Cowboy Music
 

All I want to hear is trains and horses and slide guitar blues. I want the romanticized kick your teeth in if I gotta, but I'll die if my baby leaves me aesthetic. I want my music to evoke a solitary rogue character, hardened by life in the desert and years of tough love and women.

The only problem is, I'm not big on "country music." No Shania Twain or George Strait for me. I want badass and lonely, not whiny and pining for a truck. Building this playlist is more difficult than it sounds. It feels like a scavenger hunt, and I figured I'd share.

This is the playlist I have so far:

• The Builders And The Butchers - Black Dresses
• Ray LaMontagne - Henry Nearly Killed Me (It's A Shame)
• Neko Case - This Tornado Loves You
• Matt Mays - Cocaine Cowgirl
• Eagles Of Death Metal - San Berdoo Sunburn
• The Builders And The Butchers - The Coal Mine Fall
• K-OS - The Ballad of Noah
• Cage the Elephant - Ain't No Rest for the Wicked
• The Raconteurs - Carolina Drama
• The Gaslight Anthem - Even Cowgirls Get The Blues
• Queens of the Stone Age - Auto Pilot
• Gorillaz - Dirty Harry
• Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue
• Martha Wainwright - Tower of Song
• Melissa McClelland - Glenrio
• Beck - Loser
• Bright Eyes - Another Travelin' Song
• Paolo Nutini - Worried Man
• Robert Plant & Allison Krauss - Rich Woman
• Belle and Sebastian - Fuck This Shit

Anything else come to mind? What do you think? Do you share the sentiments?

I love The Raconteurs. :)

I can definitely think of some songs to add after I give it some thought.

Maybe... Why She's Acting This Way by Townes Van Zandt?

That's quite keen; I've either posted something in the last month or hold a track in my library for at least a third of the songs in your playlist. Good taste collides.


For now, I'll recommend the first song not within your track listing, and in which I could find handy:

Neil Diamond - Solitary Man (Johnny Cash's cover is more "gruff" if you prefer, but to me, it still lacks the emphasis and longing I felt from within Diamond's words.)

Thanks! Sounds good!

Try "Where the Devil Don't Stay" or "Sinkhole" by Drive-By Truckers

well, i'd also throw in my hat for townes van zandt, plus some john prine, some robert earl keen, some steve earle. a couple of tunes by junior brown maybe. more will probably come to mind later...but those are the quickies off the top of my head. oh, and some dwight yoakam. i know, you said you don't like country. Check this:



I'd be remiss, given my predilections, if I didn't try some of this too. Sorry if it shits on the OP :)

Try "Dirt On The Angel" by Danny Barnes. That whole CD is great start to finish. Also, anything by Danny's old band, The Bad Livers.
Especially "Horses In The Mine" and "Hogs On The Highway". Good stuff!!!