Even though he scored a No. 1 country album and single this fall, Darius Rucker is still best known as the lead singer of 1990s rock favorites Hootie & the Blowfish. He actually grew up listening to country music in South Carolina and never stopped paying attention to the genre. His three favorite country albums of all time come from the 1980s and '90s, from performers who were considered alt-country when these discs were released.

JON BREAM

"Radney Foster, 'Del Rio,Texas 1959.' That is the ultimate album. Dwight Yoakam, 'Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc.' I've never heard a shuffle I didn't love. And I'd say Nanci Griffith, 'Once in a Very Blue Moon.' That was the first record of hers I heard. That's an amazing piece of work."