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Ever since it was invented in the 1920s, country music has been ruling over the airwaves in Western and Southern areas of the United States. This genre is hailed for its simple folk music-like quality and diverse use of stringed instruments like the guitar. It has diversified to incorporate sub-genres like gospel, country rock, Western swing and alternative. Country music artists like Elvis Presley, Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers have popularized the genre throughout the world. If someone were to compile an exhaustive list of best country songs, it would be a very long one. Anyone who wants to begin discovering country music can kick start with the following songs. I Will Always Love You- Dolly Parton.

Originally performed and written by Dolly Parton, this song figures among the best country love songs of all times. Decades after it first came out the song lives in the heart of many. The raw emission and sincere passion that it so efficiently portrays invokes a rush of emotions in the mind of the listener.Parton released the song back in 1974. It followed Dolly Parton’s successful anthem ‘Jolene’. US and Canadian citizens were equally enamored by it. The song managed to stay at the top slot in both Canadian country music and US country music charts. The songs gained immorality when Whitney Houston featured it in her 1992 movie ‘The Bodyguards’. It sold an astonishing 600,000 copies within the first week of its release. This feat was unprecedented and even today, remains invincible.Sparks Fly

Fast forwarding to future, Taylor Swift is one of the brightest country music stars shining today. Sparks Fly is Swift’s latest single from her recently released album. Written and sung by Swift herself, the track has all trademark Taylor qualities like a catchy tune, charming imagery, vivid depiction and wild emotions. Like her several of her previous songs, this one is again an ode to youthful infatuation.

In this one of the best country songs, Taylor sings of a girl who falls for a boy in spite of acknowledging the fact that getting infatuated to him isn’t a good idea. Although the protagonist is fully aware of her bad decision, she can’t help but ‘see sparks fly whenever he smiles’. The lyrics are written in an engaging manner which has a direct universal appeal. The well written lyrics, along with Swift’s voice work to provide a close-to-reality account of falling in love.

The Encyclopedia of Country Music (Hardcover) $37.6 Immediately upon publication in 1998, the Encyclopedia of Country Music became a much-loved reference source, prized for the wealth of information it contained on that most American of musical genres. Countless fans have used it as the source...

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If you want to understand more about country music, or are new to listening to country music here is a quick starting point for you.  First, you are not in for an old-fashioned bluegrass festival overlaid with a country accent three feet thick unless you want one.  Second, this is going to start you on the best country songs so you don’t have to go hunting around to find them.

The best country songs are the ones that reach somewhere deep into your heart and make you remember them forever.  They tell a story, evoke a memory, or bring us back to our own roots.  Some of them just make us groan and shake our heads, disbelieving a country artist actually planned out a video with puppets doing that.

Country songs don’t all have to be a mash-up of best friend stole my girl – car got hit by a train-my dog died- I went and got really drunk.  They can make guitars weep, singers’ voices tremble, and our hearts break.  Just look at the history of some of the greatest.  There is Reba McEntire with “The Night the Lights Went out In Georgia,” “Fancy,” and “Is There Life Out There.”  Then you have Martina McBride with “Concrete Angel,” “Anyway,” “Independence Day,” or “A Broken Wing.” There is Colin Raye with “The Little Girl.”  Jason Aldean is a far younger country artist than any so far mentioned but when it comes to touching country songs, he certainly can stand in those ranks.  His “Alyssa Lies” is everything a great country song should be.  You can close your eyes, listen, lose yourself in the moment, and you won’t be able to help yourself but weep at the tale of a child for whom life was not kind and friendship was too late.You might wonder if a great country song could be happy, though.  The answer to that is an unqualified yes.  To be one of the best country songs, though, you just have to be able to lose yourself in the moment.  The listener needs to be able to close his or her eyes and forget there is anything but the song.  Take Joey + Rory’s “Cheater Cheater,” “Play the Song,” and “Boots” for example.  Then you have Taylor Swift’s “You Should’ve Said No,” “Picture to Burn,” and “You Belong With Me.”  Blake Shelton has “Ol’ Red.”  Brad Paisley has “Picture of Me.”

There is a special category of the best country songs for those artists that make people laugh milk out their noses and choke on half chewed food.  There is Trace Adkins with “Brown Chicken Brown Cow” and “Hey Batter.”  Ray Stevens adds to this category with “Mississippi Squirrel Revival” and “The Streak.”  Then you have Cledus T. Judd with hits such as “Goodbye Squirrel.”  Rodney Carrington has “Beer Run.”

Just going through a list of songs is only a beginning.  Your next step is to go out and to find some of these country songs.
If you want to find the best in country music, you should start with these.  Once you have heard what they have in common, and made your own judgment you can start listening to more songs and making your own list.

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