Heartaches by the Number: Country Music's 500 Greatest Singles

Not just a list of 500 of the greatest country singles (that's singles, the authors take pains to stress, as opposed to songs) but a series of almost 500 mini-essays which provide a new way of looking at the history of country music. Yes, it's very much the authors' personal selection and a great many of the singles are from that period which the authors term the "crossover years" of 1967-1973 but they make this clear from the start, setting out their stall in a masterly introduction which is more or less a manifesto for re-listening to country music. Cantwell and Friskics-Warren touch on much that has shaped and continues to shape country music including the increasingly homogenised state of US radio (which, sadly, sounds very similar to the condition of radio in the UK today). If this makes the book sound dry and academic, let me assure you that it isn't: it's intelligently written without being pretentious and the authors never lose sight of the fact that this music comes from the heart. This is a book that can be dipped-in to but it's best read sequentially as each essay forms part of a non-chronological history of country - as the authors state: the entries are ordered, not ranked. Some of the choices may well inspire puzzlement and debate (every time I've heard Otis Redding's "Dock of the Bay" - and that's many, many times - I've never EVER considered it a country single!) but it's a fascinating volume and anyone interested in the history of American popular music should own a copy.

Nashville's schtick is to put some gorgeous babe (male or female) in a hat and boots, have him or her sing some souped-up arrangment, and voila...a "country" hit. Never mind that Nashville's idea of a "country" hit is not far removed from any other top forty hit cluttering up the Clear Channel airwaves. Never mind that in 3 years nobody, except the most hard core trivia hounds, will even remember the tune. Never mind that it just ain't country!Which is not to say that each and every one of the 500 singles outlined in this book is in fact "country." Many of them aren't (at least not how I'd catalogue 'em). But each and every one of these tunes is in fact "great" and has its place in whatever bin is labeled "country" at the local Wal-Mart.Any collection like this is going to be highly subjective and is bound to create arguments over inclusions and exclusions. Hell, I think that the Rolling Stones' "Exile On Main Street" is one of the greatest country albums ever reduced to vinyl. I'm sure not everyone is gonna agree with me. the point is that this book is not a compendium of the 500 Best Acts....so whoever it was whining that a single from that hack band Alabama wasn't included, please....re-read the damn thing.Besides, even if this book was supposed to serve as some country music survey, Alabama would barely rate a footnote.So, having said that, is this book any good?Actually, it is very good. There is a lot of very good, insightful writing here. What Cantwell and Friskics have done is essentially survey popular country music, in virtually all of its permutations. In constructing this survey, the authors, under the guise of critiquing each selected tune, present an idisyncratic critical theory of country music which holds up very well to scrutiny. And they've done it without academic jargon.This book is going to an essential component in any country music fan's library.Now, can anyone explain to me why there isn't a single version of "Dark As A Dungeon" included here?

It seems unfortunate to me that there are reviews in this forum that judge this book negatively because the reviewers happen to disagree with the authors' choices. Of course you're not going to agree with all the choices (or even most of them), but even if you don't, the simple fact is that Cantwell and Friskics-Warren have crafted a beautifully-written, well-argued text that will start conversations and promote deep and appreciative listening of one of America's finest musical forms. Bravo.

