LIFE Magazine: "The Roots of Country Music."

[NightTrain]

While excavating the apartment for my move next weekend, I came across a 10-year-old special issue of LIFE Magazine titled "The Roots of Country Music," in which the editors rank-ordered their choices for the genre's 100 most important people. Here's the list, see what you think:

1. Hank Williams
2. The Carter Family
3. Jimmie Rodgers, the Singing Brakeman
4. Patsy Cline
5. Bill Monroe
6. Chet Atkins
7. Bob Wills
8. Ernest Tubb
9. Gene Autry
10. Elvis Presley

11. George Jones
12. Tammy Wynette
13. Johnny Cash
14. Roy Acuff
15. Hank Snow
16. Kitty Wells
17. Willie Nelson
18. Loretta Lynn
19. Merle Haggard
20. Jimmie Davis

21. Roy Clark
22. Dolly Parton
23. Marty Robbins
24. Merle Travis
25. Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs
26. Sons of the Pioneers
27. Garth Brooks
28. The Louvin Brothers
29. The Everly Brothers
30. Vernon Dalhart

31. Lefty Frizzell
32. Red Foley
33. Conway Twitty
34. Fred Rose
35. Uncle Dave Macon
36. Eddy Arnold
37. Harlan Howard
38. Buck Owens
39. Tex Ritter
40. Ray Charles

41. Minnie Pearl
42. Jerry Lee Lewis
43. Gram Parsons
44. Emmylou Harris
45. Ralph Peer
46. The Judds
47. Barbara Mandrell
48. Waylon Jennings
49. Webb Pierce
50. Woody Guthrie

51. Don Gibson
52. Tennessee Ernie Ford
53. Owen Bradley
54. Charley Pride
55. Edward Gaylord
56. Jim Reeves
57. Glen Campbell
58. Kenny Rogers
59. John Denver
60. The Tillises (Mel and Pam)

61. Sam Phillips
62. George D. Hay
63. Jimmy Dean
64. The Bryants (Boudleaux and Felice)
65. Randy Travis
66. Roger Miller
67. Ray Price
68. The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
69. Reba McEntire
70. Bob Dylan

71. Fiddlin' John Carson
72. Porter Wagoner
73. Jimmy Bowen
74. Patsy Montana
75. Buddy Holly
76. Brenda Lee
77. Cindy Walker
78. George Strait
79. Roy Orbison
80. Leadbelly

81. Tony Brown
82. k.d. lang
83. Nudie
84. The Statler Brothers
85. Eck Robertson
86. Pee Wee King
87. Patti Page
88. Freddy Fender
89. Sissy Spacek and Jessica Lange
90. Dwight Yoakam

91. Homer & Jethro
92. Johnny Horton
93. Kris Kristofferson
94. Alabama
95. Doc Watson
96. Rosanne Cash
97. Ricky Skaggs
98. Lyle Lovett
99. Mary-Chapin Carpenter
100. Hank Williams, Jr.

If you'd like an explanation as to why certain folks were included, just say the word and I'll post LIFE's justification for the choices in question.

[jpgray]

1. 2, 5 and 6 have a lot to teach you a lot about the guitar

Though Bill Monroe is probably best known for his two bandmates Lester and Earl. :D

[starroute]

2. Seems like kind of a weird ranking

I really can't understand what Gene Autry is doing up there in the top ten, unless it's on the basis of popularity. All the others were true innovators and musical geniuses, and he just wasn't. But if the explanation is that he was the first to break country and western into the mainstream, I guess it makes a certain kind of sense. I still don't like it, though.

The list also seems to rate people solely according to what might be considered their contributions to country music proper, which means a lot of great country-rock or country-folk musicians are listed lower than some pretty mediocre Nashville types. (I mean, Buddy Holly at #77? Roy Orbison at #79? Give me a break! And shouldn't the Allman Brothers be in there somewhere?)

Still, if you wanted to explore the history of country music using this as a starting point, it would certainly point you in most of the right directions.

[NightTrain]

3. I agree with your "starting point" remark.

And you have to admit, that list makes a damned good conversation starter!

[mitchum]

6. Surprising enough, Gene Autry was also a huge influence on the Blues

When the Lomaxes went to the Delta in the 30s, his material turned up in the repertoires of the interviewed performers more than that of anyone else. Also, he was overwhelmingly cited as their favorite recording artist. Hard to believe, but it's true. He was massive in the 30s.
Even when I was a child watching his then old shows, I thought he came off like a dorky pear-shaped eunuch. I don't get it. Maybe he was the proto-Garth Brooks :)

[No2W2004]

4. Strange list in places

I don't have any problems with the top 10 except Autry. Elvis probably shouldn't be there either, since the list is about important people in country music. There should have been more gospel groups up there besides the Carter Family. Also, more blues singers like Robert Johnson should have been on the list.

80. Leadbelly - Should have been MUCH higher up.
83. Nudie - Who's this guy? He is responsible for those funky suits and dresses country preformers wear with the roses and sparkles all over them. Hank Sr. was a big customer.
91. Homer & Jethro & 41. Minnie Pearl-Comics who helped the shows move along between acts. Very influential as far as stage presence goes.

The dumb listings inculde:
46. The Judds & 47. Barbara Mandrell. WTF????
89. Sissy Spacek and Jessica Lange. Double WTF???

I guess I'd re do the top 20 like this:

1. Hank Williams
2. The Carter Family
3. Jimmie Rodgers, the Singing Brakeman
4. Leadbelly
5. Bill Monroe
6. Chet Atkins
7. Bob Wills
8. Ernest Tubb
9. Patsy Cline
10. Johnny Cash
11. George Jones
12. Robert Johnson
13. Loretta Lynn
14. Roy Acuff
15. Tammy Wynette
16. Dixie Hummingbirds
17. Willie Nelson
18. Luke the Drifter
19. Merle Haggard
20. Jimmie Davis

[ForrestGump]

9. Elvis belongs in the Top 10, with Johnny Cash

and probably Jerry Lee Lewis. His legacy of country-ish stuff (like the blues and gospel, country infused so much of his work that it's hard or impossible to separate them all out) is as great as his contribution to rock 'n' roll and pop. Thus it was in 1954 -- and he toured with country acts and played the Louisiana Hayride for those first two years -- and thus it was in 1977. His last recording was a version of "He'll Have To Go."

Elvis was a creator of country rock, a genre that's the main basis of almost all mainstream country music recorded since the late '60s.

[Bake]

5. Where the heck are Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs????

Good grief! Par for the course for uninformed lists, however.

Bake

[NightTrain]

7. They're at #25.

Ya gotta look with your eyes open! :evilgrin:

[AngryAmish]

8. I would like to see the influences on the Top 40 of Nashville now

I have to admit I do not have an exhaustive knowledge of the history of country music. That being said, I can't imagine Shania Twain saying that she grew up listening to the Carter Family.

Just like everybody else, I like old country music. I swear to God it was because Social Distortion covered Johnny Cash and X did that Knitters album.

But modern country music as a whole sucks balls. Garth Brooks just plain sucks.

However, I really dig that whole Bloodshot Records thing. Luckily, I live in Chicago.