April 2008 – Country Universe

100 Greatest Women, #66: Paulette Carlson

April 30, 2008 Kevin John Coyne 9

100 Greatest Women #66 Paulette Carlson (Highway 101) Few vocalists better illustrate the transition from the new traditionalist revival of the mid-eighties to the country boom in the early nineties than Paulette Carlson. As the

100 Greatest Women, #67: Bobbie Gentry

April 29, 2008 Kevin John Coyne 71

100 Greatest Women #67 Bobbie Gentry M-I-Double S-I-Double S-I-Double P-I. Bobbie Gentry’s swampy vocals came straight out of the Mississippi Delta where she was born and raised. She was born in Chicksaw County, Mississippi, and

100 Greatest Women, #68: Holly Dunn

April 28, 2008 Kevin John Coyne 4

100 Greatest Women #68 Holly Dunn Opry member Holly Dunn had a solid five year run of hits that made her one of the more popular female country singers of the late eighties. That’s a

100 Greatest Women, #69: Gail Davies

April 27, 2008 Kevin John Coyne 3

100 Greatest Women #69 Gail Davies Some artists simply come along before their time. They lay out a path that other artists will follow, but they don’t reap the benefits of it. Gail Davies was

100 Greatest Women, #70: Sammi Smith

April 26, 2008 Kevin John Coyne 3

100 Greatest Women #70 Sammi Smith She may not have been part of the legendary Outlaws album, but long before the Outlaw movement was a media craze, Smith was the living embodiment of it. Her

Carrie Underwood, “Praying For Time”

April 23, 2008 Kevin John Coyne 11

Last year, the first Idols Give Back special found Carrie Underwood transforming the Pretenders classic “I’ll Stand By You” into an immaculate country ballad. This year, she reinvents the George Michael smash “Praying For Time.”

100 Greatest Women, #71: Norma Jean

April 23, 2008 Kevin John Coyne 0

100 Greatest Women #71 Norma Jean It’s hard to imagine Dolly Parton having trouble filling anybody’s shoes, but when she replaced Norma Jean on The Porter Wagoner Show in 1967, she was stepping into very

100 Greatest Women, #72: Nanci Griffith

April 23, 2008 Kevin John Coyne 3

100 Greatest Women #72 Nanci Griffith The eighties brought a mini-folk revival to Music Row, with coffeehouse artists scoring major label deals. Of this group, only Mary Chapin Carpenter went on to mainstream country success,

100 Greatest Women, #73: Melba Montgomery

April 21, 2008 Kevin John Coyne 4

100 Greatest Women #73 Melba Montgomery Ask most contemporary country fans about who George Jones sang all of those classic duets with, and they’ll say Tammy Wynette. Ask a fan with a deep love for

100 Greatest Women, #74: Shelby Lynne

April 20, 2008 Kevin John Coyne 10

100 Greatest Women #74 Shelby Lynne She was only eighteen years old when she scored a major label record deal, but Shelby Lynne had already had enough life experience to be a convincing singer of