The Americana and roots music authority

Greatest Americana Song list

Greatest Americana Song list

Background: Americana is a subset of American roots music, best defined as "classic American music" ranging in style from & including elements of folk, country blues, bluegrass, alternative country, rockabilly, neo traditional & roots rock.

Criteria: These songs were chosen for best identifying, inspiring & encapsulating the heart of tradition & the American experience. As with all lists, this is a subjective list and makes no claim of an official nature.

1. American Music - The Blasters
2. Tecumseh Valley - Townes Van Zandt
3. Honky Tonk Masqueade - Joe Ely
4. City of New Orleans - Steve Goodman
5. Boulder To Birmingham - Emmylou Harris
6. Taxes On The Farmer, Feeds Us All - Ry Cooder
7. Tear Stained Eye - Son Volt
8. Hello In There - John Prine
9. Copperhead Road - Steve Earle
10. Choctaw Bingo - James McMurtry
11. Desperado's Waiting For The Train - Guy Clark
12. California Bloodlines - John Stewart
13. King of California - Dave Alvin
14. Car Wheels On a Gravel Road - Lucinda Williams
15. No Depression - Uncle Tupelo
16. Sin City - The Flying Burrito Brothers
17. Leaving Louisiana In The Broad Daylight - Rodney Crowell
18. Memphis In The Meantime - John Hiatt
19. Purgatory Road - Ray Wylie Hubbard
20. Boomer's Story - Ry Cooder
21. Rio Grande - Dave Alvin
22. Christmas In Washington - Steve Earle
23. Mr Bojangles - Jerry Jeff Walker
24. L.A. Freeway - Guy Clark
25. Common Man - The Blasters
26. F.D.R. In Trinidad - Ry Cooder
27. Long White Cadillac - The Blasters
28. Gabriel's Mother's Hiway Ballad #16 Blues - Arlo Guthrie
29. New Madrid - Uncle Tupelo
30. Green Blanket - Peter Case
31. From A Kitchen Table - Dave Alvin
32. Eats Away The Night - Butch Hancock
33. Atmosphere - Son Volt
34. The Dark - Guy Clark
35. Highway Kind - Townes Van Zandt
36. Turn Your Radio On - John Hartford
37. The Last of The True Believers - Nanci Griffith
38. Paradise Etc - Peter Case
39. Me and Billy The Kid - Joe Ely
40. Train Leaves Here This Morning - Dilliard and Clark
41. Sundown - Rank and File
42. Brass Buttons - Gram Parsons
43. Someday - Steve Earle
44. Nine Volt Heart - Dave Alvin
45. Boxcars - Joe Ely
46. Billy The Kid - Ry Cooder
47. Concrete and Barbed Wire - Lucinda Williams
48. Musta Notta Gotta Lotta - Joe Ely
49. God's Own Jukebox - Jesse Winchester
50. Tennessee Plates - John Hiatt
51. Pancho and Lefty - Townes Van Zandt
52. Passenger Side - Wilco
53. I Am The Ride - Chris Smither
54. Windfall - Son Volt
55. Dust of The Chase - Ray Wylie Hubbard
56. Whiskey Bottle - Uncle Tupelo
57. The Pugilist at 59 - Tom Russell
58. Jericho Road - Steve Earle
59. Drive South - John Hiatt
60. Take Me With You (When You Go) - The Jayhawks
61. Tonight I Think I'm Gonna Go Downtown - Jimmie Dale Gilmore
62. Presidential Rag - Arlo Guthrie
63. Spell of Wheels - Peter Case
64. Over Yonder (Jonathan's Song) - Steve Earle
65. Many A Long & Lonesome Highway - Rodney Crowell
66. Trudy and Dave - John Hiatt
67. Link of Chain - Chris Smither
68. Making Pies - Patty Griffin
69. We Can't Make It Here - James McMurtry
70. Highway 17 - Rodney Crowell
71. If I Had a Boat - Lyle Lovett
72. Blackjack David - Dave Alvin
73. Cooler-N-Hell - Ray Wylie Hubbard
74. Lost In The Ozone - Commander Cody & The Lost Planet Airmen
75. Dallas - The Flatlanders
76. 6 String Belief - Son Volt
77. Darkest Hour - Arlo Guthrie
78. Return of The Grievous Angel - Gram Parsons
79. Red Rose - The Blasters
80. The Great Comprimise - John Prine
81. The Brand New Tennessee Waltz - Jesse Winchester
82. Oh My Sweet Carolina - Ryan Adams
83. Gold - John Stewart
84. Some Humans Ain't Human - John Prine
85. Drive In Movies & Dashboard Lights - Nanci Griffith
86. Braden River - Chris Smither
87. Pocatello - James McMurtry
88. In My Own Mind - Lyle Lovett
89. Kerosene Hat - Cracker
90. Roving Gambler - Peter Case
91. Play Me The Waltz of The Angels - The Derailers
92. Dancing With The Women at The Bar - Whiskeytown
93. Clay Pigeons - John Prine
94. I've Got My Pride (But I Got To Feed The Kids) - Rodney Crowell
95. Mercenary Song - Steve Earle
96. Movin' The Country - BR5-49
97. What Work Is - Tom Russell
98. Empty Baseball Park - Whiskeytown
99. Photograph - Charlie Robison
100. Screw You, We're From Texas - Ray Wylie Hubbard

