By Jof Owen
Country music had a moment with disco in the late 1970s, and it’s been having it on and off again ever since. From Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton’s ‘Islands in the Stream’ to Kacey Musgraves’ ‘High Horse’, there's something for every disco fan in our playlist of Country Songs for Disco Lovers.
By Jof Owen
Country music had a moment with disco in the late 1970s, and it’s been having it on and off again ever since. From Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton’s ‘Islands in the Stream’ to Kacey Musgraves’ ‘High Horse’, there's something for every disco fan in our playlist of Country Songs for Disco Lovers.
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Here at the Holler offices, we’re all too familiar with hearing the same old “Anything but country” response when it comes to people talking about what sort of music they’re into. But we’re making it our mission to go out into the world and change that.
With its origins in Philadelphia’s R&B scene and the dance parties thrown in New York City's underground gay community in the late 60s and early 70s, disco might seem like an unlikely bedfellow for the relative conservatism of country music, but country's also never been afraid of hitting the dancefloor and kicking up its heels either.
From the barn dances of the 1930s through to western swing dances in the 50s and on to the line dancing craze of the 80s, country music has always been one-stepping and two-stepping out into the spotlight whenever the opportunity comes around.
Although it predates the modern pop age by a good 30 years or more, country has always ensured its continued popularity and relevance by absorbing whatever genre comes along to try to usurp it. In the 60s black soul music and lushly orchestrated teen pop had encouraged country to shape-shift into Countrypolitan and the Nashville Sound, and by the early-70s it was folk music and West Coast rock that was causing it to switch it up again. Soon the newest perceived threat was coming from disco, and it was time for country to soak it all up.
Beginning as celebration of sexuality and outsider culture in clubs like Studio 54 and Paradise Garage in New York City - which became safe spaces for self-expression for marginalised Black, queer and Latino communities - by the mid-1970s, disco had moved beyond the clubs and onto the airwaves, making stars out of Gloria Gaynor and Donna Summer in the process, until it peaked with the release of Saturday Night Fever and its soundtrack in 1977.
It was around this time that Dolly Parton left Nashville behind and took off for LA in search of pop crossover stardom. “I’m not leaving country behind, I’m just taking it with me,” she famously quipped to her detractors - and that’s exactly what she did.
Never a stranger to the dancefloor – Jerry Carrigan’s disco-ready four-on-the-floor rhythm on Dolly’s 1974 classic ‘Jolene’ had already proved she was more than capable of cutting it in the club – in 1977 Dolly released the pop country classic Here You Come Again, followed a year later by Heartbreaker, and brought the Smoky Mountains all the way down into the sweat-soaked nightclubs of urban America.
Country music was finally having its moment with disco, and it’s been having it on and off again ever since. From Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton’s ‘Islands in the Stream’ to Kacey Musgraves’ ‘High Horse’, there’s always been something incredibly unique about the way disco uses camp to turns its tragedy into empowerment, which taps so perfectly into the storytelling lyricism of country.
So, for those of you who dig Donna Summer but didn't think you could boogie to Bill Anderson, we’ve got a playlist that will send your disco fingers wild. It's mirror balls and neon lights, sequinned tops and sparkly rhinestone suits, it’s country and it’s disco and it’s the greatest night out you’ll ever have.
Check out the full tracklist below:
High Horse
Kiss You All Over
Southern Nights
Islands in the Stream
Tight Fittin' Jeans
I Can't Wait Any Longer
Sometime, Somewhere, Somehow
Potential New Boyfriend
Get It Up
I Ain't Got No Business Doin' Business Today
If It Ain't Love (Let's Leave It Alone)
Jolene
Tulsa Time
Alone At Last
One and Only One
A Lesson in Leavin'
In and Out of Your Heart
Let Your Love Flow
Baby I'm Burnin' Disco Mix
You Keep Me Hangin' On
Dream, Girl
Dancing
VHS
Sweet Sunshine Wine
You Can't Stop Me
So Long (feat. Cam)
Cocaine Country Dancing
Why Don't We Just Sleep On It Tonight
We Should Be Together
Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On
Drifter
Two Doors Down
Midnight Crazy
Night Games
Friday Night Fever
Trying to Love Two Women
I've Always Been Crazy
Somebody's Knockin'
Dancin' Cowboys
Who's Cheatin' Who
Diggin' Up Bones
Gonna Have A Party
Friend, Lover, Wife
I Got The Same Old blues
Amos Moses
Trudy
Shake the Dust
She's A Mystery
On The Radio
That's the Way Love Goes
Subscribe and Listen to Holler's Country Songs for Disco Lovers playlist Above.