The Best Country Albums of 1985, Part 2

David with 43 more notable big-tent country albums from 40 years ago

Last week, I short listed a baker’s dozen of “The Best County Albums of 1985.” The problem with short lists, though, is that they are so short. And, as I swear is the case every year, country music in 1985 was more varied and interesting than what anyone might pull out as best of the best, especially when thinking about country in big-tent terms, the way we like to do it here. So here’s a few dozen more albums of note. Call these acts cowpunks or desert rockers, country legends or classic rockers, mainstream Nashville stars or first gen rock and rollers or indie college rockers or country-soul singers or just plain roots rockers—they were all part of the expansive country music story in 1985. The most common thread here is simply that I think these albums have some good music on them. Once in a while, I mention an album because it turned out to be influential, or notable in some way or other, even if I still don’t care for it all that much.

One more thing. Back in Part 1, I pointed to what I call “The Great Roots Rock Scare.” I must admit I was a bit surprised to be reminded, while searching through my own back pages for possible nominees, that I was already thinking of the moment in similar terms in the actual moment. One of my very first pieces of published… lets-call-it “music journalism” was in 1985 for The Maneater, the student newspaper at the University of Missouri-Columbia. “Beat Rodeo Tops Slick Rick” was the headline I didn’t write. (“Slick Rick” = Rick Springfield who was playing at an arena in town the same night that Beat Rodeo played at the original Blue Note there, off the Business Loop.) I vaguely remember speaking with the band out in the gravel parking lot before they went on but that’s about it. Here’s part of what I came up with:

But why are roots bands once again becoming the vogue? Is the country not only returning to traditional values but to traditional music? Is the resurgence of country influenced rock just another aspect of Reagan’s America? Not if you ask Beat Rodeo singer-songwriter Steve Almaas. “It’s just great music,” Almaas said in a brief interview before their September 5^th performance. “It’s always been that way. Personally, I’ve always listened to old rockabilly stuff, the Everly Brothers, and from there it’s a short jump to Hank Willims and George Jones. Something else that might have gotten a wider audience interested in this kind of stuff was the release of those John Fogerty and Bruce Springsteen records.”

The more things change…

Onward. Here’s quick hits and occasional links, in alphabetical order by artist, for 43 more 1985 country albums. Please let me know what I missed!

Alabama - Forty Hour Week – The chart-topping title track has a line, “The fruits of their labor are worth more than their pay,” that is American popular music’s greatest expression of Karl Marx’s Theory of Surplus Value. The rest of “Forty Hour Week (for a Livin’)” might as well be the musical equivalent of a “gold” watch retirement. “There’s No Way,” also a No. 1, sounds like a middling Ronnie Milsap ballad. “Can’t Keep a Good Man Down,” yet another chart topper, fails to make much of the opening lick it borrowed from Pablo Cruise.

John Anderson – Tokyo, Oklahoma – The most successful of the album’s three charting singles, “Down in Tennessee,” made it only as high as No. 12. John Anderson’s version of Bobby Womack’s “It’s All Over Now” (No. 15) was at least a good idea while the title track (No. 30), picks up where George Jones’ “The Poor Chineee” left off. Ugh. Still, even subpar Anderson is worth a spin. “Till I Get Used to the Pain,” “Twelve Bar Blues.”

Razzy Bailey – Cut from a Different Stone – Razzy Bailey sounds like Kenny Rogers but more soulful and with a perm. “Touchy Situation” is country-disco light and go ahead and file the mildly moralizing Razzy co-write “Modern Day Marriage” under my Yacht Rock adjunct, “Outboard Cabin Cruiser Country.” Album includes a couple of Steve Cropper co-writes, plus a decent country-soul cover of Cropper’s country-soul “Knock on Wood.” Bailey remains seriously underrated, but this isn’t the place to start.

The Band of Blacky Ranchette – The Band of Blacky Ranchette – Along with Green on Red (who quickly moved on, see below), Tucson’s Giant Sand, fronted by Howe Gelb, played a southwestern roots variant called “desert rock.” I might have included the band’s debut, Valley of Rain, here, but the saloon country in them really shines in this alternately ethereal and goofy side project. “Blind Justice,” “Evil,” “The Wrong Man,” Neil Young’s “Revolution Blues.”

