> np I gave the cable 31-channel music channel's "Classic Country" station
> another try, and what did I get? Merle's "The Bottle Let Me Down." And
> then downhill from there, with Sylvia, Alabama, Steve Wariner, Lee
> Greenwood, etc. Switched to the Big Band station, and got Benny Goodman,
> Woody Herman, Duke Ellington, Dorsey/Sinatra. I'm thinking the best of
> country, vintage 70s and 80s, doesn't hold a candle to the best of Big
> Band, 40s, early 50s. Unfair comparison, I know.
It's an unfair comparison because Sylvia and Lee Greenwood don't have the
same connection to the best of 70s/80s country that Goodman, et. al. bear to
40s/50s big band. OK, Alabama and Wariner don't, either, but they're not
nearly as bad as the other two. The best of 70s and 80s country, just going
from Top 40 charting at Billboard, would be Conway Twitty, Merle Haggard,
Charley Pride, Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn, Mel Tillis, George Strait, Tom
T. Hall, Ricky Skaggs, Don Williams, Dolly Parton, Waylon Jennings, Johnny
Rodriguez and a hell of a lot more other good folks who did better than
Greenwood, who was #25 for the 80s, or Sylvia, who doesn't appear in the top
25 by decade at all. Yeah, Alabama, and Kenny Rogers, and some other pretty
yucky stuff is there, too (though having acquired the Alabama #1s collection
recently I'm ready to give them another listen), but if you're not hearing
those folks on that station, you're not hearing the best of country, vintage
70s and 80s.
Jon Weisberger Kenton County, KY [EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://home.fuse.net/jonweisberger/
