The Top Ten Americana Songs of All Time: Fred Arnold

It is interesting how this Feature is developing as writers use different criteria for their choices, and the songs that a generic Feature such as this would normally produce are not necessarily those iconic titles that always appear in similar polls, notwithstanding that there are usually very good reasons for those songs to be on the list. AUK writers (and readers) are very discerning and very particular about their favourites and what causes them to be chosen, and there are hundreds, if not thousands, of songs that are a match for ‘the usual suspects’.

My ten songs are those that have moved me emotionally (sometimes to tears) – it starts with the lyrics coupled with the tune, then the voice and instrumentation/production. This is interesting because I don’t necessarily gravitate towards the lyrics on first hearing (but on these songs I did). Songs that move you tend to resonate because of personal experience, and that is the case with a number of these choices. So, unsurprisingly, the songs are pretty sad ones, so, at the risk of bringing the reader down, here goes, with heartfelt apologies to Jackson Browne (actually my favourite ever songwriter), to Townes van Zandt, Patty Griffin and Lori McKenna, to John Prine and Bob Dylan and so on; and I’m not actually a depressive, honest!

Number 10: Jon Randall ‘Whiskey Lullaby’ from “Walking Among The Living” (2005)

Jon Randall wrote this wonderful song in 2003 (with country music legend Bill Anderson) on the back of a difficult divorce, the loss of his record deal and finding solace in the bottle. The powers that be in Nashville decided that double suicide was not a subject to tempt record buyers, so it was left lying in a drawer; Country star Brad Paisley discovered it and thought it would be a great song for a duet, and he persuaded Alison Krauss to sing alternate verses with him to improve the impact of the song. Their version led to the song winning Best Song of the Year at the CMA Awards. Randall, a very accomplished guitarist (he played in Emmylou’s Nash Ramblers), a longstanding recording artist who straddles the country/americana genre and a successful record producer, recorded the song for his own album, but without a duet vocalist. The song tells the tale of a couple who separately drink themselves to death as a consequence of faithlessness, heartbreak and guilt. It would fit perfectly into any americana album, and therefore makes this list.

I can also recommend this version that I think is the best around (of many).

Number 9: Steve Earle ‘Goodbye’ from “Train a’Comin” (1995).

The emotional turmoil of a break-up is one of the great themes of modern music but this tour-de-force from relatively early on in Earle’s career (written in a treatment centre as he was recovering from drink and drug addiction) really agonises over the ending of a long past relationship, parts of which he remembers but not how it ended and whether he said goodbye– “Most Novembers I break down and cry, But I can’t remember if we said goodbye” is a magical couplet. The live versions of this song with Emmylou Harris are spellbinding.

Number 8: Ryan Adams ‘Oh My Sweet Carolina’ from “Heartbreaker” (2000)

Forgetting the problems that Ryan Adams has had over recent years, he has written some of the great songs of this century, and a number could have made their way into this list. ‘Oh My Sweet Carolina‘ is one hell of a song about leaving home, confronting disappointment with the outcome- as one blog reader summarised “ it is about that weird dissonance between longing for the very thing we keep leaving in order to find what we long for” Sung in Adam’s captivating whine, this song also has the benefit of one of the great harmony vocals, by Emmylou Harris. “Oh, my sweet Carolina / What compels me to go? / Oh, my sweet disposition / May you one day carry me home”

Number 7: Jeffrey Martin ‘Red Station Wagon’ from “Thank God We Left the Garden” (2023)

Two years ago Martin released this album that elevated him to the top echelons of singer-songwriters, and the outstanding track on an album of outstanding tracks was ‘Red Station Wagon’, a song about owning up to the use of homophobic language and behaviour in the narrator’s younger day – “Your hand touched my hand and retreated in that desperate dark /And I called you a faggot and laughed and punched you in the arm / I don’t believe it / I can’t believe it now / I can’t believe how I let you down”. It is, quite frankly, a stunning song. Martin stated he released the track with its raw language “to call out everyone (myself included) who ever used language like that and hasn’t honestly reflected on it since”.

