Great country recording

O Brother Where Art Thou and Raising Arizona and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs are soundtracks that come to mind.A favourite is Ricky Skaggs and Bruce Hornsby Cluck Ol' Hen

Mark Chesnut: “Tradition Lives“, “Savin’ the Honky Tonks”, “Rollin’ with the Flow”

Great contemporary honky tonk. Slim Yamagucihi is one of the world’s greatest peddle steel players, Chesnutt a phenomenal country vocalist.

Townes Van Zandt: Start with “Live at the Old Quarter” and “High, Low and In Between”

In college, I was fortunate to see him many times at the Outhouse in Austin, Tx. It was the mid to late 1980’s. Addiction had taken its toll but he was still magical on stage. Just him and his guitar. I still can’t believe I drank beers with him during his breaks. Crazy.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Townes_Van_Zandt

Nashville Skyline - Bob Dylan backed by some of the best cw side men!

You may want to take a listen to the soundtrack for Oh Brother Where Art Thou?

It's a survey of pre-Nashville country music.

Best,

E

Regarding the comment that Nashville hasn't skimped on recording.- I popped a Tim McGraw CD in and was really disappointed in the SQ. I don't play a ton of country, but the comparison to James Taylor and Jackson Brown CDs was significant. When stacked against some of my acoustic guitar Cds it was downright stunning. I don't recall the McGraw album name, and maybe it is a bad example or a bad match to the Vandersteens I had hooked up, but truly surpirsed me.