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CMT top 40 men of country


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I managed to see most of this last night while feeding and playing with the baby. They had some nice vintage clips but, predictably, it was skewed towards the recent posers. They managed to leave off Ray Price, Web Pierce, Hank Thompson, Hank Snow, Marty Robbins, the Stanley Bros. and others. You thought jazz fans were contentious? Check out the postings at CMT. And Hank Williams Sr. not #1!? I thought that was in the freaking constitution...

Edited by danasgoodstuff
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That's pretty pathetic.

Add these names to the left off list: Jim Reeves, Faron Young, Johnny Horton. I thought it was a corker that they did include Billy Ray Cyrus. I guess they figured he was deserving because he had a big influence on mullet wearing Americans everywhere.

I don't even know why they bother to call it country music anymore. Most of it is just rock/pop with steel guitars. My wife has that new Shania Twain cd. I laughed when I saw that it comes as 2 cds. One is a country version and one is a pop version. The vocals were the same on both, but the instrumentation varied. I couldn't imagine throwing a George Jones record on and having it sound like anything but country.

:rsly:

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. I thought it was a corker that they did include Billy Ray Cyrus. I guess they figured he was deserving because he had a big influence on mullet wearing Americans everywhere.

:lol:

I didn't know that about the Shania cd. How absurd. I hate the way Mutt Lange produces her stuff. Not that it's great material to start with, but they just make it sound so robotic.

Jim was telling me about the idea that all those Grammys going to the O' Brother soundtrack was someone's way of trying to send a message to Nashville. Obviously they missed the point.

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Has anybody ever heard all the Def Leppardisms in Shania Twain's music. I know he uses different instruments, but you can really spot Lange's production style. I trip out all the time when my wife plays her cds. She gets mad when I say it's kind of like Def Leppard.

There's actually a third version of Twain's album. An international version. That one is available for download off her website. I heard a little bit. It was really funny. Very east indian, but in a western pop way. My wife hated it. I thought it was the most intriguing of the three (that's not saying much, though).

:rsmile:

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AfricaBrass:

I've always thought the same thing. The background vocals on Shania's/Mutt's last two albums are total "Def Leppard" background vocals. Sounds just like "Pour Some Sugar On Me"!

I actually loved Shania's second and third albums. This latest is actually pretty good. Would've been much better if they eliminated about 7 or 8 songs from it though. 19 songs!?!? Too much...

I'm a firm believer in the "leave 'em wanting more" school of thought.

Some of the songs are great, IMO, but they all pretty much follow the same formula of her previous records. No new ground being broken here. And yeah, this ain't really country music; it's pop music with a twangggg.

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Thanks guys,

I was starting to think that I'm crazy. Her music is so much more entertaining when thinking about the Def Leppardisms.

I agree with Catesta, she has found a formula and is sticking with it. Shania's secret recipe.

:rsmile: :rsmile:

Edited by AfricaBrass
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I thought 'The Woman in Me' was a great pop-country album. I was less impressed by the one that came next but could understand its popularity. I havn't heard the recent one - the odd song I've heard on the radio hasn't really drawn me in, probably because of all the reservations mentioned above.

If you want great pop-country female vocals go for Patty Loveless - whoever does the quality control on her song choices rarely lets you down!

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I thought 'The Woman in Me' was a great pop-country album. I was less impressed by the one that came next but could understand its popularity. I havn't heard the recent one - the odd song I've heard on the radio hasn't really drawn me in, probably because of all the reservations mentioned above.

If you want great pop-country female vocals go for Patty Loveless - whoever does the quality control on her song choices rarely lets you down!

I was just teasing about Shania. She's okay. My wife loves her music. I just like to have fun because the production of her latest albums are so non-country.

I'll see if my wife has any Patty Loveless. I'm not really up on the current singers. Most of my country comes from Bear Family or old lps.

:D

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I took my wife to see Vince Gill a couple of years ago, with Patty opening. I admire Vince as a singer and guitarist (for sure), but it was Patty that impressed me the most. There was just something in her music that seemed to speak to me in a way. It was kind of nice, actually. Haven't heard her bluegrass album; I imagine it's good.

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Patty's 'Mountain Soul' is indeed a great pleasure. If you like St. Emmylou's 'Roses in the Snow' you'll enjoy the Loveless.

