7 thoughts on “‘Girl from the North Country.’”

  1. Off the top of my head (with some quick checks because the late 70s and early 80s tend to run together a bit for me)…
    .
    Barbara Mandrel I Was Country When County Wasn’t Cool
    George Jones He Stopped Loving Her Today
    George Jones and Merle Haggard Yesterday’s Wine
    Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson Pancho and Lefty
    Charlie Daniels Simple Man
    Alabama 40 Hour Week, Southern Star, The Closer You Get, Roll On
    Jerry Reed, She Got the Goldmine (I Got the Shaft), The Bird
    Willie Nelson, To All the Girls I’ve Loved Before, On the Road Again
    Kris Kristofferson Here Comes That Rainbow Again
    Tanya Tucker, Strong Enough to Bend, I Won’t Take Less Than Your Love
    Reba Mcentire I Can’t Even Get the Blues
    The Judd’s Grandpa (Tell Me ’bout the Good Old Days)
    Hank Williams Jr. A Country Boy Can Survive
    Ricky Skaggs Highway 40 Blues
    Charlie Pride Roll On Mississippi
    Eddie Rabbit I Love a Rainy Night
    Eddie Raven I’ve Got Mexico, Bayou Boys, Operator Operator, Joe Sure Knows How to Live
    Don Williams Lord I Hope This Day is Good
    Hoyt Axton Pistol Packin’ Mama
    Kenny Rogers Through the Years
    Dolly Parton 9 to 5
    Ronnie Milsap I Wouldn’t Have Missed it for the World, Smokey Mountain Rain
    George Strait Amarillo by Morning, Fool Hearted Memory, Am I Blue
    Mac Davis It’s Hard to be Humble
    Mel McDaniel Louisiana Saturday Night
    Keith Whitley Don’t Close Your Eyes, I’m No Stranger to the Rain
    Randy Travis Deeper Than the Holler, On the Other Hand
    Kathy Mattea 18 Wheels and a Dozen Roses
    .
    More will probably come to me.

  2. I’ll second He Stopped Loving Her Today, Pancho and Lefty, A Country Boy Can Survive, Amarillo by Morning and Fool Hearted Memory. Going to have to dissent on some of the others as iconic but YMMV.

    Add to the list Guitars, Cadillacs etc by Dwight Yoakum. On The Road Again by Willie. All My Exes Live in Texas by George Strait. Robert Earl Keen – Road Goes on Forever. Terry Allen – Amarillo Highway.

    The 80s weren’t great for country IMO; too much crossover.

  3. Don’t forget the theme from Rawhide, if you want to include both kinds of music.

  4. Also adding:
    The Oak Ridge Boys – Elvira
    Willie Nelson – Always on My Mind
    Alabama- Love in the First Degree
    Stuff by Randy Travis or The Judds would be good too, but by that time I was new wave or hard rock in listening habits. I think early Bonnie Raitt was that era too.
    *
    If you’d like to cheat, you could toss on the soundtrack to Urban Cowboy (1980), although actually looking at it, er, not sure that Joe Walsh, or Jimmy Buffet really qualify. However it does have “Wookin po Nub” by Johnny Lee on it.
    *
    And these are (cough) from the 70s, but folks probably won’t notice:
    Dave Loggins- Please Come to Boston
    Kenny Rogers- The Gambler
    Glenn Campbell- Rhinestone Cowboy
    Charlie Daniels – The Devil Went Down to Georgia (1979. Would have still been on the charts in 1980)
    *
    Oh, and of course, Big Country’s “In A Big Country.” Because, well, obvious thing is obvious.
    *
    Hey, Amazon’s giving me country music ads now thanks to my googling. Great!

  5. Recognizing that they’re not really ’80s or country .. what are you doing with “War” ?
    .
    Mew

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