The BBC had a poll at Easter for the voices of the century - presumably the last one!
Overall winner was Frank Sinatra.
However, in the country section the results were as follows:
15) George Strait
14) Steve Earle
13) Mary Chapin-Carpenter
12) Garth Brooks
11) Clint Black
10) Roy Orbison !?
9) Ralph Marlowe of the Mavericks Alison Krauss
7) Willie Nelson
6) Hank Williams
5) Patsy Cline
4) Emmylou Harris
3) Dolly Parton
2) George Jones
1) Johnny Cash
Interesting... Having been away from the UK for the last ten years, I was curious to see this.
The first 7 are (IMHO) virtually inevitable in any top 20 - the order might change. I was surprised not to see Don Williams, Merle Haggard or Tammy Wynette in there.
(For those who don't know, Don Williams and George Hamilton IV are - or were - BY FAR the most frequent country artists touring the UK).
I'm not familiar with Ralph Marlowe, but it's interesting to see Alison Krauss & Steve Earle in there with Garth & co. - no Alan Jackson though?
Just occurs to me - which steel player has played with the most people on that list? I suspect it's Jerry Douglas...
Nick
This is just typical of the BBC.I was not aware of this poll but would not have voted anyway more or less knwoing what would be the outcome. Many so called fans have this reluctance to listen to anything else but Crazy or Blankit on the Ground (Brittish member will know what I mean) or what I call the six song Six Singer Syndrome and it suits the BBC, and very likely the pop market It's for this reason I longer listen to Country Radio in Britain but instead listen to the internet.Merle Haggard and Ray Price and George Jones I could go on and on with singers are unknown in Brtian as they don't get played.A lot of so called fans don't really like real Country music. I was surprized not to see Jim Reeves name there and George Jones coming in at number 2. Trying to buy CD's over here is difficult.(if you don't know where to buy them)Local record stores don't sell anything worth buying unless you want to buy compilation material by the said artist on the top 20 list. The same material gets repackaged every six months and at £2.99 or so there gonna sell. Hagg, Ray Price Leffty etc are not on them.Lasy year they did a Song of the Centuary I predictied what would be in the top ten and guess what I was more or less right.
I got a tape of this show yesterday from my mother in the UK, and Clive missed one person out. At No. 4 (so shift everyone else down one) was Dwight Yoakam - which surprises (and pleases) me...
Don't forget this is a listeners poll - i.e. the general public - and it's very surprising to me a) how many of these performers have been around for *at least* 20 years b) those who are well outside the mainstream "pop" country, e.g. Alison Krauss & Steve Earle.
Nick
The other point to make is that Country Music on Radio 2 tends towards the more modern artists- (which suits me fine).
Radio 2 listeners would tend to vote for what they have heard, which is the big mega classics and the modern artists, and that's what the poll shows.
And never mind "where's Lefty Frizzell" who's Lefty Frizzell? I've never heard him!
Ooops - sorry - I got the list from Nick Barracloughs web site and the list is incomplete, I had to do the last 4 from memory. His site is www.smoothoperations.com
For those of us in the US it may seem like there are many singers missed. However, we have to remember it is a list from the BBC for their listeners. Some that have a big following here may not be that well known in the UK or Europe. Or, some have a bigger following there then they do in the US.
I did a CD project about a year and a half ago for a singer, Lanny Priester, who is bascially unknown here in the states but has released a prior album in Europe that apparently did relatively well. He was trying to get backing so the CD project I did the steel on could be released in Europe too and if enough backing ($$) and promotion was done, he was going to do a European concert tour.
They coul,nt possibly mean the last century!Where is Red Foley,GeorgeMorgan,Jim Reeves,Marty Robbins,Eddy Arnold,And on, and on. Good Grief, as Charlie Brown would say!!
If you mention the names Haggard, Alan Jackson, George Jones, George Strait etc etc, I bet that 90% on people in the UK would not have a clue who you were talking about.
I don't believe it...Mary Chapin-Carpenter and Alison Krauss...but no Mother Maybelle and no Kitty Wells?!?! I suspect that if it hadn't been for these two ladies, Alison and Mary would be flippin' burgers somewhere.
If Clive's last comment here is indeed correct, I can't imagine why the BBC would even bother conducting such a poll?? Of course folks like this type of activity, kind of a just-for-the-fun-of-it thing - but again, Clive's notion affirms that it means absolutely nothing, no grounds of relevance at all if a certain number of Brits have never listened to Hag's "Serving 190 Proof" album from 1979. - Neil H.
Just to put some icing on the cake, the local "new country" radio station is leg-humping a compilation CD this week, proclaiming Alabama as the Country Group Of The Century.
Alison Krauss
