5. Natalie Maines

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4jCvsKtC61Y


4. Emmielou Harris

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1MtvnZ2LvsM

3. Dolly Parton

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EQmbY1BaMo8

2. Patsy Cline

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=owNATIdymvs


1. Allison Kraus

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SJwdUtL1_wE

Just one simpleton’s opinion on a random Saturday night. Enjoy!

Love some Harris and Cline. I'm a big Reba fan, too, though, but good solid list of ladies.

Just have to include her

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-47tlPvmuE

Martina McBride has to be in the top 5

Patsy Cline
Tammie Wynette
Dolly
Connie Smith
Emmylou Harris

That was in no particular order... Sunny Sweeney is a really good independent act at the moment too.

(06-20-2020, 10:16 PM)BengalHawk62 Wrote: 1.  Allison Kraus

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=SJwdUtL1_wE

Her "whispering angel" voice gets old quick.  Love her "honky tonk" voice but she does not use it enough.

And her skill as a musician is even better than her singing.  She was famous as a fiddle prodigy before anyone heard her sing.

If you consider Linda Rondstadt to be "country" (which I do) then she is as good as any of them.

My other favs would be Loretta Lynn and Patsy Cline. Those two are "pure country" instead of "pop/folk/country" like Rondstadt.

Any of you who are big country music fans should check out the documentary Ken Burns just did on PBS.

Interesting history of how mountain folk music morphed into so many different genres (Bluegrass, Texas Swing, Southern Rock, the "Nashville Sound", etc)

(06-21-2020, 07:08 PM)bfine32 Wrote:

Agree, Wynona and Patty Loveless overlooked.

(06-21-2020, 05:02 PM)fredtoast Wrote: Her "whispering angel" voice gets old quick.  Love her "honky tonk" voice but she does not use it enough.

And her skill as a musician is even better than her singing.  She was famous as a fiddle prodigy before anyone heard her sing.

Agreed... I really like the stuff she did with Union Station that had Dan Tymenski on vocals.

Also it's harder to limit this to 5 than I first thought... It feels wrong to not have Mabel Carter or her daughters on my list, and if any of you aren't familiar with Kasey Musgrave right now do yourselves a favor.