Latest / Tigs Bits Podcast / Top Country Songs and Artists of All Time: Are These REALLY the Best?

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Top Country Songs and Artists of All Time: Are These REALLY the Best? · Tigs Bits Podcast

0:00
Welcome back to Tigs Bits. I'm Tigs, and today I'm joined
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by my Co host Jr. the handler. Unfortunately, Blasi, the one
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man posse has been sequestered for federal jury duty and he
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won't be joining us this week. But don't worry, he'll be back
0:16
next week. But in the meantime, we've got a
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fantastic show for you. I kind of found this one
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fitting, since we love to talk about music, and since we have
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the great fortune of having a tour manager for one of the top
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acts in Country music Co hosting this show with us.
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So I thought it'd be fun if we did a little countdown of the
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top 10 country artists and the top 10 country songs as provided
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to us by both. Grok.
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That's how you pronounce it. Jr.
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It's Grok. I didn't know what to call it.
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Grok. Grok Rock.
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I thought the G may be silent. It's Grok of found this out and
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ChatGPT. So just right off the bat.
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Both were very, very similar and in their list, which kind of
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surprised me because it wasn't with the comedy movies.
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So I just find this, I find this fun Jr.
1:17
Yeah, I love this. What what we did last week, we
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did BBQ, which was just bonkers, and then you guys got to do the
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fun comedy movies, which was, it's so subjective, but still
1:29
seem bonkers to us, to some of the stuff, you know.
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Yeah, I'm interested. I love to see what they come up
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with just to see what information it's pulling from
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and how crazy it distorted everything is.
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It's just feeds into all of our little conspiracy theories.
1:43
We'll start with the artist. We'll start start with the top
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10 country artists. And it's artist, not, it's not
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singer, it says artist, it's just.
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Artist. Specifically artist.
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There are males and females on this top ten list.
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Better be so, yeah. It's wrong right now.
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If it's not, I can tell you that.
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Look, I'm going to say this, I don't think it's, I don't think
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it's off, but I think there are notables that we would maybe put
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in there. So let's start it off #10 Patsy
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Cline with, you know, I mean, I can't disagree with Patsy Cline
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being on the list. Maybe, maybe, maybe, maybe,
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maybe not, but definitely in the discussion.
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In the discussion, that's that that's a 10 is tough.
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I'm going to say that Patsy Cline's career was shut cut
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short. Her body of work with with the
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Willie Nelson song and and and several others that was just so
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big and so instrumental on beginning of the next phase of
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television and radio being big when she was a star that I'm
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sure her her because crazy is going to be one of the top songs
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too, I'm sure. I I haven't gotten that far
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right? But so, but I'm I'm playing that
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off. No disrespect to miss Patsy
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Cline. Absolutely not.
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But 10 is a hard list too. I'll be interested to see how
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this goes. She definitely deserves a nod on
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any list. But like I say, 10 short and she
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and she was shortened. But yes, Patsy Cline.
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I mean it very instrumental. If there's there's no Loretta
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Lynn without a Patsy Cline. So I mean go down those lanes
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too. All right, very true.
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Reba McIntyre with her crossover appeal and her career longevity.
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Reba. Huge star.
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Huge star. I think Reba 1,000,000%, she's
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probably going to stay in this top 10.
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She's probably going to make the top ten and then, and I don't
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want to be crucified for this, but not a huge Reba fan
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personally. Like like like some of her
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stuff. I love that song.
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How Blue. It's probably my favorite song
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of hers. But but yeah, when and this list
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you'll see on there too. And we'll I'll hint around on
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that, But the crossover appeal is so big when you go from being
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a country artist in the eyes of country music fans to being in a
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public spotlight. You'll see that with a couple of
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these that are going to be on this list.
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Are they? Is Reba Reba without the TV
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show? Probably.
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But doesn't hurt to have the show.
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At #8 You mentioned her just a few minutes ago, Miss Loretta
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Lynn. She's Loretta Lynn is is one of
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personal favorite too so I'm a little biased.
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She was my granddad's favorite. I love some Loretta Lynn, her
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story, her songs, her personality, people that I know
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that knew her. I've only met her once or twice
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in passing, never got really to talk to her.
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But just the total package there buddy.
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And again, like I said, this was going to pop up her life story
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played by Sissy Spacek. Doesn't hurt her longevity
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either to introduce her to a newer audience.
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You know what I'm saying? That name is like with Reba in
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the TV show, that's going to put some people, the people who just
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like the show, to go back and realize, oh, she was a super
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huge country artist playing at stadiums and stuff before she
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went to television, so that that helps.
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But Loretta Lynn. Coal miner's daughter.
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That mean that movie is what made me really know who she was
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exactly. You know, millions.
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I didn't know. Millions, brother.
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Yeah, when you get on that, when you get on that small screen
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like that, especially back in the day when you got 12
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channels, you know, unless you got cable and you know what I
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mean. It just was a different time
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different time then and I've got a real we'll deep dive into that
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one night on a live or maybe on a podcast.
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The story. I have a few little backs back
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stories on the making of that movie.
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The place where they stayed. I've actually stayed there that
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them a month, a couple months together living in a hotel to
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learn how to be to see space, learn how to be here.