As to her mainstream country records they all have that glitzy pop-country sound with rather 'paint-by-numbers' rawk guitar bits and anodyne fiddle; but the songs stay in your mind and her voice is very affecting. I strongly recommend 'Long Stretch of Lonesome' - the duet with George Jones ('You Don't Seem to Miss Me') is a spinetingling bit of harmony singing.

For other more bluegrassy or raw recent country seek out the great Gillian Welch, the consistently excellent Julie and Buddy Miller and vocalists like Heather Myles and Kelly Willis.

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Jazzmoose & Chris,

Sorry to not reply promptly, I've been away from the computer for a couple of days. Johnny Cash was #1 because, as a CMT poster put it "he's dying" which is sad but true. But they still used Hank W's picture to advertise the show! Bob Wills did make it, well down the list but ahead of Jimmie Rodgers and Lefty Frizell (I think)--all three are top ten to me (so is Johnny Cash, just not #1). Of course some of the posters at CMT complained 'cause hosers like Kenny Chesney weren't on the list. The retort to that was that Kenny "shouldn't even be allowed to watch"! Why not, he might learn something. The show did inspire me to buy a first(?) pressing of Ray Price's Night Life for $3 at the record show this weekend. Maybe they should just invent a new genre/radio format and call it something like "pop for hicks"...

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danasgoodstuff-No problem for the delay.I appreciate your response.I agree with your observation on Johnny Cash.Hank Sr. probably deserves to be #1 because of his impact on country music but I do think that JR should be somewhere in the top five because of his tremendous output of classic music.Please don't tell me that Billy Ray Cyrus placed ahead of Bob Wills,George Jones and Marty Robbins.If he did I will be officially sick.

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Additional thoughts.Johnny Cash continued to do quality work even after his hitmaking days were over.Anybody wanting to lament todays country music and there is a lot to lament-might want to assign blame to Ray Price,Jim Reeves,Patsy Cline and even Marty Robbins,Conway Twitty and Sonny James-all who brought a lot of pop influences to the table.

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OK, here's the list:

1 Johnny cash

2 Hank Williams

3 George Jones

4 Willie Nelson

5 Waylon Jennings

6 Merle Haggard

7 Garth Brooks

8 Conway Twitty

9 George Strait

10 Alan Jackson

11 Alabama

12 Buck Owens

13 Randy Travis

14 Roy Acuff

15 Elvis Presley

16 Bill Monroe

17 Vince Gill

18 Charlie Pride

19 Kenny Rodgers

20 Hank Jr.

21 Ernest Tubb

22 Eddy Arnold

23 Rodger Miller

24 Flatt & Scruggs

25 Brooks & Dunn

26 Tim McGraw

27 Bob Wills

28 Chet Atkins

29 Glenn Campbell

30 Ronnie Milsap

31 Lefty Frizell

32 Charlie Daniels

33 Jimmie Rodgers

34 The Eagles

35 Mel Tillis

36 Toby Keith

37 Ricky Scaggs

38 Gene Autrey

39 Dwight Yoakam

40 Travis Tritt

Let the flames begin!

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There's actually a third version of Twain's album. An international version. That one is available for download off her website. I heard a little bit. It was really funny. Very east indian, but in a western pop way. My wife hated it. I thought it was the most intriguing of the three (that's not saying much, though).

:rsmile:

Yeah, I've heard bits of the so-called "Blue Version" too. I agree. As far as Shania goes, the international version is by far the most interesting (which means I'll leave it on for ten seconds rather than five).

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As to the list, I would have put Hank at #1 and Cash at #2. No doubt about it, Johnny Cash is the most important *living* country musician. As with the best artists, Cash's music trancends the genre's boundries. It's great music, full stop. Not just great country music. I love George Jones too, but to me he epitomizes the genre, rather than trancending it.

And, excuse me, where the hell in Gram Parsons? I guess introducing country to rock music isn't important, huh? Come on! "Sweetheart of the Rodeo"? The Flying Burrito Brothers? Kickstarting Emmylou Harris's career? Hello! Anybody home? I defy anybody to listen to "How Much I Lied" and not declare it one of the finest country performances of all time. :bwallace:

How could they bury Chet Atkins at number 28?

Edited by Alexander
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