The Beat Farmers – Tales of the New West – Debut album from the San Diego roots rockers came with a strong cowpunk pedigree—produced by Steve “Los Lobos” Berlin and featuring backing vocals from Rank & File’s Kinman brothers. Cowboy Dick Montana was the drummer with infamously crazed stage charisma but on these studio sides its guitarist/vocalist Buddy Blue and Jerry Raney who shine. Blue’s “Goldmine” splits the difference between the Blasters and Stray Cats nearly mimeographically. Covers of Bruce Springsteen’s “Reason to Believe” and Lou Reed’s “There She Goes Again” sound like the Beat Farmers and are better for it.

Beat Rodeo – Staying Up Late with Beat Rodeo – Fronted by former Suicide Commando Steve Almaas, and produced by jangle-pop meister Don Dixon, Beat Rodeo’s debut is solid fun straight through but achieves indie cow-pop perfection with the new wave rockabilly of “Falling Out of Love,” the menacing loneliness of “Without You,” and the Everlys-go-New-Wave of “Just Friends.”

Johnny Cash – Rainbow – Nowhere near the standard he’d long since set for himself, but as Cash albums from the ‘80s go, Rainbow’s not terrible. The album title comes from the Kristofferson song “Here Comes that Rainbow Again,” where Cash’s sheer humanity barely defeats a synthetic arrangement, and Cash squeaks out another win on a version of another Kris song, “Casey’s Last Ride.” His luck runs out on “Who’ll Stop the Rain.” The standout is the opener, “I’m Leaving Now,” but even that one was later reprised to greater effect with Merle Haggard.

David Allen Coe –Unchained – The superior of the two albums Coe released in 1985, Unchained is filled mostly with the smart, distinctive covers he should be known for at least as much as he’s known as a great troublemaker-songwriter. It speaks to his complexity here that one of the covers is “Southern Man” and not, say, “Sweet Home Alabama.” There’s just no way Coe has anywhere near the range for “Unchained Melody.” However, he does have the sensibility and sure as hell has the balls. “I’m Gonna Hurt Her on the Radio,” “Snowblind Friend,” “Would They Love Me Down in Shreveport.”

Lacy J. Dalton – Can’t Run Away from Your Heart – Lacy J. is a terribly underrated country star. She has an instantly recognizable voice—husky, rusty, with great emotional depth and presence—and she tended to pick good songs. Or maybe it’s more that she’s good enough to consistently pull everything there is to pull out of ordinary material. This 1985 release comes right at the beginning of her chart decline, but “If that Ain’t Love” and the bluesy, Dobro-forward title track were still Top 20s—and should’ve done better. Also: “The Night Has a Heart of Its Own” and, with Willie Nelson, “Slow Mountain Outlaw.”

Danny & Dusty – The Lost Weekend – Danny (Dan Stuart of Green on Red), Dusty (Steve Wynn of the Long Ryders), and pals (including pianist Chris Cacavas) booze away a weekend writing dissolute, bookish poetry and winding up with beauty after tossed-off beauty. “Song for the Dreamers,” “King of the Losers,” “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door.”

The Everly Brothers – Born Yesterday – Not as strong as their comeback set, E.B. ‘84, but this is good stuff from the Everlys, the duo that was there when country first began to rock, was there again when country rock got big, and had influenced everyone interested in blending those styles ever since. They cover Rank & File’s “Amanda Ruth” and arrange “I Know Love” in a way Rockpile would love—and no wonder, as Dave Edmunds produced both Phil and Don comebacks. The title track, a Don original that went Top 20, updated their timeless sound and themes for middle age. “Abandoned Love” is among my very favorite Dylan covers.

John Fogerty – Centerfield – Speaking of country rockin’ comebacks. The title alone of John Fogerty’s “The Old Man Down the Road” sounded like a country song and, by 1985, so did the title of “Rock and Roll Girls.” Come to think of it, Creedence Clearwater Revival sounded pretty country even back in 1969, band name and music both. “Big Train (from Memphis)” cracked the country Top 40.

