Today’s Daily Top Five is the promised Rodney Crowell edition.
He’s such a legendary songwriter that I’m putting up three Top Fives – albums, singles, and songs written by him that were recorded by others!
Share yours in the comments. Here are my lists:
Albums
- The Outsider
- Fate’s Right Hand
- The Houston Kid
- Tarpaper Sky
- Ain’t Living Long Like This
Singles
- Things I Wish I’d Said
- After All This Time
- Elvira
- I Couldn’t Leave You if I Tried
- Earthbound
Songs
- Please Remember Me (Tim McGraw)
- ‘Til I Gain Control Again (Emmylou Harris, Crystal Gayle)
- Song for the Life (Alan Jackson)
- Ashes by Now (Emmylou Harris, Lee Ann Womack)
- I Don’t Have to Crawl (Emmylou Harris, Rosanne Cash)
Albums
1. Fate’s Right Hand
2. The Houston Kid
3. The Outsider
4. Tarpaper Sky
5. Diamonds & Dirt
Singles
1. Fate’s Right Hand
2. Earthbound
3. Say You Love Me
4. I Walk The Line Revisited
5. Above and Beyond
Songs
Please Remember Me (Tim McGraw)
I Ain’t Living Long Like This (Waylon Jennings)
Making Memories of Us (I prefer Tracy Byrd’s version)
Open Season On My Heart (Tim McGraw)
Ashes By Now (Lee Ann Womack)
I’ll just do songs written for others:
1. Lee Ann Womack – Ashes by Now
2. Tim McGraw (& Linda Ronstadt/Aaron Neville) – Please Remember Me
3. Alan Jackson (& Alison Krauss & Kathy Mattea) – Song for the Life
4. Patty Loveless – Lovin’ All Night
5. Emmylou Harris – Leaving Louisiana in the Broad Daylight
Hm, I’ll have to think about this. RC’s such a great artist with SO MANY incredible songs to his name.
I did not know that “Things I Wish I’d Said” was released as a single! That is such a lovely song.
ALBUMS
1. Diamonds and Dirt – easily his best album
2. Keys To The Highway
3. Houston Kid
4. But What Will The Neighbors Think
5. Let The Picture Paint Itself
SINGLES
1. I Couldn’t Leave You If I Tried
2. Above and Beyond
3. I Walk The Line Revisited
4. After All This Time
5. She’s Crazy For Leavin’
SONGS
1. Shame On The Moon (Bob Seger)
2. Til I Gain Control Again (Crystal Gayle)
3. Ashes By Now (Lee Ann Womack)
4. Leavin’ Louisiana In The Broad Daylight (Oak Ridge Boys)
5. Ain’t Livin’ Long Like This (Waylon Jennings)
I love, love Rodney Crowell. I had a chance to meet him and it was an incredible experience. I won’t go into the details here, but I’m not being hyperbolic in this case.
Albums
1. The Outsider
2. The Houston Kid
3. Fate’s Right Hand
4. Tarpaper Sky
5. Diamonds and Dirt
Singles (I have many favorite Crowell songs, but here are my fave singles in particular):
1. “She’s Crazy for Leaving”
2. “Things I Wish I’d Said”
3. “After All This Time”
4. “Many A Long and Lonesome Highway”
5. “I Couldn’t Leave You If I Tried”
Compositions:
1. Emmylou Harris, “Leavin’ Louisianna in the Broad Daylight”
2. Emmylou Harris, “Bluebird Wine”
3. Alan Jackson, “Song for the Life”
4. Keith Urban, “Making Memories of Us” (Though I prefer the Notorious Cherry Bomb’s, the group with Rodney and Vince Gill, version.)
5. Patty Loveless, “Lovin’ All Night”
It’s hard to overstate how much Rodney Crowell’s music means to me. Outside of a handful of extremely big-name country legends, he’s pretty much my favorite artist. I’m just going to rank albums because I have no idea how to narrow it down to five songs.
Albums
1. The Houston Kid (not just my favorite Crowell album, but my favorite album, period)
2. The Outsider
3. Tarpaper Sky
4. Diamonds & Dirt
5. Ain’t Living Long Like This
I had previously posted this in a Favorite Songwriters thread, so I’m repeating myself here
1. Please Remember Me – Tim McGraw
2. Till I Gain Control Again – Crystal Gayle
3. I Don’t Know Why You Don’t Want Me – Rosanne Cash
4. Leaving Louisiana In The Broad Daylight – Oak Ridge Boys
5. I Ain’t Living Long Like This – Waylon Jennings
I don’t have a list but I will admit, after reading this, It looks as though he is one great songwriter. I didn’t realize. I will have to put him up there with Kristofferson, B. Anderson, H. Howard, Dolly, etc. as one of the best songwriters ever.
One the list of songs Rodney had a hand in writing, I would add “When The Master Calls The Roll,” from Rosanne Cash’s The River and the Thread . With a beautifully drawn out lyric, the track chronicles the life of a civil war soldier masterfully.
As for a proper five singles and five albums list, I regret not knowing his catalog intimately enough to properly make objective rankings. But I do love the songs he wrote for others that have been mentioned above. Tim McGraw’s recording of “Please Remember Me” is a wonderful sweeping epic. I really like Keith Urban’s take on “Making Memories of Us,” although repeated listenings have hindred that admiration. Lee Ann Womack’s take on “Ashes By Now” is simple commercial perfection. I also love “Leaving Louisiana In The Broad Daylight” in all its incarnations.