A good storytelling song can’t just be a good song. It has to be a good story, too, and that requires some finesse. The best kinds of storytelling songs don’t sacrifice character development, plot twists, or conclusions just to have a catchy chorus or melody. The narrative is just as forward-facing as the music itself.
If these songs were books, they would be called page-turners.
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“Pancho And Lefty” by Townes Van Zandt
Made famous by Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt’s melancholy ballad about a crime duo gone South is a classic storytelling country song. In addition to Van Zandt’s masterful way of introducing and describing both titular characters in just a few lines, the fact that he leaves the conclusion open-ended and based on rumor makes the narrative all the more compelling. Where did Lefty get all that money to run to Ohio? Did he really rat out Pancho? Are there any true victims or villains in a tale of two criminals?
“El Paso” by Marty Robbins
Marty Robbins was a masterful Western songwriter, distilling the freedom and danger that pervade the wide-open spaces of the American Southwest. Just when you think the “El Paso” story wraps up with the jealous lover shooting another man, the story takes a twist. The jealous man comes back. But now, his days are numbered. This storytelling country tune is practically Shakespearean in the way that it ends with the dying narrator cradled in the arms of Felena, the woman who drove him to his murderous jealousy in the first place.
“A Boy Named Sue” by Shel Silverstein
Made famous by Johnny Cash, Shel Silverstein’s “A Boy Named Sue” is the kind of storytelling country song that offers life advice in a roundabout, comedic way. The tale of a father who gives his son a traditionally feminine name so that he would grow up tough is an interesting spin on what could have been a fairly straightforward story about an absent father and a son who grows to resent him. The fact that the father had his son’s best interest in mind is the best kind of plot twist.
“The Devil Went Down To Georgia” by Charlie Daniels
Charlie Daniels’ “The Devil Went Down To Georgia” is as much a musical storytelling song as it is a narrative one. Daniels’ recitative delivery of the story about the devil challenging Johnny to a fiddle competition is descriptive enough on its own. The prizes—Johnny’s soul or the devil’s fiddle made of gold—make the story all the more captivating. But the way the band arranges the music to match Johnny and the devil’s style adds another layer to the narrative. Even if Daniels wasn’t talking, a listener could tell which character had the floor.
“The Gambler” by Kenny Rogers
Closing out this list of the best storytelling songs in country music history is another one that offers a life lesson. Don Schlitz’s “The Gambler”, made famous by Kenny Rogers, sets the scene from the very first lines. Two strangers in a train car. Awkward, quiet. Eventually, one stranger speaks and starts offering life advice to the other. After the whiskey-drinking sage says his piece, he dies, leaving the narrator to ponder the old man’s final words. That’s about as Southern Gothic as it gets, right down to the “train going nowhere.”
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