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Some cool stories on that we'll get to one day.
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But yes, Loretta Lynn definitely deserves to be on any list
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again. I love coming out of the whole 3
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ladies of country music strong. Just right off the bat, I love
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that. Imagine if you went to that
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concert in retrospect, guy or girl.
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I mean, you know, I mean, there's guy.
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It don't matter if you think they're cute or you love their
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songs or the girls that look up to them.
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I mean, there's something for everybody there that that,
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that's just three great artists. I mean, you wouldn't have today.
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You wouldn't have a Laney Wilson.
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Just wouldn't have. You wouldn't have me doing.
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You wouldn't. Have had all of that.
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And you wouldn't have people rot in Reba business sense and
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Loretta Long, I mean, they did it different ways, but their
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business outside of that owning stuff and doing things huge.
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Great, great list so far AI. Coming in at #7 I mean, this
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legend here, they get better and better, of course, as we go.
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I'm a little surprised that he's ranked at #7 Merle Haggard.
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Man, this goes back to one of those ones you start sub genre
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in this greatest artist into singer, writer, musician,
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entertainer sub genre. This this category hags way at
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the top on some of these. He's you know, it's hard to
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argue and these again, 10 is going to be tough.
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But I I'm you're not going to find a bigger Merle Haggard fan
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than me. So I'm good with it.
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But and only reason I'm good with it because I've done these
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some type lists. I just know how tight it gets up
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there. And you're like, really Merle
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Haggard 7 because you think, I mean, but, but also this is art.
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You know, if you look at Picasso, you might like Picasso
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and I like Van Gogh. You know what I mean?
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It's art. It's meant to be construed
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different. You know, you're doing a general
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asking people getting a list would be one way to to to get a,
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to get it done. But it's all going to be
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subjected to what you like. I'm totally good with hagging
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any any country. Top ten's got to have the hag in
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it, yes? What's your favorite Merle
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Haggard song? Man, too many good ones to to.
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Too many good ones to to mention.
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I mean to to pick one that's too many.
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Depends on what mood you're in, you know what I mean?
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Silver wings always is just. It sounds good, but in anything
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though. Footlights for me, man.
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Yeah, I saw Joe Nichols do that two weekends ago.
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That was absolutely as good of a version as you're ever going to
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hear in your life. Is Joe Nichols doing that live?
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Man, Joe Nichols was so awesome when I got to see him with with
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Justin Moore. Yeah.
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Oh yeah. He was there that night, too.
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Yeah. Yeah, he was.
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We did. We did two more shows with him
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last weekend in Arkansas and Missouri, and he did Footlights
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one night and tore the house down.
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And then the next night he did another, oh, farewell party.
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He did farewell party because someone in in Justin's family
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had mentioned it'd be cool if you do that sometime.
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I heard you do it on the Opry one time.
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So he did that the next night, dude, and it was farewell party.
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Oh my God, it was so good. It gives me chills.
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Think about how good it was. So good.
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And then this past weekend we got Randy Hauser is we're on
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tour with Randy Hauser right now.
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So of course, every night I'm watching him and he's bringing
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the house down. He does, he does a cover of
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George Strait's Troubadour that just absolutely slays and he
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does his own stuff. Anyway, I got to get off that.
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We'll do a tour recap at some point.
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But Oh yeah, I can. And with going back to Merle
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Haggard before we get off #7 I've got tons of back stories
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and inside tidbits on the Hag, as I'm sure a lot of people do,
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because he had such a great career and was such a a big
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artist and for a long time. Oh man, just one of it's just a
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legend. One of the best.
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I got to see Merle. When was that?
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Probably 2004, 2005 ish. And I mean, it was it was as
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good as you'd think it would be. So 8 so far on the list of
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people that I've actually seen, and I've seen several others as
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we have coming up, but he he's the first one to enter the list
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that I've actually seen. And what a freaking what a
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freaking show, man. What a.
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Freaking show. We saw him two nights at the
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Ryman Auditorium before he passed.
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Two night stand at the Ryman. Brought my mom, my aunt, my
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granddad. Cherise was amazing.
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Coming in at number six in the top ten all time greatest
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country artist from ChatGPT, Mr. Garth Brooks.
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Mr. Garth Brooks, I don't think you could have the list without
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him. Yeah, he was and you know, not
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again, not a big fan of Garth personally, like few of his
10:00
older stuff, but not a huge Garth guy.
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But respect. I mean, there's nobody sold as
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many tickets packed as many places out.
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He did a he did a million people in Central Park back in the day.
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I mean, he's done some some crazy big numbers.
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He and Reba both. The business owes them them a
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debt of gratitude because they took the money to another level
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with different things like that. I mean, people weren't doing
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stadiums to the level that Garth was until that was happening.
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And then now obviously straight does it now and a lot of, you
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know, Morgan Wall and there's a lot of the big artists will, but
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Garth took it. Rock'n'roll.
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You know, I told the story. There's a podcast called Murder
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on Music Row that was put out by the Tennessee in there in
10:44
Nashville was a story about a a guy who got killed on Music Row
10:47
in the 90s that was involved in the music business, some of the
10:49
shady underbelly side of it. But there's a story in there
10:53
with Tony Brown is talking to another producer and they get
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pitched two different artists and they said the only two we
11:01
ever missed on one was Dwight Yoakam missed on that one.
