Country Music's 10 Greatest Live Albums

First published by Death To False Country January 24, 2014

Live albums are typically a tricky business. More often than not, they're used to fulfill label contracts, act as stopgaps between studio releases or to squeeze the last ounce of revenue out of an artist's popularity. Rock and roll has usually swept up the credit for essential live albums—whether it's been the Allman Brothers' Live at the Filmore East or Kiss' Alive—but country music has produced its share of live classics as well. Here are the ten greatest live albums of country music. Give 'em a spin and it's the next best thing to being packed in a sweaty honky tonk (or prison or casino) seeing these artists in their prime.

Willie Nelson & Family Honeysuckle Rose
It had only been two years since Willie's previous  live album when he released the soundtrack to the movie Honeysuckle Rose. Where Willie and Family Live failed due to its drawn-out jams and uninspired performances, Honeysuckle Rose succeeded a more tightened down—but still plenty freewheeling—approach.The story line may have been fictional but the crowds were very real—and Willie and the family gave them one hell of a show.  Appearances by Hank Cochran, Johnny Gimble and Emmylou Harris only add to the carnival-like atmosphere and enhance an already essential live document.

Jerry Jeff Walker Viva Terlingua
Jerry Jeff Walker might be the quintessential Austin-ite. He isn't a native Texan, a Southerner—or even from a rural part of the United States. He made his way to Austin via New York City, where he struggled in the folk scene during the late 60's. Once his boots hit Texas dirt, though, he claims he found home (along with a cowboy image and an accent sounding nothing like those familiar to upstate New York where he was born and raised). Sound like anyone you know who calls Austin home? 

No matter, Jerry Jeff was among the best writers and interpreters of songs from a time and an era that included Billy Joe Shaver, Guy Clark, and Townes Van Zandt--and Viva Terlingua shows that the crowd in Luckenbach, Texas, didn't know or didn't care whether he was from New York or Mars. This is how a live album ought to sound: loose, spirited, a little flawed—and honest. Recorded in one night with no noticeable overdubs or other studio enhancement, Viva Terlingua's live versions of Walker's songs outdo his studio cuts every time. Just keep flipping over the record and the party never has to end.

Hank Thompson At the Golden Nugget
1961's At the Golden Nugget is the first live album released by a country artist and still easily ranks among the best. Capturing Hank Thompson at the peak of his powers—and replete with the sounds of slot machines in the background—the album showcases Thompson's ease as an entertainer and, particularly, the flawless precision of his band, the Brazos Valley Boys. Lest one expect a purely honky tonk affair, Thompson divided the set with an array of folk songs (utilizing guitarist Merle Travis to the fullest). Though the album clocks in at just over a half hour, it's worth every penny of the price of admission. Perfect from start 'til finish.

Merle Haggard & The Strangers I Love Dixie Blues
One, if not the, best live bands in country music history, Merle Haggard's Strangers combined the jazz-improvisation of Bob Wills' Texas Playboys and the four-on-the-floor honky tonk styling of Buck Owens' Buckaroos. On I Love Dixie Blues Haggard added yet another dimension to his get up: a Dixieland brass band. The results were terrific, lending songs such as Hank Williams' "Lovesick Blues," the jazz standard "I Ain't Got Nobody," and Haggard's own "Everybody's Had The Blues" a lazy Big Easy feel while remaining unmistakably Haggard. Not one of the better known live albums--or Merle Haggard albums for that matter--I Love Dixie Blues is nevertheless a classic recording.

Townes Van Zandt Live at the Old Quarter
Townes Van Zandt never achieved the success he deserved, and is now known as much for his eccentric personality as his plaintive but brilliant songwriting. This set from 1973 is but one glimpse of what could have been for Van Zandt, showcasing many of his best and most well-known compositions, including "Pancho & Lefty," "Waiting Round To Die," and "Tecumseh Valley". In spite of the several great singers who have covered Townes—including Merle Haggard, WIllie Nelson, Bobby Bare, and Emmylou Harris—Townes' versions of his songs are the definitive ones as this collection proves. There's no backing band—and none needed—just Townes and his guitar, lost in the songs he created. There are very few artists who could command two disc's worth of space with just the bare essentials and none who can surpass Townes Van Zandt.

