4 of 5

Write now Article Tools

With the use of the word influential, that implies that these albums would have had to have been popular, or at least heard of before. That said, much of country music is based upon just that, country music. Of course rock n' roll, blues, jazz, and folk music all have facets that place a huge emphasis on out favorite music. It's certainly not easy to travel back in time to measure the state of affairs at any time during history when a record was released. But sometimes, you just know when something was a big deal. Why don't we take a look at some of those? You know, some albums that we actually have heard of our remember.

Let us begin with one of the pioneers of the genre, 'Queen of Country Music', by Kitty Wells. Certainly Miss Wells has been a huge influence on female entertainers, and one of her biggest hits was on this album. 'It wasn't God that made Honky-tonk angels', a song boasting that women are not always to blame for their faults, but men really are the troublesome ones. What woman wouldn't agree with that? Then we'll mention a little George Jones next. 'I am what I am', hold such hits as; 'Good hearted woman', 'If drinkin don't kill me (her memory will)', and of course the blockbuster 'He stopped loving her today'. George Jones, Merle Haggard and Waylon Jennings changed 'old timey' music into major trends.

Hank Williams Sr gave us 'Honkey Tonkin'. Though this album doesn't exactly have ten number one hits, it did introduce us to the King of Country Music. This was just the beginning of a whole new branch of music for the genre. It also holds the song 'Mind your own business', which was redone by Hank's son and just a few of his friends. Merle Haggard brought us 'Mama tried', with a few hits as the title song, and 'Green, green Grass of home.' Why are these albums on my list? These are all artists and songs that either we know and were raised on, but that our favorite current singers were completely exposed to. We can thank these artists for inspiration of the songs that we know today.

Jimmie Rodgers, may have been the most influential of all of country singers. 'My rough and rowdy ways,' gave us 'In the jail house now', which was reintroduced to us with the movie 'O brother where art thou.' Buck Owens had 'I don't care', which released 'Dang me'. And what kind of list would this be without the very memorable Patsy Cline. And it would almost be impossible to name only one album of hers, because of the tremendous impact that she still has over recent music. What else, you ask? 'Rose garden', by Lynn Anderson, 'Hello, I'm Johnny Cash,' by of course, Johnny Cash. 'Songs my father left me,' by hank Williams Jr.

I could honestly name well over a hundred albums, but we don't have that kind of time here. Suffice it to say that without the aforementioned albums, and songs, we would be hundreds of years from where we are today. If not the songs that we have reviewed here, the artists are a tremendous influence on music today. Perhaps that is the article that we should consider writing next. You curious about which is the best album? Listen to them. Because we can argue until daylight comes about which album is the best, but there is really no way to decide that for sure unless you decide it for yourself.

Learn more about this author, Shawna Blake.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.

Add your voice

Know something about Most influential country music albums of all time?
We want to hear your view. Write now!