Best Americana/Country Songs of 2017

Best Americana/Country Songs of 2017 - Part 1 (#100-81)

12/9/2017

by Julian Spivey

100. TIE - "Feelin' Haggard" by Dale Watson & Ray Benson, "He Won't Ever Be Gone" by Willie Nelson & "No More Haggard" by Pete Schlegel

The amount of tribute songs penned for the legendary Merle Haggard has been truly impressive, but it just goes to show how important of a figure he was in country music. A trio of songs written in tribute to him really stood out this year. “Feelin’ Haggard” by Ray Benson and Dale Watson covers the sadness of learning about such an icon’s death. Pete Schlegel’s “No More Haggard” takes on the bigger picture of how many of country’s legends are leaving us and really a part of the genre traditionally is leaving with them. Willie Nelson’s “He Won’t Ever Be Gone” is perhaps the most personal of the three, though it should be noted was written by Gary Nicholson and not himself, as the two were close friends.

99. "The Wurlitzer Prize" by Kacey Musgraves

A couple of years ago a bunch of country music’s finest got together for a tribute concert to Waylon Jennings. The show was recorded for the tribute album Outlaw: Celebrating the Music of Waylon Jennings and released this year. The album features many great and faithful covers, but my favorite was Kacey Musgraves’ jaw-dropping take of “The Wurlitzer Prize,” perhaps Waylon’s best weeper about playing the same song over and over on a jukebox to remember, and not forget, a lost love.

98. "You Don't Know Me" by Alison Krauss

One of the most beautiful songs ever written was Cindy Walker’s “You Don’t Know Me.” My favorite version of the song is and will always be Ray Charles’ take featured on his iconic and historic Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music (1962), but Alison Krauss’ performance on her Windy City album of classic covers is a close second. The angelic voiced Krauss really hits the tragic love story of “You Don’t Know Me” perfectly.

97. "Tulsa Time" by Pistol Annies

One of country music’s unsung heroes Don Williams died this year at 78 leaving behind a legacy of hits with his silky-smooth vocals. Months before his death in September a bunch of country and Americana’s finest artists got together for a tribute album. My favorite track from this collection was the Pistol Annies (the fabulous supergroup of Miranda Lambert, Angaleena Presley and Ashley Monroe) doing perhaps Williams’ most known hit “Tulsa Time.” The threesome sounds perfect on this track and it leads to the hope that we may see more original music from the Annies in the future.

96. "All I'm Asking" by The Band of Heathens

I’ve seen Band of Heathens, led by the amazing duo of Ed Jurdi and Gordy Quist, a couple of times in concert over the last few years, including earlier this year after they released their impressive Duende. They are one of the best live bands to come out of Austin in a while and play a nice rocking brand of Americana that relies on country-blues and roots jam-rock. “All I’m Asking” had Rolling Stone saying, “has enough rhythmic swagger to loosen up even the stodgiest critics,” and this song of a man wanting to win back a woman he’s done wrong will definitely make you want to groove.

95. "My Boots" by Whitney Rose

Whitney Rose name drops Loretta Lynn in her song “My Boots,” about staying true to herself no matter what crowd she’s in. It’s a fitting name to drop because the song sounds like something that could’ve come out of Lynn’s discography in her heyday. It’s a feminist manifesto performed in country twang. The country stomp, which will have you wanting to step out on the dancefloor with its fantastic steel guitar and fiddle, is proof that Rose is one of the up-and-comers to keep an eye on in the non-mainstream world of country music.

94. "Wheels" by Steve Moakler

I’ve always been drawn to songs about trying to break free and make something of one’s life. I think this is a big reason why Bruce Springsteen is my all-time favorite artist. Steve Moakler’s breakthrough album Steel Town features a great song about this in “Wheels,” which he compares to life in general and how sometimes they lead you back to where you came from – “they don’t slow down/the speed picks up/you start wishing you were young as soon as you grow up/and the farther you roll/the faster they spin/they drive you away and bring you home again/I swear sometimes it feels/like life’s just a set of wheels.” It’s so simple, but also so true.

