UPDATE on Yesterday's Post- EARL SCRUGGS

I posted my list of the top ten male singers in country music last night and I wake this morning to find that we've lost a true giant in the field of music and bluegrass.  May you rest in peace, Mr. Scruggs, and hurry on up there and find Lester and get to pickin'!

Earl Scruggs
1924-2012

The Top Ten Country Music Singers of All Time (Male)

For a while now I've been wanting to start writing a series of top ten lists.  I guess my original inspiration for this was a TV program a few years ago counting down the top 100 country music male singers of all time.  I was so outraged that they placed a "talker" and not a singer, Johnny Cash, as the number one choice, that I felt I had to at least get my opinion out there.

From ten to one, here is the list I've compiled.  The placement on the list of some of them were tough decisions, some weren't.  Where the idea hits me, I will include a little backstory or commentary on the things that weighed on my choice.

10.)  Willie Nelson  
                   I know he's not everyone's cup of tea, but if for no other reason than his unique and instantly recognizable voice, his co-fathering of the Outlaw country movement (with Waylon Jennings), and his songwriting (He wrote "Hello Walls" for Faron Young and tried to give him "Ain't It Funny How Time Slips Away" as a follow-up, which Faron declined) and staying power, the Red-Headed Stranger comes in on my list at number ten.  Check out the song, "Gotta Get Drunk" to hear an obscure but beautifully done song from one of the masters.

9.)  Flatt & Scruggs
                  I know, its now one singer, and they're technically not country, but I don't think any list can be complete without the innovators and country gentlemen known as Flatt and Scruggs.  Lester and Earl once played for Bill Monroe's Bluegrass Boys, but left to go out on their own.   After throwing a fit and trying to black-ball them from leaving, they finally secured their own record deal and the rest was history.  "The Theme from the Beverly Hillbillies" is probably their best known song outside of the bluegrass world, but "Pearl, Pearl, Pearl," "Saro Jane," and a lesser known "The Last Public Hanging in Old West Virginia" are three of my favorites.  Lester's fun dialogue and Earl's inventive and often-copied banjo playing make their live performances true gems.

                                                                                                             

8.)  Conway Twitty

                     When Conway Twitty recorded and released "It's Only Make Believe" in 1958, many people thought it was Elvis Presley (Elvis did cover Twitty's "(There's a Honky-Tonk Angel) Who'll Take Me Back In") simply recording under another name.  Soon, the world realized that Harold Jenkins from an area between Conway, Arkansas and Twitty, Texas was actually his own person.  He quickly found his audience was more in country and switched over.  He recorded successfully a string of songs with Loretta Lynn, held the record until 2006 for the most number one songs by a country artist, and is frequently a posthumous guest on "Family Guy," but he will always be, as he was once described, as the best friend a song ever had.  Not always the best singer, but NO ONE could interpret a song and deliver it like Conway.  Of course, "Hello Darlin," became his signature song, but the mildly strange, "Touch the Hand" is definitely worth checking out.  Its also important to note that women to this day find his low-intensity growling and baritone voice sexy.

                                                     

    7.) Vern Gosdin

                  Not just because he's known as "The Voice" in country music, but because of his impeccable phrasing, incredible choice in songs, and his melodious and purely country sound.  While he had recorded with his brother as The Gosdins, his real commercial success didn't come until his 1987 release on Columbia Records, "Chiseled in Stone."  While the title song never reached number one, Gosdin and Max D. Barnes did win the CMA award for Song of the Year with the song.  I can safely say that this one song, "Chiseled in Stone" rivals George Jones' "He Stopped Loving Her Today" as the saddest and most country song ever recorded.  If the line ". . .you don't know lonely, til its chiseled in stone"  doesn't bring a tear to your eye, you're possibly not human!  "Is It Raining In Your House" and "If You're Gonna Do Me Wrong (Do It Right)" are classics that can't be missed.       

