Rolling Stone’s 100 Greatest Country Artists of All Time

Spoilers, spoilers: Taylor Swift is included on the Rolling Stone list and some of your favorites might not be included.

On the 15^th of June, Rolling Stone took it upon itself to orchestrate this 100 Greatest Country Artists of All Time list. Since we are talking about all time and as in ‘all time,’ we wanted to make sure that you also have your own evaluation whether or not the corresponding numbers to your favorite country artists are something that you can agree with.

Needless to say, the icons that we adore are definitely on the list but the questions are who’s on top and how Rolling Stone evaluated their contribution in the Nashville world. We will surely see the one and only George Strait, “Jolene” singer Dolly Parton or the crossover queens like Shania Twain and Carrie Underwood or our favorites like Miranda Lambert or Toby Keith.

“There isn’t room for anyone” as Rolling Stone had put it when they deliberately removed Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard who according to them are more of song writers than artists. Rolling Stone also skipped Chet Atkins citing his ‘more of a producer’ side. Elvis Presley and Ray Charles were also omitted since they are under the umbrella of rock and roll.

Without further ado, here’s the first set from 1-10 and their snippets of country artistry evaluation according to Rolling Stone:

1. Merle Haggard:

   

His story, like his music, was as American epic, shot through with improbability, struggle, sin and redemption. His songs were about bargains with the self, a search for something better, and the price paid for both: “I’m a Lonesome Fugitive,” “Branded Man,” “Mama Tried” and “Sing Me Back Home” drew from his prison experience, but the black marks they wrestled with signified universally; and barroom anthems like “Tonight the Bottle Let Me Down” and “Swinging Doors” distilled everyday pain into something deeply lyrical.

2. Hank Williams:

   

Although Hank Williams’ recorded output spanned only seven years, his influence has lasted 10 times as long, and it continues to grow. His plainspoken tales of heartbreak (“Your Cheatin’ Heart,” “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”); catchy, playful party tunes (“Move It on Over,” “Jambalaya [On the Bayou]”); and charming pickup lines set to music (“Hey Good Lookin’,” “Honky Tonkin'”) became a blueprint for artists like Willie Nelson and George Jones. “He had a real animal magnetism,” the Grand Ole Opry’s Minnie Pearl once said. “He destroyed the women in the audience.”

3. Johnny Cash

   

Country’s self-proclaimed Man in Black embodied outlaw country’s rebel spirit. He sang about criminals (“Folsom Prison Blues”), he gigged in prisons (his At Folsom Prison and At San Quentin live LPs) and he overcame a nasty drug habit. Improbably, he even infiltrated the grunge era with a stripped-back folk-poet sound, courtesy of rock producer Rick Rubin, making rock songs, like Nine Inch Nails’ “Hurt,” sound all the more cutting, thanks to his powerful baritone.

4. Loretta Lynn

   

Lynn sang, with her crystalline mountain quiver, about veterans and scorned wives, and women who weren’t in the mood for lovin’ – as well as about those who maybe logged a little too much time between the sheets. Classics like “The Pill,” “Rated X” and “Don’t Come Home A-Drinkin’ (With Lovin’ on Your Mind)” are as controversial as they are legendary; and though Lynn would often avoid attaching a feminist narrative to her music, they unfolded a whole new future for women on Music Row.

5. The Carter Family

   

Built on Sara’s heartfelt vocals and her bandmates’ harmonies and simple song arrangements, their recordings, like “Keep on the Sunny Side” and “Wildwood Flower,” have become canon for the genre. “If you listen to the early hillbilly recordings, the singers were barely singing over the instruments,” Johnny Cash once wrote. “The Carter style was built around the vocals and incorporated them into the instrumental background, usually made up of the basic three-chord structure. In essence, the Carter Family violated the main traditions of vocal and instrumental music, but in doing so created a whole new style and a whole new sound.”

6. Willie Nelson

   

One of country’s greatest crossover artists, the Red Headed Stranger (and his distinctively nasal voice) has scored hits like “Always on My Mind,” “On the Road Again” and “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain” on both the country charts and the Top 40 in the Seventies and Eighties.

