What are the saddest, darkest country albums ever made?

I love really sad, dark country music with lots of reverb and pedal steel guitar. Any recommendations from 1965-1975ish?

 

"No Other" Gene Clark

 

Hey, not to thread crap here as I know this is not in the era you are looking at, but I highly recommend "The Pilgrim" by Marty Stuart. A great concept album that is not cheerful at all.

Also check out Merle Haggard's "The Hag" from the early 70's.
Great album wih some very sad and depressing tunes.

 

Again, not in your era, but I highly recommend "Blacklisted" by Neko Case. Really moody, like David Lynch meets Patsy Cline. Lots of verb!

 

Prix,

Well, you just purchased one of them:

Gram Parsons - Sleepless Nights

How, that one is a heartbreaker!

Here's another:

Willie Nelson - Phases & Stages

It's one of the best "break-up" records.

And another is:

Gene Clark - White Light

I sent you this one along with the Burritos today.
So, let me know what you think?

 

Again, not the right time frame - but you can't get much darker than Gillian Welch - "Time, The Revelator". With David Rawlings doing the incredible acoustic lead guitar work, her alt/country style with Appalachian overtones covers some pretty depressing ground. Just my style.

 

Willie Nelson did a song cycle in 1983 called TOUGHER THAN LEATHER that went fairly unnoticed at the time. Kind of a sequel to RED HEADED STRANGER musically; it's the story of a gunfighter who ends up paying a heavy price for his life. Just came out as a remaster. It's one of my top 5 Willie albums.

 

Another great Willie album is "Yesterday's Wine" which follows the cycle of man's life.

 

Check out some Mickey Newbury.

 

George Jones "I Am What I Am" is full of dark and sad songs, same with much of the Hank Williams catalog

 

Johnny Cash, just about any of 'em but American 2 (Unchained) 3 (Solitary Man) and 4 (The Man Comes Around) are incredibly dark in spots.

 

"He Stopped Loving Her Today" is one of the most is heart-crushing. Great album. There should be a warning sticker on that album. "Warning: If you've just been dumped and are drinking, don't listen to this album alone."

I also recommend ANY of the Townes Van Zandt Tomato Records albums. Those are downright depressing. Love 'em!

 

If you really want sad, dark, authentic, blah, blah, blah, then why fool around with the rest, just get the best -- pick up a Hank Williams compilation, like, "40 Greatest Hits."

Having said that, the country song that breaks me every time is, "Chill Factor," by Merle Haggard -- THAT'S A SAD SONG.

 

I can't believe no one has mentioned "Night Life" by Ray Price. The epitome of Sad and Dark country. It's a concept album, with all songs about drinking, lost love, loneliness, and more drinking. Title song written by Willie Nelson, who was Price's bass player at the time. Great pedal steel work by Buddy Emmons. Quite possibly the best country album of all time, definitely in the top five. And it's in print on CD, and easy to find. No one with even a passing interest in country should be without it.

 

Not really country, and not all of it is sad/dark but Michael Nesmith's '..And The Hits Just Keep Comin' has just the most magical pedal steel playing from Red Rhodes with just Nez's acoustic.

 

More recent vintage but equally great is Vern Gosdin's "Chiseled In Stone" album from 1987. "Set 'Em Up Joe" is a great honky tonker; a perfect tribute to Ernest Tubb, the title track is depressing, and the rest of the album is exactly like those 2 songs. For more of this type of music, pick up Gene Watson's "Eighteen Greatest Hits" and "Ultimate Collection" CDs.

 

Not sure about a whole lp but for depressed country from which there is no return check out several Gary Stewart songs (most can be found on easy to find comps).
His songs were so gin soaked and self revealing that they sound pretty scary even today.
I remember the first time I heard TEN YEARS OF THIS.I was a bit gin soaked myself but when that gorgeous voice hit the line"Truth is I'm not man enough to stop her from doing me wrong" I froze in my tracks.
It encapsolated thousands of years of heartache into a single sentence.
Any Greatest hits will have this song on it but also look for these others.
Quits
Out Of hand
She's got a drinking problem (It's Me)
Single Again
Whiskey Trip
and of course the king of them all
She's Actin Single (I'm Drinking Doubles).

It's interesting to note that not ALL of GS songs are like this.
He was also capable of great swingin honky tonkin party records and songs of quiet beauty as well.
Listen to the song Shady Streets,Sounds like it could have been recorded by Van Morrison.

 

Might also be interested in the NIGHT LIFE lp by Ray Price

 

I'm such an idiot. I had a sealed copy of that album and I sold it on ebay a few years ago for $2.

 

Some of the David Allen Coe stuff, songs like "The Ride" come to mind.

 

Well, go get another, my friend. The Koch CD is cheap and easy to find on amazon and half.com and I'm sure lots of other places. You know how it feels when you're yearning for a lost love, and you go out and get drunk and come home at 4 in the morning feeling even more empty than when you started drinking? That's the feeling of the whole "Night Life" album. A great, great record. It's like the country version of Sinatra's "In the Wee Small Hours".

 

Again, not the right time frame - Rosanne Cash - Interiors. Dark stuff.

 

Closer to the present than you were looking for is "Calling Over Time" by Edith Frost, wonderfully depressed alt-country.

 

Along the same line, Palace, Palace Brothers, Bonnie Prince Billy...whatever the hell Will Oldham's calling himself these days. A good example is Johnny Cash's version of one of his songs "I See A Darkness" on American III. When he's not depressing, he's damn creepy.

 

The Dark - Guy Clark