Favorite Country Music Murder Ballad Of All Time? Fans Sounds Off

Everybody loves a good murder ballad, eh?

Just as true crime podcasts and TV shows often get the biggest ratings, songs about the act of murder tend to have some incredible staying power. Most of the time, that’s just due to the powerful storytelling that comes with a good, old fashioned murder ballad.

And no one does storytelling better than country music.

Murder Ballads have long been a dark tradition of the country genre. Are they the songs that you fire up while you are out on the lake celebrating Memorial Day? Not necessarily. There’s a time and a place for them, and considering just how many there are, there’s certainly an audience for the niche style.

That was proven by a recent question that was posed on beautiful forum known as Reddit. The site acts as a great sounding board that often gives unfiltered, non-sponsored, thoughtful reviews on just about anything you could think of… which is why you can trust the list that was created as everyone chimed in about their favorite murder ballad.

But we’ve got to give credit to Reddit user “AdSpecial4479” for asking the question in the first place that got the conversation started. They first posted this to the message board, and things quickly took off in the comments below:

“What are the best country music murder ballad songs? And I’m talking the best. ‘Tall Handsome Stranger’ by Marty Robbins is my favorite so far, but I want to hear other people’s opinions.”

And other people’s opinions they heard.

A flurry of dark, somber, country music storytelling responses came back as country music fans sounded off about their songs about murder. And the cool thing? There were plenty of modern examples that were answered alongside others that would be considered “classics.”

It was one heck of a list, and I can assure you that all of these will scratch that same itch that the true crime podcasts do:

“In recent times, Colter Wall’s ‘Kate McCannon’ has to be up there.”

“”Down The River’ by Chris Knight is all time.”

“‘The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia’ by Reba McEntire is easily my favorite.”

“‘Banded Clovis’ by Tyler Childers is my favorite.”

“‘The Long Black Veil’ by Lefty Frizzell is probably the most famous.”

“‘Open Pit Mine’ by George Jones.”

“Well, my favorites are ‘Hubbardville’ by the Lost Dog Street Band and ‘The Man From Waco’ by Charley Crockett.”

“George Strait and Alan Jackson’s ‘Murder on Music Row.'”

“‘Cranes of Potter’ by Charles Wesley Godwin.”

“‘Delia’s Gone’ by Johnny Cash.”

“‘Banks of the Ohio’ by Dolly Parton.”

“‘Who Shot Sam?’ by George Jones.”

“‘Pardon Me (I’ve Got Someone To Kill)’ by Johnny Paycheck.”

“‘Knoxville Girl’ by The Louvin Brothers.”

“‘Rose In Paradise’ by Waylon Jennings.”

“‘Hallelujah’ by Ryan Bingham”

“‘Don’t Take Your Guns To Town’ by Johnny Cash.”

“‘Red Headed Stranger’ by Willie Nelson.”

Now obviously, that’s not every single murder ballad that’s ever been released in the country music genre. But dare I say that’s a damn good collection of them all in once place? I did you (the reader) a favor by inserting some of the music videos in there.

But if you’ve got some time, do yourself a favor and cue up the rest…The post Favorite Country Music Murder Ballad Of All Time? Fans Sounds Off first appeared on Whiskey Riff.