Skip to main content
MusicRadar MusicRadar The No.1 website for musicians
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Drums Week 25
  • Synths
  • Guitars
  • Guitar Pedals
  • Guitar Amps
  • Keyboards & Pianos
  • Controllers
  • Artist news
  • Drums
  • Software & Apps
  • More
    • Recording
    • DJ Gear
    • Acoustic Guitars
    • Bass Guitars
    • Tech
    • Tutorials
    • Reviews
    • Buying Guides
    • About Us
More
  • Santana on Beck
  • Friday, I'm in Love
  • Knopfler's 4-note secret
  • 95k+ free music samples
Recommended reading
Brent Mason
Artists “You hear the record and they took you off!”: Ace session guitarist Brent Mason reveals how he made it to the top
Brandi Carlile and Joni Mitchell
Artists Brandi Carlile reveals the songwriting maxim that Joni Mitchell lives by
Brent Mason performs at Guitar Town at Copper Mountain, Colorado on 29 July, 2007
Artists “I said, ‘Damn, I wish I'd cut that song faster!’”: How a master guitarist made a cult classic instrumental album
Brent Smith of Shinedown performs during the US rockers' Dance, Kid, Dance Tour 2025.
Artists Shinedown’s Brent Smith on finding inspiration in a hurricane and why you don’t need to be play guitar to write a great song
Clem Burke, Ancienne Belgique (AB), Brussels, Belgium, November 1998
Drummers Clem Burke's 10 essential drum albums
 John Fogerty (C) performs at The O2 Arena on May 29, 2023 in London, England.
Recording “I’m just an adventurer coming back to the homeland”: John Fogerty on the long struggle to own his songs again
Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson backstage at the Coachella Music and Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Field on April 17, 2009 in Palm Desert, California
Recording “They all remind me of certain times in my life”: McCartney names his all time top three albums
  1. Artists
  2. Singles And Albums

Darius Rucker picks 5 essential country albums

News
By Joe Bosso published 11 March 2013

"Foster & Lloyd had a big, big impact on me, and Nanci Griffith I just can't get enough of"

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Darius Rucker picks 5 essential country albums

Darius Rucker picks 5 essential country albums

Darius Rucker boasts a massive vinyl and CD collection that numbers in the thousands, with country music accounting for over 1,000 of the selections. But the CMA-winning singer-songwriter and guitarist, who last year was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry, says that his introduction to country music came not from records but from a certain '70s-era syndicated TV show, one that mixed a little pickin' with a little grinnin'.

"I was a big Hee-Haw fan," Rucker says. "It’s kind of funny to say that, but Hee-Haw was my show. I watched it religiously every week. I look back now, and I always say that I don’t give Roy Clark and Buck Owens enough credit for my country career. Those are the guys who got me listening to the music back in the day."

By the '80s, Rucker had become an ardent record collector – he even spent some time working in retail, at Sounds Familiar in Columbia, South Carolina, which helped expose him to music both old and new. "I discovered bands like New Grass Revival, and they really blew me away," he says. "Foster & Lloyd had a big, big impact on me, and Nanci Griffith I just can't get enough of. Artists like that changed my life."

Millions of music fans first came to know Rucker in 1994 as the husky-voiced frontman for the multi-platinum roots-rock band Hootie & The Blowfish, but in 2008 he followed his deep and abiding love for straight-up country music and segued seamlessly into the genre, racking up back-to-back smashes with that year's Learn To Live and the 2010 follow-up, Charleston, SC 1966. This summer, Rucker will issue his much-anticipiated third album, True Believers, a record that he calls "more country than my other ones. On songs like Wagon Wheel, there's a traditional bluegrass feel. We tried to harken back to the vintage days."

Of that ginormous music collection, Rucker says that his brother-in-law graciously loaded the whole lot into a hard drive, so now the singer can hit 'random' on his tour bus, in a plane or at home and listen to longtime favorites and current singles. "Right now, I'm loving that new song Downtown by Lady Antebellum," he says. "I can’t stop playing it. But then I always go back and listen to Foster & Lloyd’s first record. I like to mix it up."

On the following pages, Rucker narrows down his library and runs down what he considers to be five essential country albums. "These are records I would recommend to anybody," he says, "but if you're a real country fan, then you've just got to hear them."

Page 1 of 6
Page 1 of 6
Radney Foster - Del Rio, TX 1959 (1992)

Radney Foster - Del Rio, TX 1959 (1992)

“I was already a big Foster & Lloyd fan, so I was waiting for Randy to come out with his solo record. It was all I could have hoped for and more. In fact, this is the record that really made me want to sing country music. When I heard it, I said to myself, ‘I want to sound like that guy.’ I’ve played it and sung along to it more times than I can say. Its impact on me is deep.