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101. Baby Likes To Rock It - The Tractors
102. I've Been To Memphis - Lyle Lovett
103. Old America - Tom Russell
104. Slate - Uncle Tupelo
105. Abilene - Dave Alvin
106. The South Coast of Texas - Guy Clark
107. The Streets of Baltimore - Gram Parsons
108. Jimmie Brown The Newsboy - Jimmie Dale Gilmore
109. Andersonville - Dave Alvin
110. U.S. Steel - Tom Russell
111. Crescent City - Lucinda Williams
112. Blue Umbrella - John Prine
113. Hey Mr President - The Warren Brothers
114. Casino Queen - Wilco
115. Ten Degrees - J.D. Crowe & The New South
116. Moses - Patty Griffin
117. Pineola - Lucinda Williams
118. 1000 Dollar Car - The Bottle Rockets
119. Coulda Shoulda Woulda - Peter Case
120. Letter To Laredo - Joe Ely
121. Crocodile Man - Chris Smither
122. Bag of Bones - Guy Clark
123. Grand Central Station March 18, 1978 - Steve Forbert
124. Comeback - The Warren Brothers
125. Christmas Morning - Lyle Lovett
126. Burgundy Shoes - Patty Griffin
127. I Got Mine - Ry Cooder
128. Back Into The World - Son Volt
129. Last Train To Amsterdam - Ray Wylie Hubbard
130. Immigrant Eyes - Guy Clark
131. Nothing At All - The Waco Brothers
132. Angelyne - The Jayhawks
133. Trains - Ryan Adams
134. New Orleans Waltz - Grayson Capps
135. I Ain't Long Like This - Rodney Crowell
136. Horseshoe - The North Mississippi Allstars
137. Last Lonely Eagle - New Riders of The Purple Sage
138. Carl Perkins Cadillac - The Drive By Truckers
139. Washboard Lisa - Grayson Capps
140. Water When The Well Is Dry - Buddy Miller
141. Inn Town - Whiskeytown
142. Road of Ruin - The Beat Farmers
143. Tulsa Queen - Emmylou Harris
144. Bem McCulloch - Steve Earle
145. Radio King - Golden Smog
146. Ooh Las Vegas - Gram Parsons
147. Rock of Ages - Gillian Welch
148. Laredo Rose - The Texas Tornado's
149. Farewell Angelina - New Riders of The Purple Sage
150. I Must Be High - Wilco
151. Snake Farm - Ray Wylie Hubbard
152. January 23-30 1978 - Steve Forbert
153. The Kid From Spavinaw - Tom Russell
154. Boats To Build - Guy Clark
155. 1968 - Dave Alvin
156. Riverside - The Beat Farmers
157. Epitaph - Blue Mountain
158. The Beautiful Lie - The Amazing Rhythm Aces
159. Moon Song - Emmylou Harris
160. Cold River - John Hiatt
161. Oh No, Not Another One - Doug Sahm
162. Cold Dog Soup - Guy Clark
163. Lungs - Townes Van Zandt
164. Wild Northland - Kingfish
165. Two More Bottles of Wine - Emmylou Harris
166. Teen Angst - Cracker
167. Southern Baptist Heartbreak - The Warren Brothers
168. Beaujolais - The BoDeans
169. Down The Road - Steve Earle
170. Streets of Sin - Joe Ely
171. The River's Gonna Run - Buddy & Julie Miller
172. A1 On The Jukebox - BR5-49
173. Easy Wind - The Grateful Dead
174. Highway In The Wind - Arlo Guthrie
175. How Can I Miss You, When You Won't Go Away - Dan Hicks & His Hot Licks
176. 16 Days - Whiskeytown
177. Ridin' Out The Storm - Rodney Crowell
178. Hammers and Nails - Radney Foster
179. A Train Robbery - Levon Helm
180. Six Hours Ahead of The Sun - Steve Goodman
181. Seven Days - Cracker
182. Old School - Russell Smith
183. Healing Bones - Jules Shear
184. Sell A Lot of Beer - The Warren Brothers
185. Thrice All American - Neko Case
186. So I'll Run - Jimmie Dale Gilmore
187. Christ For President - Billy Bragg & Wilco
188. Long Walking Down To Misery - The Beau Brummels
189. Trust Jesus - Slobberbone
190. Victoria Lee - The Old 97's
191. American Hotel - Tom Russell
192. Dire Wolf - The Grateful Dead
193. Oklahoma Dust - The Notorious Cherry Bombs
194. Jerusalum Tomorrow - David Olney
195. Love Reunited - The Desert Rose Band
196. Bethlehem Steel - Grant Lee Buffalo
197. Moonshine - The North Mississippi Allstars
198. Broken Down Row - The Waco Brothers
199. My Front Pages - Arlo Guthrie
200. Rock This Town - The Stray Cats

