Best All Time Country Artist Running Thread(Real Country Only)

4,505 Views | 74 Replies | Last: 2 yr ago by CAPORAL
BurnetAggie99
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For grins let's do a best all time greatest country band/artist thread. I have many to list but I'll start here.


Duncan Idaho
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Bob wills is still the king
Duncan Idaho
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But I really think you need to separate this between performers and artists.

George strait is a great country music performer but an underwhelming artist.

Willie nelson is one of the truly great country artist but an average performer.
BurnetAggie99
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Let's just roll with it see what happens
BurnetAggie99
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Merle Haggard is my favorite of all time. Dude was lights out and has way to many tunes I could post. 38 #1's great voice, guitar player, great song writer and like Waylon a true outlaw.






NoahAg
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For me it's always been Waylon, Merle, and Cash.
Willie just seems like a caricature to me.

Of course, in college got into REK. I still love him.

In recent years I've appreciated Jerry Jeff Walker and Guy Clark immensely.

I really have no idea who/what plays on mainstream country stations now (well, I have some idea, and what little I've heard is garbage).
CE Lounge Lizzard
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Duncan Idaho said:

Bob wills is still the king
My initial answer as well.

I'm also a big fan of Mr. Ray Price.


Edited to add former member of Ray's band, The Cherokee Cowboys:




and of course...


bluefire579
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Quote:

What is this "real country music"? Can anyone define what it sounds like?

I'm sure many of you remember in the '90s, older country artists talked a lot of trash about what was being played on the radio. Waylon Jennings may never have really used that extremely vulgar simile to describe Garth Brooks' music but he did say very critical things about Garth Brooks. Now, you go listen to the trash Luke Bryan puts out and tell me that doesn't make Garth Brooks sound like Buck Owens.

Well, that's not what a lot of fans of "real country" thought in the '90s when Garth Brooks "ruined country radio." Or, in the '80s, when Urban Cowboy "ruined country radio." Or, in the '70s when Olivia Newton-John won a CMA award for Most Promising Female Vocalist of the Year and a bunch of traditional country acts, like Porter Wagoner and Conway Twitty, all got together at George Jones' and Tammy Wynette's house to form the Association of Country Entertainers to protest smooth pop "ruining country radio." But, in the '60s, the Nashville Sound had already "ruined country radio." And that started in the '50s because Elvis Presley "ruined country radio." When drums started showing up on more country records in the '40s, well, it flat out "ruined country radio." And that only happened because in the 1930s people like Bob Wills couldn't settle the hell down and play some nice, pure country music, like Jimmie Rodgers or The Carter Family.

I'm not sure there's ever been a time that country radio wasn't hated by the fans of the previous generations' country music. Ask a fan from any point in history to define the sound of country music and they're likely to say something along the lines of, "Well, it's sure not what they're playing on the radio these days!"
Duncan Idaho
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It all went to **** after they allowed drums at the Opry.

Effing Jerry reed and his rock and roll noise.
BurnetAggie99
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My grandfather got to pick up and play fiddle with Ernest Tubb playing fiddle. So I grew up listening to my grandfather playing Bob Willis, Ernest Tubb, Ray Price and so forth. First song he taught me on guitar was a Ernest Tubb song. Our entertainment when I was growing up at my grandfather's was in the evenings playing music in the backyard or listening to some vinyl records.

BurnetAggie99
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Pic of grandfather back when he was in his Prime. Could play the hell out the guitar, fiddle, squeezebox and so forth. I have his 1965 Martin D 28 guitar. Plus some other old Fender guitars and all his fiddles.


Bob Loblaws Law Blog
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AG
Roy Acuff revolutionized country music back in the '30s and '40s, so he'd have to be pretty high on the list.
BurnetAggie99
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I think Marty Robbins has to considered one of the all time greats. I love some Marty Robbins.

BurnetAggie99
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Fellow Texan Don Williams had so many great songs.

EclipseAg
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I don't know about best, but Buck Owens and Conway Twitty were pretty prolific.

Conway got caught up in the '80s pop country sound like everyone in Nashville but his early stuff was pretty twangy.