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And then the other was Garth Brooks and he said he and Jimmy,
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Tony Brown and Jimmy Bowen had a meeting or got pitched Garth
11:12
Brooks by his manager. And Jimmy Bowen asked Garth said
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what? Who is Garth Brooks?
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And he said, I'm a I'm a little queen.
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I'm a little Bob Seger. I'm a little named off 5 or 6
11:23
other acts, a little James Taylor, a little this little
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that. I'm a whole lot of Garth Brooks.
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And then he left. And then Jimmy Bowen asked Tony
11:32
Brown. He said, what do you think,
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Tony? He said, I think he's foolish,
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but then he says like two months later he's he's flying, you
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know, he's propelling down to the to the the stage on a rope
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on fire in Texas Stadium and he was off to the races and then he
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called Jimmy and said Tony Brown called Jimmy Bowen and says
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Jimmy. I think he was telling the
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truth. So not a not a bigger artist.
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It it, it then Garth Brooks is certain points, you know, can't
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argue that. Again, it's a short list, but
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Garth's Garth's done enough in business, done enough business
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to to have to be on this list. For sure, for sure.
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And I mean, he he is responsible for one of my top moments at any
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concert that I've seen him at not my top concert that I've
12:23
ever been to, but one of the moments of mean you get him
12:27
inside a a full Tiger Stadium singing Baton Rouge, singing,
12:33
calling Baton Rouge. Come on, man, I bet.
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Come on, man, I bet, I bet. Yeah, it was it like calls
12:40
another earthquake. There's been two earthquakes to
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happen in Tiger Stadium. 1 was when LSU beat Auburn at the end.
12:47
You know, to, to go up in a tight game in 1988 cause cause
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an earthquake. There's actually been three.
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There was another one that, that was the Garth quake and then
12:57
the, the LSU beat in Alabama and that overtime where they went
13:01
for two naturally. I mean, that was, that was a
13:04
wild ending. So I mean, any man who can
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create an earthquake, a Garth quake, I mean, that's huge, man.
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It's that's huge, Yeah. And but Speaking of playing in
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monster venues and breaking records coming in at #5.
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That's that's, that's, that's, that's a little low for the
13:23
king. It's.
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Kind of what I'm thinking too, dude, it's a little low.
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George Strait changed the game longevity.
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You know, he took the best of everybody.
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He's your, he is your Superman of superheroes.
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Everybody else has special powers.
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He has all the special powers. All of them.
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And then and again, like I've said for some of these other
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ones, having a movie like Pure Country, is he George Strait
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without Pure Country? We'll never know.
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But we know a lot of mainstream people who may have not knew
13:52
him, know him from that. Then they go, look, they're
13:54
like, oh, George Strait boy, he's handsome.
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They see another buying his records.
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They see, you know, they've been going to George Strait's
14:00
concerts for 40 years. The smoke, the lights, I just
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can't do it. That's one of my one of my
14:08
favorite quotes from Pure country.
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Look, I'm going to say something that as much as I love him, his
14:15
acting in that movie was not maybe I would say is not the not
14:19
the greatest, but it was fun. It was fun and it created.
14:24
We would make fun of that in high school.
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Yeah, well, like, like if you go back and watch, you know, I
14:29
always said that, too, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash.
14:31
Kristofferson is the only one that really has any acting
14:33
chops. But Waylon, all those guys would
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be in a bunch of made for television Western movies back
14:38
in the day. They were all terrible.
14:40
But it doesn't matter. It's them.
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It's it's really them. It.
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Would be like putting us in a movie Jr. mean it's, you know,
14:47
Kenny Rogers boys having fun. Even Kenny Rogers in in The
14:50
Gamblers, in all those movies, it was all right, but not really
14:54
the movie show. He's the race car guy.
14:55
I mean any of those movies, the. Yeah.
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I mean, have they held up? No, they have not.
15:02
They have not. But it but it's good so straight
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didn't have to be he just had to.
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He just had to go out there and show him what he looked like,
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what he sounded like and him songs he had and then that
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that's it. That's it.
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He was the real deal from San Antonio, TX still operates out
15:15
of San Antonio. Never did the Nashville thing.
15:17
Not a member of the Grand Ole Opry.
15:19
Total, Texas did it his own way. The King George Strait.
15:23
That's tough. Five, I got to put.
15:24
The King will probably be a couple of matches higher in my
15:27
opinion, if not the top dog in a lot of people's world. #4 Willie
15:32
Nelson, baby Willie. I mean, Willie has to be in your
15:36
top five. Willie maybe for me.
15:40
Willie maybe #1 for me. Right.
15:42
See, Willie would be a Randy, Houser said this weekend.
15:45
Willie Nelson was his favorite artist.
15:47
And you know, to me, though, an overall top artist.
15:49
I don't know if I I don't know if I'd have Willie in the top
15:52
top four or five in there. I mean, he's got to be on the
15:54
list. But as far.