                                     

6.) Jerry Reed

              Had he had more recordings, I would have certainly ranked Jerry Reed higher.  For my money, Reed was the best country guitar player to ever pick.  Elvis thought so also.  He's probably more known for his role outside of music in mainstream audiences as Cletus (Snowman) in the Smokey and the Bandit movies or as the mean Coach in Adam Sandler's The Waterboy.  "Eastbound and Down" (the theme from Smokey) is his most famous recording and still makes me want to drive fast and outrun the law every time it comes on the radio.  I love his phrasing and how me sings like he talks, casually yet flawless.  Some of his novelty songs are among the best in that genre, but probably the best among these show off Reed's spot-on ability to mimic other singers: "The Bird."  Even George Jones and Willie Nelson, who are mimicked on this song, have personally asked Reed to do it for them, as they were so impressed.   An obscure album, Jerry Reed Sings Jim Croce, is a remarkable tribute effort worth checking out.

5.) Waylon Jennings

                  "(Theme from) The Dukes of Hazzard" and him being the narrator/balladeer brought him national attention, but this original outlaw had been a part of country music as long as Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley.  His rich and deep voice is still imitated, but his drinking and drug use is matched only by a few in any genre of music.  Every time I see an interview with his giant of music I feel he would have been a great person to know.  "Honky Tonk Heroes" and his duet with Willie Nelson "Good Hearted Woman" from The Outlaws album are among my favorites, but the obscure duet with Nelson, "Old Age and Treachery" is a great showcase for his talent and humor.  His marriage to fellow singer Jessie Colter produced a rocker offspring, Shooter Jennings, who flawlessly portrayed his father in the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line.  Many don a cowboy hat and try to capture that outlaw image, but with this one, there'll never be anyone who can step into his shoes. "Amanda" is probably his overall best recording.

4.) Johnny Paycheck

                 Donnie Lytle from Greenfield, Ohio would do more for country music than most people will ever know.  Aside from the obvious, "Take This Job And Shove It," and his infamous stint in prison for shooting a man in an Ohio bar, Paycheck's influence is still felt today.  Working as a backup singer for George Jones, Paycheck taught Jones his unique vocal styling that propelled a mid-list Jones to the top of the heap of singers.  Paycheck also sang harmony on songs for Ray Price, Faron Young, and Roger Miller, before recording on his own under the name Donny Young.  he wrote Tammy Wynette's first number one, "Apartment #9," and co-wrote one of Jones' greatest songs, "Once You've Had the Best."  Some of his best works are "Colorado Cool-Aid," "Slide Off Of Your Satin Sheets," (as a response to Jeanne Pruett's "Satin Sheets"), and"I'm The Only Hell (My Momma Ever Raised)."  Posthumously, his song "Old Violin" has become immensely popular and is truly a great reflection song written by Paycheck the day before he would start his prison sentence, but for my money, a very little known song called "The Feminine Touch" is the all-time best Johnny Paycheck song.

3.) Faron Young

                Known as the Hillbilly Heart-Throb and the Singing Sheriff, Faron Young might seem like a strange choice for what is mostly a hardcore country list.  But you can't deny the vocal stylings and cross-appeal of Faron Young.  He is the innovator of what would become known as the Country-politan sound, a more strings and less twangy vocal sound, and one of the first true superstars in and out of country music.  His voice could have certainly found him more success in a pop field but his desire to stay with what he loved carved himself a nitch in country music.  The Willie Nelson penned "Hello Walls" became his signature hit, but his string of hits included such classic gems as "Live Fast, Love Hard, Die Young," "Leaving and Saying Goodbye," and "It's Four in the Morning."  Personal favorites include "Wine Me Up" and "Goin Steady" (which has a fast track style that only Faron could have pulled off as country) and the duet with Margie Singleton, "Keepin Up with The Jones'."  He also co-founded the country trade magazine, Music City News and heavily invested his money in Nashville Music Row property, but lost most of his vast fortune during a divorce.  Sadly, Young lived and died the stereotypical country song,  shooting himself with a .10 calibre shotgun, apparently despondent over his deteriorating health.  And as a side note, he really was an incredibly good looking man, even when he got older.

