Celtic Folksongs A-Z

There are some great treasures in the realm of Celtic folk songs.  Well, most of them are about drinking, oppression, and murder, but they're still pretty great songs all the same.  Here is an A-Z list of some of the best traditional Celtic songs by 26 great folk groups out there.

The Napster playlist is here.
The Spotify playlist is here.
The Youtube playlist is here.

1. "As I Roved Out" by Celticana
2. "Back Home in Derry" by Blackthorn
3. "Caledonia" by No Frontiers
4. "Dirty Old Town" by Sligo Rags
5. "Early in the Morning" by The Henry Girls (Not on Spotify or Youtube playlists)
6. "Finnegan's Wake" by The Malarkey Brothers
7. "Galway Bay" by Noel McLoughlin
8. "The Hills of Connemara" by Cu Chulainn
9. "Irish Rover" by T. Duggins
10. "Johnny Jump Up" by The Stone Soup Band
11. "Keg of Brandy" by Christa Burch
12. "Lannigan's Ball" by Waxies Dargle
13. "Marie's Wedding" by The High Kings
14. "Nancy Whiskey" by Gaelic Storm (The Spotify song is by Shane McGowan)
15. "Only Our Rivers Run Free" by Patsy Watchorn
16. "Poor Paddy Works on the Railways" by The Blarney Lads
17. "The Queen of Connemara" by Sonas
18. "Raggle Taggle Gypsy" by The Chieftains
19. "Star of the County Down" by Nantathren
20. "The Town I Loved So Well" by The Dubliners
21. "Unquiet Grave" by Karen Mal
22. "The Verdant Braes of Skreen" by Briege Murphy(Spotify and Youtube song is by Wild Geese)
23. "The Water is Wide" by Niamh Parsons
24. "X-Prep Set" by Smoky Finish
25. "Ye Jacobites By Name" by Beth Patterson
26. "Zeto" by Wolfstone (Not on Spotify Playlist)


If you are looking for more great Celtic music, you can't go wrong with the High Kings.  Anything they do is excellent.

Forever Country

"Forever Country" is song that came out in September, 2016.  It is a combination of "Take Me Home, Country Roads," "On the Road Again," and "I Will Always Love You" performed by a collection of 30 country artists from classic Willie Nelson to modern Luke Bryan.   This song shot right to #1 of the Billboard Hot Country charts in it's first week, which is only the third song in history to accomplish this behind "More Than a Memory" by Garth Brooks (2007), and "My Baby's Got a Smile on Her Face" by Craig Wayne Boyd (2015).

The following playlist kicks off with "Forever Country," but continues on with one of the biggest hits from each of the 30 performers, in order of appearance in the music video.

For this list, I highly recommend the Youtube version since most of the songs have official music videos (or at least a live performance).

The Youtube version is here.
The Spotify version is here.
The Napster version is here.


1. "Forever Country" by Artists of Then, Now, and Forever
2. "He Didn't Have to Be" by Brad Paisley
3. "Days Go By" by Keith Urban
4. "Shotgun Rider" by Tim McGraw
5. "Breathe" by Faith Hill
6. "Pontoon" by Little Big Town
7. "I Don't Want This Night to End" by Luke Bryan
8. "Over You" by Miranda Lambert
9. "Forever and Ever, Amen" by Randy Travis
10. "Austin" by Blake Shelton
11. "The Chair" by George Strait
12. "Follow Your Arrow" by Kacey Musgraves
13. "Drink in My Hand" by Eric Church
14. "Smoky Mountain Rain" By Ronnie Milsap
15. "Kiss and Angel Good Morning" by Charley Pride
16. "Every Mile a Memory" by Dierks Bentley
17. "XXX's and OOO's (An American Girl)" by Trisha Yearwood
18. "American Honey" by Lady Antebellum
19. "It Won't Be Like This For Long" by Darius Rucker
20. "Independence Day" by Martina McBride
21. "Amarillo Sky" by Jason Aldean
22. "Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts
23. "Always on My Mind" by Willie Nelson
24. "Boot Scootin' Boogie" by Brooks & Dunn
25. "Song of the South" by Alabama
26. "Lose My Mind" by Brett Eldredge
27. "Fancy" by Reba McEntire
28. "Remember When" by Alan Jackson
29. "One More Last Chance" by Vince Gill
30. "Before He Cheats" by Carrie Underwood
31. "Coat of Many Colors" by Dolly Parton

Composers A-Z 2

With this list we return to the roots of Western music with another A-Z list of classical composers similar to the list in my first entry (Composers A-Z).  Feel free to list to the lists back to back if you have time--there are no repeated composers between the two.

