List of country performers by era

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. (Consider using more specific cleanup instructions.) Please help improve this article if you can. The talk page may contain suggestions. (March 2011)
Question book-new.svg
 This article does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (March 2009)

Below is a list of notable country performers alphabetically by period, with each listing followed by a description of the artists' work.

Contents

[edit] Early innovators

[edit] The Golden Age & Country Pop In the 60s, 70s & 80s

  • Bill Anderson, singer who is still a major songwriter of new hits
  • Liz Anderson, as famous for her songwriting as her singing
  • Lynn Anderson, a California blonde who became a top country star in the 1970s
  • Deborah Allen, a popular 80s Country/Pop vocalist
  • Eddy Arnold, the all-time hit leader by Joel Whitburn's point system
  • Moe Bandy, one of the greatest singers of the 1970s with hits galore.
  • The Browns, brother-sister trio who hit No. 1
  • Glen Campbell, brought a whole new audience to Country Music with his TV show, co-starred with John Wayne in movie "True Grit," won many awards, top Country Music hitmaker and pop crossover icon. He popularized "The Nashville Sound."
  • Johnny Cash, one of the single most Influential and popular country singers of all time. Best known for hits like "Ring of Fire", "Folsom Prison Blues" and "Cocaine Blues". He died in 2003
  • Patsy Cline, immensely popular balladeer who died in 1963
  • David Allan Coe, Outlaw Country star of the 70s
  • Jessi Colter, Outlaw country singer and wife of Waylon Jennings, best known for "I'm Not Lisa"
  • John Conlee, had a string of hits from the late 70s to mid 80s, including his signature "Rose Colored Glasses
  • Skeeter Davis, major female vocalist for decades
  • Mac Davis, Country Pop hitmaker in the 70s and 80s
  • Jimmy Dean, singer and TV personality, former owner of Jimmy Dean Sausage Company
  • Roy Drusky, smooth-singing Opry star for 40 years
  • Jimmy Martin, The King of bluegrass
  • Janie Fricke, known for her series of smooth Countrypolitan hits in the early 80s
  • Lefty Frizzell, perhaps the greatest of the honky-tonkers
  • Crystal Gayle, sister of Loretta Lynn who became a Countrypolitan sensation in the 70s and 80s and had 18 #1's during this stretch.
  • Bobbie Gentry, one of the first female artists to write and produce her own material.
  • Don Gibson, wrote and recorded many standards
  • Merle Haggard, popularized the Bakersfield sound
  • Tom T. Hall, "The Storyteller", wrote most of his many hits
  • Emmylou Harris has maintained one of the most artistically rewarding careers in country music
  • Johnny Horton a fantastic singer who met an untimely death that ended a wonderful career.
  • Jan Howard, pop-flavored female vocalist who sang pure country
  • Stonewall Jackson, honky-tonk icon
  • Sonny James, had a record 16 consecutive No. 1 hits
  • Wanda Jackson, honky-tonk female vocalist equally at home in rock and roll
  • Waylon Jennings, one of the leaders of the "outlaw" country sound
  • George Jones, widely considered "the greatest living country singer", #1 in charted hits
  • Kris Kristofferson, songwriter and one of the leaders of the "outlaw" country sound
  • k.d. lang, Canadian country-pop singer-songwriter, known for her campy performances, androgynous look, and mezzo-soprano range, winning CCMA's Entertainer of the Year Award in 1987, 1988, 1989, and 1990, Best Album 1988 for Shadowland, and the American Grammy Awards for Best Country Vocal Collaboration 1989 for "Crying" (shared with Roy Orbison), and Best Female Country Music Performance 1990, for Absolute Torch and Twang.
  • Loretta Lynn, arguably country music's biggest star in the 1960s and early 1970s
  • Roger Miller, songwriter and Grammy record-breaker
  • Ronnie Milsap, country's first blind superstar and arguably the most popular country star of the late 1970s and early 1980s; scored 40 #1 hits (35 of which reached the top spot on Billboard)


[edit] Country Rock

[edit] Early '80s Country Stars


[edit] Late '80s Country Stars


[edit] Early '90s Country Stars


[edit] Late '90s Country Stars

[edit] 2000-2009 Country stars

[edit] Modern country stars 2010-present

[edit] Modern Canadian Country Stars

Jeff Bates

[edit] Country stars outside North America

Portal icon Country music portal
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_country_performers_by_era&oldid=473268351"
Personal tools
Namespaces
Variants
Actions
Navigation
Interaction
Toolbox
Print/export
Languages