Tag: country

Roger Miller | Chug-a-Lug

“Country music is known for its drinking songs. Roger Miller offered a unique twist with one of his own, ‘Chug-a-Lug,'” (American Songwriter). “‘I think originality is the end result of a man’s search for something you can do well.” … He certainly proved that statement with ‘Chug-a-Lug,’ the 1964 novelty song he wrote solo that celebrates liquid indulgence.

… ‘Chug-a-Lug’ is one of Miller’s signature hits. It peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #3 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. It was his second crossover hit following ‘Dang Me,’ which hit #1 on the country chart and #7 on the Hot 100.”

Starting in a slightly de-tuned E major, the tune shifts lazily up to F major at 0:55, then again to F# major at 1:27. The track’s run time of just barely over two minutes probably helped to build its popularity nearly as much as its off-color topic! Many thanks to regular contributor Rob P. for submitting this country classic.

The Four Guys | Too Late to Turn Back Now

“Formed in the late 50s … in Steubenville-Toronto, Ohio, USA, (The Four Guys) group moved to Nashville, Tennessee, and appeared on the Grand Ole Opry in April 1967,” (AllMusic). “Their reception was such that they became regulars on the show and built lasting popularity from this engagement.” The group worked with Hank Williams, Jr., Jimmy Dean, and Charley Pride.

The quartet were “just as much at home on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry as they are on the Las Vegas circuit” (Slipcue) … The Four Guys released several albums and a number of singles from the early 1970s through the early 1980s.

“Too Late to Turn Back Now” (1974) featured the quartet’s famous vocal blend; the tune shifts up a half-step at 1:31.

Tom T. Hall | Old Dogs, Children, and Watermelon Wine

“There’s little preparation needed to approach a Tom T. Hall song,” (TheMusicalDivide.com). “His work is the embodiment of country music, perhaps not in sound – his weapons of choice included warm acoustics, dobro, and, every now and then, strings; not moaning steel guitar or fiddle – but certainly in the unpretentious, straightforward spirit it was meant to stand for as music of the real, everyday forgotten people. Hall’s songs have a casual feel of a late-afternoon chat at a local diner, or an all-night conversation between two old friends catching up on old times and having a riot recounting those old stories.

… Old dogs are there for you even when you stumble and make mistakes; children are too young to understand the concept of hate and are how we map the world’s future; and watermelon wine … well, that one isn’t explained directly with a line. But I’d like to think there’s a beauty in two road-weary adults taking the time to appreciate life’s simpler pleasures and remember the good in the world, or remember that it’s not all lost or faded, at least.”

The leisurely country track, released in 1975, begins in F major; in the middle of the tune at 2:04, it shifts up a half step. But just for good measure, Hall adds another half-step key change late in the game (3:30).

Mickey Woods | They Rode Through the Valley

The 1961 release “They Rode Through the Valley,” performed by Mickey Woods, was “The first Motown writing credit for (Motown founder) Berry Gordy’s brother Robert, aka ‘Bob Kayli,’ this is – rather unbelievably – a second weak ‘historical comedy’ record about the Battle of the Little Bighorn, apparently a vein Gordy didn’t feel was tapped out yet following Popcorn Wylie’s baffling ‘Custer’s Last Man.’ Oh, except this isn’t just a comedy record – it’s a comedy country record. Sweet Jesus … Seriously, if you don’t want to jab knitting needles in your ears when we get to the (charitably-named) ‘chorus’ and he jauntily announces ‘Sittin’ Bull and his Injuns / At the little bitty bitty Bighorn!‘, you’re made of sturdier stuff than this listener,” (MotownJunkies.co.uk).

“Anyway, it’s a story about how Custer got all his men killed by telling them to wait until they saw the whites of the Native warriors’ eyes, only to be foiled because ‘all them big bad Injuns / have big red bloodshot eyes!‘ That’s it. That’s the punchline. A borderline racist joke at the end of a comedy song about a mass slaughter during a vicious war of racial extermination. Fantastic.

(It’s bleakly entertaining in one way, and just one: bitter irony. The company which the whole world would come to identify as synonymous with the smashing down of racial barriers, the shining, all-conquering jewel of racial integration in Sixties America, putting out a casually racist joke record. It’s now starting to dawn on me why, if Mickey Woods really was Motown’s first white solo vocalist, it’s not a landmark that’s been publicised more; it’s almost as if Motown worked hard to erase this jejune blip from their history) … This is utter, utter, utter crap, and best forgotten by all involved. Let’s move on.”

The key changes for this “least Motown-sounding” of all possible Motown tunes hit at 0:52 and 1:40. Don’t say we didn’t warn you.

Skeeter Davis | The End of the World

“Although she was a mainstay on the country charts for decades, Skeeter Davis’ crossover success on the pop charts was mostly limited to a pair of Top-10 singles,” (American Songwriter). “But one of those songs, her 1962 hit ‘The End of the World,’ stands as one of the greatest songs ever about the aftermath of a devastating loss.