The Napster playlist is here.
The Spotify playlist is here.
The Youtube playlist is here.



1. Antheil, George "Allegro"
2. Beethoven, Ludwig van "Moonlight Sonata"
3. Copland, Aaron, "Hoe-Down"
4. Dvorak, Antonin "New World Symhony--Largo"
5. Enesco, Georges "Legend"
6. Faure, Gabriel "Sicilienne"
7. Gershwin, George "Rhapsody in Blue"
8. Handel, George Frideric Handel, "Water Music--Air"
9. Ives, Charles "Symphony No. 2--Andante Moderato"
10. Jarnefelt, Armas "Berceuse"
11. Kabalevsky, Dmitry Borisovich "Comedian's Galop"
12. Lully, Jean-Baptiste "Symphonie"
13. Mussorgsky, Modest "Pictures at and Exhibition--Great Gate of Kiev"
14. Nazareth, Ernesto "Brejeiro"
15. Obrecht, Jacob "Stat in Meskin"
16. Paganini, Nicolo "Caprice No. 9"
17. Quiroga, Manuel "Larghetto" (not on Spotify playlist)
18. Rodrigo, Joaquin "Allegro Gentile"
19. Schumann, Robert "Adagio and Allegro, Op. 70: II. Allegro" (The Youtube and Spotify versions has the full song instead of just the 2nd movement)
20. Telemann, Georg Philipp "Concerto for Viola: Andante"
21. Uematsu, Nobuo "Aerith's Theme (Final Fantasy VII)
22. Verdi, Giuseppe "Triumphal March"
23. Weber, Carl Maria von "La Tarantella-Prestissimo: Finale"
24. Xueyan, Liu "Flowing Waters of a Little River" (Not on Youtube playlist)
25. Young, Victor "Black"
26. Zamboni, Giovanni "Sonata in C minor: III. Giga"

Colors of Country

As autumn marches forward and the leaves begin to change colors, I began to think about the color songs of country music.  Most colors are pretty common in song titles, but for some reason country singers just don't like to sing about purple or violet; those songs are nearly impossible to find.

In the list below, there are 3 songs for each color coming from different eras of country.  The songs in green are for any songs performed before 1979. The songs in blue are from 1980-1999.  The songs in yellow are for songs from 2000-present.  Additionally, no artist has more than one song on this list (which is why there so many songs, like "Orange Blossom Special" or "Brown Eyed Handsome Man," being performed by artists other than the ones who made them famous).

The Napster playlist is here.
The Spotify playlist is here.
The Youtube playlist is here.


1. "Red Headed Stranger" by Willie Nelson
2. "Red River" by Alabama
3. "Red" by Taylor Swift (Not on Spotify Playlist)
4. "Orange Blossom Special" by Bill Monroe
5. "Down in the Orange Grove" by John Anderson (Not on Spotify Playlist)
6. "Orange Moon" by Keith Harkin
7. "Yellow Roses" by Hank Snow
8. "Yellow River Road" by Suzy Bogguss
9. "Yellow Brick Road" by Morgan Frazier
10. "The New Green Light" by Hank Thompson
11. "John Deere Green" by Joe Diffie
12. "Big Green Tractor" by Jason Aldean
13. "Blue, Blue Day" by Don Gibson
14. "Baby Blue" by George Strait
15. "Barefoot Blue Jean Night" by Jake Owen
16. "The Violet and the Rose" by Wanda Jackson
17. "She Picks the Violets" by The Jayhawks
18. "Violet Eyes" by Sandra McCracken
19. "The Long Black Veil" by Lefty Frizzell
20. "Black Water Bayou" by Tanya Tucker
21. "Long Black Train" by Josh Turner
22. "White Lightnin'" by George Jones
23. "Long White Cadillac" by Dwight Yoakam
24. "White Liar" by Miranda Lambert
25. "Silver Wings" by Merle Haggard
26. "Silver Thunderbird" by Jo Dee Messina (Not on Spotify Playlist)
27. "Silver Lining" by Kacey Musgraves
28. "All the Gold in California" by Larry Gatlin
29. "Gibbonsville Gold" by Hank Williams Jr. 
30. "Golden" by Lady Antebellum
31. "Pretty Little Pink" by Doc Watson
32. "Pink Flamingos" by Tracy Byrd
33. "Two Pink Lines" by Eric Church
34. "When I'm Gray" by Johnny Cash
35. "Cold Gray Kentucky Morning" by Aaron Tippin
36. "Shades of Gray" by Robert Earl Keen
37. "Brown Eyes Handsome Man" by Waylon Jennings
38. "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue" by Crystal Gayle
39. "Cecil Brown" by Hank Williams III