Peter Vieira
Wow, you're reading this? Thanks! If you're into RC cars and I seem vaguely familiar, it's because I spent over 25 years writing and editing RC car news, reviews, and tech articles in print and online. What else, what else ... I have a degree in Film Studies (useless), most of a degree in Graphic Design (useful), and I'm married to a wonderful woman with horrible taste in men. Thanks to her, we have a terrific daughter who just earned her Journalism degree and is way, waaay more together that I was at her age. Or right now.
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Matt, I really appreciate that you took the time to appropriately respond to the PR rep, despite the fact that he was sending this info to a car website.
I didn’t know this country singer before now, but I have preemptively lost any respect I may have had for him. Doing an interview with a betting site, saying Morgan Wallen is one of the greats…He and Wallen can both just fold up their dick(s) and go home.
I have a soft spot for country through about 1999. Don’t know or care much about it after that.
My wife and I have tickets to see Dolly perform in Vegas but she sadly just cancelled after previously postponing. Probably won’t have a chance to see her live now.
Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, and Kris Kristofferson. There is already a Mt. Rushmore for country music. It’s called The Highwaymen.
When it comes to country music I couldn’t tell you the difference between Shania Twain and Mark Twain.
But I do know Ringo Starr, in his mid ’80s, is burning up the country music charts these days.
That just shows what a weird world we’re livin’ in.
Ringo’s always been a bit country. He sang lead vocals on a cover of Buck Owens’ “Act Naturally” on the Beatles’ “Help” album back in ’65.
Jerry Reed, the Snowman. Eastbound and Down is the only country song I need
Garth is rumored to be a serial killer, so probably should not be up for the hall of fame.
That’s one of the other alter egos, Garth is fine. Haha
No love for Kenny Rogers?
He could be on the Mt. Rushmores of Country AND Chicken.
Kramer: Yea, yea go ahead put the banner up doesn’t matter to me.
Jerry: Alright.
Kramer: No Jerry! I need that chicken, I gotta have that chicken, you leave those roasters alone, Kenny never hurt anybody.
Jerry: You got a little problem.
Kramer: Oh I got a big problem Jerry!
BRAVO! on that headline. Finally managed to convince me to cough up the cash for a membership. (And the promise of a t-shirt convinced me to go Vinyl.)
The only Mount Rushmore Morgan Wallen belongs on is the one for racist douchebags. He can be immortalized with the rest of the klan DJT, Stephen Miller, etc
I appreciate Antti throwing the Whiskeytown name out there – definitely not something that belongs on an OG country Rushmore, but a fantastic representation of 90s alt-country.
Whiskeytown, Steve Earle, Lucinda Williams, Uncle Tupelo… 90s alt-country was so damn good.
Thanks for reminding me.
I was trying to remember anyone other than Johnny Cash.
Well Roy Clark, Chet Atkins, and Jerry Reed are pretty amazing instrumentalists. .
What am I missing here? Why is a PR rep reaching out to a car site about music in the first place? Do you guys have a second venture you haven’t told us about?
We get a lot of PR for nothing that has to do with cars. I get regular press releases about the Illinois soybean industry.
You’re keeping Illinois soybean industry news from us?
Henry Ford was obsessed with soybeans. He wore a suit made of soybeans, built a car with a soybean based body, spent millions on soybean research farms, wanted everyone to have a soybean based diet, championed soy based paints and plastics and so on.
Before WWII left the US with an oversupply of cheap steel at the end, Henry Ford was planning on replacing the steel in automobile bodies with composites of soy resin and soy fiber.
So maybe the Illinois soybean industry.is hoping for a big comeback in the auto industry.
That’s a terrible band name!
You just hold your tongue, they’re going to be on the Mount Rushmore of country music any day now. 😉
Christ.
I’m in PR. I promise I’ll only contact you guys if it’s about cars.
Or airplanes. 😉
We should all understand that Mt Rushmore is an abomination and the only answer is “nobody. The real one shouldn’t exist, and we shouldn’t glamorize the carving of the busts of thieves, designed by the same racist who did Stone Mountain in GA, into the rock face of a sacred Native American site.”
It’s similar to flippantly joking about “drinking the Koo-Aid” (it was Flavor-Ade, and they gave it to the kids before they told the adults it was poisoned. It’s not a joke.)
As for musicians – PLEASE go listen to both seasons of Cocaine & Rhinestones. Glad to see that SOME of you know what you’re talking about. George Jones hell yes. Buck Owens. And the best stuff today that’s related to the genre is typically called Roots now. Radio country is just hick-hop. Retreading stuff that’s already been done better elsewhere with more inane lyrics and a slide guitar and Telecaster solo.
Thank you for saying this before I got a chance to Well except for the last paragraph, I don’t listen to country music, in the same way I don’t drive a Mustang. Not interested in being affiliated with Mustang drivers, or country music fans.
The truth needs to be out there.
They’ve been lying to us forever, while they run up the tab on our (and our kids, now) credit.
