Erik's Random 10

Jessi Colter is often singled out as one of the worst examples of cheesy 70s and early 80s pop-country. This is somewhat unfair. While I'm not going to defend her bad music, she had a lot of great tunes. In particular, I recommend her work complied on the Wanted: The Outlaws collection that helped define outlaw country. Along with her husband Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, and Tompall Glaser, this album collects some of the best outlaw tunes. Jessi has some great duets with Waylon and some first rate songs of her. I want to particularly point out, "If She's Where You Like Living" as an excellent example of her best material. "Why You Been Gone So Long" is also very good.

As for her pin-up girl country of the late 70s, well, it's hard to defend I know. I'll only throw out the defense that the nation was entering the hellish decades of the 1980s. A lot of good artists went off the deep end in these years. After about 1977, the quality of many musicians, and that includes Willie, Waylon, Neil Young, and hundreds of others, went south. Jessi was trying to keep on country charts increasingly dominated by Barbara Mandrell, Eddie Rabbit, Mac Davis and the like.

After the early 80s, Jessi decided to sacrifice her own career to support the increasingly unstable Waylon Jennings. While I argue country music has traditionally given women more opportunities to succeed than nearly any other genre of American music, too often the women in country-music sacrifice their own considerable talent for that of their husband. See June Carter and Johnny Cash for another example. After Waylon's death though, she began exploring a comeback and in 2006 put out an album that I have not heard, but which has some good buzz around it.

1. Jessi Colter, Why You Been Gone So Long
2. John Cage, The Wonderful Widow of Eighteen Springs
3. The Flatlanders, Whistle Blues
4. The Decemberists, Sixteen Military Wives
5. Smog, Justice Aversion
6. Bill Monroe, My Rose of Old Kentucky
7. Van Morrison, Be Thou My Vision
8. Sonny Stitt, They Say It's Wonderful
9. The Magic Numbers, Love Me Like You
10. John Zorn, Paran