Top 25 Greatest Country Singers of All Time
by Knox27 | created - 22 Jan 2015 | updated - 06 May 2015 | Public
1. Hank Williams
Soundtrack | The Last Picture Show
Hank Williams was born in September 1923 in a small Alabama farming community about 70 miles south of Montgomery. His father was a railroad engineer who was also a victim of shell shock after a year of fighting in France in 1918 during World War I and spent many years in veterans hospitals. Hank's ...
2. Johnny Cash
Soundtrack | The Johnny Cash Show
Johnny Cash was born February 26, 1932, in Kingsland, Arkansas, to Carrie Cash (Rivers) and Raymond Cash. He made his first single, "Hey Porter", for Sun Records in 1955. In 1958 he moved to Columbia Records. He had long periods of drug abuse during the 1960s, but later that decade he successfully ...
3. George Jones
Soundtrack | Ad Astra
George Jones was born on September 12, 1931 in Saratoga, Texas, USA. He was a music artist and actor, known for Ad Astra (2019), Only the Brave (2017) and Crazy Heart (2009). He was married to Nancy Sepulveda, Tammy Wynette, Shirley Ann Corley and Dorothy Bonvillion. He died on April 26, 2013 in ...
4. Jimmie Rodgers
Soundtrack | We Need to Talk About Kevin
Jimmie Rodgers considered by many to be the father of Country Music began his career with the railroad at the age of fourteen following in his father, Aaron's footsteps. In 1911, he went to work as a brakeman but had to cut his railroading career short because of contracting consumption in 1924. ...
5. Patsy Cline
Soundtrack | Assassin's Creed
Patsy Cline was born Virginia Patterson Hensley on September 8, 1932 in Winchester, Virginia. Her brush with show business came at age four when she won a prize in an amateur tap dancing contest. By the time she entered grade school, her family was fully aware of her musical talent. On her eighth ...
6. Waylon Jennings
Actor | Maverick
Jennings, a singer, songwriter and guitarist, recorded 60 albums and had 16 No. 1 country singles in a career that spanned five decades. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in October 2001. With pal Willie Nelson, Jennings performed duets like "Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up ...
7. Willie Nelson
Soundtrack | The Dukes of Hazzard
This versatile, eclectic, rather wanderlust country crossover star known for his classic ballads ("Always On My Mind"), autobiographical road songs ("On the Road Again") and catchy rhythms ("Mammas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys") started out life as Willie Hugh Nelson on April 30, ...
8. Merle Haggard
Soundtrack | Wag the Dog
Merle Haggard was born on April 6, 1937 in Bakersfield, California, USA. He was a music artist and actor, known for Wag the Dog (1997), The Legend of the Lone Ranger (1981) and Jack Reacher (2012). He was married to Theresa Ann Lane, Debora J Parret, Leona Bell Williams, Bonnie Owens and Billie ...
9. Loretta Lynn
Soundtrack | The New Mutants
Loretta Lynn was born on April 14, 1932 in Butcher Hollow, Kentucky, USA. She was a music artist and actress, known for The New Mutants (2020), High Crimes (2002) and Logan Lucky (2017). She was married to Oliver Lynn. She died on October 4, 2022 in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, USA.
10. Conway Twitty
Soundtrack | Limitless
Conway Twitty was born on September 1, 1933 in Friars Point, Mississippi, USA. He was a music artist and actor, known for Limitless (2011), Punch-Drunk Love (2002) and Hollywoodland (2006). He was married to Dolores Virginia Henry, Temple Medley and Ellen Matthews. He died on June 5, 1993 in ...
11. Ernest Tubb
Soundtrack | Hollywood Barn Dance
Ernest Tubb was born on February 9, 1914 in Crisp, Texas, USA. He was an actor and composer, known for Hollywood Barn Dance (1947), Men of Honor (2000) and Walk the Line (2005). He was married to Olene Adams Carter and Lois Elaine Cook. He died on September 6, 1984 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
12. Buck Owens
Soundtrack | Ford v Ferrari
Buck Owens is a true legend in country music. Along with fellow performers Merle Haggard and Wynn Stewart, Buck helped popularize the Bakersfield Sound, or honky-tonk infused with electric instrumentation and rock influences. Growing up in Arizona, Buck picked cotton and learned to play the ...