Number 6: Jason Isbell ‘Elephant’ from “Southeastern” (2013)

You could make a case for a number of Isbell tracks in this top 10; indeed, the entire ten could possibly come from his pen. You cannot deny the empathy of some of his lyrics, and the emotional impact of ‘Cover Me Up’ is now legendary. For me, however, the song that was like a gut punch was ‘Elephant’, a song about the death from cancer of a friend. Virtually every line is a killer: “Surrounded by her family, I saw that she was dying alone” is chilling and “no one dies with dignity” is such a simple truth.

Number 5: Will Hoge ‘Goodnight / Goodbye’ from “The Wreckage” (2009)

Will Hoge treads the very edges of americana for much of his output, but on “The Wreckage“, he delivered some outstandingly emotional and self-reflective songs on his first album after a very serious crash that might have killed him. ‘Goodnight / Goodbye‘, sung in his gruff, heartfelt voice, was a triumph and resonated with this writer enormously. It’s a song about the inability to end a relationship when you know it’s run its course, and you are going through the motions on a daily basis. “We both know that everything has changed / But it all still looks the same / From the outside looking in / We both know it’s never gonna last / This ship is sinking fast / But we’ll ride it down again” The song is significantly enhanced by the presence of Ashley Monroe on co-lead and harmony vocals.

Number 4: Lucinda Williams ‘Sweet Old World’ from “Sweet Old World” (1992) 

For me, early Lucinda Williams songs resonate far more than her later output, perhaps because her voice in 1992 was rather higher-pitched, and therefore more emotive, than on her later recordings. This song about suicide, grief, loss, confusion and love is about as good as songwriting gets, and it’s painful when she sings “didn’t you think you were worth anything” and “didn’t you think anyone loved you?” Byron Berline on fiddle and Gurf Morlix on acoustic guitar hit the mood perfectly. This 1992 captures the pain rather more than on the 2017 rebrand.

Number 3: Son Volt ‘Tear-Stained Eye’ from “Trace” (1995)

From the album “Trace”, the standard against which all other americana albums should be measured. Jay Farrar upped his considerable game with the songs on the album, and ‘Tear Stained Eye’ is one of the very best songs of its type ever written; about the passage of time he uses some very oblique images in his contemplation of life but the structure, his weathered languid drawl, the steel guitar in the mix make this a no-brainer for this list. “ If learning is living / And the truth is a state of mind / You’ll find it’s better / At the end of the line” offers little optimism in confronting heartbreak and/or devastation (the 1927 flood in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri, was a reference point and metaphor for the song).

Number 2: Ruston Kelly ‘Cold Black Mile‘ from “The Weakness” (2023)

I think a case can be made for Ruston Kelly as one of the most devastatingly honest songwriters of the last decade or so, and to pick a single song that resonated above all others was an emotional experience in itself. But ‘Cold Black Mile‘, the last track on “The Weakness”, is hymnal in its eeriness and its pace, pushed along by a mournful organ, and devastating in its powerful message: having survived drug addiction, mental health issues and grief (he married and divorced Kasey Musgraves), he feels he can make it out the other side. “And I might die a thousand times, but I know I can survive, I’ll just keep on pushin’ down the cold black mile”.

Number 1. Iris Dement ‘No Time to Cry’ from “My Life” (1993)

Iris DeMent has a unique voice, and this tender ballad about the inability to express her grief over the death of her father because she was too busy with other things – life/gigs/travel, etc – resonated over and over. There is some discussion about whether Dement was singing with resignation about missing her dying father’s illness and death or from grief. I think it matters not – the song is so beautifully simple and emotionally devastating at the same time, and anyone can put their own spin on interpretation. The repeated title line at the outro seems to reinforce her grief. The song has been recorded by other artists (Merle Haggard for one) but Dement’s hits the spot, time and time again -“ I’ve got no time to look back, I’ve got no time to see / The pieces of my heart that have been ripped away from me / And if the feeling starts to coming, I’ve learned to stop ’em fast / ‘Cause I don’t know, if I let ’em go, they might not wanna pass”.