I was first introduced to Emmylou Harris through Bright Eyes' I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning (links all go to Spotify), where she provided backing vocals on about half the songs. Her voice is gorgeous, and has the perfect tinge of melancholy to compliment Conor Oberst's interesting vocal stylee. About a year later I was then played two albums that I'm sure I would've scoffed at if I didn't know Emmylou Harris through the Bright Eyes album. These were Trio and Trio II, which are Dolly, Emmylou and Linda singing mostly covers in beautiful three-part harmony.

One of the standout songs for me is the Neil Young cover, After the Gold Rush. They don't change the song much from it's original arrangement, apart from the gorgeous three-part harmony, with Dolly taking the lead. The song was already brilliant when Neil Young did it (which I only discovered after I heard this version), but when the trio do it, it takes on a haunting quality that can't be matched. It is simply stunning and made me realise that Dolly Parton had more in her than 9 to 5 and Jolene. Actually, this song made me listen to more of Dolly Parton's stuff and made me chance upon her original version of I Will Always Love You, later massacred by Whitney Houston, who manages to take all subtlety out of the song and turn it into a diva's vocal acrobatic performance.

Johnny Cash is for me, the undisputed king of country. The simplicity of his songs is amazing and truth be told he isn't a great singer, but it's the narrative and character that he puts into his songs that makes them so great. A Boy Named Sue is the perfect example of this. If you have doubts, I implore you to watch the video and I doubt you won't have a smile on your face by the end.

Listening to Johnny Cash also turned me on to Willie Nelson, through the VH1 Storytellers album, a stellar album if you like either of them.

Simply put, now that I've been introduced to country music, there is nothing better than a cheesy country song. This one wins the prize for cheesiest.