93. "Mama I Tried" by Angaleena Presley

Angaleena Presley takes the idea of a mother trying to save her child from a life of regret that we were introduced to in Merle Haggard’s classic “Mama Tried” and flips the script. Presley doesn’t seem the least bit regretful of how she turned out, despite claiming to her mama that she tried. “Mama I Tried” is the highlight of Presley’s sophomore release Wrangled with its outlaw sound that incorporates the famous guitar lick from “Mama Tried,” reportedly the first song Presley ever learned to play.

92. "Ern & Zorry's Sneakin' Bitin' Dog" by
Dori Freeman

If you can listen to Dori Freeman’s acapella “Ern & Zorry’s Sneakin’ Bitin’ Dog” without being fully entranced than there might be something wrong with you. Freeman’s crystal-clear vocals have captured raves over her first couple of albums and it really comes through in a song without any musical accompaniment. “Ern & Zorry’s Sneakin’ Bitin’ Dog” is a simplistic song about a child walking through the backwoods of home – like a modern version of “Mountain Dew.” It’s also a tribute to Freeman’s grandfather Willard Gayheart, who wrote the song about an ornery dog that scared him as a child.

91. "Dust" by Trent Tomlinson

Do you remember Trent Tomlinson? About a dozen years ago he had a breakthrough hit with the sweet redemptive ballad “One Wing in the Fire” and it seemed his career would takeoff. Unfortunately, it never did, and I was left wondering this year whatever happened to Tomlinson. Upon looking this up I noticed that he had just released a new song called “Dust.” Funny how these things happen. It’s a tune about regretting letting your love leave and drive off into the sunset without you. It’s an earworm of a chorus and had it been released a dozen years ago likely would’ve been a hit.

90. "Cumberland Gap" by David Rawlings feat. Gillian Welch

David Rawlings “Cumberland Gap,” a recent Grammy nominee for Best American Roots Song, is a story song about a man trying to pass through the treacherous Cumberland Gap to Kentucky. The song, which was co-written with longtime collaborator Gillian Welch, is an ominous tale that, while never specified, feels like it takes place in the 1800s. The sound of “Cumberland Gap” reminds me a lot of something the legendary Neil Young would write and record. It’s also a good year for the Cumberland Gap in the Americana genre with Jason Isbell’s song of the same name also appearing on this list.

89. "The Perilous Night" by Drive-By Truckers

There won’t be a more controversial song on my list this year, but that’s pretty much the Drive-By Truckers for you. “The Perilous Night,” which was released on Election Day for the one-year anniversary of President Donald Trump’s election, is unapologetically an anti-Trump song. It would’ve fit perfectly on last year’s excellent American Band album. Written by Patterson Hood the song takes on controversies such as Russian interference in last year’s election and white nationalists, propped up by Trump, running over people in Charlottesville, Va. Many people take issue with politics in music, but I’ve always said if regular Joes have a right to their opinion than so do the artists they listen to.

88. "Paper Cowboy" by Margo Price

Margo Price’s sophomore album All-American Made has been topping best albums lists in the country and Americana genres all over the place lately, which is honestly somewhat surprising to me. I didn’t feel it was as good as her debut last year. I also don’t believe her best song in 2017 is on that album, but on a four-track EP she released before it this year – the blistering “Paper Cowboy.” Price is likely at her best when she’s calling out folks in music and “Paper Cowboy” rips into the faux-machismo of wannabe cowboys on Music Row. The song written by Matt Gardner, a former band mate of Price, starts out like a slow ballad before developing into an upbeat tempo that turns into a bit of country-funk by its end. It’s head-scratching that she didn’t want this to showcase on her sophomore release.