13. The Carter Family
Soundtrack | The Johnny Cash Show
The original Carter Family trio - A.P., Sara, and Maybelle - made landmark recordings including "Bury Me Under the Weeping Willow", "Little Log Cabin by the Sea", and "Poor Orphan Child". They had a unique sound and harmony which has had an immense influence on country music ever since.
A.P. Carter, Sara Carter, & Maybelle Carter
14. Roy Acuff
Soundtrack | Night Train to Memphis
Roy Acuff was born on September 15, 1903 in Maynardville, Tennessee, USA. He was an actor, known for Night Train to Memphis (1946), Home in San Antone (1949) and Smoky Mountain Melody (1948). He was married to Mildred Louise Douglas. He died on November 23, 1992 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
15. Kitty Wells
Soundtrack | The Blues Brothers
Kitty Wells was born on August 30, 1919 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA. She was married to Johnny Wright. She died on July 16, 2012 in Madison, Tennessee, USA.
16. Dolly Parton
Soundtrack | The Porter Wagoner Show
Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 19, 1946 in Pittman Center, Tennessee and raised in Sevierville, Tennessee to Avie Lee Parton, a housewife & Robert Lee Parton, a tobacco farmer. At 12, she was appearing on Knoxville TV and at 13, she was already recording on a small label and appearing at ...
17. Bill Monroe
Soundtrack | Planes, Trains & Automobiles
Born in Rosine Kentucky, he was the youngest of eight children. Orphaned at age 11 he was raised by his uncle, fiddler Pendleton Vandiver. Learning the fiddle from his mother and taught further by his uncle, at an early age he began playing dances with uncle and brothers. Besides his uncle (whom he...
18. Elvis Presley
Soundtrack | Girls! Girls! Girls!
Elvis Aaron Presley was born on January 8, 1935 in East Tupelo, Mississippi, to Gladys Presley (née Gladys Love Smith) and Vernon Presley (Vernon Elvis Presley). He had a twin brother who was stillborn. In 1948, Elvis and his parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee where he attended Humes High School. ...
19. Hank Williams Jr.
Soundtrack | Gravity
Randall Hank Williams was born the son of the legendary Hank Williams and Audrey Williams. After the death of his father in 1953, Hank Jr. began his career in country music. The early years of his career were spent trying to overcome the legacy of his father and come into his own. This did not ...
Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs
21. Marty Robbins
Soundtrack | The Drifter
He is known for many styles of music - pure honky-tonk, rockabilly, gospel, straight-ahead pop, blues and Hawaiian. But fans remember Marty Robbins best for his cowboy songs. Songs like "Big Iron", "Running Gun", "The Hanging Tree" and of course "El Paso" established Robbins as the master of the ...
22. Tammy Wynette
Soundtrack | Cold Pursuit
Tammy once said: "I spent 15 minutes writing ["Stand by Your Man"], and a lifetime defending it". She was born Virginia Wynette Pugh on May 5, 1942, on her grandfather's cotton farm in Itawamba County, Mississippi. Tammy picked cotton as a child, and as a young woman worked as a waitress, a ...
23. Hank Snow
Soundtrack | The Ice Road
Hank Snow was born on May 9, 1914 in Liverpool, Nova Scotia, Canada. He was an actor, known for The Ice Road (2021), The Mule (2018) and Who'll Stop the Rain (1978). He was married to Minnie Blanch Aalders. He died on December 20, 1999 in Madison, Tennessee, USA.
24. Charley Pride
Soundtrack | Breakdown
Charley Pride was born on March 18, 1934 in Sledge, Mississippi, USA. He was an actor, known for Breakdown (1997), Sometimes a Great Notion (1971) and Supernatural (2005). He was married to Rozene Pride. He died on December 12, 2020 in Dallas, Texas, USA.
25. Lefty Frizzell
Soundtrack | Ken Park
Lefty Frizzell was born on March 31, 1928 in Corsicana, Texas, USA. He was married to Alice Harper. He died on July 19, 1975 in Nashville, Tennessee, USA.
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