I can respect your stance on country music, though I can’t agree. I have no interest in the post-9/11 country music that is about being ‘Murican, but the legends largely have/had no time for those ones, either. See: Kris Kristofferson talking about Toby Keith.
There are a lot of cultural implications that are not necessarily the fault of the artists, but this is not really the place for such a diatribe. It was definitely solidified post 9/11.
Wow, I thought I was the only one who was pedantic enough to know Jim Jones preferred Flavor-Aid (not ade) and not Kool-Aid.
I am a precision enthusiast
Yeah, I have been to the real Mt Rushmore exactly once. I was a kid and didn’t even have all the background, but could see even then that it’s an unsightly and awful desecration. With more historical background, it’s even worse.
Just ask people to name their top 5 influential whatevers of all time or something.
Way too many one hit wonders here. I suspect if we did hip hop some here would suggest Vanilla Ice. If they don’t have a shit ton of gold albums they aren’t even nominations. If it isn’t country they aren’t worthy. If they can’t play an instrument they are not worth it
Man no one here is old enough to even know the mount Rushmore of country. The Darling family on the Andy Griffith Show is better than 90% of the fake southern accent rubes suggested here. I say Flatt and Scruggs, Waylon and Willie and as a fifth, there is room Reba. She is more talented just doesn’t get the approval because she doesn’t have big fake cans and hair like Dolly. She is also a better entertainer and actress. Hasn’t anyone here seen Tremors? Too bad she wasn’t in the sequels.
Nobody’s mentioned Roger Miller yet and it makes me sad.
Dang Roger Miller.
There, I said it.
Johnny Cash, John Prine, Waylon Jennings and Willie. If there are only 4. Oops Hank Sr. Hank III. Morgan? Oof. I don’t like Alan Jackson either. I can make a case for Garth. Jerry Reed? The original crossover star. That guy could play. And likes cars. I could really go on. I really don’t like much Bud Light country music. This clown Kane really thinks highly of himself. I agree with Matt, fuck that guy
I’d definitely add Kristofferson to your list for consideration of top 4, though I think the only one of the four I’d maybe swap out for him is Cash, and dropping him feels like a shame. Not only was he a musician in his own right, but he wrote a ton of classics for others, too.
I’d also put Merle Haggard on the list, but not in the running for the top 4.
And if you’ve gotta add a racist to the list (you don’t, but still), David Allan Coe easily beats Morgan Wallen for that spot. Kane seems like an absolute joke.
+1 on the DAC reference. I started down the rabbit hole of who is worthy. So many. Of course I forgot Dolly, who wrote soooo many hits for herself and others.
I actually came back to edit when you replied. With the names you mentioned, I somehow assumed Dolly was among them. Great songwriter, (somehow) even better human being.
What? No Lyle Lovett?
No
Biracial Kane Brown putting racist Morgan Wallen on the Mt. Rushmore of country music is everything wrong with country music. What an industry plant.
Receipts- https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/country-star-morgan-wallen-caught-video-using-n-word-label-n1256630
The hypocrisy is real
Did Mercedes mention “truck song”? Light the Corb Lund bat-signal: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCcWzLAcv4o
(He writes the most authentic horse/cow/ranch/farm songs I’ve heard. Although “Especially a Paint” and “The Horse I rode In On” are about heartbreak instead of horses, he makes up for that with the hyperfixation of “Horse Soldier!” and the Western Swing of “Cows Around”.)
This is all I can think about when I hear “Truck Song”
https://youtu.be/HTrWX1Lq2G8?si=8z2gjCuZy2PYjK1y
First time to be exposed to…. this. wow.
Autopian comments are interesting…
Corb Lund is horribly underappreciated. So many great lyrics. I also love how he writes songs that are heartbreaking, while also managing to understand where the other person is coming from. Pretty rare, and impressive.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zFvwqgjC7As
The answer (by a country mile) is obviously Dolly. Second answer is Johnny Cash and June Carter.
Shania as a Canadian is disqualified.
Canada IMO produces the best country artists because they have more country per capita. Even second-stringers like Corb Lund and Ridley Bent can write a song with more cow poop and tractor hydraulic fluid in it than an entire album of Nashville twang-pop.
My comment assumed we were talking about THE Mt. Rushmore but now I see it’s a hypothetical CW Mt. Rushmore which could be anywhere. So if it’s in Canada sure, Shania or second-stringers like Corb Lund and Ridley Bent are OK.
Oh I don’t want any of them on Mt. Rushmore, though a bronze of Kris Kristofferson decking Toby Keith would be welcome. I’m just speaking up for the Canadians.
I really want this bronze. Just a small one for my desk would be fine.
I am with @Drew, although I didn’t have Kris on my list. He was, however a great songwriter. Toby couldn’t carry his laundry
Dead South and Colter Wall have entered the chat
Johnny Cash and June Carter are two of the all time great married collaborators. Well there are lots of amazing married collaborators, but anyway. Ring of Fire is amazing.
Of course Cash’s wife at the time, Vivian, has a completely different take on what it’s really about.
It is an amazing song. As good as it was when performed by Cash I also very much like the punk cover by Social Distortion.
