10 Perfect Country Music Albums With No Bad Songs

Most of the charts have tended to fall out of love with country music in the past few years. I'm not just talking about the kind of rustic stuff that you still see on the hit parade these days. Compared to what the real country sounded like in its golden age, seeing the bro country-fication of these artists watering things down tends to be so much more heartbreaking. That doesn't make the good stuff any less good though.

At the risk of sounding like someone's dad, the golden age of country music gave us some of the most enduring classics of their generation, with songs that had the potential to be put in the great American songbook. Although there are definite heavy hitters of the genre that killed with their singles, some of the greatest artists were the ones in it for the albums, never skimping out when it came time to knock out a killer hook or a song that could rip your heart out of your chest.

And that's exactly what we have on display here today. A collection of some of the best traces of folk, rock, and blues mixed together into this beautiful little genre called country music. Trust me, after you've heard these, you're going to want to take the deep dive that's way past the Sam Hunts of the world.

There's a certain section of the country music crowd who probably thinks that the glory days of the genre are long behind them. Since the rise in popularity took off with the arrival of people like Garth Brooks, a lot of what you hear on country radio these days tends to be a softer take on the Willie Nelsons of the world. And hell, when you have a Queen like this to look back on, it's not like they're wrong.

At just under a half hour, Dolly Parton hit upon one of her best collections of songs in her career. And keep in mind, this is the same woman who wrote stuff like I Will Always Love You, only to go even more heartfelt on an album like this. The title track alone is a lot more wholesome than you might think, talking about being proud of where you come from, along with more somber cuts like If I Lose My Mind, where she watches her man cheat on her.

Sure, there are a few moments where this could fall on the wrong side of cheesy, but never once during this album does it feel disingenuous on Dolly's part. Even though many artists like to milk the more sappy side of the genre, this sounds like a woman who's living in the greatest world that she can hope for.