15:55
But that goes back to what your criteria is for each of these
15:58
artists. Is it most well recognized?
16:00
Because obviously Willie's is recognized as anyone.
16:03
Oh yeah. But you got him up to George
16:05
Strait. Willie Nelson has maybe two
16:07
number one hits, maybe 5 top ten hits all time.
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George Strait's got 52 number one hits.
16:13
You know what I mean? Depends on what your criteria
16:15
is. That's true.
16:16
So there's those things. A huge Willie Nelson fan, not
16:19
saying anything about that. I'm a huge Charlie Daniels fan
16:21
too, but it's the top artist of all time.
16:25
Have a tight criteria. Not saying Willie doesn't
16:28
deserve it. That's why it's it's to each
16:31
person. The list is.
16:32
Going to, I mean, Willie's going to be on several lists.
16:34
Singer songwriters, you know. Songwriter for sure.
16:37
Yes, yes. But I think he's definitely in
16:41
the conversation. Yeah.
16:43
Oh, 100%, yeah, 100% really huge.
16:45
No, like I said, most one of the most recognized figures, I mean
16:48
him and Snoop Dogg. I mean, everybody knows what
16:50
them two guys look. Like you know what I mean?
16:53
And they're on that and they're on and they're associated with
16:55
something like cannabis industry that's been taboo for years and
16:59
no one would touch. He's always been.
17:02
You know, very coming about very pro cannabis.
17:05
So in Snoop 2 and every, I mean, they've they've made songs
17:08
together. And you know, Willie with the
17:09
IRS thing again, Willie in movies Willie is that is he is
17:13
he on this list without being everybody knowing who he is if
17:15
it's just for his music and his concerts, is it that great
17:18
concerts 4th of July picnic, you know so.
17:21
Wow. Willie flirted with my wife
17:23
about the time I saw Merle Haggard.
17:25
It was all in that time era. It was like 2002, 2003.
17:29
We were up close. He kept winking at her and
17:32
pointing. It was nice, it was fun.
17:34
It's like play on Willie. I'll go backstage.
17:38
I would really like to come back there.
17:40
Let's go on that tour bus, Willie.
17:42
It didn't work out, but I had a fun night.
17:44
Top three, top three. Was wondering when she was going
17:48
to creep in to this conversation.
17:51
I think just by saying she you already know who I am talking
17:55
about. None other than Miss Dolly
17:58
Parton. She's on Mount Rush.
17:59
She's on my Mount Rushmore of country music.
18:02
She has to be Dolly, not just because she's as well known as
18:06
she is because of, again, movies don't hurt your overall appeal.
18:10
Television shows, you know, commercials, all that stuff.
18:15
But her singing is top notch. Her songwriting is top notch.
18:19
Her playing is top notch. She's been on the road forever,
18:22
done at a high, high level, endured through changes in the
18:27
business like nobody else, always weathered the storm,
18:30
never had a bad moment. Never, never, never called in
18:34
sick, never had a never had a stinky little part of her career
18:38
where something went right and you had to go find out for
18:40
yourself. Was it true or not?
18:41
I hope she didn't do that or say that Dolly solid as an oak
18:46
couldn't she is have to have her on the top.
18:49
She's on my Mount Rushmore. So yeah, you could argue she
18:51
was. She's the you could argue argue.
18:53
She's the number one country artist of all time.
18:56
For sure, I think she could be on a Mount Rushmore of music
18:59
period. Music in general, all genres.
19:02
I mean, she she should be on any top ten list.
19:06
Just her her timeless influence of music and from music.
19:11
I mean, she just made that album here in the last year or so.
19:14
That's that's a ton of cover songs covering rock songs and
19:18
everything else. They're fantastic.
19:20
I mean, she's just, she's just unbelievable.
19:23
She's somebody, she's somebody I would love to meet at some
19:27
point. Have you ever, have you ever
19:28
crossed paths with her? Yes, but never got to really
19:31
talk to or anything. Been around her, been in her
19:33
presence a few times. Yeah, but that's good enough.
19:36
I think. I don't think I've ever met her.
19:38
I think you would remember if you.
19:39
I don't know. You'd be surprised.
19:41
I know. That's crazy, right?
19:43
You've met a lot of people. Well, no.
19:45
Every every show well. It's like you mentioned, they
19:48
want more of these little Nuggets.
19:50
Sometimes I don't have them just ready.
19:52
They just have to be they have to be called up to the plate.
19:54
You know what I mean? Exactly.
19:56
Tig bits. I don't, I don't think of.
19:58
And then it's like, oh. That's why I thought this
20:01
exercise would be really, really good to potentially Draw
20:05
Something out of you that we don't know about.
20:07
Oh yeah? Do y'all know Dolly?
20:08
Do you know Dolly's sleeved both arms sleeved confirmed.
20:12
What with tattoos? Yep, both arms sleeves watched
20:16
always wear long stuff. A lot of makeup confirmed it on
20:19
a morning show. A talk show about within the
20:22
last 10 years confirmed. I've heard that my whole career.
20:26
I got confirmation from someone who's worked around her,
20:29
confirmed it. Then several years later there's
20:33
a video of her confirming it on national television.
