Some of my favorite albums are tribute albums, because I enjoy hearing artists cover or reinterpret songs that I know and love. Country music artists have participated in a wide range of tribute albums and these are five of my very favorites. What are some of your favorites?
Here’s my list:
- Steve Earle, Townes
- Various Artists, Bob Wills Tribute
- Various Artists, Keith Whitley: A Tribute Album
- Various Artists, Common Thread: Songs of the Eagles
- Asleep at the Wheel & Various Artists, A Tribute to Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
1. Amazing Grace – A Country Salute to Gospel (V. 1-2)
2. Living For a Song: A Tribute to Hank Cochran, Jamey Johnson
3. Timeless – Martina McBride
4. Still the King: Celebrating the Music of Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys, Asleep at the Wheel
5. A tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World: Or My Salute to Bob Wills, Merle Haggard
(doubled up on the Bobs)
I don’t have five, but I just have to say how much I love High Cotton: A Tribute to Alabama.
It’s got Jason Isbell, Amanda Shires, John Paul White, JD McPherson, Jason Boland, Turnpike Troubadours, Ray Benson and a bunch more awesome people, each doing an Alabama song (and transforming it into something good).
1. Various Artists, Stone Country: Country Artists Perform the Songs of the Rolling Stones
2. Various Artists, Livin, Lovin, Losin: Songs of the Louvin Brothers
3. Various Artists, Tammy Wynette: Remembered
4. Alan Jackson, Under The Influence
5. Patty Loveless, Sleepless Nights
BONUS: Suzy Bogguss, Lucky
Vince Gill & Paul Franklin, Bakersfield
1. Out Where The Bright Lights Are Glowing (Jim Reeves Tribute) – Ronnie Milsap
2. I Remember Patsy – Loretta Lynn
3. Just Because I’m A Woman: The Songs of Dolly Parton – Various
4. Timeless – Hank Williams Tribute – Various
5. Crystal Gayle Sings the Heart And Soul of Hoagy Carmichael
SINGLE ARTIST TRIBUTES
Same Train, A Different Time – Merle Haggard (Jimmie Rodgers tribute)
A tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World – Merle Haggard (Bob Wills tribute)
My Tribute To Ernest Tubb – Bob Browning
Thanks A Lot – John England & The Western Swingers (Ernest Tubb tribute)
There Stands The Glass – Carl Smith (although not labelled as a Webb Pierce tribute, every song on the album was a Webb Pierce hit)
Buckin’ Around – Jann Browne (Buck Owens tribute)
Tribute To Hank Williams – Stonewall Jackson
VARIOUS ARTIST TRIBUTES
Caught In The Webb (Webb Pierce tribute)
Hungry Eyes (Merle Haggard tribute)
Lovin’, Lovin’ Losin’ (Louvin Brothers tribute)
This One’s For Him (Guy Clark tribute album)
I Love: Tom T. Hall’s Songs of Fox Hollow
Poet: A Tribute to Townes Van Zandt
Undone (Robert Earl Kean tribute album)
Return of the Grievous Angel (Gram Parsons tribute album)