Unlike most of these lists, this one isn’t bad. Whoever wrote this actually knows quite a bit about music. Not all of those on the above list are truly story songs, but unsurprisingly I have quite a few more that are:
1) Midwestern Biography – Idgy Vaughn
2) C’etait l’hiver – Isabelle Boulay (Yes, I know this is a cover.)
3) The Downeaster Alexa – Billy Joel
4) Strawberry Wine – Deana Carter
5) Oh, What a Night – Frankie Valle and the Four Seasons
6) Blacksmith – Loreena McKennitt
7) Dead Man’s Curve – Jan & Dean
8) Vicent – Deb Talan
9) Annabelle Lee – Sarah Jarosz
10) Sarah – Kate Miller-Heidke (this is by far the best story song ever written in my opinion)
11) Crazy Mary – Pearl Jam (originally by Victoria Williams, but Pearl Jam’s version is better)
12) Southern Cross – Crosby, Stills & Nash
13) Planets – Kate Rusby (It took me a long time to realize this was a story song, but it very much is.)
14) Prairie Wedding – Mark Knopfler
15) Here – Alessia Cara
16) 99 Red Balloons – Nena
17) Coat of Many Colors – Dolly Parton
18) Hands of Time – Margo Price
19) Turn the Page – Bob Seger
20) Angel from Montgomery – Susan Tedeschi (yes, I know, originally by John Prine, but Tedeschi just kills it)
21) Gallows Pole – Led Zeppelin
22) Our Town – Iris DeMent
23) Was It 26 – Chris Stapleton (And yep, I know this was originally by the Charlie Daniels Band. I used to listen to it on record.)
24) The River – Bruce Spingsteen
25) The Best Day – Taylor Swift
26) He – Hattie Marsh
27) Beauty Way – Eliza Gilkyson
28) Guinevere – Lucy Kaplansky
29) Elderly Woman Behind the Counter in a Small Town – Pearl Jam
30) Minneapolis – that dog.
31) John the Fisherman – Primus
32) Gold Rush Brides – 10,000 Maniacs
33) Me and a Gun – Tori Amos
34) Leaving on a Jet Plane – Chantal Kreviazuk (Yes, I know, originally by John Denver. This version is better.)
35) The Boxer – Simon & Garfunkel
36) I Wish – Stevie Wonder
37) Don’t Stand So Close to Me – The Police
38) The Jug of Punch – Altan
39) White Houses – Vanessa Carlton
40) Jane Says – Jane’s Addiction
41) City Garden – Jess Klein
42) Me and Bobby McGee – Janis Joplin
43) Chloe Dancer/Crown of Thorns – Mother Love Bone
44) Red Dirt Girl – Emmylou Harris
45) The White Cockade – Kate Rusby
46) Funky Ceili – Black 47
47) My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy – Dolly Parton
48) Shonalee – Jess Klein
49) Four Spare Seats – Kate Miller-Heidke
50) Blackjack – Swati
51) She’s In Love With the Boy – Trisha Yearwood
There are many more, but those are just ones I could think of fairly quickly that were not on the other list (and that I like). I deliberately tried to include some uncommon ones — and all were from my own head.