I thought for sure being a CMT production that the top five would be "Little Texas", "Rascal Flatts", "Ricochet", "Sawyer Brown", and "Alabama". Yet I was WRONG!

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What were they?

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I was going to let everyone watch the show to find out.

There were a few on the list that are higher than I would have put them and a few bands that I thought should be on the list that aren't. It's still much better than their other "Greatest" list so far.

More "Bluegrass" and "Bluegrass influenced" bands than I was expecting. That's not so bad.

For those that don't want to watch, here is the list:

20) The Del McCoury Band

19) The Mavericks

18) Charlie Daniels Band

17) The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

16) Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder

15) The Flying Burrito Brothers

14) Ernest Tubb & The Texas Troubadours

13) Willie Nelson & Family

12) Flatt & Scruggs and The Foggy Mountain Boys

11) The Dixie Chicks

10) Alabama

9) Alison Krauss & Union Station

8) Hank Williams and The Drifting Cowboys

7) Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys

6) The Carter Family

5) Bill Monroe & The Blue Grass Boys

4) Merle Haggard & The Strangers

3) Johnny Cash & The Tennessee Two

2) Buck Owens & The Buckaroos

Tom Morrell's Time Warp Top Hands are a better 'band' than half of those nominated..I mean , come on ,Alabama?Mavericks?Tennessee Two? a "band"????!!!!

Larry I'm with you on this one. When my dad played with the Brazos Valley Boys they had Roy Clark and Merle Travis. That band was as tight as Dicks hat band. Those live albums they did in the early 60's were absolutely incredible. Alabama! Comon!!

I realize it's all a matter of opinion. In my list there are some there I wouldn't have wasted ink on, and some great ones that didn't make the top twenty.

I aggree with "The Statesiders". They need to be near the very top of this list!

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If a group doesn't have a steel guitar then I usually don't bother watching or listening. I certainly won't vote on the call in lines for different groups or singers that don't use steel guitar. No offense intended for groups w/o steel. I just support "Steel Guitar" 100%!

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WOW, That means that you only listen to about .00001% of all the music there is in this world!

I'm surprised to not see the Desert Rose Band.....John Jorgenson, Jay Dee Manness, Chris Hillman....talk about a supergroup.

Also surprising.....the Burrito Brothers make the list, and Poco does not? The Burritos were VERY rough as a band, whereas the Poco boys were polished. Tight harmonies, top-notch guitar and steel/dobro picking....I don't get it....

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James R.Hall
MSA S10 & MSA D12

EXAMPLE:
When discussing Ricky Skaggs and Kentucky Thunder , which is 100% Bluegrass...there was a noted comment by Chet Atkins on how Ricky Skaggs 80's band (post Hot Band)you know, the band with Ray Flacke and Bruce Bouton, may have saved Country Music!

But that band is NOT considered one of the best bands in Country Music and the new Kentucky Thunder Bluegrass band is ..I don't get it..

The Tenn 2..now with all due respect for Johnny..I can't imagine anyone assuming that this was one of the top BANDS in CM..

The show was fine, I just think that the title was wrong...

t

[This message was edited by Tony Prior on 19 April 2005 at 07:10 AM.]

First off, if any guitar player stands on a stage and plays that Luther root-five click rhythm, just about anyone in the world instantly thinks of Johnny Cash. Now I don't know about you possum eaters, but to me that's dang impressive. When after 50 years someone can just play a measure of a lick and people get an image of a band or singer in their head just from that. That's "music immortality" and impressive!

The other thing they did was that they were one of the first bands to focus on the rhythmic aspect of their sound. Every one was a part of the rhythm sections, in fact they really didn't even have soloist in terms of someone playing the melody line. If you listen to the early Sun recordings there are no fills and the guitar solos are basically rhythmic bass lines. Every now and then Luther would do an occasional solo like on Folsom Prison that was kind of Mother Maybelle's lead/rhythm style.