… ‘The End of the World’ was written by the songwriting pair of Arthur Kent and Sylvia Dee. Dee, the lyricist, was inspired to write the song by the death of her father, although the lyrics keep the loss general enough to make it seem like it could be a breakup. In any case, Davis’ performance, understated and vulnerable, took it to another level. Instead of remaining within country music circles, ‘The End of the World’ took off when New York DJs started spinning it on the regular. Not only did it work its way into the pop charts, hitting #2 in 1962, but it also hit the Top 5 on the Hot R&B, Easy Listening, and Country charts, an unprecedented feat.”

After a start in Bb major, a shift up to B major at 1:56 is followed by a partially spoken verse, leading up to a sung rubato for the balance of the verse as the tune draws to its end. Although it feels far from rushed, the 12/8 ballad has a run time of under 2:45.

Rusty Kershaw | Fisherman’s Luck

“Musician Russell Lee ‘Rusty’ Kershaw, brother of fiddler Doug Kershaw and former member of the Rusty & Doug, passed away in 2001 at the age of 63,” (CMT.com). “Kershaw, who was born in Louisiana Feb. 2, 1938, joined his brothers Doug and Nelson (“Pee Wee”) in 1948 to form the Cajun band Pee Wee Kershaw & The Continental Playboys.” They later appeared on KPLC-TV in Lake Charles, Louisiana, Louisiana Hayride, and the Wheeling Jamboree on radio station WWVA in Wheeling, WV.” As a duo, Rusty & Doug released several top 20 Country singles. “Rusty & Doug joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1957. Over the next three years, the Kershaws charted three more singles … ‘Louisiana Man’ went to #10. The duo signed to RCA Records in 1963. The next year, however, Rusty left the duo.

Continuing to record and perform on his own, Rusty Kershaw released the album Cajun in the Blues Country (1970). He figured prominently in Neil Young’s 1974 album, On the Beach, playing fiddle and slide guitar and also providing the liner notes. Young later returned the favor by performing on eight tracks of Kershaw’s … 1992 album, Now and Then.”

One of the tunes from Cajun in Blues Country, featuring Charlie Daniels on fiddle, was “Fisherman’s Luck.” After the tune begins in D major, there’s a shift up to A major for the chorus (0:56), then a fall back to the original key for the next verse. The pattern continues from there.

Faith Hill | The Way You Love Me

Breathe, the 1999 album by country/pop artist Faith Hill, hit #1 on both the Billboard 200 and the Top Country Albums chart and became the second most successful album of 2000 on the Albums chart. Breathe reached top 40 album status in ten countries (Wikipedia).

“The Way You Love Me,” a single from the album, was released at first only country radio, where it hit #1 on the Hot Country Songs chart. The song later migrated to pop radio, reached #6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and went on to spend 56 weeks on the chart. The song was Hill’s most successful single at the time, reaching the top ten in Hungary and Spain, the top twenty in the UK, and the top forty in New Zealand, Australia, Italy, Sweden, and Ireland.

Songwriters Keith Follesé and Michael Dulaney packed a lot into a tune just a shade over three minutes in length. After a start in C major, 0:42 brings the pre-chorus in D major, followed by the short chorus (1:01) in E major. The cycle continues through a second verse/pre-chorus/chorus, leading us into a bridge (1:58), which pivots a bit before landing in A major. At 2:10, we’re back to the pre-chorus in D and then the chorus and outro in E.

George Strait | Amarillo by Morning

Made famous by country singer George Strait, “Amarillo by Morning” was written by Terry Stafford and Paul Fraser in 1973. The song, sung from the perspective of a rodeo cowboy, has appeared in lists of the best country songs ever written, and reached #4 on the Hot Country songs Billboard chart.

The tune begins in D and modulates up to E for the last chorus at 1:38.

Barbara Mandrell | The Midnight Oil

“The most important thing to understand about Barbara Mandrell is that she was a musical prodigy,” (UDiscoverMusic). “Prodigy is, after all, the term most people would use to describe an 11-year-old who played pedal steel guitar (hardly a forgiving instrument) alongside adult professional musicians. Within a few years, she was joining Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline onstage to flaunt her skills.

Mandrell’s musical ability tends to get ignored because of just how commercially successful she was in the 1970s and 1980s, making songs that decidedly leaned toward the pop side of the country-pop spectrum … Her skill and casual, agile voice made it easy for Mandrell to dabble in several different pop styles. But she never abandoned playing music … she played not just pedal steel, but banjo, dobro, mandolin, and even saxophone. In light of that versatility and her seemingly unstoppable run of hit songs, it’s no surprise that she became the first artist to win the CMA’s Entertainer of the Year award in back-to-back years.”

Her 1973 release, “Midnight Oil,” was “a liberated woman’s anthem – not only is the narrator in this Barbara Mandrell song working late instead of running home to her beau, but she’s also actually lying about working late to continue a torrid workplace affair. A gentle, almost folksy instrumental backs Mandrell as she croons some (fairly risqué) sweet nothings to her unsuspecting partner. The song was a hit on the country charts …” An early half-step modulation hits as the second verse begins at 0:51. Many thanks to Rob P. for yet another great submission!