I’ve been organizing records at home and I decided to pull out some of my absolute favorite country album covers to share with you. These are the creme-de-la-creme, the blue-ribbon trophy winners, the gold bullion of country music album cover design, in my opinion. These are eleven album covers that never fail to inspire wonder, mirth, and joy when my eyeballs get a load of their original “vision.” Scroll through the photos if you want a quick look, or read my “critic’s choice” descriptions of each one if you have a little more time. This is real country music—cheatin’, drinkin’, chickens, polygamy, prison, swine, fishin’, Cadillacs, riding lawnmowers, and heartbreak. THE BEST OF THE BEST!
Danny Michaels’s On the Bandstand will always be my favorite album cover of all time. It’s got it all—Danny holding a customized Gibson doubleneck guitar, a gold Lincoln Continental convertible, and a gold Harley Panhead (these vehicles were owned by the owner of the club where the band had a residency, George’s Round Up in Long Beach, California), a bikini-wearing babe who looks way too happy to be there (my guess is she’s the only one who got paid for this photo session), and the band sitting in the convertible ready to go play the grand opening of the Lakewood Foster’s Freeze. Every time I see this album, this is the show business zenith I aspire to.
Mack Vickery was a legit singer. He made some great rockabilly records and later wrote songs like “Meat Man” for Jerry Lee Lewis. But this album…wow. It’s the greatest live album you’ve never heard. Mack recorded this album very much live at the Julia Tutwiler Prison for Women in Wetumpka, Alabama, and these incarcerated females go absolutely wild every time Mack wiggles in his black leather outfit. The photo used on the front cover might be considered sexist, but as Spinal Tap once said, what’s wrong with being sexy? Seriously, it’s hard to worry about objectification when the whole damn thing is so fun. It’s on YouTube; go listen to it and hear for yourself!
This one just barely qualifies as a country album musically. Bob Kames was a well-known Hammond organ wizard (his big hit was “The Chicken Dance,” but he recorded a bunch of country hits Hammond organ-style on this album, teamed up with famed steel guitarist Pete Drake. The album is great, by the way, but the cover is truly exceptional. What an inspiration Bob Kames has been to me at many low points in my career. I know that if I just keep plugging along, eventually I’ll be sitting on a dock fishing somewhere in a red checkered shirt with a wonderful personal assistant baiting worms on my hook. A true hero and inspiration, Mr. Kames!
This album cover by Billy Armstrong is the bee’s knees. “Okay, everybody, we’re gonna have you cover all your ears like you think Billy’s music really stinks! And we’re going to make THAT THE ALBUM COVER!”
Nothing says “COUNTRY” like posing for an album cover on your riding lawnmower wearing psychedelic pants, while your whole family poses in the background, ready to do manual labor instead of going to school. Someday, kids, this will all be yours!
Cletus Jones offers an exceptional example of a corporate promotional album, tying his country music debut with the “DIAMONDHEAD” real estate subdivision (which he may have owned, I have no idea) on beautiful Lake Catherine in Hot Springs National Park, Arkansas. Posing with the Diamondhead Cadillac promo car, this album also features many great promotional lines scattered across the cover (“A COLLECTOR’S ITEM”). My favorite might be the line at the top: “Here’s an album even the critics admire.” Pure class, Cletus, pure class.
Wayne Raney was also from Arkansas, and he made a ton of great hillbilly and rockabilly records from the 1940s through his death in the 1980s. But just to assert his dominance, letting YOU know that you’ll never be as “COUNTRY” as he, Wayne poses with one of his roosters on his lap, sitting on a rocking chair, harmonica ready to go in loaded and locked position. A king among men—Wayne Raney, sal-UTE!
Country Music. Polygamy. Does anything else really need to be said about Jim Nesbitt’s great truck drivin’ album, Truck Drivin’ Cat With Nine Wives? A classic in the country music polygamy genre!!
Directly challenging Wayne Raney’s “King of the Hill” status, Lonzo and Oscar attempt to grab the championship belt by posing with a mandolin and a—pig! Lonzo (in this photo, Lonzo is the second-era Lonzo, Johnny Sullivan) is literally trying to play a pig like a banjo. Now that is dedication to your craft. We honor his dedication.
The Oklahoma State Penitentiary had a long history with sponsoring country music bands, and this album by “Smokey Lee and the Prison Band” isn’t even the first record to come out of the penal institution. These guys had a sense of humor, from the album title (Made Parole, Will Travel!) to the pricing on the front of the cover: “Reg. Price $6.00, Policemen $39.95.” It didn’t sell as many copies as Johnny Cash’s Live at Folsom Prison, but you couldn’t put any more heart into words and music than Smokey Lee.
None more country than Little Enis. We won’t discuss the poor decision making of choosing a easily-modified-for-ridicule name like Little Enis. It just doesn’t get any more country than drinkin’ wine on the street after choosing alcohol over love—the roses in the trash can next to Enis are a beautiful touch of album cover design: “Well, the title song is called ‘I Kept the Wine, and Threw Away the Rose,’ let’s put Enis in there holding a wine bottle with a trash can he just threw away the roses in. IT’LL BE JUST LIKE THE SONG TITLE!” None more country, Little Enis, none more country.
