Best Opening Music

[.indulgecountry]

Basically like the 'Best Opening Lyrics' concept, but for the instrumental music that comes on at the onset of a song (before any lyrics are spoken, or directly following an opening lyric that starts the song [like in "Looking Back Now" or "Best Days of Your Life" i.e.]).

Some of my faves:

Ashton Shepherd - Where Country Grows
Carrie Underwood - Jesus, Take the Wheel
Cassadee Pope - Wasting All These Tears
Dolly Parton - Better Get to Livin'
Dolly Parton - Backwoods Barbie
Heidi Newfield - Johnny & June
Hunter Hayes - More Than I Should
George Strait - The Breath You Take*
Jana Kramer - King of Apology (the instrumental part right after the initial opening chorus)
Jessica Harp - Follow That Train
Jewel - I Do
Kacey Musgraves - Merry Go 'Round
Kellie Pickler - Don't You Know You're Beautiful
Kellie Pickler - Things That Never Cross a Man's Mind
Little Big Town - Pontoon
Maggie Rose - Better
Maggie Rose - Looking Back Now
Maggie Rose - Preacher's Daughter
Miranda Lambert - Famous in a Small Town
Miranda Lambert - White Liar
Miranda Lambert - Fine Tune
Sara Evans - A Real Fine Place to Start
Sara Evans - Suds in the Bucket
Sara Evans - What That Drink Cost Me
Shania Twain - Forever and for Always
Sunny Sweeney - From a Table Away
Sunny Sweeney - Staying's Worse Than Leaving
Terri Clark - Northern Girl
Terri Clark - Girls Lie Too
Thompson Square - If I Didn't Have You
The Wreckers - Leave the Pieces

* This one always gets me. I hate that song once it gets going, but the opening instrumentation always draws me in and sometimes I'd forget until the lyrics started what song it was... which never ceases to disappoint me, lol.

Some of these are such good openings that I feel like they're literally my favorite part of the whole song.

[McCreerian]

Hands down for me it's Shania's "Man I Feel Like A Woman." Even without the lyrics I have the opening music stuck in my head for hours after I hear the song.

[sabre14]

Sugarland - Something More
Sugarland - Settlin'
The Farm - Home Sweet Home (Any song that uses this much fiddle is automatically awesome in my book)
Brad Paisley - Ticks (The lyrics are average to be honest but that instrumentation is fantastic)
Bomshel - Bomshel Stomp
Carolina Rain - Weight Of The World
George Strait - You'll Be There
George Strait - Amarillo By Morning
George Strait - I Got A Car
Jon Pardi - Missin' You Crazy
Gloriana - Wild At Heart
David Lee Murphy - Loco (Muy Caliente Mix)
Billy Dean - Swinging For The Fence
Big & Rich - Wild West Show
Rascal Flatts - Prayin' For Daylight
Sara Evans - Perfect (Overproduced, but I don't care)
Josh Gracin - Nothin' To Lose
James Wesley - Jackson Hole
Rushlow Harris - Bagpipes Cryin' (I love bagpipes)
Kenny Chesney - Anything But Mine
Kenny Chesney - Don't Blink (Personal favorite probably. Wouldn't expect many to include this one)
Trace Adkins - Arlington
Rockie Lynne - Lipstick
Thompson Square - Everything I Shouldn't Be Thinking About
Lonestar - Class Reunion (That Used To Be Us)


My first three are head and shoulders the one's that stand out the most for me.

[gonecountry]

Hands down: Smoke A Little Smoke

Runners up: Hicktown, Truck Yeah (so no lyrics, just the opening), and most anything by Brad Paisley (actually I love the opening to You Do The Math from American Saturday Night)

[sbp17]

For me, it's Reba's The Fear Of Being Alone. That opening riff is so vibrant and infectious and strategically repeated throughout the song.

ctryfan1980 mentioned Shania's Man! and I agree. I've never been a fan of Shania's lyrics but the instrumentation in her songs are great so I think a lot of her songs would fall in this category but my favorite opening is Don't Be Stupid.

I mentioned the opening lyrics to I Hope You Dance being impressive in the other thread but also think the opening instrumental to this song is also great and compelling.

And from a softer standpoint, the opening instrumental to Leann Rimes' What I Cannot Change is haunting.

[countrygirl918]

You have a great list going there, .indulgecountry. Off the top of my head, I would also add Carrie Underwood's "Two Black Cadillacs". I absolutely love the instrumental music at the beginning and end of the album version of that song. It was interesting to learn that the outro was spontaneously played by the studio musicians - it hadn't actually been written, but the musicians just kept going with it. It's one of my favorite moments on that album.