20:36
Yeah, she's sleeved up both. On her Tigs bits I had no, no, I
20:40
had no idea. I've never even thought about
20:42
it. I I guess I've never seen her
20:44
arm. She is always wearing long
20:46
sleeves, isn't she? Never seen her husband Carl
20:50
Dean, either. Carl Dean made it last.
20:52
Never, never see Carl. Take care of business.
20:54
We'll see you at dinner. Take.
20:58
Care of this. I guess how long they last.
21:00
Everybody who wants to go out and be seen, do all this stuff,
21:02
bring them on stage, all that. Guess how long that lasts?
21:04
You know what I'm saying? That's true, That's true.
21:08
That is very true. Coming in at #2 Hank Williams.
21:12
I mean, I don't know how you don't have this list without
21:15
Hank Williams personally. Jr.
21:19
I mean, I I get I get why Hank Williams is on it, but I would
21:23
have Hank Williams junior, right?
21:26
But but that's me. Yeah, me, my, my Mount Rushmore
21:29
has both of them because Hank Williams star.
21:31
I mean, he took it again. He's one of those guys who
21:34
transcended and took it to another level.
21:36
Early television, radios, getting out there.
21:38
He becomes one of the first big stars.
21:40
You know, he takes the best of everybody around.
21:42
He was the George Strait of his day.
21:45
You know, he, he was the, he was it and tragically got cut too
21:48
soon. But the body of work, he left so
21:52
many songs he had. He left hundreds of songs that
21:54
he wrote mostly by himself that are still in everyday
22:00
vocabulary. And everyday you you hear them
22:02
on commercials and TV's because they make so much sense and they
22:04
still hold up. Hank Williams is definitely in
22:07
the top, if not the top country music artist of all time because
22:13
you think about country music and pure country music.
22:16
Hank Williams there, he started it all the nudie suits, the the,
22:20
the, the, the party out, the party outlook that Waylon and
22:24
Willie and all them did later on that all.
22:26
If Hank wouldn't have died young, no one would have ever
22:28
thought that was cool. They probably you know what I
22:31
mean, But those guys used it, flipped it and uses their, you
22:36
know, the reason people do it now, people, young kids now get
22:39
down the road and party. Well, that's what Waylon and
22:40
them did. Well, they didn't come to town
22:42
doing that. They did that after they got a
22:44
little change and after they got a couple, after they had the
22:47
clean cut look for a couple years and then they started
22:49
calling their own shots. But anyway, yeah, I'll say all
22:52
that to say his legacy and his lore and legend of Hank Williams
22:56
passing almost helps his it helped him.
23:00
And then with his son coming along and being such a huge
23:03
star, preaching and reminding everybody that daddy was the
23:07
best, you know, kind of deal. And yeah.
23:10
And and people still name dropping him.
23:11
Like I said, it's he's up there, Hank.
23:14
Hank, how old was he when he died?
23:17
29, I thought. I didn't think he'd made it to
23:20
30. That's insane.
23:22
That's a lot at body of work that he did in that short amount
23:26
of time. Just unbelievable.
23:27
The Louisiana hayride, all that stuff, you know, I mean, I see
23:32
why he's there. He deserves to be there, there's
23:34
no doubt. But if my top ten, my personal
23:36
top ten, he actually doesn't make it.
23:39
But but, but I get it. That brings us to #1.
23:43
I've only one this. I've only let you guess this
23:47
only if it ain't George Jones, it ain't a list.
23:50
It ain't George Jones and this is where I believe the
23:56
controversy would come into play.
23:58
It is not George Jones, he is not in chat, GP, TS, top ten.
24:03
I'm 100% with you on that Jr. It's Johnny Cash is what ChatGPT
24:10
has Johnny Cash for, his crossover appeal and his immense
24:15
influence. Again, no doubt.
24:19
Look at this list, 1/2 of them. Like I said, you're going to get
24:21
a lot of love and I love Johnny Cash.
24:24
I'm not saying I don't love Johnny Cash and he was huge, but
24:29
again, when you talking about writing and singing and playing
24:32
and and doing the certain stuff, George Jones had 10 times more
24:39
stuff than Cash and 10 times better singer, better player.
24:44
You know, Cash again gets that lore from the downside.
24:46
It's almost like we love our rock stars to be, you know, a
24:49
little dark and dirty. We we either want them to die or
24:52
almost die. You know, is what people people
24:54
love that story, I guess, but I love Johnny Cash, but that's
25:01
tough for me. I, you know, I, I just couldn't,
25:03
I'd have him in a top ten probably, but not number one in
25:07
my world. But commercial appeal.
25:09
You see how many kids now walk around with a cash shirt on
25:12
don't even know who he is. Very true.
25:13
I have friends that are musicians locally that play
25:16
around and into tourists and things like that.
25:19
And they always say you can gauge a crowd by Johnny Cash.
25:21
If they you can always play a Johnny Cash and get in because
25:24
people don't even know they know it or like it, but they know
25:26
there's program to supposed to like it and bring a fire.
25:29
Or. One of those you know, boy named
25:32
Sue or something, you know, and it's crazy enough too.
