love makes him feel like he’s up walking on a high wire – and the way Church vocalizes it you sure do believe it. 

69. "Scenes from a Corner Booth at Closing Time on a Tuesday" by Caitlyn Smith 

 Many of us complain about pop-infused country music and with good reason, but Caitlyn Smith proved this year with her debut Starfire that the two mixing doesn’t have to be a bad thing, especially with well-written story songs like “Scenes from a Corner Booth at Closing Time on a Tuesday” (one of my absolute favorite song titles of the year) about searching around a lonely bar on a late Tuesday night. Smith’s knack for detailed songwriting truly comes out on this track, which despite the fact it sounds nothing like early Sheryl Crow musically, the songwriting reminds me of stuff like 1994’s “All I Wanna Do.” 

68. "Change Yo' Mind" by Charley Crockett

​Charley Crockett has one of the most unique and delightful sounds right now in the Americana/Country genres. It’s a mix of blues, R&B, folk and country music with Louisiana hot sauce flavor on top and a lisp that somehow makes a song like “Change Yo’ Mind” even more infectious. It’s such a simple and short song about trying to make a woman who’s leaving change her mind but will stick in your mind and have you singing along for a while.  

67. "My Way" by Ervin Stellar

​From the very first twang of the guitar Ervin Stellar’s “My Way” reminded me of classic Waylon Jennings. When his vocal kicks in at the 12-second mark it just reinforced this feeling. This could have been a Waylon number in the ‘70s, but I’m glad it’s a Stellar number in 2018. We need throwback Outlaw Country songs in today’s music. That guitar jam over the final minute of this song is well worth the price of admission here. 

66. "Steak Night at the Prairie Rose" by Mike and the Moonpies

​Mike and the Moonpies “Steak Night at the Prairie Rose,” the title track to their fourth studio album, is one of the best story songs of 2018 and one of the better father and son songs you’re ever going to hear in country music. The song tells the story of a son who chooses to live with his father after his parents separate and the fantastic time he has tagging along with his dad to the local honky tonk where they enjoy steak night and listening to the local bands. The boy grows up to play in a band at the very same honky tonk paying tribute to his father each night singing his favorite song. The whole song is a great visual that you can see playing out if you close your eyes while listening. 

65. "My Father's Gun" by Miranda Lambert 

​One of the more unique tribute albums was released this year in Revamp & Restoration: Reimagining the Songs of Elton John and Bernie Taupin. Revamp was the pop record and Restoration was the country record. The best performance on either album was without a doubt Miranda Lambert’s take on “My Father’s Gun,” originally appearing on John’s 1970 country-influenced Tumbleweed Connection. Lambert completely makes “My Father’s Gun,” a tale of a young Confederate soldier who essentially takes his recently killed father’s place in the Civil War, her own and the song selection from the Elton John discography couldn’t have been better. 

64. "Jimmy's Dead & Gone" by JP Harris 

​“I said you’re goddamn right/wrote another song about a train” sings songwriter JP Harris in the chorus of his terrific “Jimmy’s Dead and Gone.” Jimmie Rodgers may be long dead and gone, but Harris more than proves there’s still room in country music for a damn good train song. “Jimmy’s Dead and Gone” has that chugging along sound that all good train songs must have like a locomotive flying down the rails. It’s a jam that will have you moving along with its breakneck speed. 

63. "Far From Home" by Western Centuries

​Ethan Lawton’s “Far From Home” for Western Centuries takes on the heartbreaking story of young men sent off to fight in Vietnam, a war they had no business in fighting. The soldier writing back home to his mother: “Mother, oh mother, won’t you spin a yarn about the way things were/end it with boy, dear boy, it’s alright.” The track features accordion giving it a nice Cajun-flavor, no doubt taking shape from where the band recorded the album in Eunice, La. 

62. "Good as Gold" by Sarah Shook & the Disarmers 

​Sarah Shook has more than proved she can honky tonk with the best of them and her and the Disarmers released one of the best country albums this year with Years. “Good As Gold” tells the story of somebody who’s lover keeps threatening to leave, but the narrator knows she has more important things to lose than a lover, like her pride. Paste Magazine said the song was “a perfect twangpunk kiss-off,” and I can’t possibly think of a better way to describe it. 

61. "You Worry Me" by Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats" 

​There’s an old school soulfulness about Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats that could resonate in just about any era of music. In some ways Rateliff is kind of like a modern Van Morrison in this aspect. “You Worry Me” seems to be a bit of reassurance to someone close to the narrator that everything is going to be alright. The roots rock pulse throughout the track keeps us bopping our heads along the entire way.