Who is the best of all time?

[WillieCash]

Who do you guys list as best top 10 country singers and/or songwriters of all-time? The list can include poeple that recorded country-inspired music (folk etc...) too

Mine are as follows (in no particular order):

Willie Nelson
Bob Dylan
Johnny Cash
Kris Kristofferson
Townes Van Zandt
Merle Haggard
Loretta Lynn
George Jones
Hank Sr
Jerry Lee Lewis

[ELDUCE]

tom t hall

[Misfit138]

An addition to the list..

Billy Joe Shaver

[ELDUCE]

porter wagoner that guy can write a song

[mjbad]

"Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that." - Steve Earle

"I've met Bob Dylan and his bodyguards, and I don't think Steve could get anywhere near his coffee table." - Townes Van Zandt

Willie, no disrespect, but there's Hank Sr. and Townes, then down the road a ways the rest of the pack.

[WillieCash]

well hell mjbad, you gotta fill up a top ten list somehow

How could you not include Dylan, Kris & Willie in your "top of the heap" section though?

[WillieCash]

Oh, and omit Lefty for Hank Sr. I don't know what in the hell I was smokin

[WillieCash]

An addition to the list..

Billy Joe Shaver

Willie Nelson once called him the greatest American Songwriter.

[Misfit138]

"Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the whole world and I'll stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that." - Steve Earle

"I've met Bob Dylan and his bodyguards, and I don't think Steve could get anywhere near his coffee table." - Townes Van Zandt

Willie, no disrespect, but there's Hank Sr. and Townes, then down the road a ways the rest of the pack.

Hank Sr. was my next addition.. good call

[mjbad]

OK willie,

Here's the scene:

Mode of transport: 1952 Cadillac Convertible

Driver: Willie Nelson (only one capable)

Navigator, front passenger: Bob Dylan

Backseat: only because thay have to share the jug and bag: Hank, Townes, and Kris...Kris has to change all flat tires...just because (Rhodes scholar thing).

Crazy, The Man In Me, Long Gone Lonesome Blues, If I Needed You, and Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down.............................................. .

"Well, many of the songs, they aren't sad, they're hopeless." --- Townes Van Zandt after being asked why he wrote only sad songs.

[mjbad]

When it comes to showdown in a realistic country music poker game the royal flush would combine the elements of Bill Monroe, Jimmie Rogers, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Lightnin' Hopkins and Woody Guthrie. Which performer(s) at stagecoach blend those elements?

Flatlanders?

Robt. Earl Keane?

Alej Escavedo?

Emmy Lou?

We all know you won't find it on the Main stage or the Mustang stage!

Download JAMES RIVER BLUES by OCMS as soon as possible, you owe to yourselves!!! While your at it....Townes Van Zandt's... MARIE..........and.......REX'S BLUES

keep the peace brothers and sisters...we're all in this together!!!

[TexasBlues]

Okay - I thought I could resist this thread but I can't. Haven't seen one name fly across the "Top Ten" list that I can disagree with and I like the implied "honorable mentions" of Steve Earle and Robert Earl Keene if that's what they were. I might suggest two more on the "proven" list though and suitable competition for the top ten spot: Guy Clark and Waylon Jennings. I suspect this is the angle (Singer/Songwriters that is) that Mr. Wille Cash is inquiring about.

Now, here's another good question: Since some of those folks are dead (last I looked a lot of them were...), who do you think are some of the more recent folks (still walking and talking) that can write a darn good song AND sing it too? I suggest the following handful of folks might be in such a list:

Lyle Lovett (please don't dis me on this... I know I'm on a limb with some folks.. but the man can write a song and can sing too).
James McMurtry
Buddy Miller
Chris Knight

Okay - that's enough limb climbing for one night.

TexasBlues

[TexasBlues]

Now it's eating my brain.... thanks Willie.

I forgot to mention Bruce Robison and that was a huge omission from the "still walking and talking" (and/or trying to make a living) list of Singer/Songwriters I've started here... or think I've started. Frankly, I'm new to this forum stuff but I love the topics and now I appear to be drawn in. Maybe this deserves a separate topic from the "Top Ten" of all time thread that Willie started?

Forgive me if I walk outside, have a cigarette, and come back to reply to my own posts... again. Jeez....

TexasBlues

[maduro_1]

Dale is the best of OUR time.
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm...endID=43043011

He ain't even near twenty, but he says he's seen plenty of hard times,
'Cause he's been on his bus for five days and in his hotel for five nights.
And his satellite dish is broke and the new band is treatin' him mean. (Yeah, I know.)
And there's still another week to go: he misses that karaoke machine.
Hey, that's country, my ass,
Who do they think we am?
Force-feed us that shit.
Ain't you real tired of it?
Tell 'em, stick it up high,
Where the sun don't shine.
Get pissed, an'get mad,
'cause that's country, my ass.

