These ten early country songs contain volumes. Each one tells a uniquely heartbreaking story - a lonesome Faron Young talking to his literal house, the doomed gunslinger suitor conjured by Marty Robbins, the chilling sociopathy of the Louvin Brothers, Porter Wagoner’s hard-earned contentment. Heartland bards unspooling tragic tales is what makes country country, the core feature that’s endured into the modern era through countless trends.