C/W music Audiogon members

I have a large collection of old (from Left Frizzell, Bob Wills, Patsy Cline up to Merle Haggard), progressive (70s -Willie Nelson to Rodney Crowell, Rosanne Cash) and bluegrass (Alison Krauss of course, Doc Watson and the Rice brothers, the McCarters, Dolly Parton), really too numerous to list, and mostly on lps, which Im not playing right now because Im waiting for a new Zerostat.

None of the current crop of Nashville-approved C/W stylists is worth listening to unless you like Muzak, but there are some great recent albums; anything by Alison Krauss of course, the new Merle Haggard cd, anything by Iris Dement (Merle's favorite singer), the two recent Johnny Cash cds, Lucinda Williams and Gillian Welch.

My favorites are two Merle Haggard lps, available on cd: A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player The World Has Ever Known (title is close to that but I may not have it exact) and Okie from Muskogee, which except for "Green Green Grass" inserted to appease the record company, may be the best C/W record ever.

It's "A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or my salute to Bob Wills)"

Kathy Mattea is one of the best, her Untasted Honey album is a classic. Too many women to mention, but after Dolly Parton the obvious is Reba McEntire, and one of my other favorites, with a perfect C/W name, Patty Loveless.

Alison Krauss singing "Heaven's Bright Shore" is a gift from above (I'm listening to it right now). Damn I'm getting old. That was 12 years ago on her second cd. She was still under 18.

Danvetc, I'm surprised you didnt mention your almost name sake and his band. And David, Asleep at the Wheel is a western swing band in the tradition of Bob Wills. Try Merle Haggard's tribute to him or Wills's Tiffany Transcriptons.

One more I will be surprised if anyone has ever heard: Mother Earth Presents Tracy Nelson Country, 1969 on reprise and it has been reissued on cd. If you liked Linda Ronstadt singing I Fall to Pieces, listen to Tracy's version.

Oops, the Tracy Nelson lp was on mercury, reissued by reprise archives. Absolutely amazing renditions of I Cant Go On Loving You, Im So Lonesome I Could Cry, I Wanna Be Your Momma Again and You Win Again.