Down in Country country Trivia Quiz

Answer: El Paso

"El Paso" (1959) is probably Marty Robbins' biggest hit, and in early 1960 it even topped the pop charts in the USA. It tells of the singer's burning love for a dancing girl, how he shoots a competing suitor, his flight and his compulsion to return, even though he is wanted by the law. Also, he narrates his own death. You can do that in songs.

Answer: Wolverton Mountain

In this 1962 hit, we hear about Clifton Clowers, who is handy with both the knife and the gun, and likely to use one or both on any man who comes after his daughter. Strange that the father's name comes up many times in the lyrics, yet the daughter is unnamed. One would think that she is just an appendage to a man, in this case her father. Hmm. Said father was, incidentally, a real person, who lived on the edge of Woolverton Mountain (note the spelling) in Arkansas.

He became an old man, dying at the age of 102 in 1994.

Answer: Saginaw

The song is "Saginaw, Michigan" (1964), which earned Lefty Frizell a Grammy nomination. The meaning of Saginaw is uncertain, but one prevalent theory is that it is an Ojibwe word, meaning "where the Sauk (tribe) were". In the song, the narrator leaves Saginaw for Alaska and Klondyke, which isn't in Alaska at all. Klondike - of the famous gold rush- is in the Yukon in Canada, but this is a romantic song, not a geography lesson.

However, he yearns for home and the girl he loves, so he returns and sells his claim in Alaska to the girl's father.

The Simon and Garfunkel reference is to the song "America".

Answer: Below that old white mountain just a little southeast of Nome

Johnny Horton (1925-1960) is probably best known for this song, which featured in the John Wayne film of the same name, and for "The Battle of New Orleans" (1959). Sadly, he died in a car accident. In the song, Sam McCord, his partner George Pratt and his brother Billy go to Alaska, where they find plenty of gold, and Sam becomes "a big man". George, though, makes the point that love is worth more than gold. Fancy that!

Answer: The Delaware

I had never heard of Hawkshaw Hawkins (1921-1963) before, but apparently he was something of a name in country music in the 50s and early 60s, until he died in a plane crash, along with Patsy Cline and Cowboy Copas. The crossing of the Delaware during Christmas of 1776 is a famous event in the story of the American Revolutionary War, thanks partly to Emmanuel Leutze's 1851 painting.

The Farm River is an allusion to a property owned by George Washington; the River Farm. The Great River alludes to Anduin in "The Lord of the Rings", while Tupperware is not a river, but something else entirely.

Answer: Waterloo

This 1959 hit tells of three characters who "met their Waterloo": Adam (that guy in Genesis (the Bible, not the band)), Napoleon Bonaparte and Tom Dooley. It asks the question "Where will you meet your Waterloo?" Where, indeed? Peterloo is in England, and has its own place in history, Dodge City is in C/W heartland, I think, while Godric's Hollow is from the Harry Potter books. Stonewall Jackson (real name!) was born in 1932.

He had his heyday in the late 50s and early 60s.

Answer: A Boy Named Sue

I could not really ask for the town here; that would be too obscure. In this 1969 classic, George and Bill are two names the singer says he might give to his own son if ever he has one ("anything but Sue"), while Louis Bartlett III has nothing to do with anything, the poor man. Gatlinburg is in Tennessee, close to the Great Smoky Mountains national park.

Answer: Nashville

This surprisingly short song (1954) makes reference to the unspecified mountain top where Davy was born, and to Washington, where he served in the House of representatives for three terms (1829-1835). Finally, it tells of his death in the Battle of the Alamo in Texas, in 1836. Nashville, founded in 1779, has since 1843 been the permanent capital of the state of Tennessee.

Answer: Georgia

This is, of course, "The Devil Went Down to Georgia" (1979). What he was doing there in the first place is not clear, but we are told he is dissatisfied with his recent haul of souls. So when he encounters Johnny, who is a fine fiddler, he challenges him to a duel.

The prize is a golden fiddle if Johnny wins, and Johnny's soul if the Devil wins. After some mighty good fiddling, Johnny wins and receives his golden fiddle. Because he's "the best that's ever been", so there! The song was a big hit in 1979, and has done well since, even into the digital age.

Answer: Waco

The song is "Cross the Brazos at Waco" (1964), and I felt I had to leave a pretty obvious hint here. Waco may have earned a bit of an unfortunate reputation, what with the Waco Horror of 1916 (a brutal lynching) and the Waco Siege in 1993. On the other hand, it hosts Baylor University, the oldest in Texas. Any place with a real university can't be all bad. Billy Walker (1929-2006) had his biggest hit in 1962, with "Charlie's Shoes". Lubbock is also on the Waco, and Cowabunga...

The less I say, the better.