25:35
And I'm not not to diminish anything from cash because cash
25:38
was awesome. Did the Johnny Cash show on
25:40
television late 60s early 70s. That was huge him doing all the
25:45
PSA's for different things. He was friends with the
25:47
president. I mean, he was he was so
25:49
culturally revered and being integral with that family and in
25:53
a great show on the road and then the comeback with The
25:56
Highwaymen, with Waylon, you know, Kris Kristofferson.
26:02
But if you go back, a lot of the hat, a lot of the Johnny Cash
26:04
songs that you think were Johnny Cash wrote and did himself were
26:07
actually covers Folsom Prison Blues.
26:11
Folsom Prison Blues is actually a song called Crescent City
26:14
Blues and he just rewrote the words to it.
26:17
They sued him, he settled out of court and paid it because it was
26:20
their song. We are going to go down our list
26:23
of the top 10 country songs of all time as given to us by our
26:29
friend Chet GPTI call her Amber. That's a whole nother story for
26:33
another day. But anyhow, so let's start at
26:36
#10 Miss Tammy Wynette, stand by your man.
26:42
Huge song. I mean it, it it's, it's a it's
26:45
a, it's a saying to it became a everyday phrase.
26:48
You know, stand by your man became a thing, you know, over
26:51
that time. You know, Jones didn't like it
26:52
at first when she first pitched it to him until he until she
26:55
told him that she had wrote it and he changed his tune.
27:01
What an interesting you have. Did you watch that?
27:03
I'm sure you watch that HBO thing on Tammy and George I
27:07
think is what the. Name some of it.
27:08
I did, yeah. I don't know how it.
27:10
Was close. It was close to accurate.
27:12
It was some of us. It's close to accurate, yeah.
27:14
If you want to know anything about George Jones and Tammy
27:16
Wynette, go check out Cocaine and Rhinestones by Tyler
27:19
Mahanco. And that's your definitive
27:22
information on that subject. No need for me to even try to
27:25
break it down because he does a great job.
27:27
Yes he does. Yes, he does.
27:28
That song, that song, that song was huge.
27:31
That's a big song, everybody. I mean it's.
27:32
Big song. Catchy.
27:34
Everybody knows it. That's right, that's right.
27:37
And it, I think it got a little bit more love back in the in the
27:41
90s because of Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton during all of
27:45
that stuff and Hillary Clinton saying that she was going to
27:48
stand by her man. And it, it, it regenerated it
27:53
again. So it had a lot of power.
27:55
It's got a lot of power for sure.
27:58
All right. What's #9 #9 Johnny Cash's fiery
28:02
classic Ring of Fire, which, OK, I mean, I the list of top 10
28:12
songs I have problems with much more than the list of top ten
28:17
artists. Like.
28:19
So yeah. Ring of Fire written by my my
28:22
one of my personal heroes, Merle Kilgore and June Carter Cash.
28:30
Ring of Fire is a cover. It it?
28:33
No, they wrote it before him. But it was written by Merle
28:36
Kilgore though. See.
28:39
See, there's a tigs bits I and. If I'm wrong, I'm not wrong by
28:42
much. I don't Google this stuff and
28:44
look it. Up y'all don't Google this dumb.
28:47
Yeah, just let it. It's just coming from the Dome.
28:49
It's probably accurate. Coming in at #8 This doesn't
28:57
make sense why it's even on the list to me at all.
29:01
Take Me Home country roads, that's.
29:06
What we got to find out, like is this list of people who actually
29:09
like country music or just a million random people who don't,
29:14
may or may not even know what country.
29:16
This is the only country music songs they know because these
29:18
are some popular ones, because these are ones, you know, but
29:20
now the greatest songs we'll see.
29:23
All right, What's 7? No comment on Country Rd. #7 is
29:29
your cheating heart Hank Williams classic.
29:33
I mean that that that's on the list that should be on the list
29:37
that should be on the top you. Can put 3 or 4 Hank songs if
29:40
you're talking about well written, what they mean,
29:42
Poignant test of time songs. But yeah, got to have some Hank
29:47
songs on there. For sure.
29:49
Hillbilly Shakespeare, that's what it.
29:53
Is moving along, number six finally making an appearance.
30:00
He stopped loving her today at least.
30:03
I think they're ChatGPT is getting that right because it
30:07
certainly should be on the list. Like country music does.
30:10
It's a it's a short movie. It's so descriptive.
30:12
You can visualize what the context of the words are in the
30:16
melody. It takes you to that place in
30:19
your mind and you can visualize exactly the story the the writer
30:22
and artist are trying to portray.
30:24
He stopped loving her today. I mean, man, especially if,
30:28
especially if you're in a situation, if you're going
30:30
through some stuff, man, but it lets you know everybody's going
30:33
through some stuff. That's true.
30:35
What a great tune. Yeah.
30:36
Jones, you know, he didn't write that.
30:38
He didn't write. He didn't write hardly any of
30:39
his own songs. But I'm sure he didn't write
30:42
that. But, but does it matter?
30:45
The artist get with the writer and the artist together.
30:49
You write it. Just the magic's not always
30:51
there. It might take that kind of
30:52
magic, you know what I mean? You know what we're going to
30:54
have to probably do? Probably have to have another
30:57
list down the road. Make us another list of.