The Forester Sisters - Forester Sisters – Kathy, June, Kim, and Christy Forester were the best of the female harmony groups that the Judds cleared the way for on country radio. I’d pick 1988’s Sincerely as their best, but their self-titled debut is rock solid mainstream country. “That’s What You Do (When You’re in Love)” climbed to No. 10. “I Fell in Love Again Last Night,” “Just in Case,” and “Mama’s Never Seen Those Eyes” each went No. 1.

Janie Fricke – Somebody Else’s Fire – Nashville hit maker nearing the end of a 1980s run that racked up 17 Top Ten hits and eight chart toppers. “She’s Single Again” went to No. 2.

Green on Red – No Free Lunch – Green on Red followed their breakthrough Gas Food Lodging (see 1985, Part 1) with this grimly fantastic seven-track EP. Long out of print but put it atop your short list for tracking down on YouTube or in the used bins. “Honest Man” combines the forlorn rage of “Scarecrow” with the forlorn sound of “Old Man.” “The Ballad of Guy Fawkes” (“Gandhi’s just a dreamer, and Lenin he’s a fool, cause you’ve got to kill to eat in this lovely world”) and one of the greatest versions ever of “Funny How Time Slips Away.”

Emmylou Harris – The Ballad of Sally Rose – Harris and Paul Kennerley (her producer and then-husband) wrote this concept album about a young South Dakota girl who leaves her home “in the valley of the shadow of Roosevelt’s nose” to become a radio star. The story holds together well enough, but it’s the sound of the thing, especially the album’s frequent emphasis on female harmonies—Gail Davies is back there, plus a couple of Sally Roses known as Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt. “Rhythm Guitar,” “Bad News,” “White Line,” “Timberline,” “The Sweetheart of the Rodeo.”

The Highwaymen – The Highwayman – Any project with Cash and Kristofferson, Waylon and Willie, is notable. But The Highwayman proves that star power doesn’t guarantee, you know… power. The iconic title track still gets points for sheer weirdness, but the highpoint here comes when the good old boys are joined for Woody Guthrie’s “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)” by an off-the-marquee Johnny Rodriguez.

Hot Rize – Traditional Ties – Rocky Mountain bluegrass band, led by mandolin master Tim O’Brien. Plenty of traditional tunes here, like a riotous “Working on a Building,” plus the obligatory (given their name) Flatt & Scruggs number, but the best cuts are O’Brien originals: “Walk the Way the Wind Blows,” which Kathy Mattea scored with a year later, and the gospel impulse “Hard Pressed.”

Jason & the Scorchers – Lost and Found - “White Lies,” which I remember seeing a time or two on MTV, and “If Money Talks” are rollicking band originals. Ditto for Jason Ringenberg’s stripped-down until it isn’t “Broken Whiskey Glass.” As was almost always the case for me with these early country punks, though, it’s the covers that cut through the sturm and twang. “I Really Don’t Want to Know,” “Lost Highway.”

Waylon Jennings – Turn the Page – A somewhat surprising if somewhat disappointing effort from Jennings. Not sure if I actually like his versions of Fleetwood Mac’s “Rhianon” and Bob Seger’s “Turn the Page” or if I just appreciate that he’s pushing expectations. I know for sure I love his outlaw-disco “Don’t Bring It Around Anymore.” The non-canonical “Drinkin’ and Dreamin’” was a No. 2 hit.

Tom Jones – Tender Loving Care – The Welsh belter had been cutting country songs for decades, and had been making routine appearances on country radio since his “Say You’ll Stay Until Tomorrow” topped the chart in 1977. The singles off this set didn’t do so well— a cover of the Faron Young hit “It’s Four in the Morning” barely breached the Top 40 while “Not Another Heart Song,” a meta-number about Nashville’s obsession with broken hearts, made it only to No. 76. But Jones is such a powerful, distinctive and subtly nuanced singer that basically every note he sings is worth my time. “That’s All the Matters,” “Dallas Darlin’.”