7. Waylon Jennings

The logo of Waylon Jennings, the stylized W is shorthand for one of the most popular subgenres of country music, founded primarily by an artist who, ironically, didn’t want much to do with it. Listen to Jennings’ “Don’t You Think This Outlaw Bit’s Done Got Out of Hand,” cut in 1978 at the height of the craze, and you can hear the weariness in his voice.

8. Dolly Parton

A global pop icon whose career as musician and actress transcends country, Parton is one of its greatest singer-songwriters, and her signatures – “Jolene,” “Coat of Many Colors” and the irrepressible “I Will Always Love You” – are among the genre’s defining classics.

9. George Jones

   

No one sang the songs of devotion and heartbreak at the core of country’s mission – “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” “She Thinks I Still Care,” “We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds,” “We’re Gonna Hold On,” “The Grand Tour” – with more knowledge or feeling, yet Jones did rockers just as well as weepers, and early honky-tonk standouts like “Why Baby Why” and “White Lightning” could go toe-to-toe with Buddy Holly and Elvis Presley.

10. Garth Brooks

    

One of the primary drivers of country’s crossover push during the Nineties, Brooks’ pop sensibilities irked purists but made him a superstar, and songs like “Friends in Low Places” are standards around the world. While the Oklahoma native became the biggest-selling solo artist of all time, he’s also had his stumbles (Chris Gaines, Ghost Tunes) along the way.

And if you are too lazy to read more snippets and just find out how the list goes, here’s the rest of the list:

11. Jimmie Rodgers
12. Patsy Cline
13. Buck Owens
14. Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys
15. Ray Price
16. Tammy Wynette
17. Glen Campbell
18. Eddy Arnold
19. Roger Miller
20. George Strait

The 21-40 bracket contains Shania Twain, Tom Hall, Bill Monroe, Miranda Lambert among others:

21. Conway Twitty                             41. Charlie Rich
22. Lefty Frizzell                                 42. Kitty Wells
23. Ernest Tubb                                  43. Bobby Bare
24. The Louvin Brothers                 44. Porter Wagoner
25. Shania Twain                               45. Dixie Chicks
26. Tom Hall                                        46. Gary Stewart
27. Bill Monroe                                   47. Mel Tillis
28. Alan Jackson                                48. Tennessee Ernie Ford
29. Kris Kristofferson                      49. Kenny Rogers
30. Flat & Scruggs                              50. Hank Williams Jr.
31. Charley Pride                                51. Keith Whitley
32. Randy Travis                                 52. Don Williams
33. Miranda Lambert                       53. Ronnie Milsap
34. Jerry Lee Lewis                           54. Jim Reeves
35. Stanley Brother                           55. Don Gibson
36. Reba McEntire                            56. John Anderson
37. Jerry Reed                                     57. Johnny Horton
38. John Prine                                    58. Emmylou Harris
39. Gram Parsons                             59. Hank Thompson
40. Hank Snow                                  60. Doug Sahm

61. Webb Pierce                                76. Marty Stuart
62. Vince Gill                                      77. Patty Loveless
63. Faron Young                               78. Rosanne Cash
64. Marty Robbins                           79. Alabam
65. Billy Joe Shaver                         80. Taylor Swift
66. Roy Acuff                                     81. Statler Brother
67. Tanya Tucker                             82. Lynn Anderson
68. Guy Clark                                     83. Townes Van Zandt
69. Connie Smith                             84. Steve Earle
70. Vern Gosdin                               85. Eric Church
71. Dwight Yoakam                        86. Bill Anderson
72. Jessi Colter                                 87. Jamey Johnson
73. Merle Travis                               88. The Judds
74. Lee Ann Womack                   89. Tim McGraw
75. Asleep at the Wheel                90. Crystal Gayle

Surprisingly, the last 10 of the list features more popular country artists of today like Keith Urban, Alison Krauss, Carrie Underwood and Toby Keith.

91. Lucinda Williams
92. Chris LeDoux
93. Jerry Jeff Walker
94. Alison Krauss
95. Brooks & Dunn
96. Toby Keith
97. Brad Paisley
98. Keith Urban
99. Carrie Underwood
100. John Denver

According to Rolling Stone, the key factor that they used to sort out the list is the “originality” of every artist throughout their country career.

Do you agree or disagree? Share on the comments below!

H/T: Rolling Stone