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Mar 12, 2024 · This list dips into both classic and modern country music. Of course, you'll find staple story songs from legends like George Jones and Bobbie Gentry, but we think it's pretty clear that — at...
In the late 1950s, story songs – essentially ballads, one of the deepest roots of country music – were everywhere, claiming six of the ten top country songs in 1959. Marty Robbins’s “El...
- Courtney Carr
- "Whiskey Lullaby" Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss. We still need to have tissues handy when listening to Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss' hit duet. "Whiskey Lullaby" is a heartbreaking tale of lost love, alcoholism and, ultimately, a reunion in death -- a country Romeo and Juliet, if you will.
- "The House That Built Me" Miranda Lambert. In March of 2010, Lambert released "The House That Built Me," as the third single from her Revolution album. The fastest-rising single of her career, the song hit the country Top 20 in just eight weeks, and reached No. 1 -- Lambert's first time in the top spot -- in June.
- "I Drive Your Truck" Lee Brice. While Brice's "I Drive Your Truck" was inspired by a very specific story, its become a so much more than that. As its universality exemplifies, we've all clung to the physical mementos (and non-physical memories) of a late loved one to find comfort following a loss.
- "Church Bells" Carrie Underwood. Underwood's 2016 No. 1 hit "Church Bells," from her 2015 album Storyteller, is about sweet (and deadly) revenge. Co-writers Zach Crowell, Brett James and Hillary Lindsey use the titular church bells the same way poets and novelists use certain symbols: First, they signify love, then sanctuary, and, finally, the ending of a terrible ordeal and the keeping of a secret.
- Contributor
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- “Long Black Veil” by Lefty Frizzell (written by Danny Dill and Marijohn Wilkin) This story is told from the perspective of a dead man. A decade earlier, there was a murder.
- “El Paso” by Marty Robbins (written by Marty Robbins) This one tells the story from the perspective of a dying man. The storyteller falls in love with a young Mexican maiden named Felina.
- “Big Bad John” by Jimmy Dean (written by Jimmy Dean) Written from a bystander’s perspective, Jimmy Dean based his main character on an actor he worked with named John Minto.
- “Harper Valley P.T.A.” by Jeannie C. Riley (written by Tom T. Hall) The daughter of the main character is the one telling this story. The parent/teacher association notifies the widow that she is not living her life in the way that is acceptable to the community.
Sep 13, 2019 · Using song to tell a story is a tradition within country music, where the performers hook their audience with a vivid tale. They can be ballads, silly send-ups or a grand ol’ saga. In his...
- Joshua Barajas
Mar 20, 2018 · Some of modern country's most frequently invoked archetypes, Garth Brooks and Shania Twain, were initially viewed as interlopers, their modernizing of studio and show production,...
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Dec 21, 2023 · Top 50 Songs That Tell a Story. Allison Rapp Published: December 21, 2023. UCR. Every songwriter approaches his or her craft differently, and there are, ostensibly, as many ways to write a song...
