Retrospectives Reflect Craft of Classic Country

Wouldn’t you know it?

The first phone call I received after my Top 10 albums of the year list appeared in Sunday’s Calendar was a complaint: No country album.

Well, there was a country album on the list--Lucinda Williams’ “Essence”--but I didn’t even waste time pointing it out.

Williams may be a Nashville-based singer-songwriter whose songs have been country hits for Mary Chapin Carpenter and Patty Loveless, but she is considered an outsider by the nation’s country music radio programmers.

To them, Williams’ music lacks the county-pop sheen of Shania Twain and Faith Hill, and the horde of anonymous hit makers (male and female) who are trying so hard to follow in their commercial steps.

That’s a far different path than the one Williams and many of today’s other great country “outsiders”--including Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris and Shelby Lynne--are traveling.

The music of these Nashville mavericks reflects the commentary, passion and craft of the best country music delivered by artists who were saluted in recent weeks with retrospectives.

Here, alphabetically, are some of the most enticing of the year-end country packages. The list includes such proven artists as Buck Owens and Loretta Lynn, but many of the names may be as foreign to young country audiences as that of Williams.

Joe Ely’s “The Best of Joe Ely” (MCA). When his first solo album was released in 1977, Ely sounded like the best thing to come out of West Texas since Waylon Jennings and Buddy Holly, thanks to spirited music that mixed country and rock with equal confidence and authority.

This CD includes three of the songs from that first album, which got glowing reviews but sold so poorly that Ely was almost dropped by MCA. And it wasn’t just critics who fell in love with Ely’s honky-tonk swagger. He eventually toured with Willie Nelson, the Rolling Stones and the Clash.

Though he often wrote his own material, Ely was most effective early in his career when singing the restless tales of his longtime pals and sometimes bandmates Butch Hancock and Jimmie Dale Gilmore. The good news is Ely is still a captivating live act.

The Flying Burrito Brothers’ “The Best of the Flying Burrito Brothers” (A&M;). Gram Parsons, who co-founded the Burritos in 1968 with former Byrds-mate Chris Hillman, is the country-rock missionary who first got attention on the national scene with the Byrds and later made some exquisite solo albums.

But Parsons, who died in 1973 of a combination of morphine and alcohol at age 26, defined his artistic vision--a mix of rock vitality and country vulnerability--as a member of the Burritos.

With Hillman, Parsons wrote some landmark songs for the Burritos--including “Sin City,” which has always struck me as the inspiration for the Eagles’ “Hotel California.”

The Burritos also offered their own versions of country and rock gems, including Buck Owens’ classic “Together Again” and the Rolling Stones’ plaintive “Wild Horses.” Though those two songs appeared on different albums, they are placed side by side on this album in a way that underscores the wide, rich boundaries of Parsons’ musical inspiration.

An essential collection for rock or country fans.

Tom T. Hall’s “Ultimate Collection” (Hip-O). Hall has never been seen as a rebel in the sense of Ely or Parsons, but he had a distinctive style that made him one of the most original and engaging country artists of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.

As much a short-story writer as a songwriter, Hall expressed, in such varied songs as “The Year That Clayton Delaney Died” and “Old Dogs, Children and Watermelon Wine,” the simple truths and sweet ironies that have been the hallmark of great country music.

John Hartford’s “Country Legends” (RCA). Hartford, who died in June of cancer at age 63, is more identified with folk and bluegrass music than with country music, but he was highly regarded as a songwriter around Nashville in the late ‘60s--especially after Glen Campbell’s recording of Hartford’s “Gentle on My Mind” became one of the most celebrated pop-country hits of the decade.

Hartford was a fresh, inventive lyricist in the vein of Roger Miller, though his offbeat wordplay in “Gentle on My Mind” also led to Dylanesque references. While Nashville publishers marveled at Hartford’s imagination as a songwriter, radio programmers didn’t warm up to Hartford’s vocals, so he stayed a cult item--which apparently suited him just fine.

With the royalties from “Gentle on My Mind,” Hartford quit performing in 1972 to become a riverboat pilot.

He returned to music in 1976, and his “Mark Twang” album four years later won a Grammy for best ethnic or traditional recording. He is also featured on the soundtrack to “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” with a version of “I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow.”

Kris Kristofferson’s “All-Time Greatest Hits” (Varese Sarabande). Here’s another case of someone whose voice was considered so ragged by radio programmers that he had to operate on the outskirts of country music, even though his 1970 self-titled debut album was such a showcase of great country writing that people began comparing him to Hank Williams.

Four songs on the album became giant country and pop hits, thanks to cover versions--Janis Joplin’s version of “Me and Bobby McGee,” Ray Price’s rendition of “For the Good Times,” Sammi Smith’s recording of “Help Me Make It Through the Night” and Johnny Cash’s haunting treatment of “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down.”

All four songs are included here--plus the equally stylish “Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again),” “Nobody Wins” and “Why Me.”

Kristofferson has since become better known as an actor than a musician, but these songs remain among the finest ever in country music. Another essential collection.

Loretta Lynn’s “The Best Of--Vol. 2” (MCA). Lynn has had more than 75 Top 40 country hits, so it’s hard to think of her as an outsider, but there was a boldness and commentary to much of her music that helped crack the male-centric nature of country music jukeboxes. The fact that she has such strong entries as “Fist City,” “You’ve Just Stepped In (From Stepping Out on Me)” and “The Pill” left over from the Vol. 1 “best of” collection underscores the depth of her catalog.

Buck Owens and His Buckaroos’ “Carnegie Hall Concert” (Sundazed). Before Merle Haggard came along, Owens established Bakersfield on the map as the Southern California country stronghold, and this live 1966 album is a stirring demonstration of his band’s ability to mix honky-tonk and rock strains. The album opens with “Act Naturally,” a 1963 Owens hit that the Beatles loved and recorded, and Owens later in the concert tipped his hat to the Beatles by performing “Twist and Shout,” the old Isley Brothers hit that was also an early Fab Four favorite.

The material here also ranges from “Together Again,” the celebration of romantic embrace that the Burritos recorded, to the classic heartache ballad “Cryin’ Time,” which Ray Charles turned into a hugely influential pop hit in 1965.

Marty Robbins’ “Live Classics” (Country Music Foundation). This Country Music Hall of Fame member is best known for such western narratives as “El Paso” and “Devil Woman,” but he was equally effective in a variety of styles, from the country-blues spirit of “That’s All Right” to the youthful pop energy of “A White Sport Coat.” These versions of various Robbins hits, including “Singing the Blues” and “The Story of My Life,” were taken from appearances on the Grand Ole Opry.

Gene Watson’s “Ultimate Collection” (Hip-O). Watson is a dependable singer who like, say, John Anderson, has operated just under the level of the greats of the field, including his biggest influence, Merle Haggard.

But he has a knack for finding honky-tonk gems, especially cheatin’ songs. Watson sings them with just the right amount of obsession or regret. Some of the song titles alone are classic: “Nothing Sure Looked Good on You” and “You’re Out Doing What I’m Here Doing Without.”

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Robert Hilburn, The Times’ pop music critic, can be reached by e-mail at robert.hilburn@latimes .com