“The songwriting, the production, the vocals – there’s nothing about this album that isn’t exceptional. It would be on my list of top five albums of all time period, so it’s definitely the top country record.

“Louisiana Blue is an amazing song; then there’s Old Silver – they’re all great. I can’t say one and not say the other. But I will say that Easier Said That Done is my favorite. It’s a beautiful ballad, and Radney’s delivery of those lyrics really gets it right. [Sings] ‘The words can’t rebuild all the trust my lies killed.” For me, that’s the definition of country music.”

Page 2 of 6
Page 2 of 6
Willie Nelson - Red Headed Stranger (1975)

Willie Nelson - Red Headed Stranger (1975)

“When I was growing up, my aunt Jeanette would play this record a lot. It was one of those things I could always count on: get in Mom’s car, you’re going to hear Al Green; get in Aunt Jeanette’s car, you’re going to hear Red Headed Stranger. [Laughs] You have no idea what it was like being a black kid who listened to everything, and then your aunt is listening to something that she probably wasn’t supposed to be, either.

“There’s so many standards on this record – Blues Eyes Crying In The Rain, Down Yonder. It’s a classic all the way, very simple and pure, with melodies that really stay with you. Willie’s guitar playing is fantastic. He uses that same old guitar that he’s used for decades, too. What a sound he has.

“Of course, I have a sentimental attachment to Red Headed Stranger, but I can also say that it’s filled with great, timeless music. It’s another one of the albums that made me want to pursue playing country.”

Page 3 of 6
Page 3 of 6
Patsy Cline - Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits (1967)

Patsy Cline - Patsy Cline's Greatest Hits (1967)

“I’ve listened to this record over and over and over, more times than you can imagine. I discovered it in high school, and in college it became something of a standard for me.

“She’s Got You is my song. [Sings] ‘I've got your memory, or has it got me?/ I really don't know, but I know it won't let me be…’ Patsy Cline’s voice and her delivery of that line, they just run right through you. Then when she sings, ‘I’ve got your class ring, that proved cared’ – she makes it so believable. You feel what she’s feeling.

“Crazy is probably my favorite Willie Nelson song, and his demo of it is unreal. When you hear it, you can understand why Patsy had trouble singing it at first. But she got something else out of it, which is remarkable. And we have Back In Baby’s Arms – [sings] ‘How I miss those loving arms/ I’m back where I belong, back in baby’s arms.’

“Patsy Cline’s voice is about as perfect as it gets. You know, when we record songs these days, we sing them five or six times sometimes, and they comp the takes into one great vocal. Patsy would get up and perform with the band, and she’d sing live straight through. No putting the vocal together. That’s incredible.”

Page 4 of 6
Page 4 of 6
Nanci Griffith - Once In A Very Blue Moon (1984)

Nanci Griffith - Once In A Very Blue Moon (1984)

“I discovered Nanci in the early ‘80s, back when I was getting deep, deep into country music. This is a live record with so many of my favorite songs on it. I’m a huge Nanci Griffith guy. I could have named you 10 of her albums, and they’d all be great, but something about what she does on Once In A Very Blue Moon, hearing her perform her songs live, it really brings it all home for me.

“The band is terrific, and Nanci’s stories are brilliant. She’s great in the studio, but the best way to experience her is live on stage, where she’s a force of nature. Nobody sings like her. She soothes my soul.”

Page 5 of 6
Page 5 of 6
Foster & Lloyd - Foster & Lloyd (1987)

Foster & Lloyd - Foster & Lloyd (1987)

“I used to work in retail, at a record store, and the thing about me was, I never got to the job early [laughs]. Everybody knew it. They didn’t put ‘10’ or ‘1’ on my schedule, they put ’10-ish’ or ‘1-ish’ – stuff like that. One day, I was sitting at home, I was supposed to be at work at one o’clock, but I’m watching TV, just flippin’ through the channels. A video came on CMT, and it was Foster & Lloyd’s Crazy Over You. I was totally blown away.

“I got up, went to work, and everybody was looking at me like, ‘What are you doing here?’ They didn’t expect me to be there so early. But I just said, ‘Man, I’ve got to open up this Foster & Lloyd record and check it out.’ We only had one copy, and right when I started playing it, four people wanted to buy it. So we would've made four sales if we had enough copies.