[Deleted]

Taylor Swift- Our Song

I love the intro with this fiddles and the bubbly, happy feeling the intro sets for the rest of the song.
Simple, catchy, and effective.

Rascal Flatts: Prayin' For Daylight: I'm an absolute sucker for great, tight, harmony, so I've always loved this one.

Rascal Flatts: I'm Movin' On: I've always loved the simplicity and beauty of this one.

Dixie Chicks: I Can Love You Better:

Again, I'm a sucker for tight harmony...and intros with fiddle. :)

Carrie Underwood- Blown Away:

Carrie: Two Black Cadillacs: I've love the intro of this song since the release of "Blown Away." It's dramatic, dark and simple, but brilliantly effective.

Carrie: Good Girl & Cowboy Casanova: Love the in-your-face, Rock element to both of these.

The Band Perry- Better Dig Two: A great dynamic intro that sets the tone brilliantly. Love the attitude.

Kacey Musgraves-Blowin' Smoke: This one is so unique and quirky.

Miranda Lambert- The House That Built Me: This one is so melodic and soothing for me personally.

Garth: Friends In Low Places: What can I say? Classic.

[gonecountry]

I forgot one other classic: Right Where I Need To Be (Gary Allan)

[mairy]

Eric Church - Hell On The Heart

[sabre14]

A few more favorites:

Brad Paisley - Welcome To The Future
Darryl Worley - When You Need My Love
The Warren Brothers - Change
Lee Brice - Happy Endings
Jypsi - I Don't Love You Like That
SHeDaisy - Passenger Seat
Pat Green - Don't Break My Heart Again

[onebuffalo]

Gotta love the intro and outro to Kenny Rogers' Morning Desire. Stanley Jordan caps the song like no other!

[Kentucky25]

Not a 100% certain he's defined as Country (sometimes has been, sometimes not), but the opening of "Middle Age Crazy" by Jerry Lee Lewis is one of my favorites of all time.

I always have trouble saying the Sun Record guys are rock or country, they're music really defined limits of genres (rockabilly really is the best way to describe it), but nonetheless, I love the introduction to that song.

[bboat11]

-Martina McBride - One Night (I love the layered fade-in intro. Such a great pump-up song!)
-Martina McBride - When God-Fearin' Women Get The Blues (Head-bangin' hillbilly from the very first note. Such a different style for her, but so good!)
-Sara Evans - Saints & Angels (Also a great example of layering)
-Terri Clark - Three Mississippi (Excellent instrumentation. I love everything about this song)
-George Strait - True (Such a simple yet catchy opening melody. The kind of intro where you just know you are going to love the song before you even hear the words.)
-Toby Keith - God Love Her (I really loved the way the guitars started and then the drums filled in alongside later. The first time I heard it, I thought it was a ballad for about three seconds, until suddenly the drums came in and I realized what a delightfully uptempo song it was!)
-Jo Dee Messina - Bye-Bye (Such a wonderful use of '90s guitar!)
-Reba McEntire - The Heart Is A Lonely Hunter (Since we're on the topic of wonderful '90s guitar...)
-Josh Turner - Time Is Love (This song just has all-around perfect instrumentation. Such a quality song from a quality artist.)

I am sure I could think of more, but I will go ahead and stop there for now.

Edit: I forgot about George's "Run"! I love the mysterious, dark sound of that intro. It is so different! Definitely one of the best examples of him mixing up his style just enough to keep us on our toes without him losing any part of his traditional roots. I also love the use of steel guitar in this intro. It is such a unique way to use that instrument. Okay, now I'm for real done :)

[sabre14]

Brad Paisley - "Some Mistakes"
Lindsay Ell - "By The Way"
Maddie & Tae - "Shut Up And Fish"

[dm2081]

I've always enjoyed the beginning to "Coubtry Must Be Country Wide". It's very dramatic sounding, almost like it could be used in s cop drama or something.

Also, I love the auto tuned begginning of "Anything Goes" by FGL. Probably the only time I'll say that about a country song lol

[keelhauled]

Granger Smith's "I'm Wearing Black." Love the Celtic sound of the opening fiddle.

[Deleted]

Some of my favorite intro

Jana Kramer I Got The Boy
Kellie Pickler Best Days Of Your Life (that chorus is one of the catchiest ear candy I've ever heard, seriously every time I listen to this song I'm just like get to the chorus already
Carrie Underwood All American Girl
David Nail Whatever She's Got
Lady Antebellum Bartender (I have a love hate relationship with this song)
Jerrod Niemann Lover, Lover
Little Big Town Day Drinking (whistling that leads to one of my personal anthems)

[bboat11]

Feb 24, 2016 7:56:16 GMT -5 raylatch98 said:

Kellie Pickler Best Days Of Your Life (that chorus is one of the catchiest ear candy I've ever heard, seriously every time I listen to this song I'm just like get to the chorus already

This song has no opening music though! It just starts with her singing the chorus...

