Country music is famous as a medium for sharing stories. Perhaps it’s for this reason that the genre itself has inspired numerous great movies over the years. 

While fewer films cater directly to country fans than, for instance, rock ‘n’ roll fans — recent acclaimed movies dealing with rock include “Rocketman,” “Yesterday,” “Bohemian Rhapsody,” and “Blinded by the Light” — there have been many exceptional movies made that relate to country in some manner that have become audience favorites. Some tell stories about real musicians, some feature country artists as actors, and some merely use the culture around the genre as a backdrop for their stories.

24/7 Tempo has identified the 24 best movies for fans of country music based on critic and user ratings. Each film offers something special for music fans, especially those drawn to the narrative qualities of country-and-western. Many of these films feature well-known country performers in dramatic roles. (Here, too, are 25 pop music stars who played dramatic roles in movies.)

Of course, nothing can replace the satisfaction brought about by listening to one’s favorite musician. These are the 100 most popular country music albums of all time.

To determine the best movies for fans of country music, 24/7 Tempo created an index based on each film’s Rotten Tomatoes average critic rating, Rotten Tomatoes average audience rating, and IMDb average user rating. IMDb is an online movie database owned by Amazon; Rotten Tomatoes is an online movie and TV review aggregator. To be considered, each film needed to have some connection to country music, either thematically or with regard to the talent involved.

Click here to see the best movies for country music fans