31:01
Country music songs that the artist.
31:03
Singer song sells. Yes, that the artist wrote
31:06
Question Jr. Does does Justin Moore write a
31:11
majority of his songs? Yeah, I thought he did.
31:14
Yeah, he always has. But he also, when it's record
31:16
cutting time, he'll put all the songs he wrote over here and
31:19
he'll get all the songs that he and his producer, whoever
31:21
accumulates that might sound like something he would do.
31:24
And they put them together and he picks the best ones.
31:27
If. If other peoples are better than
31:29
his or or he's got a Co ride on it or whatever, he's picking
31:33
whichever ones are the best. Everybody does it different
31:35
because obviously you'll make more money if it's something you
31:36
wrote. Well, for sure.
31:39
Especially less people. If you wrote it by yourself, you
31:41
get all the money, you split it with more people, you ride it
31:43
with all that. But he's always I've heard him
31:46
say this and I and I'm you know, I'm sure every again, all
31:49
artists different. He's always said I just picked
31:51
the Best Song after we listen to him, whether it's mine or
31:54
somebody else's. I just want the best songs I can
31:55
put on a record every time. So but he usually does.
31:58
Yes, he writes, you know, it's usually at least half the stuff
32:01
on the record. He at least wrote a Co wrote.
32:03
That's awesome. That's awesome.
32:06
Let's keep on going here. Number we're at #5 I do believe,
32:11
yeah, yeah, we're at #5 one of my favorite songs ever.
32:14
It has to be at #5 It just makes me smile even looking at it.
32:19
Kenny Rogers, The Gambler. Gambler.
32:21
I love the gambler. I mean, that's you got to know
32:24
when to hold them, you got to know when to fold them.
32:26
TV show very catchy. I mean, I see why I see why
32:29
these some of these songs are there.
32:31
I get. It.
32:31
That's right. Kenny Rogers, psychedelic rock
32:34
band Guy Gone Country. How about that?
32:38
Is that what happened? Yeah, I don't know that.
32:40
The 1st edition See what condition my condition was in.
32:42
Yes. Yes, yes, yes, yes.
32:44
That's. Right.
32:45
He was Ala guy. He was already from Texas to LA
32:47
by the time he decided to go country.
32:50
Yeah, he did. Conway Twitty, you know, another
32:52
one. Conway Twitty was a, was a
32:53
rockabilly guy. I mean, you know, even Marty
32:56
Robbins, he was doing crooner type stuff.
32:58
I mean, you know, but everybody finds their way.
33:01
I'm that's why I always say I'm not knocking New New Nashville
33:04
for having him. You know, external influences
33:09
come into the genre. It's always been there.
33:12
People are always crossing over, going back and forth.
33:14
And coming in at #4 Dolly Parton's iconic plea.
33:21
Jolene. Jolene.
33:24
Jolene. Jolene.
33:25
Jolene, I would put I will always love you would be there
33:28
instead. I'm with that.
33:30
I'm with that too. I would.
33:32
I would put that too because of its crossover with Whitney and
33:35
all of that stuff. It's just a better, better
33:38
written song too. No, I'm.
33:41
Not going to fan. I mean, I Jolene deserves to be
33:44
in there, but it's not. Certainly not.
33:46
It's what it's now. Now if you're asking what the
33:48
most well known country songs are by the masses, it probably
33:52
would because Miley Cyrus has done a cover and everybody's
33:54
done a cover and it's it was in a movie and all that.
33:56
So no knock on the song. Great to change.
33:59
But she's got 150 great songs and 148 of them are better than
34:04
Jolene. But I agree.
34:06
I agree. And I will Always love you is a
34:08
standard, standard. It's like Gershwin and things.
34:12
It will go down as Bach and Beethoven.
34:14
And then I will always love you. By her and Whitney Houston, I
34:18
mean iconic, iconic. And she wrote that for Porter
34:22
Wagner on her way out the door, leaving the Porter and Porter
34:25
and Dolly show because Porter Wagner's the one that discovered
34:28
her, brought her on the Porter Wagner, right, good time I or
34:30
whatever it was and made her a star.
34:32
Then she wrote that for him on the way out the door.
34:34
She had to go do her own thing. Coming in at #3 Garth Brooks
34:38
Party anthem Friends in Low Places.
34:41
I mean, you knew that one. Well known song.
34:43
Yeah, terrible song. Well known song.
34:46
It's not one of my favorites really either.
34:48
It really isn't. But when I was in 8th grade, you
34:52
know, when I was in or 6th or 8th grade, you know, a dance
34:56
party, whatever it was, me and all my friends of every color,
34:59
age, denomination, hair length, whatever, we all knew that song,
35:03
you know what I mean? Everybody's singing that song, I
35:06
mean. That's it.
35:07
Coming in at #2 Patsy Cline's Crazy, which we've talked about,
35:13
that doesn't surprise me that it's on this list, but it's
35:17
definitely one of the top songs of all time for sure.
35:20
I think it's one of the top songs of all time at for any
35:23
genre. Beautiful song written by Willie
35:25
Nelson. That's right, that's right.
35:28
Beautiful song. And then coming in at #1 I know
35:32
you're going to love this Johnny Cash's I Walk the Line.
