When Denver was named Entertainer of the Year by the CMA in 1975, presenter Charlie Rich responded by setting fire to the envelope containing Denver’s name, which many viewers interpreted as a repudiation of country’s pop-friendly crossover. The man had vices, but he largely kept them out of his songs, choosing instead to glorify the great outdoors in hits like “Take Me Home, Country Roads.” Uncool? Perhaps.

Hitting his streak during the war-torn 1970s, John Denver kept things peppy and pleasant, walking the family-friendly line between country, soft folk and easy listening. “Here’s the thing about history,” Vince Gill told Rolling Stone in 2014, “the greatest artists that had the greatest longevity were all original.”

Some of the contemporary artists we included – all of them already trailblazers – also benefited from our speculation that their best work may in fact be ahead of them.īut in the end, the common denominator for both legends and today’s stars was that they are all one-of-a-kind. And we omitted both Elvis Presley and Ray Charles, whose admittedly important contributions to country music took a backseat to their work in rock & roll and soul.įor those who made the cut, we considered their lasting impact on the genre, their recorded output and even their legacy as an entertainer. We respectfully skipped past Chet Atkins, who, though an architect of the Nashville Sound and a solo artist, was chiefly a sideman and producer. We didn’t include those who were primarily songwriters, like Hank Cochran and Harlan Howard.

Of course, while 100 artists is a lengthy list, there isn’t room for everyone. Likewise, we reevaluated exactly where Hank Williams fits into country music, the true influence of Merle Haggard, and if an artist as clearly in the pop realm as Taylor Swift deserves inclusion. For decades Citizen Kane topped nearly every list as the greatest film ever made, but with time, some started to realize that, hey, just maybe The Godfather is the better picture. When putting together this ranking of country music’s all-time greats, we looked to movie criticism for inspiration.

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