Country Cookout

It’s a natural fact that you need beef, beans, and buddies for a classic country cookout, but don’t forget the soundtrack. We’ve got your musical main course — and a whole lotta side dishes — right here. Jason Aldean kicks it off with guitars blazing hot as the summer Georgia sun on the title track to his 2010 smash album, My Kinda Party. Zac Brown serves up a platterful of rockabilly revelry with a side of old-time tastiness in “Chicken Fried.” And now that all his rowdy friends have mellowed out, Hank Williams, Jr. can settle in with a twangin’ trackful of classic country in “Family Tradition.”

In Next Steps, we’ll tip our ten-gallon hat to the ladies who bring the fire to our country cookout mix.

We heard from the guys in our Basics, but now we’re going to give a little lovin’ to the ladies who make not only our cookout, but also our country great. Faith Hill spins a tale of her meteoric rise from small-town girl to superstar — and how she’ll never forget where she came from or who she was — in her 2005 country chart-topper, “Mississippi Girl.” With “a kiss on her lips for her man and no one else,” the ultimate object of the Bellamy Brothers’ affection gets distilled into three and a half minutes of easygoing admiration in “Redneck Girl.” And Kenny Chesney turns those redneck girls John Deere green with envy when he takes his beefcake turn around the South 40 in “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy.”

In Deep Cuts, our country stars wax lyrical on their favorite pastimes — swingin’, whistlin’, fishin’, and more.

In our Deep Cuts, we’ve got something fairly old, something almost brand new, and a track from a band whose career spans six decades. With a little bit of country and a little of rock ’n’ roll, John Anderson launched the horn-heavy hit “Swingin'” to the top of the Country charts, setting him at the head of the “urban cowboy” class. Randy Houser, a self-proclaimed “son of a son of the South” who got his first taste of fame co-penning the Trace Adkins smash “Honky Tonk Badonkadonk,” gets his rebel yell on in “Whistlin' Dixie.” And after the last guest leaves and the last paper plate gets dumped in the recycling bin, there’s no better way to prepare for your next country cookout than to join the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band where the twang meets the tackle box, in “Fishin' In the Dark.”

A hot grill, some cold drinks, and few good friends are just about all you need for an epic country cookout. We say just about, because if you really want to rev it up, country-style, you’re also gonna need the perfect playlist . . . which we’ve thoughtfully provided to help you get down at your chow down. We’ve got songs by superstars like Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, rising talents like Miranda Lambert and Jason Aldean, and country legends like Willie Nelson and Hank Williams, Jr., all right here at your fingertips (which you might want to wipe off after that helping of ribs). You bring the food, we’ll supply the soundtrack . . . but the ants will have to come on their own.