2.) Hank Williams

               What can I possibly say about Hank Williams that hasn't already been said?  Well, I can say that the last two on my list were the hardest.  The hardest because I had to decide which to put where or whether to make it a tie. But after serious thought, I decided Hank would be second.  Of course, his songwriting should put him at the number one spot for all of music.  But his natural and effortless twang place him at the helm of father of the hillbilly sound.  His brief life was filled with enough heartaches to genuinely write all the pain he poured into his songs.  Hard living, excessive booze and pills, tumultuous relationships, and a true "walk the walk" lifestyle earned him a much deserved, although odd sounding, place in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, but his contributions to modern popular music of all genres is far reaching at least.  Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Teresa Brewer, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley, Conway Twitty, Merle Haggard, and many many others have recorded his songs.  "Moanin' the Blues," "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive," (which was ironically his last single), "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry," "Your Cheatin' Heart," and "I Saw the Light," are some of the best.  Not bad for a relatively uneducated Alabama boy who was taught guitar by an old black man named Rufus Payne on the streets of Georgiana, AL.

AND THE UNDISPUTED KING OF COUNTRY MUSIC and #1. . .

GEORGE JONES

Some singers sing. Some singers croon.  George Jones oozes.

Connie Smith called him the "Cadillac of Country Singers."  The Possum.  The King.  The President of Country Music.  I call him the Emperor of Pain.

Waylon Jennings, and others, said, "If we could all sound like we wanted to, we'd all sound like George Jones."

I safely say that there is not one singer in country music, or any music, that can sing a song like George Jones.  His voice is distinct and unique and often copied. His voice literally oozes the pain and hardship he's put himself through.  His voice brings forth emotions where one thought emotions couldn't be found.  Sadness drips from his phrasing like a leaky faucet.  I've never heard another singer who could take a three-letter, one syllable word and stretch is a full bar and still make it sound natural and good.

Johnny Paycheck taught him the breath control and vocal phrasing that sent Jones to the heights he'd longed for.  In turn, Jones taught Paycheck the ins and outs of cocaine and alcohol abuse.  But their friendship and collaboration endured, much as Jones' voice did.  His marriage and singing partnership with the possibly best country female voice, Tammy Wynette, is the stuff country music fairy tales are made of.  His list of accolades and songs is endless, but I'm including some of my favorites.  Of course, "He Stopped Loving Her Today" is by far the hardest hitting and greatest of his songs (probably the best country song of all time period).

I know I'll cry the day George Jones dies.  Any music lover should.  Jones sang a song called, "Who's Gonna Fill Their Shoes?" and I can honestly say, I've pondered that question myself for years.  And the only answer about who's gonna fill Jones' shoes is no one!

Some of the lesser known songs that need to be heard by those not as familiar with Jones are: "Don't Leave Without Taking Your Silver," "Wild Irish Rose," "C.C. Waterback" with Merle Haggard, "The Door," "We Must Have Been Out of Our Minds," with Melba Montgomery, "Right Left Hand," "What My Woman Can't Do," "Once You've Had the Best," "The Grand Tour," "Bartender's Blues," "I've Aged Twenty Years in Five," "Tennessee Whiskey," "Wine Colored Roses," "Who's Gonna Cut My Baby's Kindlin (When I'm Gone," "Mama's Family Bible," and all the duets with Tammy.  Additionally, many artists have written or recorded songs about Jones, but among the best are Alan Jackson's "Playing Possum" and Becky Hobbs' "Jones on the Jukebox."

I feel I need to give honorable mention to a couple of singers.  Merle Haggard, Hank Thompson, Gene Watson, Jimmy Martin, Brad Paisley, and Buck Owens.

Rick Santorum? Really?

Are people really still contributing to the Rick Santorum campaign?  I mean, really?  Do they honestly believe he has a remote chance of winning anything?   His shady attempts at being a man of integrity all the while airing truncated and grossly misleading ads against Mitt Romney are the epitome of so many in the Christian religious right.  The guy makes our Democratic own Dennis Kucinich seem like a sane and respected politician.