@Joe Shallenburger

Country crashed the pop party while keeping a boot in its roots.

Big tunes that chronicle life’s little moments.

Discover new music from artists we think you'll like. Refreshed every Friday.

The tracks you can’t get enough of lately, all in one place. Updated as you listen.

The songs you can’t do without. The more you use Apple Music, the more essential they become. Refreshed every Tuesday.

Whether it’s a weekday morning or Saturday night, get going with this personalized set of upbeat music. Refreshed every Monday.

Songs to help you relax and unwind. Updated every Sunday.

There's something democratic about country's rowdy side, the sense that it doesn't take a lot to have a crazy good time. From happy hour to last call, from tailgate to after-party, these songs capture country at its most lit up and ready to go. Our editors regularly refresh this playlist. If you like a song, add it to your library.

Country music has always been grounded in the lived experience, but in the 2000s the genre paid especially close attention to the little moments in our days: not just the joys of drinking and falling in love but also the pleasures as simple as heating a bowl of rice in the microwave. This natural development was a way to take stock of American life in the turbulent time after 9/11 and during the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. Some responded with hard-rocking patriotism, while others took out the fiddles and tried a different approach.

Country music busted out into a multitude of directions in the ’80s, developing a higher profile than ever before in the process. Hitmaking crossover queens The Judds and K.T. Oslin were edging further into pop turf, while rough-hewn mavericks like Steve Earle laid the groundwork for the rockin’ sound of alt-country, and back-to-basics New Traditionalists such as Randy Travis and George Strait brought about a return to the music’s roots. Rising stars Alabama and Eddie Rabbitt were breaking through to the pop mainstream and putting new faces on the Nashville scene with hook-heavy good-time grooves. At the same time, the ’80s saw such legends as George Jones, Dolly Parton, and Willie Nelson flexing their musical muscles and finding new ways for their sound to fit into the ever-evolving country continuum. And the entrance of Lionel Richie and Julio Iglesias onto the country charts underlined the scene’s constant state of redefinition.