87. "Ain't Meant to Fly" by Joey McGee

I believe Joey McGee’s “Ain’t Meant to Fly” would’ve been a big country hit in the ‘90s. It just has that throwback sound to it that makes me nostalgic for a time when the majority of what you’d hear on the radio was worth your time. It’s a song about two people who tried their best in a relationship, but “some things just ain’t meant to fly” as the catchy chorus goes. McGee is a Texas-based singer-songwriter with New Orleans roots, so you know he has all the good musical vibes.

86. "Highway Queen" by Nikki Lane

One of the best rockers in the country genre this year was Nikki Lane’s “Highway Queen,” which Paste rather smartly compared to a “feminist, modernist version of Bon Jovi’s ‘Wanted Dead or Alive’” with its tale of living on the road as a musician and getting by just fine without “no king.” “Highway Queen” gives me the feeling of what Loretta Lynn may have sounded like had she been more rock than honky tonk. It’s a take no prisoners attitude and shows Lane is going to be a voice worth keeping an ear on.

85. "Bars Ain't Closin'" by Robyn Ludwick

Robyn Ludwick has been making albums for quite a while, but unfortunately, I’d never heard her name before this year. I certainly knew her incredibly talented older brothers Bruce and Charlie Robison, who’ve written some of my favorite songs over the years. Let me tell you the talent in that family is out of this world. Ludwick’s voice and songs will have many people thinking they’re listening to a Lucinda Williams album, which is certainly high praise. “Bars Ain’t Closin’” is an ideal country heartbreaker about a musician coming out of a relationship and looking for a little alcohol and casual sex to keep her mind away from it all.

84. "God's Problem Child" by Willie Nelson, Tony Joe White, Leon Russell & Jamey Johnson

Willie Nelson enlisted the help of three friends – Tony Joe White, Leon Russell and Jamey Johnson - for the title track of God’s Problem Child, the 72nd!! studio album by the country hall of fame legend. The track was written by White, of “Polk Salad Annie” fame, and Johnson and really fits all those involved with the track to a T. It’s a soulful track highlighted by Nelson’s terrific patented guitar playing and reportedly was the last recording Russell, who died in November of 2016, ever worked on.

83. "Nothin' New Under the Neon" by Midland

Much was made this year about the authenticity of the new country trio Midland, and I’ll get to more of that a little later on this list, but if a song sounds this damn good does it really matter? “Nothin’ New Under the Neon,” from Midland’s debut album On the Rocks, has this retro sound to it like it got lost sometime in the early-to-mid ‘90s where it surely would’ve been a huge hit. I can just picture Ronnie Dunn’s vocals on a song like this being a hit for Brooks & Dunn in that era. It’s a laid-back tune celebrating life under the neon in any great dive bar in America and all the great stories one can hear in such an establishment.

82. "Sonny Boy" by Randy Newman

Few can tell an American story like Randy Newman, who’s been doing it brilliantly for over 50 years. In “Sonny Boy,” Newman takes the form of old blues man Sonny Boy Williamson, who was killed in a robbery in 1948, up in Heaven recalling the true story of how his identity was stolen by the man who historians would wind up calling Sonny Boy Williamson II. The man who appropriated his name would go on to stardom. As Newman tells, the original Sonny Boy would wind up being the only blues man in Heaven, because he didn’t have enough time to do nothing bad.

81. "Vandalism Spree" by Hellbound Glory

“Vandalism Spree” by Hellbound Glory, which is what singer-songwriter Leroy Virgil calls himself, is a song that reminds me a lot of something Jerry Jeff Walker and John Prine might come up with together. It’s just fun as hell, but you can’t help but believe there may be a little something behind the nihilism of it all. Kevin Broughton at Farce the Music called it, “the greatest white-trash love song since DBT’s [Drive-By Truckers] “Zip City” and he may be right. There’s something so enticing about a couple wanting to burn down the Dairy Queen just to do “anything to feel a thing.” I particularly like the line about being so lonesome and bored that you throw rocks at your Honda Accord just to pass the time.

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