As inevitably happens with lists of this kind people will disagree. Where is X? How come Y is above Z? Well as promised you, our wise and wonderful readers, will have the chance to cast your votes tomorrow and it will be fascinating to see how much overlap and indeed how much divergence there is between writers and readers. However, in the meantime we thought it might be interesting to let you see below the surface at who didn’t make it. We’ve already published our 11-20 but this time we go further and give you our Top 44. That is everyone who appeared on more than one list. A few caveats to bear in mind though:
- Each writer chose their own criteria. I personally decided to leave out country music artists on the basis that it was a distinct and separate genre, otherwise my list would almost certainly have included Johnny Cash, Hank Williams etc. Another writer made no such distinction and included Buck Owens and George Jones amongst others.
- Perhaps more tellingly than that was the approach taken towards the likes of some of the big-hitters – Dylan, Young, Springsteen etc. Whilst a few did include them within the americana umbrella, most did not, presumably viewing them as artists with a much wider appeal than just the americana audience.
- I have only included artists that received more than one nomination. Bob Dylan was chosen at Number 1 by one writer but featured in no other list. Those 10 points would have been enough to see him sneak into the Top 40. The two-nomination prescription also ruled out two other artists who are far less known, and whilst they clearly meant a great deal to the writers who nominated them, there was no support for them from elsewhere.
- The way the voting figures were configured favoured artists with a wide appeal. Lucinda Williams, our winner, appeared in twelve individual lists compared to the runner-up (the next best) who appeared in seven. This meant that she scored heavily despite only being chosen as a personal Number 1 by a single writer. Jackson Browne on the other hand was chosen at Number 1 by two writers but failed to get a mention in any other list and therefore only reached 17th overall. Where artists were tied on points, the number of nominations was taken into consideration.
It was great fun. Thanks to all the writers for their lists which stimulated a lot of interest and debate. We hope you enjoyed it, but it is not, nor claimed to be, definitive. Don’t forget to look in tomorrow to see how you can have your own say.
THE LIST
- Lucinda Williams
- Willy Vlautin
- Steve Earle
- The Band
- Gram Parsons
- John Prine
- Grateful Dead/Jerry Garcia
- Townes Van Zandt
- Jason Isbell
- Drive-By Truckers
- Emmylou Harris
- Guy Clark
- Wilco
- The Byrds
- Ry Cooder
- Chris Hillman
- Jackson Browne
- Felice Brothers
- Mary Chapin Carpenter
- Rhiannon Giddens
- Uncle Tupelo
- Lori McKenna
- Gretchen Peters
- The Jayhawks
- Peter Bruntnell
- Ruston Kelly
- Tom Petty
- Nick Lowe
- Neil Young
- Levon Helm
- Dave Alvin
- Cowboy Junkies
- Joni Mitchell
- Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
- Nanci Griffith
- Rosanne Cash
- Patti Griffin
- Mary Gauthier
- Karen Dalton
- Bruce Springsteen
- Sparklehorse
- Courtney Marie Andrews
- Buddy Miller
- Gillian Welch
Great list although there is a discussion to have about the top 10.
Bernard Shakey.
My hand goes up. Yes i’m guilty of being a little irritated by the placings. In reading your comment here Clint it makes sense now how you came to this. Your excellent team of writers have a far wider range of “likes” than i thought. As you said , of course it would cause disagreement. But then that is what makes Americana so far ranging and yes, wonderful. Can’t wait to cast my votes!!
Yep …. I agree with both Andrew and Andy.
H’mmm, it seems to me that unless the same criteria are applied by everyone then the list becomes little more than a random selection of artists in no particular order, and the exercise somewhat pointless. If nothing else it has prompted discussion.
Guaranteed, you can’t please everyone. But no John Hiatt?
No Songdog????
Exactly what I came to say.
That was what I thought too. Without John Hiatt, it’s hard to take this seriously.
While I hoped to see Guy Clark in the top 10, he showed up number 12, just below Emmylou Harris. Not too shabby for my favorite Americana singer-songwriter! Also as a lifelong Arkansas resident, I’m happy to see Lucinda Williams #1. She has deep roots here. My mother babysat her father Miller Williams, and her minister grandfather “married” my mom and dad. Levon Helm was also from our state.
Bob Dylan the original Americana artist, the band, the byrds, CASH, John mellencanp??? I think there should be a top 100 to pay justice to them all.
I’m an English person I wonder what actually constitutes Americana what do people think?
John Mellencamp and John Fogerty should be on the list.
No Tom Russell is a surprise
Absolutely! He should be in the top TEN. He writes like nobody’s business. My favorite. Awesome talent. Yes, where is Joe Ely? He is like no other talent on Earth.
Joe Ely and The Flatlanders
and all of these people on this list will all hail John Prine as the genius of this list.
Paul Simon? Buddy Holly? Lyle Lovett? Eric Taylor? And a whole lot more
Any list without Ryan Adams is invalid.