And of course, Buck and his partner Don Rich created some memorable music with the Bakersfield sound, treble turned up high so it would sound good on AM car radios.
Big Cat `93
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The Hag

That said, I want to listen to just about everyone mentioned in this thread right now.
EclipseAg
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If this don't make you feel like pulling up a barstool and sipping a cold one in some dive, I don't know what will.

Apache
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Quote:

George strait is a great country music performer but an underwhelming artist.

Willie nelson is one of the truly great country artist but an average performer.
I think King George is a great (Top 10) country music singer. Smooth voice & benefited from some great songwriters.
His performance (on stage) is legendarily dull. I don't think he's much of an "artist".

As for artists, I think maybe someone like Merle Haggard. Agree Willie is in this catagory... as would be REK.

Greatest performer would have to go to Garth Brooks. Dude blew country music up with his wild concerts. Not necessarily my thing, but have to give him credit.

Top all-around country? Heck I'll go with Hank Williams Jr. He can play a dozen instruments, wrote a pile of great country music, has a great voice, & his performances were more Skynyrd than Statler Brothers. He's also a bridge between the roots of Country, the 70's Outlaw movement & into the early 90s. Also: ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FOOTBALL??

BurnetAggie99
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EclipseAg said:

I don't know about best, but Buck Owens and Conway Twitty were pretty prolific.

Conway got caught up in the '80s pop country sound like everyone in Nashville but his early stuff was pretty twangy.

And of course, Buck and his partner Don Rich created some memorable music with the Bakersfield sound, treble turned up high so it would sound good on AM car radios.

Buck and Conway some of the best. Conway had the most #1 hits till George Strait took that crown. I think each decade over the years you have some really good artist and the music different over the years.
BurnetAggie99
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Can't believe Hank Williams Sr hasn't been mentioned yet.

Funky Winkerbean
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George is the obvious choice, but this is the correct choice.

It is so easy to be wrong—and to persist in being wrong—when the costs of being wrong are paid by others.
Thomas Sowell
BurnetAggie99
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Then you got guys like Keith Whitley singing a Lefty Frizzell song here. Whitley had some great songs but it's tragic his career got cut short with his death. Lefty was also a great one.

BurnetAggie99
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Funky Winkerbean said:

George is the obvious choice, but this is the correct choice.


Yep love some Vern
BurnetAggie99
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The Pride of Sabinal TX Johnny Rod who was discovered by Tom T hall.

BurnetAggie99
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I always love some Gary Stewart. Very tragic and sad about his death. Let's pound some beers, play some 42 and play the hell out of Gary Stewart.

Funky Winkerbean
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BurnetAggie99 said:

I always love some Gary Stewart. Very tragic and sad about his death. Let's pound some beers, play some 42 and play the hell out of Gary Stewart.


I recall a rumor that a movie was going to be made about him. It's a story that needs to be told.
It is so easy to be wrong—and to persist in being wrong—when the costs of being wrong are paid by others.
Thomas Sowell
Gap
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Johnny Cash has several that should be on the list of possibilities as best song. I'll posit this as my personal nominee for song and Cash as artist.

BurnetAggie99
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Funky Winkerbean said:

BurnetAggie99 said:

I always love some Gary Stewart. Very tragic and sad about his death. Let's pound some beers, play some 42 and play the hell out of Gary Stewart.


I recall a rumor that a movie was going to be made about him. It's a story that needs to be told.
100% agree a movie needs to be made. He was a legend
Macarthur
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Waylon
Funky Winkerbean
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Big Cat `93 said:

The Hag

That said, I want to listen to just about everyone mentioned in this thread right now.
Here's one more to torment you..
It is so easy to be wrong—and to persist in being wrong—when the costs of being wrong are paid by others.
Thomas Sowell
EclipseAg
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BurnetAggie99 said:

I always love some Gary Stewart. Very tragic and sad about his death.
Gary Stewart was great. If you haven't heard it, check out Mike and the Moonpies' tribute album "Touch of You: The Lost Songs of Gary Stewart." They recorded 10 of Stewart's hidden gems and it is very well done.

EclipseAg
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Eddy Raven had a bunch of great hits in the '80s. Underrated artist.
Claude!
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Dolly Parton.
Milwaukees Best Light
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Alan Jackson deserves a mention here.
hph6203
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Dunno who it is, but surely he's dead, because country is.
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