Sittin' Here Walkin' the Floor

Artist: Gene Watson

Album: Between This Time & The Next Time

Song: "I'm Gonna Kill You"

Country music has never shied away from murder: cheating lovers, vengeful spouses, and grim endings for all involved. The air in these songs is heavy with uncontrollable grief, rage, and disillusionment. So straight-up honky tonker Gene Watson recording a murder song isn't out of the ordinary. Except this tune bops to its own beat. Never before has a cuckolded man sounded so damn remorseless. Pushed over the final edge, hear the true voice of insanity.

You Can Fool Them All Right

Artists: Horslips

Album: The Tain

Song: "You Can't Fool the Beast"

When composing my first concept album, I need to remember the timeless lessons that Horslips made apparent. There must be thundering tribal drums and bursts of handclaps. Where there isn't a maniacal flute, a happy fiddle will play. Love will cause strife, and an immortal warrior shall do battle on an infinite plain. Of course the sleeve will be gatefold.

Lying Here in My Confusion

Artist: Brian Friel

Album: Brian Friel

Song: "Pisces Lady"

Prison doesn't have to be a cold cell and steel bars. That private jail can be spiritual, emotional, social, financial. Brian Friel is a prisoner, defeated and alone except for the whispering wind. But much like Andy Dufresne, the echo of a song can stir the resiliency of the soul. And soon those terrible walls are brought to rubble, one patient tap of the chisel after another.

Daydreams and Southern Pine

Artist: Marlin Greene

Album: Tiptoe Past the Dragon

Song: "Fields of Clover"

Should I ever find myself floating across a blue summer sky like an untethered balloon, picking wisps of clouds as if they were sticky cotton candy, I would need this Marlin Greene opus and its inherent pedal-steel breeze as my lazy-day soundtrack.

The Revolution's Gone Way Beyond Me

Artist: Gary P. Nunn

Album: Nobody But Me

Song: "Tennessee Road"

Even a King is but a mother's son. Eliza Gilykson's "Tennessee Road" does not celebrate Elvis Presley. It pities him. The grandeur of incredible fame isolates, confuses, and grinds. Perhaps it is only fitting that his downfall serves as the tragic precursor for Michael Jackson. Well, that and Lisa Marie too. 

Barrelhousin' 'til the Moon Is Low

Artists: Bob Seger System

Album: Mongrel

Song: "Lucifer"

If you're turned off to Bob Seger's late-1970s arena rockers and radio ballads, be aware he has a prefame universe of albums that stomp with diesel-powered grooves. "Lucifer" is a Nuggetsesque blast of urban swagger, bloodshot blue-eyed soul, and a foghorn organ. This is strut rock of the highest degree.

You Knew I'd Take What You Were Giving

Artist: Rusty Wier

Album: Stacked Deck

Song: "Good, Good Lovin'"

The orange heat of the BBQ coals fades into silent oblivion. Crickets chirp in the tall grass that surround the old farmhouse clearing. Clusters of friends laugh and shout as they wipe sweat from their brows using icy beer bottles and cowboy hat brims. And if I ever find myself here, slow dancing with a pretty cowgirl under the light of a full summer moon, I want this song playing.