Seriously. Dolly should always be on the list. Also because she set an example of how to be an artist and a good human.
It took me forever to figure out Dolly.
All artists have a character they take on, and some stay in character all the time, but somehow the fact that Dolly’s character is at least a few layers deep, and she commits to them all the time took me a long time to figure out.
Well actually I have not figured it out, but I understand that I don’t understand, and it’s an astounding performance.
Part of me wonders if she has embodied that character because she wanted that character in her life when it was crappy. So she has just decided that she will be that person to the next “her”.
I am familiar with people doing that. I lived in NYC for 40 years after all and NYC is a global destination for people who don’t fit somewhere else and invent a new persona from scratch.
Her commitment to the bit is rather astonishing.
She is a class act. Literally.
Matt with the good Billy Ray take? Hell yeah.
I don’t think I would’ve even replied to this one anything but an “unsubscribe me,” but I can’t help but agree with Matt’s sentiment. It says a lot about why modern country sucks so hard when Wallen would even come up in this conversation.
Mount Rushmore is a dumb thing to do to a mountain, and an especially horrifying one given the mountain’s significance to Native Americans, but if you must paint a country homage on the dive bar wall, it’s got to hit span the ages.
There’s gotta be someone major in there from early country—maybe Hank Williams, Marty Robbins, Gene Autry, Patsy Cline, or Bob Willis, or if it’s a REALLY long dive bar wall, heck, throw up all of the Carters for laughs.
Johnny Cash has to be in there somewhere, and Dolly Parton as well—not for just for the impacts they’ve had on country itself, but for their enduring legacy and instant recognition to pretty much anyone even outside the genre.
Then there’s Garth Brooks, who really, really, really blew up the era where more pop and out-of-country influences started playing a major role. I will not blame him for bro-rap-country, but Garth definitely flew over stadiums so Florida Georgia Line could vomit onto some discs and call it a record, I guess. There’s definitely been some good (more freedom to push creative boundaries) and bad (the devolution of pop/country/hip-hop crossovers from experimentation into a bland Nashville-approved formula) that’s come in his wake, but the impact is undeniable.
You could easily make an argument for Willie Nelson, Charley Pride, George Jones, George Strait, Waylon Jennings, or any number of really, really significant artists, but good grief, Morgan Wallen doesn’t even come close. That makes ME want to print the email, take out a lighter, and burn it CMA-award-style.* I don’t cuss at PR folks I don’t know very well, but I might send a video. If they wouldn’t get the reference, they probably shouldn’t be handling country-music PR. (Or emailing an automotive outlet about it. Let’s be honest here, my reply would have probably just been, “Please unsubscribe me and remove me from your contacts list. I do not cover this.”)
[*In the vein of the Good Billy Ray Take, yeah, Team Denver, he made some country. Team Beyonce, Team Lil Nas X, and Team Posty on that, too. I’m not putting any of ’em on the aforementioned hypothetical dive bar mural, but limiting yourself to one genre is stupid and country oughta recognize country—or at least be less weird about songs that blur the lines between it and other genres—regardless of the artist. But I digress.]
Preach! This is a good take.
Pop country is basically terrible now. The good stuff is all under the radar… Waxahatchee (excellent in concert) and Katie Crutchfield’s side hustle Plains. Sturgill Simpson. Jason Isbell. The Secret Sisters. Artists who honor the legacy of the music and advance it rather than pandering to the lowest musical common denominator still exist, but you’ll never hear them on country radio these days.
Pop Country ain’t country
Best take on this
Not a Country music fan but Torch from the top rope with Cash was epic!
My father was into country a bit. I wasn’t a fan. But the original man in black is a legend anyway. Heck, he even covered a NIN song. Badass. Torch is correct as usual.
Chris Cornell as well. Listen to late Cash, and he covered a lot with Ruben. Neal Young as well! Listening to other genres matter. Lots of artists covered by bluegrass acts, which I find more authentic. OCMS, Sierra Farrell. Johnny Blue Skies, aka Sturgill. He transcends country by far
As I was reading the thread, I was getting more and more wound up, and Torch came in with exactly the words that were going through my head.
And on a related note, has any country artist done anything in the last forty plus years to move the genre on at all? If no, then they don’t deserve to end up on any kind of monument.
I long ago came to the realisation that Americans don’t know anything about Country music anyway, because Caitlin Rose never became the massive star she deserved to be.
David Tracy saying “valid crash out” like my 18y/o son is hilarious. And yet we are entering the final stage of the metamorphosis into Cali-Tracy. I’m both happy for him and nostalgic for the old days.
Charlie Pride (did I miss anyone citing him? That’s crazy)
Hank
Willie
Dolly
Charley Pride is one of my favorites. Not to mention Charlie Rich and Charlie Daniels.
Just to… “chuck” a couple more names onto the list.
Emmylou Harris
It took way too long for Emmylou to come up. “Live at the Ryman” is a seminal album, as are the “Trio” albums with Linda Ronstadt and Dolly.
And all the Graham Parsons and Flying Burrito Brothers collab