100 Greatest Men: #81. Eagles
100 Greatest Men: The Complete List
You can count their country hits on one hand, and still have fingers to spare. But the Eagles did more to shape the sound of country music than any rock band before or since.
Articles by Kevin John Coyne
100 Greatest Men: #82. Fiddlin’ John Carson
100 Greatest Men: The Complete List
It’s no wonder that so many purists believe it just ain’t country if you don’t have a bit of fiddle. Thanks to Fiddlin’ John Carson, the first legitimate country hit had fiddlin’ all over it.
Like many performers of his generation, being a musician meant live performances. Hailing from Georgia, Carson traveled around the south for decades playing his signature fiddle. While the meager pay meant he had to work several other side jobs, one of which was manufacturing moonshine, Carson’s fame outpaced his fortune.
100 Greatest Men: #83. Freddie Hart
100 Greatest Men: The Complete List
Back in country music’s golden age, an artist could maintain a solid career for two decades before suddenly reaching a massive height of popularity.
Freddie Hart was a great example of this. As one of fifteen children born to an Alabama sharecropper, Hart’s only chance at success was striking out on his own. Though he played guitar since the age of five, Hart’s first tour of the world was as a soldier at the age of fifteen. He lied about his age to join the service during World War II.
100 Greatest Men: #84. Uncle Dave Macon
100 Greatest Men: The Complete List
Every country star with their salt longs to play the Opry stags. That’s thanks in large part to Uncle Dave Macon, who helped put the Opry on the map.
Macon began performing at a young age, learning skills from the wide variety of guests who passed through his family’s hotel. But he chose a career in freight trains instead, and settled for being an amateur performer until he was in his fifties.
100 Greatest Men: #85. Marty Stuart
100 Greatest Men: The Complete List
He enjoyed a brief period of radio success, but Stuart’s legacy was cemented when he left the commercialism behind and embraced the country concept album.
100 Greatest Men: #86. Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
100 Greatest Men: The Complete List
They’ve been around in various incarnations for more than four decades, but the common thread has always been a deep respect for, and desire to preserve, the history of country music.
Four Ways that 9/11 Changed Country Music
The terrorist attacks on American soil ten years ago changed the course of our nation’s history in far more significant ways than just its impact on country music.
But the fact is that country music was changed as well. Here are the four biggest ways that it did, for better and for worse.
1. Alan Jackson Becomes a Legend
He was still getting solid radio airplay and record sales in 2001, but it seemed like his glory days were behind him. Then, he stepped on to the CMA Awards stage and debuted “Where Were You (When the World Stopped Turning)” to a stunned industry crowd on national television.