35:37
I disagree as well. I disagree as well.
35:40
Anyone who's ever listened to more than six country music
35:43
albums in their entire life disagrees with that.
35:47
Correct, Unless they're correct. So George Strait and unless they
35:51
live in Arkansas, unless they live in Arkansas or somewhere
35:54
where where Johnny Cash used to live and they have a a mini
35:59
Johnny Cash memorabilia museums seance room in their house, they
36:04
think that's wrong. Here's some notables, though.
36:07
That was on Groks Groks, whatever list Mama tried.
36:13
Merle Haggard came in at #7 on that list.
36:17
Amarillo by Morning came in at #8 on that list.
36:21
Beautiful song. Ring of Fire is what came in at
36:24
#9 A Ring of Fire was on that other list too, wasn't it?
36:28
And I'm so lonesome I could cry with Hank Williams was number 4
36:35
tear. In my beer, any of those would
36:37
have been. Good.
36:38
Exactly it had. I walked the line at #2 crazy at
36:41
#3 and it's number one was Jolene.
36:45
And in current times like this, I'm going to put a couple on
36:48
blast here because I know we're going to run out of time, but I
36:50
I don't. I like the list.
36:51
That's too. There's way too many great
36:53
songs. The list is OK for someone, but
36:55
not anybody who really really loves and digs in the country
36:58
music. Alan Jackson it is.
37:01
It would have to be almost, if not a top ten, a top 15 artist
37:05
of all time in my book. George Jones being snubbed off
37:09
the top 10 is an absolute travesty and it automatically
37:11
lets me know whoever made this list does not know what they
37:14
were talking about. Half of those people adored
37:16
George Jones and if you ask them at the height of their success
37:19
who their favorite artist was or who the best artist was, they
37:21
would have told you it was George Jones.
37:24
I agree with you. Hank Williams Junior, if you if
37:26
you're from the South and born after 1970 or 65, you probably
37:32
think Hank Junior's probably one of the best because Hank Junior
37:34
has, I mean sold records decades entertainer of the year took it
37:39
to a whole new level. Rock'n'roll all that.
37:41
And we didn't mention any groups in this bunch, but the group
37:45
Alabama was your 25 time do a group of the year.
37:49
They sold more records than any group ever.
37:53
And my personal favorite that we left out, that was left out,
37:57
Waylon Jennings. Waylon.
37:59
He's my number, one waylon's my number.
38:02
One, I always say if you're going to put Willie, Waylon and
38:05
Merle, you either put all of them or none of them.
38:08
And also, if you want to talk about being known and being
38:13
recognized, like I said earlier, Charlie Daniels would be 1 and
38:16
the Oak Ridge Boys, there's no one that made as much music in
38:20
the vein of country and being real country and gospel is the
38:23
Oak Ridge Boys. And no, none or more is
38:25
recognizable as William Lee Gold with the beard.
38:27
I mean, very true. You know, stuff like that.
38:30
And then all of those bands in the all of those acts have songs
38:35
that would be on that list. Yeah, that's.
38:39
It's tough. But I don't agree with that.
38:40
The song list is, is, is not. It is tough.
38:44
It is tough. We'll look, I'm sure the
38:45
controversy will continue from this.
38:47
So y'all TuneIn next Thursday when we go live or any Thursday
38:52
jump in and and we'll we'll definitely be continuing these
38:57
conversations, drill them down a little bit more.
39:00
But yeah, Jr. hate that we didn't have Blasey today.
39:03
You know what he's going to be. In a fun conversation.
39:06
Yeah, it was great, man. I'm glad we got to catch up.
39:08
Thanks everybody for tuning in. Yeah.
39:09
And if you got a, if you've got a list or idea of something you
39:12
want us to to discuss on here, shoot it over, let us know.
39:15
We appreciate everybody tuning in here on television, on the
39:18
radio, on the podcast, anywhere you consume it.
39:21
We it. Like I said earlier, it's
39:23
football season. We've got all kinds of stuff to
39:25
talk about on these lives and on these shows.
39:27
We're going to have some more guests lined up, so stay tuned
39:30
for the ride. It's going to be real fun.
39:32
And well, hopefully we'll have Blasey back for the live this
39:36
week. I'm not sure if I'll be able to
39:37
make it or not. I'll be back out on the road.
39:39
Like I mentioned earlier, we're on tour the country round here
39:42
tonight, tour with Randy Houser and Sadie Bass.
39:45
This past weekend we kicked off the tour in Charlotte, NC, went
39:48
to Raleigh, then down to Macon, GA.
39:51
This coming week we're actually off the tour.
39:54
We're doing some fairs in Iowa and Illinois.
39:57
Then a week off. Then starting the end of
39:59
September, we're going to. Connecticut, Asbury Park, NJ,
40:03
playing the Stone Pony in New Jersey at the outdoor
40:06
Amphitheatre there and then in Philadelphia on the 29th of the
40:11
month. So if any Bubba Army or any
40:13
listeners out there, any of these shows, y'all holler at me,
40:15
flag me down, love to see y'all at the show and love talking to
40:19
you guys every week on here. It's been fun.