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Permalink Reply by Kevin Russell on September 22, 2009 at 7:48am

Where's The Gourds?

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Permalink Reply by Rick Varner on September 22, 2009 at 9:09am

Thanks Kevin,
The following is a review I saw over at Amazon.
There's a band out of Austin, Texas called The Gourds. I've loved them for years, but I always find myself somewhat tongue-tied (or keyboard-tied) when I try to describe them and their music. A couple of them have skanky ZZ Top beards, beerguts, and look like they should be driving big rigs. They have an accordion player named Claude. They have two lead singers who do very passable imitations of Levon Helm and Rick Danko from The Band -- merely two of the best rock vocalists ever. They play a sort of swamp rock/boogie/Cajun/country conglomeration that doesn't fit easily within any of those niches. And the songs? They sing about flatulence, Star Trek, weather girls, Schoolhouse Rock, and Catwoman. All of which would lead you to believe that they're a sort of weirdly adolescent, pop-culture-obsessed novelty act, which they are, but then they turn around and knock you out with a perfect unrequited love song that sounds so real and honest and desperate that you'd swear the lyrics were written in blood.
They have a new album called Haymaker!, which will be out right after the beginning of the year. It's probably their best album in a long career of good and very good albums. It's raw and soulful. There's a little more of a Cajun influence and a lot more classic Levon Helm hillbilly wail this time around. There are songs about do rags. There are songs about otherwise unknown people named Thurman. There are songs about fossils. And there are great love and unrequited love songs. They do what they've always done, only better. Right now it's at the top of my Best Albums of 2009 list. Yeah, I know. But I'll still bet that it won't move off the list. --Paste Magazine's Andy Whitman

I'll give a listen & try to work them in.........

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Permalink Reply by Ralph Murphy on January 30, 2012 at 9:48pm

You do know that Kev plays with the Gourds? He and his pal Jimmy Smith are two of the best song writers ever to come out of Texas. They don't imitate anybody. They are uniquely fantastic!