This post was originally published on countryphile

I’m hooked on My Country Jukebox, a Desert Island Discs for the country music biz. Unfortunately, there were only four broadcast. I’m currently listening to the Emmylou Harris episode and have been taken with the stories that country music musicians can put into their songs which pop music just doesn’t touch.

Dolly Parton’s Coat of Many Colors, for example, just makes me want to cry. Or Woody Guthrie’s entire back catalogue which describes the despair of the sharecroppers in the dustbowl during the depression. Classic American tales.

I’ve also noticed a new country music distinction: trucker blues. Think The Band. The Grateful Dead. Would The Eagles fall into this category?

My goodness. It seems I don’t just like hillbilly americana.