50 Best Country Songs About Yearning

Country Songs That Capture the Ache of Yearning

There’s a certain kind of ache that hangs in the air when you want something you can’t quite reach. It’s a hollow pull, part hope and part sting, like leaning too far over a fence you know you shouldn’t cross. Country music leans into that feeling better than most, turning longing into verses that stretch out like backroads at night. Some tracks here spell it out plain, while others circle around it in ways that only hit after a second or third listen. Even a few songs that come from pop, rock, country, and R&B songs find their way into this mix because they nail the same restless heartbeat, even if they never mention it directly.

Yearning has its own strange rhythm. Sometimes it’s quiet, like a voice cracking on a late-night ballad, and other times it stomps loud with a fiddle or steel guitar cutting through the noise. A lyric can sound like begging one moment and like burning the whole thing down the next. That swing between tenderness and chaos is what gives these songs their weight. Some of them may not literally trace back to longing on paper, but the mood slips through anyway, caught in a single chord change or a sigh buried under harmony.

It’s not neat or clean or something you can map out. It’s messy, winding, full of near misses and could-have-beens. These songs live in that space and keep it from going quiet, blasting the ache loud enough to feel like you’re standing in the middle of it. Here are the best country songs for capturing that deep pull of yearning.

1. 'I Will Always Love You' by Dolly Parton

2. 'He Stopped Loving Her Today' by George Jones

3. 'Always on My Mind' by Willie Nelson

4. 'Crazy' by Patsy Cline

5. 'I Fall to Pieces' by Patsy Cline

6. 'Need You Now' by Lady A

7. 'Whiskey Lullaby' by Brad Paisley and Alison Krauss

8. 'Come a Little Closer' by Dierks Bentley

9. 'I Can't Get Over You' by Brooks & Dunn

10. 'The Dance' by Garth Brooks

11. 'I Miss My Friend' by Darryl Worley

12. 'I Drive Your Truck' by Lee Brice

13. 'You'll Think of Me' by Keith Urban

14. 'Strawberry Wine' by Deana Carter

15. 'What Hurts the Most' by Rascal Flatts

16. 'The Fool' by Lee Ann Womack

17. 'You Don't Know What You're Missing' by Brett Young

18. 'I'm Already There' by Lonestar

19. 'When I Call Your Name' by Vince Gill

20. 'I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry' by Hank Williams

21. 'You're Still the One' by Shania Twain

22. 'Don't Think I Don't Think About It' by Darius Rucker

23. 'Tonight I Wanna Cry' by Keith Urban

24. 'Thinkin' About You' by Trisha Yearwood

25. 'Speechless' by Dan + Shay

26. 'I Need You' by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill

27. 'Just a Kiss' by Lady A

28. 'A Woman Like You' by Lee Brice

29. 'I Hope You Dance' by Lee Ann Womack

30. 'The Song Remembers When' by Trisha Yearwood

31. 'Bless the Broken Road' by Rascal Flatts

32. 'Breathe' by Faith Hill

33. 'You Had Me from Hello' by Kenny Chesney

34. 'The Bones' by Maren Morris

35. 'Give It Away' by George Strait

36. 'Lost in This Moment' by Big & Rich

37. 'Fire Away' by Chris Stapleton

38. 'Amazed' by Lonestar

39. 'Colder Weather' by Zac Brown Band

40. 'Forever and Ever Amen' by Randy Travis

41. 'Don't You Wanna Stay' by Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson

42. 'You Should Be Here' by Cole Swindell

43. 'Like We Never Loved at All' by Faith Hill and Tim McGraw

44. 'Carrying Your Love with Me' by George Strait

45. 'A Better Man' by Clint Black

46. 'Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain' by Willie Nelson

47. 'The One' by Gary Allan

48. 'Yours' by Russell Dickerson

49. 'Love Story' by Taylor Swift

50. 'Sweet Dreams (Of You)' by Patsy Cline