Now, she's out there too, she's got her own secrets too. (Shhhh, don't tell nobody.)
She can't sing a lick and in a bucket, she couldn't carry her tunes. (Now wait a minute.)
She's pretty as a picture and she sure got a nice set of...wits. (Yeah.)
And she misses her producer slash boyfriend who seduced her, er produced her a hit.

Hey, that's country, my ass,
Who do they think we am?
Force-feed us that shit.
Ain't you real tired of it?
Tell 'em stick it up high,
Where the sun don't shine.
Get pissed, an'get mad,
Tell 'em that's country, my ass.

Now don't get me wrong, to each his own I believe.
But they've took the soul out of what means a whole lot to me.
'Cause I can see Hank and Lefty, they're spinning around in their graves.
And if they were here now, I think y'all know what they'd say. (Don't you?)
(What they'd say?)

Country, my ass,
Who do they think we am?
Force-feed us that shit.
Ain't you real tired of it?
Tell 'em stick it up high,
Where the sun don't shine.
We're pissed, we're mad 'cause that's country, my ass.
We're pissed, we're mad 'cause that's country, my ass

[WillieCash]

"New" (or at least more recent) Guys that could contend for the list in my opinion:

Dale Watson (New?)
Bright Eyes
(Get the "I'm wide awake it's morning" CD or download "Travelin Song")
Beck ("Midnight Vulture" and "Sea Change" CDs)
Hank III
50 Cent Haircut (country-rock)
Dwight
BR549 (right on th cusp)

Joe Firstman is a great songwriter but I'm not too fond of how the music is produced.



Here is one I wrote about country today....I have another called Kiss my Ass but it is a bit raunchy.

West Coast COuntry:

I don’t mean to brag but Nashville told me I don’t sound like modern country
I ain’t showin off, but they say I won’t sell my records to the yuppies
I don’t mean to boast, but I don’t wear no shiny clothes
And I ain’t got no highlights in my hair.
So if I fail for being honest, frankly I don’t care.

Cause this is West Coast Country, and California pride.
Nashville ain’t wrote a country song sing 1985
And I know every word I sing is one less chance I’ll leave alive
But this is West Coast Country
And it ain’t gonna die.

Out here in the west we got outlaws of each color, shape, and size
From the Cholos, to the Bikers to the Gangsters we got family, we got ties
Hell I got some friends that some’d call “faggots” that can hit so hard they’d make your mama cry
The stars and bars are burnin, now it’s time to give that Cali flag a try…

Cause this is West Coast Country, and California pride.
Nashville ain’t wrote a country song sing 1985
And I know every word I sing is one less chance I’ll leave alive
But this is West Coast Country
And it ain’t gonna die.

Well there ain’t no country like West Coast Country and this West Coast Country won’t stop.
One of these days if I keep it on up I’ll do a song with old Kid Rock
Cause I’m haggard as Merle, and Jonesin’ as George
I been patient in my waiting but I won’t wait any more!

Cause this is West Coast Country, and California pride.
Nashville ain’t wrote a country song sing 1985
And I know every word I sing is one less chance I’ll leave alive
But this is West Coast Country
And it ain’t gonna die.

[WillieCash]

Texas,

I'm with you on Lyle Lovett. He is f'n amazing!

[Misfit138]

Regarding some of the newer artists I have to add Wayne Hancock.. Some one you guys might want to look into as well is JB Beverley and the Wayward Drifters.. I was gonna add Waylon to the other list but someone already did.. He was just amazing.. Watched the Nashville Rebel DVD again last night and it gets better evry time I see it.

[TexasBlues]

Hah! Went back outside for that last cigarette last night and darned if Dale Watson didn't pop into my head! But I wasn't gonna come back a third time...

I own every Dwight CD there is and we cover lots of his material in the band. Yes, he can write and he sure can sing purty. Big fan of BR549 (different iterations of the band and different sounds because of it) but I don't think I would have included them in the great songwriter category (Check our playlist....)

I struggle with Hank III... maybe I'm just getting too old. (I struggle with Quentin Tarentino too and, oh yeah, Eddie Murphy's "Raw."). I liked his first couple of CD's but I understand Hank III didn't 'cause the label made him play straight.

[WillieCash]

Yeah BR549 isn't really up there as songwriters, just a new band I really enjoy. JB Beverly is great too.

I struggled with Hank III at first because I thought it was a bit too tradtional for me (if you can believe that) at first but it really grew on me.

I don't mind the "raunchiness" because I used to listen to a lot of Hip-hop and nothing any country guy (with the exception of DACs X-rated stuff) compares with things I used to hear on a normal basis.

Plus I have a singalong song called whose first lines are:
"You can Kiss my Ass, and you can Eat my Sh*t
The radio we used to know and love has gone and made me sick"

So it's hard for me to cast stones!

Hope I can afford the tix to come out, I will surely come over and throw back some (evan williams) sodie-pops and play a bit with ya.

[Misfit138]

A fine picker and songwriter to add here is Jerry Reed.. One of my favorites..