He's Gone Country

So I watched the movie Country Strong starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Tim McGraw last night and I really enjoyed it. For the first time since Walk the Line I’m seriously tempted to go out and buy the soundtrack. In the interest of full disclosure I should tell you that I used to be a country music hater, but now I can’t get enough. There’s just a certain level of authenticity to the lyrics that adds a little something else.

Aside from watching Country Strong, country music has also been on my mind of late because it’s summer time. For whatever reason Summer and country music just seem to work in tandem with each other. When you think about sipping brewskis at a lake, beach, or what have you I’m guessing that you hear country music playing in the background. I would also argue that most people that I know go to more country music concerts than any other during the summer. In fact, two of the best concerts I’ve ever been to have been country concerts in the summer.

Now like I said, I used to be a country music hater back in high school, so I’m no authority on the genre, but that’s not going to stop me from ranking my top 50 songs. Please take my limited country music experience (roughly 7 years) into consideration before you judge me for including or not including a particular song.

50.) Tim McGraw- Live Like You Were Dying

49.) Toby Keith- Whiskey Girl

48.) Alan Jackson- Livin’ on Love

47.) Brad Paisley- Whiskey Lullaby- You know it’s a country music countdown when two of the first four songs have whiskey in the title.

46.) Lonestar- Class Reunion (That Used to Be Us)

45.) Alan Jackson- Back Where I Come From- When I saw Alan Jackson in Syracuse he played a video montage of all the sights and sounds of the city of hopes and dreams. The Carrier Dome, Syracuse University, the Dinosaur BBQ, etc.

44.) Tim McGraw- Don’t Take the Girl

43.) Keith Urban- Somebody Like You

42.) Jake Owen- Barefoot Blue Jean Night- My favorite of all the country songs out right now.

41.) Rodney Atkins- Farmer’s Daughter

40.) Craig Morgan- Redneck Yacht Club- My friend from Maryland introduced me to this one and he has some serious credibility in the country world as indicated by the Confederate Flag that he hung in his dorm room.

39.) Toby Keith- Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue- Any song with the lyrics “We’ll put a boot in your ass because that’s the American way” should probably be #1.

38.) Carrie Underwood- Undo It- Stop what you’re doing right now and watch the video. You’ll thank me later. PS- If she came out and said that this song was about Tony Romo I’d put it in the Top 10.

37.) Rascall Flatts- These Days

36.) Lonestar- Amazed- This one has wedding song written all over it.

35.) Big and Rich- Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy- I will always associate this song with the World Series of Poker back when it was popular in 2005

34.) Sugarland- Stuck Like Glue

33.) Toby Keith- I Love This Bar- “We got winners, we got losers. Chain smokers and boozers.”

32.) Trisha Yearwood- She’s In Love With the Boy

31.) Miranda Lambert- The House that Built Me

30.) The Charlie Daniels Band- The Devil Went Down to Georgia

29.) Lady Antebellum- Need You Now

28.) Mark Willis- 19 Something- Sort of a country music version of Billy Joel’s “We Didn’t Start the Fire.”

27.) Alan Jackson- Remember When- This song can be quite the tear jerker for an adult looking back at their marriage, children, etc.

26.) Kenny Chesney- Keg in the closet- Collllllleggggggeeeee

25.) Keith Urban- Days Go By

24.) Zac Brown Band- Chicken Fried

23.) Phil Vassar- Six Pack Summer- My friend RJ dubbed this as my anthem for the summer of ’06 because I used to show up everywhere with a 6, 12, or 18 pack.

22.) Taylor Swift- Love Story- You’re a liar if you say that you don’t like this song

21.) Sara Evans- A Real Fine Place to Start- Obviously Track #1 on one of my country CDs.

20.) Buddy Jewell- Sweet Southern Comfort

19.) Chris Young- Voices

18.) Alabama- If You’re Gonna Play in Texas

17.) Rodney Atkins- Watching You

16.) Kenny Chesney- Live Those Songs- “So I’m sitting on a side walk in Fresno.”

15.) Toby Keith- American Soldier- This song will make you feel for our armed service men and women. “I can’t call in sick on Monday when the weekend’s been too long.”

14.) Tim McGraw- Something Like That- For all of you casual country fans this is the BBQ stain song.

13.) Kenny Chesney- The Good Stuff- “He didn’t reach around for the whiskey. He didn’t pour me a beer. His blue eyes kinda went misty. He said, “You can’t find that here.”

12.) Mark Willis- Jacob’s Ladder

11.) Phil Vassar- Just Another Day in Paradise

10.) Garth Brooks- Friends in Low Places- Arguably the most iconic, recognizable country song out there.

9.) Alan Jackson- Drive- Who knew learning how to drive could be such a nostalgic event?

8.) Lonestar- My Front Porch Looking In

7.) David Lee Murphy- Dust on the Bottle

6.) Kenny Chesney- Young- “We were lighting matches just to watch ‘em burn”

5.) Rascal Flatts- Fast Cars and Freedom "Staring at you taking off your makeup, wondering why you even put it on. I know you think you do, but baby you don't need it. I wish you could see what I see when it's gone."

4.) Phil Vassar- In a Real Love

3.) Kenny Chesney- I Go Back- I think about 8 girls I went to college with used the lyrics from this song in either their AIM profiles or as away messages (remember those?) in the summer inbetween our Freshman and Sophomore years. While that would normally be a tell tale sign that I shouldn't like a song I still do. I love that the chorus is about hearing a song that makes you think of a specific time in your life and then Chesney explicitly references Billy Joel's "Only the Good Die Young" as being that song for him.

2.) Alan Jackson- It’s 5 o’clock Somewhere- If I worked 9-5 I think I'd make it a point to listen to this song everyday at some point to help get me through.

1.) Rodney Atkins- These Are My People- This song makes me think of summers in Syracuse with my highschool friends.