Whitney Allen’s Country Music Playlist

I want it known that I was pressured to put together this list of country classics. It’s hard to edit down a bazillion years of history to just 26 songs.

I’ll take a lot of flack for not including more classic country hits, but I would imagine that anyone who knows country really knows his Johnny Cash, Garth Brooks, Buck Owens and Merle Haggard libraries. I could have built an entire list on George Strait alone and run out of space, so what did I do? I shamelessly included some of my favorite singers and songs and mixed in a sampling of what you might have heard on KZLA.

If someone asked me what’s the state of country music today, or if an Angeleno who didn’t know much about country was wondering what the fuss is over KZLA being gone, these are the songs I’d play. This is the kind of music they missed. This isn’t the KZLA playlist, although I did play each one of these songs at some point over the last three years, with the exception of Glen Campbell’s “Wichita Lineman,” which is the first country song I fell in love with as a little kid.

“Where the Blacktop Ends,” Keith Urban
“No Shoes No Shirt No Problem,” Kenny Chesney
“One More Day,” Diamond Rio
“When I Get Where I’m Goin’,” Brad Paisley with Dolly Parton
“Wave on Wave,” and “Carry on,” Pat Green
“Wherever You Are,” Jack Ingram
“Heartland,” and “I Cross My Heart,” George Strait
“Something More,” Sugarland
“For a Little While,” and “Live Like You We’re Dyin’,” Tim McGraw
“Independence Day,” Martina McBride
“Highwayman,” The Highwaymen
“That Ain’t No Way to Go,” and “Only in America,” Brooks and Dunn
“Save a Horse, Ride a Cowboy,” and “Holy Water,” Big and Rich
“Chicks Dig It,” Chris Cagel
“Amarillo Sky,” Jason Aldean
“Wichita Lineman,” Glen Campbell
“One Hot Mama,” Trace Adkins
“Fast Cars and Freedom,” Rascal Flats
“Wide Open Spaces,” Dixie Chicks
“The Lucky One,” Faith Hill”Gone Country,” Alan Jackson

-- Whitney Allen