Nashville Anthems: Dissecting 80s & 90s Country Music

It's vintage Judds, with their 1987 classic hit "I Know Where I'm Going". This cut is a prime example of the Judds' signature acoustic-with-attitude shtick, but how does heavy harmonic ambiguity in this one leave us less sure of our destination that Wynonna and Naomi seem to be?

Our first encounter with Doug Stone taps into his rowdy side, with 1994's indignant, deliciously unhinged, "Addicted to a Dollar". Stone shows us what angry, working class honky-tonk sounds like in the mid-90s, but what indications do we have in this song that this first person narrator is ever actually going to muster the courage to tell anyone to take this job and shove it?

One episode after exploring Brooks & Dunn's explosive debut, we turn our ears to Alan Jackson's more toned down entrance onto the scene, 1990's "Here in the Real World". As we'd expect, Jackson writes the book here on Jones-inspired neotraditionalism, as melody, harmony, instrumentation, lyrics, and phrasing all work together on this heartbreaker. But how does all that combine with the very idea of neotraditionalism, to give this one a nostalgic feel that seems to break the fourth wall?

We examine the song that introduced Brooks & Dunn to an unsuspecting country music world in 1991: their debut single "Brand New Man". In some sense, Kix & Ronnie were just continuing what George Strait, Randy Travis, and the famed Class of 1989 had already brought to the fore, but what is it about this high-octane Texas honky-tonker that yet felt like the ushering in of a new, or maybe a consummate, era of neotraditionalism?

In this episode, we explore why George Strait's career-defining 1983 classic "Amarillo by Morning" isn't just a great song, isn't just Strait's own favorite, but is in the conversation for greatest of all time.

We tackle a listener request: Randy Travis's all-time great "Hard Rock Bottom of Your Heart". From melody to harmony, instrumentation to lyrics, everything works about this neotraditional classic.  And we didn't even talk about Randy Travis's smooth, effortless phrasing!  Only country music would lay bare the sort of righteous indignation the unfaithful might feel, on days when shame turns into anger.  It's brilliant.

We finally tackle the song that's been at the top of our list all along, Alan Jackson's 1994 hit "Gone Country".  Is this classic the straightforward celebration it sounds like?  Or might the on-the-nose harmony and melody hint at something more satirical in the lining of this new kinda suit?  Watch this video, listen to this episode, and let's find out!

We expand our way backwards through Reba McEntire's discography, with the title track of her relentlessly gut-wrenching 1991 album, "For My Broken Heart".  Natural minor tonality dominates the specifically empty sorrow of this sad country song about Day 2 of a devastating breakup.  But what happens when we compare this cut to our previous selection "How Was I to Know", and what can that comparison tell us about the trajectory of McEntire's 80s & 90s body of work?

We revisit mid-90s Girl Power as Reba cuts her hair and changes her tone, from victim to victor, in her 1996 hit "How Was I to Know".  The first-chorus rug-pull is clever enough on its own, but how is this moment pivotal not just for this song, but for McEntire's entire corpus?  

This year's Christmas episode takes us back to 1982, and Dolly Parton's nuanced version of "Hard Candy Christmas".  Chords, lyrics, and melody all keep this song subtly shifting between bitter and sweet, but how does Dolly Parton's exquisite delivery turn this one from lovely to legendary?