The Best of 1991: The Ballot

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1. Albums – (alphabetically by artist)
   Suzy Bogguss – Aces
   Marty Brown – High and Dry
   Vern Gosdin – Out of My Heart
   Alan Jackson – Don’t Rock The Jukebox
   Hal Ketcham – Past The Point of Rescue
   Tracy Lawrence – Sticks and Stones
   Patty Loveless – Up Against My Heart
   Aaron Tippin – Youi’ve Got To Stand For Something
   Randy Travis – High Lonesome
   Jerry Jeff Walker – Navajo Rug
   Gene Watson – At Last
   Keith Whitley – Kentucky Bluebird

   It was a good year – I think I have 65 of the 68 albums listed !

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2. Depending on your age, this was either a great time in country music or an end of a great era as some of the best artists of all time were banished from country radio.

   I definitely appreciate some of the incredible talent that came along at this time. But I’ve never gotten over the dismissal of so many greats. Other than Tanya Tucker, just about every artist who had charted in the 70s were given the boot. Sad, sad time.

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3. I have the albums by Suzy, Kathy, Hal, Trisha & Garth. It was still a few years before I really got into country.

   Favorite Singles in no particular order:
   Treat Me Like A Stranger – Baillie & Boys (saw Kathie Baillie a few years ago for the first time. Great voice.)
   Heroes – Paul Overstreet
   At Last – Gene Watson (my favorite take on this oft covered song)
   In a Different Light – Doug Stone
   Love, Me – Collin Raye
   Moon Over Georgia – Shenandoah
   Asking Us to Dance – Kathy Mattea
   Someday Soon – Suzy Bogguss
   Small Town Saturday Night – Hal Ketchum
   Somewhere in My Broken Heart – Billy Dean
   The Thunder Rolls – Garth
   If the Devil Danced in Empty Pockets – Joe Diffie

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4. Wow. This was well before my time, but “embarrassment of riches” is right. I can’t believe how many of these singles hold up to this day, I could rattle off favorite songs from this list for hours.

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5. Singles – my top five in ( )

   (5) John Anderson – Straight Tequila Night
   Clint Black – Loving Blind
   Suzy Bogguss – Someday Soon
   Mary Chapin Carpenter – Down at the Twist and Shout
   Martin Delray – Get Rhythm (with Johnny Cash)
   (1) Martin Delray – Lillie’s White Lies
   Joe Diffie – If the Devil Danced (in Empty Pockets)
   Holly Dunn – Maybe I Mean Yes
   Skip Ewing – I Get the Picture
   Forester Sisters – Men
   Clinton Gregory – (If it Weren’t for Country Music) I’d Go Crazy
   Highway 101 – Bing Bang Boom
   Highway 101 – The Blame
   Alan Jackson – Don’t Rock the Jukebox
   Alan Jackson – Someday
   George Jones – You Couldn’t Get the Picture
   Ray Kennedy – Scars
   Sammy Kershaw – Cadillac Style
   (3) Hal Ketchum – Small Town Saturday Night
   Tracy Lawrence – Sticks and Stones
   Patty Loveless – I’m That Kind of Girl
   Patty Loveless – Blue Memories
   Patty Loveless – Hurt Me Bad (in a Real Good Way)
   Mark O’Connor – Restless (w/Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs, Steve Wariner)
   Paul Overstreet – Ball and Chain
   Pirates of the Mississippi – Feed Jake
   Sawyer Brown – The Walk
   Ricky Van Shelton – Keep it Between the Lines
   (2) Doug Stone – A Jukebox with a Country Song
   George Strait – You Know Me Better Than That
   Marty Stuart – Tempted
   Randy Travis – Better Class of Losers
   Travis Tritt – Here’s a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)
   (4) Travis Tritt – The Whiskey ain’t Workin’ (with Marty Stuart)
   Tanya Tucker – Down to My Last Teardrop
   Donna Ulisse – Things are Mostly Fine
   Donna Ulisse – When was the Last Time
   Gene Watson – At Last
   Gene Watson – You Can’t Take it With You When You Go
   Dwight Yoakam – It Only Hurts When I Cry

   My top forty would include non-charting singles as follows
   Johnny Cash – Mystery of Life
   Merle Haggard – A Bar In Bakersfield
   Statler Brothers – Remember Me
   Faron Young – Just An Old Heartache

   I’m not sure which of the forty above I would delete to make room

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6. Looking forward to this look back on 1991. This was the year I started to really become aware of country music after borrowing a couple tapes from a friend (Reba’s Rumor Has It and Garth Brooks No Fences). My favorite albums from the list above are Reba’s For My Broken Heart and Tanya Tucker’s What Do I Do with Me. My favorite singles are:

   Clint Black – Loving Blind and Where Are You Now
   Mark Chesnutt – Broken Promise Land
   Diamond Rio – Mama Don’t Forget to Pray for Me
   The Judds – One Hundred and Two
   Patty Loveless – Hurt Me Bad (In a Real Good Way)
   Dolly Parton – Eagle When She Flies

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7. The music released in 1991 is an excellent example of how the artists of that time were successful at meaningfully reinterpreting an idealized standard of traditional country music while incorporating contemporary influences and sounds. Much of the mainstream music released today suffers in comparison to the output of 1991, if for no other reason, than the cheap imitation of country themes and tropes feels more like parody than prophecy. Too often, neither country’s past nor it’s present hold much hope for the future. The country artists of 1991 cared enough to both coddle and kick country music out of its cradle.

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