The Knitters – Poor Little Critter in the Road – If you’ve ever had the great fortune to see The Knitters live, you know they play enormous electric rockabilly-inspired punk. In other words, they play like X—except with Billy Zoom switched out for Blaster Dave Alvin. Unfortunately, the studio Knitters turn down the volume, slow down the tempos, and sound less reverential of their country/folk sources than just not all that impressed by them. Still, the album bested X’s official 1985 release, Ain’t Love Grand, and would prove important for the next gen of country-rock/alternative-country acts. (A Poor Little Knitter on the Road: A Tribute to the Knitters, from 1999, is… better?) Caveat: I will listen to John Doe sing Merle Haggard songs all day long. “Silver Wings.”

The Long Ryders – State of Our Union – Country rock lifer Sid Griffin has been associated with a lot of great music in his life, but this one’s still my pick for the best music he ever made. High order roots rock that plays well with Creedence, the Byrds and the Clash, as well as with their Paisley-associated pals in Green on Red. “Looking for Lewis and Clark,” “Lights of Downtown,” “Two Kinds of Love.”

Loretta Lynn – Just a Woman – Pretty mediocre, even for Loretta who, even at her peak, was never much of an album artist. Of note: A recut of one Lynn original, “Wouldn’t It Be Great,” became the title track of her next to last album; “Heart Don’t Do This to Me” was her final Top 20.

Kathy Mattea – From My Heart – Kathy Mattea kept that cozy, country-folk pop lane open for country radio between Anne Murray and, say, Mary Chapin Carpenter. Her breakthrough was still a year away in ‘85, when better songs would mean several years of Top Ten hits. The songs aren’t so good here, but Mattea’s warm vocals make them all seem better than they are. “It’s Your Reputation Talkin’,” “Heart of the Country” and “He Won’t Give In” were minor chart hits. “Talkin’ to Myself” is understated Sun rockabilly.

Del McCoury and the Dixie Pals – Sawmill – The first album appearance, I believe, of Del’s boy Ronnie McCoury on mandolin. “Rock Hearts,” “Who Showed Who,” “Blackjack.”

Meat Puppets – Up on the Sun – Idiosyncratic cowpunk-meets-desert-rock from an outfit that helped inspire Nirvana’s late-career twang turn. “Enchanted Porkfist,” “Two Rivers,” the title track.

Mel McDaniel - Let It Roll – Country No. 1 “Baby’s Got Her Blue Jeans On” is lecherous, sure, but keeps its distance and is catchy AF. Mel’s version of the Chuck Berry title track is pretty swell too.

The Mekons – Fear and Whiskey – One cut sounds like if New Order hired a fiddler, a few others sound are more performance art pieces than songs. Most of the rest sounds like The Clash had just decided to run with “Brand New Cadillac” for the rest of their lives—or as if Jon Langford were already plotting the Waco Brothers. “Hard to Be Human Again,” “Fitcraft,” “Lost Highway,” “Country.”

The Nashville Bluegrass Band – My Native Home – Debut album from the band known for, per Neil Rosenberg, putting the blues back in bluegrass. Fantastic harmonies shine on a cappella gospel numbers like Sister Rosetta’s “Up Above My Head.” Their version of the old teen drama power ballad “Endless Sleep” is a nice curveball. But I think I like the instrumentals best: “Carroll County Blues” and especially “Monroebillia,” a great term that well describes everything they do.

Willie Nelson – Me and Paul and Funny How Times Slips Away and Brand on My Heart – Ho hum. Another year, another trio of new Willie Nelson albums. Me and Paul reprises its proto-Outlaw title track and includes a fistful of good if obvious Billy Joe Shaver covers. Funny How…, with the great Faron Young in great voice, is a far better album even with my low Willie-duet expectations firmly in place. Better still is Brand on My Heart, with the great Hank Snow in great if slurred (read: Dylanesque) voice. With Faron: “Half a Man,” “Hello Walls,” “Goin’ Steady.” With Hank: “I Don’t Hurt Anymore,” “It Makes No Difference Now,” “I Almost Lost My Mind.” With Trigger: Every. Damn. Cut.