Billy Joe Shaver Unshaven: Live at Smith's Olde Bar
When it comes to honky tonk heroes, you just can't beat Billy Joe Shaver. Though he never became a star outside his home state of Texas—in spite of kick-starting the Outlaw movement and writing a slew of hits for others—Shaver also never lost his edge. Unshaven arrived right on the heels of the classic Tramp on Your Street, with his son—and guitar genius—Eddy in tow.

The father-son combination became one of country music's greatest high wire acts, juxtaposing Billy Joe's simple poetry and ragged but right vocals with Eddy's incendiary guitar work—and their respective talents are on full display here. Whether it's "Black Rose," "Georgia On A Fast Train," or "Ride Me Down Easy," no other artist's rendition could match the Shavers at sounding lonesome, on'ry and mean. You need look no further than Unshaven for the essence of Outlaw country, and country music as a whole.

Hank Williams, Jr. Hank Live
After a decade establishing himself as one of country music's most popular, prolific and talented performers, a Hank Jr. live album was inevitable. Hank Live is loud, proud, grandiose and arrogant—as only the son of Hank Williams can be. But this is Hank stepping out from behind his father's shadow and assuming the mantle (notice the lack of a "Jr." in the album's title). This ain't country music for the wine and brie cheese crowd—it's purely a beer and bonfire affair--the kind you can break into a sweat just listening to. Nobody could top Hank, Jr. in 1987–and he knew it.

Bocephus threw Skynyrd and ZZ Top covers right next to Kristofferson compositions and just kept rollin', getting just as caught up as the crowd with his own antics (witness "The Conversation" with Jr. doing both parts). It's Hank Williams, Jr. at his best and worst, and brings the thunder as no studio album is cabable. Don't even think of putting this record on unless you wanna party.

Buck Owens and His Buckaroos The Carnegie Hall Concert
Buck Owens liked to record in front of an audience—releasing three live albums between 1966 and 1969–and why not? The Buckaroos were unquestionably the most versatile and talented band of the late 60's, and the stage was where they shined brightest. The Carnegie Hall Concert would be noteworthy for this fact alone, but as it also documented the arrival of country music in New York City (and the mainstream), it's a downright essential document. Buck and the boys were spot on, and no doubt made a few jaws drop that belonged to detractors who considered country "hillbilly music".

Buck always blended class and sophistication with barroom charm and swagger--not to mention infectious pop hooks--and this set would have anyone dancing in the aisles. The Buckaroos would later travel to Japan and England, making an international impact, but this concert at Carnegie Hall was the first and biggest obstacle for country music to overcome--the conquering of a continent.

Waylon Jennings Waylon Live
Released at the apex of the Outlaw movement, Waylon Live more than lived up to the hype that was heaped on Waylon, Willie, and company. If there was any doubt that the Outlaws could challenge their rock contemporaries in terms of urgency and electricity, the first note from Waylon's Telecaster on this recording dispelled those notions immediately. The performances stomp and crackle throughout, with Willie Nelson's "Me and Paul," Waylon's own "Bob Wills Is Still The King," and Kris Kristofferson's "The Taker" leading the stampede. This is as far as it gets from doing two dinner shows a night at a casino resort. The crowd is loud and thirsty--and so is the band. Waylon made a lot of great albums—and a couple as good as Waylon Live—but he never made a better record.

Johnny Cash Live at San Quentin
In 1968 Johnny Cash turned country music upside down, and cemented his position with the counter culture as the bard of outsiders, with Live at Folsom Prison. As revolutionary as Folsom was, however, its followup a year later, Live at San Quentin, is better. Cash is leaner, meaner—and a little worse for wear—on this recording. The songs are faster, more frayed around the edges without Luther Perkins pegging them down, and consistently walk the edge between allowing the inmates to let off a little steam and encouraging a full-scale riot.

On San Quentin Cash was playing with fire—which only made the songs and the show better. This might be the ultimate recorded portrait of Cash--part agitator, part healer--from a time when the breeze could flip one switch off and another on. There's simply no better live album—or Johnny Cash album—than Live at San Quentin.