But I will definitely agree with you about it being ear candy. I love love LOVE this song :) I am not surprised it was her biggest hit.

Edit: Lol I just noticed that .indulgecountry literally mentioned this song in the first post as an example of a song where you could talk about the music that follows the opening words, since it starts right into the words... Haha whoops!

[Au$tin]

I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow

[Ten Pound Hammer]

A few of mine:

* The opening guitar of "Beautiful Goodbye" by Jennifer Hanson. I love the reverb/delay pedal effect on the lead guitar.

* Six words: "Ba-ba-da, ba-da-ba..."

* The frenetic fiddle opening of "The Wind" by Zac Brown Band

* The panpipes/fiddles on "Ready to Run"

* The opening to "Undo It" with the bass and spare chords. It's really minimalist but it works. (This is also one of the few songs I like that jacks the "We Will Rock You" beat.)

* "Keep It in the Middle of the Road" by Exile has a pretty funky jazz chord-heavy acoustic guitar opening

* The ride cymbals and major-seventh electric piano chords that open "A Woman's Touch", then the piano bass-line and simple electric guitar/steel guitar right after it. Spare and moody, setting the tone for Toby's most underrated song quite well.

* "Right here waiting, staying strong, come and fall into me..." *WHAM*

* The main hook of "(This Ain't) No Thinkin' Thing". Just a simple four-measure steel guitar riff, but man does it work.

* The drum loop on "There Is No Arizona"

* The drum loop/banjo on "Mrs. Steven Rudy"

* The accordion open to "Tear Stained Letter"

* "Stuck Like Glue", with the percussive scatting

* The piano on "Dark Horse" by Mila Mason

* The nylon-string guitar opener of "El Paso"

[sabre14]

Mar 10, 2016 10:18:39 GMT -5 Ten Pound Hammer said:

A few of mine:

* "Right here waiting, staying strong, come and fall into me..." *WHAM*

Every radio station I've ever heard "Fall Into Me" on, edited out the opening vocal.

[Ten Pound Hammer]

Mar 10, 2016 10:20:47 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

Mar 10, 2016 10:18:39 GMT -5 Ten Pound Hammer said:

A few of mine:

* "Right here waiting, staying strong, come and fall into me..." *WHAM*

Every radio station I've ever heard "Fall Into Me" on, edited out the opening vocal.

I usually hear it that way too. Apparently they cut it because the label thought that people don't like cold opens.

[sabre14]

Mar 10, 2016 19:31:17 GMT -5 Ten Pound Hammer said:

Mar 10, 2016 10:20:47 GMT -5 sabre14 said:

Every radio station I've ever heard "Fall Into Me" on, edited out the opening vocal.

I usually hear it that way too. Apparently they cut it because the label thought that people don't like cold opens.

The opening vocal for "Prayin' For Daylight" was another one that radio cut out, at least the stations I heard growing up. I do think Y2Kountry plays the full version though. I don't even know exactly how closely they pay attention to their playlist though -- they always play the wrong version of "She'll Leave You With A Smile" by George Strait...

[Ten Pound Hammer]

WATZ usually plays the album versions. I know they play the "I'll tell mine you're gay" version of "Picture to Burn". However, they switched to the "toes in the water" version of "Toes" at some point after having originally played it uncensored.

Getting back on-topic, the bagpipe/mandolin intro of "Copperhead Road" by Steve Earle is another favorite.

[Deleted]

Gretchen Wilson Here For The Party

[Dustin J.]

I love a good, tight-harmony acapella intro...

"All Things Considered" - Yankee Grey
"Life Goes On" - Little Texas
"Fall Into Me" - Emerson Drive (as mentioned above)
"My Mistake" - Cam

...and so on.

[phil1996]

"If You Want a Bad Boy" - Brantley Gilbert
"Only Prettier" - Miranda Lambert
"Anywhere With You" - Jake Owen

[Ten Pound Hammer]

That "Woodrow" instrument on "Long Stretch of Love" by Lady Antebellum really stands out in the intro.

ETA: "You're Gone" by Diamond Rio and "Leaving October" by Sons of the Desert both open with amazing piano solos.

Also, the tremolo guitar intro on "Lipstick Promises" by George Ducas

[Deleted]

Kellie Pickler- I Wonder
Kenny Chesney- Out Last Night

[josh]

Loretta-Portland, Oregon