Latest Release
- 11 OCT 2023
- 1 Song
- The English Country Side · 1967
- 500 Miles Away From Home · 1963
- Bobby Bare (Re-Recorded Versions) · 1993
- 10 Bare Essentials · 1970
- 20 Greatest Hits · 2005
- 20 Greatest Hits · 2005
- For the Good Times & Other Favorites (Remastered) · 2008
- Bobby Bare Sings Lullabys, Legends and Lies (And More) · 1973
- 20 Bare Essentials · 1970
- 20 Greatest Hits · 2005
Essential Albums
- Not only did this 1973 album bring new life to Bobby Bare’s career, but it’s also one of outlaw country’s very best. Bare’s burly baritone delivers the brilliantly quirky songs of Shel Silverstein (the wickedly funny “Sure Hit Songwriters Pen”, the outrageous ode to Paul Bunyan, “Paul”), and he tugs heartstrings with the father-and-son tearjerker “Daddy What If”. Best of all, he brings the material to life with an irresistible blend of humour, heart and down-home charisma.
- By the time he released 1963’s 500 Miles Away From Home, Bobby Bare had been kicking around for nearly a decade without a win. Led by the title track (his first hit on both the pop and country charts), the album solidified Bare as a strong voice in the new Nashville sound: poised and crossover-friendly, with no aversion to violins. A lot of these songs—“500 Miles Away From Home”, “Worried Man”, “Gotta Travel On”—had their roots not in Nashville but in folk revival bands like The Weavers and The Kingston Trio, signalling a willingness on Bare’s part to stray, however gently, from what might be expected from country, a trait that came to characterise his career.
- 2017
- 2012
- 2006
- 2005
- 1981
Appears On
About Bobby Bare
Bobby Bare fought to secure control of his recordings years before Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson pulled their outlaw coup, and he was among the first country artists to look at the album as a thematic collection rather than a hodge-podge of hits and throwaways. In the 1960s, he concentrated on folk-tinged country, and in the 1970s he mixed novelty songs, rowdy honky tonkers, and working-class tributes (occasionally on the same album, like 1973's Lullabys, Legends and Lies, his most successful LP). He helped Jennings get his first record deal, and was among the first to champion country singer/songwriters Kris Kristofferson, Billy Joe Shaver, Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, and Shel Silverstein. His low-key, laid-back personality is one of the reasons he hasn't received the recognition he deserves.
- HOMETOWN
- Ironton, OH, United States
- BORN
- 7 April 1935
- GENRE
- Country