Ain't debating musical favorites fun? Especially stuff like what are the greatest songs or albums, who are the all-time greatest singers or performers. Recently, CMT aired specials on the 40 Greatest Men and 40 Greatest Women of Country Music that certainly stirred up some discussions. Now there's a new book Heartaches By The Number that is bound to create even more heated deliberations.Using Dave Marsh's The Heart Of Rock And Soul: The 1001 Greatest Singles Ever Made as a model, music critics David Cantwell and Bill Friskics-Warren selected what they felt were the 500 most important country singles. In the introduction, these writers point out that their love affair with music began during the "crossover years" of 1967 to 1973. This helps to explain the hefty numbers of selections from this period, starting with their number one ranked single Sammi Smith's rendition of "Help Me Make It Through The Night": a 1971 country hit that also crossed over to the pop top 10.Country superstars of the '60s and '70s show up a lot of this list, George Jones with twelve entries and Loretta Lynn with nine, for instance. Of course, Jones and Lynn would undoubtedly be featured a lot in this type of book regardless of who wrote it. But Glen Campbell meriting four entries, Sammi Smith three, and Charlie Rich a staggering six (including the non-hit remake of Sinatra's jazzy "Nice 'n' Easy") while two of the most acclaimed artists in modern country Vince Gill and Mary Chapin Carpenter received none is clearly biased.The crossover period of country music also seems to have influenced the authors to stretch the boundaries in order to classify different types of popular music as country. Gladys Knight and the Pips' "Midnight Train To Georgia," Joe Simon's "The Chokin' Kind," and Otis Redding's "Sittin' On the Dock Of The Bay" are some soulful numbers whose country setting helps to make their selection somewhat plausible. But the Monkees "Last Train To Clarksville" and the Rolling Stones "Honky Tonk Woman?" To quote Jimmy Stewart in It's A Wonderful Life: "you're screwy!"There are only 16 recordings selected from the 1990s and merely one (Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance") since 2000. Responsible at least in part for this dearth is the authors' decision to omit recordings not released commercially as singles. In recent years, most singles have been marketed only to radio to promote an album and are not available in stores. But since the average country listener isn't aware if their favorite radio hit by, say, Tim McGraw or Toby Keith was available as a commercial single, they don't know if it was snubbed by the authors or omitted on the technicality. Okay, I've been pretty picky. This book does actually have a lot going for it. The entries are informative, concise, and well-written. The selections from the '20s through the early '40s are particularly interesting to read about and it is hard to find fault with the authors' choices from this era (includ

Although its subtitle ("Country Music's 500 Greatest Singles") presents this book as a list of great recordings, it's only nominally a countdown. Grumbling that your favorite single didn't crack their Top 200, while always entertaining, is largely beside the point. These two authors even admit in their introduction that they have bigger fish to fry here. Heartaches By The Number wants to define, offer a history of, illustrate the influence of, and revel in the pure sonic joys of country music. The amazing thing is that David Cantwell and Bill Friskics-Warren manage to do all of these simultaneously--and do them well. There's lots to learn here. The two authors are obviously well-versed in country's history--equally comfortable discussing Dock Boggs' 1927 "Country Blues" or Lee Ann Womack's "I Hope You Dance"--and are able to share their knowledge, when appropriate, without slipping into a textbook-style lecture. And that's good because more than explaining history, this book slowly begins to reveal and argue for an aesthetic, a conception of what country music is and why it has a place in the lives of its listeners. This aesthetic is going to trouble and confuse some listeners, downright anger others. Cantwell and Friskics-Warren conceive of a country music that includes The Stones and Dusty Springfield as well as Hank and Lefty. Why, in their Top 10, Elvis is flanked by Ray Price and The Carter Family. But it's this broad definition that provides much of the fun and the challenge here. How do these two have the gall to even call the Monkees country music, let alone include them among the creators of its greatest singles? Since when has Chuck Berry (or Otis Redding, or Lynyrd Skynyrd, or Fats Domino, or CCR--all here) been redesignated "Country"? It's exactly this default categorization that the authors want to challenge. Much of their discussion attempts to show how fluid the boundaries are between country and almost every other style of music. And that's what it finally comes down to in this book: the music, what's actually down there in the grooves, or in the binary code. As much as anything, Cantwell and Friskics-Warren are great listeners, and they share a rare knack for translating the experience of listening into words. In a stunning discussion of Dolly Parton's "Coat of Many Colors," Cantwell reveals himself as a guy who has listened to this song enough times to identify with the singer AND with the song's narrator (he distinguishes between the two) from the inside. Vulnerable but not maudlin (just as the song is), he refuses to slip into cheap emotionalism, but shares a clearly heartfelt love and appreciation for the entire experience of this single--singer and song, meaning and music. Likewise, Friskics-Warren, in a tour-de-force discussion of three singles--G.B. Grayson's "Ommie Wise (1927), The Blue Sky Boys' "Banks of the Ohio" (1936), and The Louvin Brothers' "Knoxville Girl" (1959)--sees thematic and musical trad