written and recorded by Dolly Parton


https://youtu.be/dGuyxHVvtE0

When I was young, my uncle taught me how to sing the sad songs he called 'Tear Jerkers'. These dated back to the times of Wilf Carter, Roy Acuff, the Carter Family and the likes. These days, folks don't record Tear Jerkers as they would be considered too depressing. What they were, however, was a reflection of the hard times...

uncertain authorship
recorded by The Animals


https://youtu.be/hRdrEv_48qs

This is a folk song that goes back a lot further than most folks would suspect. In fact, it goes back so far that nobody really knows who actually wrote it. It has been recorded by all kinds of artist including the likes of Clarence "Tom" Ashley, Gwen Foster, Roy Acuff, Ivy Smith, Texas Alexander,...

written & recorded by Stompin' Tom Connors


https://youtu.be/QUrv6Kelj90

It might be easy to write off Stompin' Tom Connor's music as cute, funny tunes but that would be overlooking were Tom got most of his inspirations from. Tom crisscrossed the huge expanse of Canada at a young age on freight trains and hitch hiking on the highways and back roads East to West and back. He played,...

written by Gillian Welch and David Rawlings
recorded by Kathy Mattea


https://youtu.be/ppPIDy9BFow

In 1997 I was staying a a place that had cable TV with a Country Music Video channel. I used to watch in the off chance that a really good song would come on that I hadn't learned. To tell the truth, I had about given up on new music by then and in the span of the next decade dozens...

written by Kris Kristofferson and ‎Fred Foster
recorded by Kris Kristofferson


https://youtu.be/WPhKkK1LfJo

There are several classic Country songs from the 1970's. Right up there with Take Me Home Country Road is a number written by Kris Kristofferson and ‎Fred Foster called 'Me & Bobby McGee'. I can think of few tunes that folks from my generation would find more recognizable...