Tom Petty – Southern Accents – Counterintuitively, Southern Accents was Petty’s least Southern-accented album to date, and “Don’t Come around Here No More” sounded way too 1985 even in 1985. The keepers: “Rebels,” which some country or bluegrass act should cover pronto, and the title track, with a bridge that reveals it as one of country’s great mother songs.

The Rave-Ups – Town + Country – “Positively Lost Me” (“Show this piggy the WAY home!”) was the college radio smash, but the rest of the record keeps hinting at low-key cowpunk, pleasant enough. “Better World,” “Radio.”

R.E.M. – Fables of the Reconstruction – “Maps and Legends” is about outsider artist Howard Finster, but oddly, the more the band foregrounded its Southern origins, the more they came off like the outsiders. Their Reconstruction leans into languid, kudzu-choked mood more than any postbellum myths and nearly skips over Southern rhythms altogether. “Driver 8,” “Green Grow the Rushes,” “Wendell Gee.”

Restless Heart – Restless Heart – These guys were about to be huge, scoring half a dozen No. 1s over the next 18 months or so. Their self-titled debut, in which every song sounds like a soft rock band transported straight over from AOR, was merely very popular: “Let the Heartache Ride,” “I Want Everyone to Cry,” “(Back to the) Heartbreak Kid.”

Joe Simon – Mr. Right – A too often overlooked soul great, Joe Simon had been cutting great country-soul since at least “The Chokin’ Kind” back in the sixties. In the eighties, he was still delivering grown up tete a tetes, including matter-of-fact seductions like “Mr. Right or Mr. Right Now” and danceable apologies like “Always on My Mind.” Plus, a version of Jerry Crutchfield’s oft-covered country song “It Turns Me Inside Out.”

Ricky Skaggs – Live in London – From the WTF intro by Hill Street Blue’s Charles Haid on, this is a disappointing and unaccountably perfunctory live set from Skaggs, who can do that sometimes. On the other hand, even perfunctory Ricky Skaggs still cooks. Closes with a good-rockin’ “Don’t Get Above Your Raisin’” with special guest Elvis Costello.

Southern Pacific – Southern Pacific – Pretty meh debut from these country-rockin’ arena-rockers. But their first Top Ten, a rockabilly facsimile called “Reno Bound,” and a version of Tom Petty’s “Thing about You” with guest Emmylou Harris on lead vocals, are both worth a spin.

Sylvia – One Step Closer – Sounding like a new wave Crystal Gayle, Sylvia’s career records, 1981’s “Drifter” and the following year’s “Nobody,” are among the decade’s great underappreciated singles. This one follows the same approach, though it sometimes lays off the synthy keys in favor of easy, loping Rockpile-esque guitars. Nothing too memorable, but the album does include her final Top Ten hits: “Fallin Love,” “Cry Just a Little Bit,” and (with Michael Johnson) “I Love You by Heart.”

Hank Williams, Jr. – Five-O – Nearing the end of his commercial peak and starting to sound a little exhausted. Still, his “I’m for Love” and “This Ain’t Dallas” are passable Bocephus imitations, and he took a swingy little version of “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” of all things, to the top of country charts. Just go ahead and skip his cover of “Lawyers, Guns and Money.”

Neil Young – Old Ways – Not the best 1985 country album, but maybe the one that best captures the year’s wide-ranging and contradictory gestalt. Most obviously: Young had endorsed Reagan, whose farm policies endangered family farmers, then just a couple of months after this album came out, he performed at the Farm Aid benefit he’d help to organize to help endangered family farmers. He evokes that crisis in the last verse to “Are There Any More Real Cowboys.” Outlaw guest stars Waylon and Willie are on hand (Jennings has a great turn on “Bound for Glory”), but the best moments are Neil’s: Why haven’t “Once an Angel” and “Where Is the Highway Tonight” become country standards? The arrangements are trad country or country rock or roots rock, often all at once. The narrative to “Misfits” is wacked, but the out-of-nowhere hipster countrypolitan soundscape thrills, nonetheless. The title track sounds like it’s going to champion those ways but presents them instead as a trap. “Old ways can be a ball and chain.”

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