Live Country Rock Albums & Live Alternative Country Albums
This category recognises the influence that Country & Western music has on rock music.
I must admit that this isn’t my strongest area of musical knowledge as I live in the UK.
I can recognise the influential twang of country but I need your help to guide readers to the best of country and country rock.
I’m not even clear where country rock ends and country, bluegrass or Americana begins. As I learnt move, I split country away from country rock.
Country Rock Live Albums
Live albums classed as country rock include:
The Amazing Rhythm Aces Fullhouse Aces High 1979
The Band Rock Of Ages
The Band Carter Barron Amphitheater Washington DC July 17th 1976
The Band The Last Waltz
Garth Brooks Double Live
The Byrds Avalon Ballroom San Francisco November 2nd 1968
The Byrds Live At Fillmore February 1969
The Byrds Untitled 1970
The Byrds Live At Royal Albert Hall 1971
Neko Case The Tigers Have Spoken 2004
The Cate Brothers Live
Commander Cody Live from Deep in the Heart of Texas 1973
Commander Cody Live from Armadillo World HQ 1973 & Capitol Theatre 1975
Drive By Truckers Live From Austin, Tx 2008
The Eagles Live
The Eagles Hell Freezes Over
Steve Earle Live At The BBC 1988
Steve Earle Shut Up And Die Like An Aviator 1990
Joe Ely Live Shots
Joe Ely Live Chicago 1987
Joe Ely Live At Liberty Lunch 1990
Flying Burrito Brothers Authorized Bootleg Fillmore East Ny Ny Late Show
The Flying Burrito Brothers Last Of The Red Hot Burritos 1971
Grateful Dead Skull & Roses 1971
Grateful Dead Europe 72
Grateful Dead Europe 72 Vol. 2
Grateful Dead Steppin Out With The Grateful Dead England 72
Jason And The Scorchers Rock On Germany 1985
Jason and the Scorchers Midnight Roads and Stages Seen 1997
The Jayhawks Live From The Women’s Club Vol. 1 2002
The Kentucky Headhunters Authorized Bootleg 1990
Old & In The Way Live At The Boarding House 1973
Ozark Mountain Daredevils It’s Alive 1978
Gram Parsons Live at the Avalon Ballroom 1969
Gram Parsons Live 1973
Poco Live
Lucinda Williams Live At The Fillmore
Neil Young A Treasure 1984 1985
You can get these albums from Amazon.com – Amazon.co.uk.
The Best Live Albums Of All Time
Readers live albums polls that will be of interest are:
Best Country And Country Rock Live Albums
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You may also be interested in the poll for the country live albums:
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You can see the complete list of readers polls at Live Album Polls
Live At Liberty Lunch is a live album by Joe Ely recorded in Austin, Texas in 1990.
This is the same band that recorded Live Chicago 1987 but without saxophonist Bobby Keys or a replacement. There is therefore more of David Grissom’s guitar playing.
Live Shots is a live album by Joe Ely from a concert recorded in 1980.
This catches Joe Ely in his country/honky tonk stage and is very different from the Live Chicago 1987 album that was my first experience of his music. Surprisingly, Joe Ely was touring with The Clash in the UK.
Live Chicago 1987 is an archive recording on a concert in Chicago by the Joe Ely band while they were promoting the Lord Of The Highways album.
The band was unique for Joe Ely as it features the talents of Bobby Keys on saxophone as a joint soloist along with David Grissom on guitar. If the name Bobby Keys sounds familiar, he has played regularly with The Rolling Stones and appeared on their three classic albums, Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main Street.
This has been a popular bootleg and has only been officially released since 2009.
Europe 72 is a live album by Grateful Dead which captures the group in concert in Western Europe in April and May 1972.
A second volume of recordings Europe 72 volume 2 has been released in 2011. There is even a release of the complete Europe ’72 shows – all 22 concerts on 73 CDs.
Grateful Dead had released two of their most popular and critically acclaimed studio albums – Workingman’s Dead and American Beauty – which go back to the roots of American music.
This may be too “country” for music lovers primarily looking for guitar improvisations. Most of us are going to find this much more approachable and easier to listen to because of the strong song structures.
Live is a recording of southern soul and blues group The Cate Brothers in concert.
According to AllMusic.com, it was recorded on the 23rd and 24th of October 1998. It was released in August 1999.
I saw the Cate Brothers perform In One Eye & Out The Other on the Old Grey Whistle Test on BBC2 in about 1976 and I was hooked by their sound.
I don’t understand why they aren’t much better known and much more popular.
Hell Freezes Over is the second live album by The Eagles featuring songs recorded for an MTV special and four new studio tracks.
Their first live recording was The Eagles Live.
What do you think are the best country and country rock live albums?
My knowledge in the area of country and country rock is fairly weak, partly because I’m based in the UK and we have no tradition of country music as opposed to folk music.
I’m also not sure where the dividing line between country and country rock lies. I’ve tried to split the genre into two to help you to find the other albums that are most likely to appeal to you.
Eagles Live is the first live album by country rock group The Eagles and was mainly recorded in late July 1980 at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium in Santa Monica, California. Five extra songs were recorded in October 1976 at The Forum in Inglewood, California.
Wikipedia reports that Glenn Frey and Don Henley mixed the album on opposite coasts and it’s said to be heavily doctored.
The Last Waltz is the live recording of the last concert by The Band before they broke up on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1976.
The main concert was recorded at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco.
The Last Waltz Suite was recorded at the MGM Soundstage.
The album is also the soundtrack to a film of the concert of the same name.
Personally I find it a strange album and prefer Rock Of Ages for a more authentic experience of The Band as a live group. The problem is that so many rock superstars were keen to pay tribute to The Band, the group rather got lost in the mix.
The Last Waltz finishes up as some kind of rock variety show. Interesting but not The Band at its finest.
Rock Of Ages is the first live album recorded by The Band from shows at the Academy of Music in New York City December 28 to 31, 1971.
I think this is a much better album than the more famous live album The Last Waltz which captured an all-star cast at The Band’s last gig.