“For me, this record started it all. It’s so country. It’s not for the pop country music fans, though; it’s dirt country. This is a duo that writes songs that can cut you to the core. You know exactly what they’re saying.

“I love the album’s sound, too. You know how it is when a band comes out with their first thing? They’re young, they’re fresh, and they have this excitement like, ‘Oh my God, we’re really getting a chance to do this!’? That’s what I get from this album. It’s bursting out of them. ‘Look out world – here we come!’” [Laughs]

Page 6 of 6
Page 6 of 6
Joe Bosso
Joe Bosso

Joe is a freelance journalist who has, over the past few decades, interviewed hundreds of guitarists for Guitar World, Guitar Player, MusicRadar and Classic Rock. He is also a former editor of Guitar World, contributing writer for Guitar Aficionado and VP of A&R for Island Records. He’s an enthusiastic guitarist, but he’s nowhere near the likes of the people he interviews. Surprisingly, his skills are more suited to the drums. If you need a drummer for your Beatles tribute band, look him up.

Read more
Brent Mason
“You hear the record and they took you off!”: Ace session guitarist Brent Mason reveals how he made it to the top
Brandi Carlile and Joni Mitchell
Brandi Carlile reveals the songwriting maxim that Joni Mitchell lives by
Brent Mason performs at Guitar Town at Copper Mountain, Colorado on 29 July, 2007
“I said, ‘Damn, I wish I'd cut that song faster!’”: How a master guitarist made a cult classic instrumental album
Brent Smith of Shinedown performs during the US rockers' Dance, Kid, Dance Tour 2025.
Shinedown’s Brent Smith on finding inspiration in a hurricane and why you don’t need to be play guitar to write a great song
Clem Burke, Ancienne Belgique (AB), Brussels, Belgium, November 1998
Clem Burke's 10 essential drum albums
 John Fogerty (C) performs at The O2 Arena on May 29, 2023 in London, England.
“I’m just an adventurer coming back to the homeland”: John Fogerty on the long struggle to own his songs again
Latest in Singles And Albums
Paul Mccartney Smoking A Cigarette At London In England On June 19Th 1967
“We decided that our audiences would come along with us”: Paul McCartney on how the avant garde influenced the Beatles
Singer and mastermind Brian Wilson of the rock and roll band "The Beach Boys" directs from the control room while recording the album "Pet Sounds" in 1966 in Los Angeles, California
“One of the few songs that reduces me to tears every time I hear it”
Raye and Amy Winehouse
Raye on her decision to work with Amy Winehouse producer Mark Ronson, and those inevitable comparisons
Singer Joey Ramone (1951 - 2001), of American punk group The Ramones, backstage at the Paradise Theater (now the Paradise Rock Club) in Boston, Massachusetts, 22nd March 1978. In the background are bassist Dee Dee Ramone (1951 - 2002, centre) and drummer Tommy Ramone (1949 - 2014).
"At first the tension was unbelievable. Johnny was really cold, Dee Dee was OK but Joey was a sweetheart": The story of the Ramones' recording of Baby I Love You
Bob Marley and the Wailers
"Reggae is more freeform than the blues": Bob Marley and the Wailers' Catch a Fire, track-by-track
Joe Bonamassa [left] plays his Epiphone 1955 Les Paul Standard and wears a bright blue suit and polka-dot; Sammy Hagar [right] wears shades, a black Cabo Wabo T-shirt and plays his red Gibson Explorer with white pickguard.
“The track is a monster!”: Joe Bonamassa and Sammy Hagar have got the Fortune Teller Blues
Latest in News
Forwards Festival Barry Can't Swim
Forwards Festival 2025 review: Orbital, Barry Can’t Swim, Olivia Dean, Jorja Smith and more
Bruce Springsteen
“There’s a lot of good music left”: Springsteen releases Born To Run out-take onto streaming platforms
Beatie Wolfe and Brian Eno
“A strange new land with a human living and feeling its way through its mysterious spaces”: Welcome to Brian Eno and Beatie Wolfe’s new album
Josh Homme
What’s on Josh Homme’s to-do list when Queens Of The Stone Age play Sheffield next week?
Pino Palladino and Miley Cyrus
How Pino Palladino turned the demo bassline in Miley Cyrus’s End of the World into something "so much better"
Paul Mccartney Smoking A Cigarette At London In England On June 19Th 1967
“We decided that our audiences would come along with us”: Paul McCartney on how the avant garde influenced the Beatles

MusicRadar is part of Future plc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future Publishing Limited Quay House, The Ambury, Bath BA1 1UA. All rights reserved. England and Wales company registration number 2008885.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...