In your opinion what is the best decade of country Music?

[Creed Bratton]

I am guessing for most of us it will be the era you grew up listening to but which was best in your opinion? Obviously some of the artist bled over into multiple decades but I based the names off of the decade they got their start or made it big and it's just a short sample not all big artist. For me, I like some songs and artist from each one but the best would be the 80's and 90's.

 

[Creed Bratton]

Sorry can @IL Wildcat or another mod move this to The Paddock. I didn't realize I was on the wrong board until I had already posted.

 

[nickhorvathsuxazz]

I consider Hank Williams to be America's greatest songwriter/wordsmith ever. Gotta go w/ the 50's, when he was in his heyday. With the honorable mention nod to my era: the 80's.

 

[bucsrule8872]

80’s.

90’s are a close second.

Really from the late 70’s through the early 90’s was the best, IMHO.

 

[HagginHall1999]

I'll go '70's. Folsom was released in late '60's IIRC and bled into '70's. My favorite country song ever, Waylon Jennings "Are your sure Hank did it this way" came out in late '70's....so I'll go '68-'78

Are You Sure Hank Did It This Way https://g.co/kgs/6imQZ6

 

[Steven1221]

I like 90s British Country - Oasis, Blur, the Verve, Stone Roses, the Prodigy.

 

[WTF Cat]

1960's... Buck Owens says hello

 

[80 Proof]

Quite a fail of a poll to not include the Outlaw Era, which is unquestionably the peak of country music.

 

[sluggercatfan]

Voted 50s-90s...anything after 90s is trash except for Stapleton. Taylor Swift, really.

 

[funKYcat75]

Nothing against Garth personally, but anything prior to his breakout is my choice.

 

[kywildcatsfannumber1]

1990's
1970's
1980's
Beyond the early 2000's, only a handful of songs/artists that I like since then. Guess most of that has to do with age and the era you came up listening to country music in.

 

[BlueSince92]

Way way back before Honkey Tonk invaded it, prairie music was just gorgeous.

 

[Jeff Drummond]

I would create kind of a hybrid era that runs from 85-95. That’s wheelhouse country music for me, although I do love the classics from pre-80s.

 

[Kingseve1]

1995 and earlier, but I can dig some of this newer stuff.

Highway men era was awesome.

My faves off the top of my head
Willie
Waylon
Hank Williams 2
Merle
George Jones
Dolly and Kenny
Alabama
Cash


Next tier
Alan Jackson
Vince Gill
Randy Travis
George strait
Garth

Honorable mention
Dixie chicks
Shania


2nd team honorable mention
Faith Hill



I don’t understand the Kenny Chesney following.

 

[DreadLox]

Hank Williams's career

2nd place: mid 50s to late 60s. Ray Charles and his New Sounds in Country and Western, Floyd Cramer, Hank Garland, Chet Atkins, Eddie Arnold, Patsy Cline, early Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette, George Jones, Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis's 2nd career, and the first great songs from Willie Nelson

 

[Creed Bratton]

Quite a fail of a poll to not include the Outlaw Era, which is unquestionably the peak of country music.

Wouldn't that technically be included in the 70's decade?

 

[DreadLox]

I looked up Eddy Arnold because I only knew him from the late 50s and 60s. In the 40s, according to Wiki, he released a string of 57 records that all hit at least the Top 10 on the Country charts.

After around 30 of those, you might have thought that the Country Music audience would have had enough of Arnold. But you'd have been wrong. 57. In a row.

 

[ukalum01]

Completely depends if we are judging the best of each decade or the decade overall... because for as much love as 80's country gets (and I love it too) there is some absolute drivel mixed in there that got real popular.

 

[SosaUK1987]

For sure not now. Lol

 

[Jeff Drummond]

Completely depends if we are judging the best of each decade or the decade overall... because for as much love as 80's country gets (and I love it too) there is some absolute drivel mixed in there that got real popular.

And the production was pretty cheesy until acts like Dwight Yoakam emerged and shook it up.

 

[UKRob 73]

Late 70's to late 80's for me

 

[Creed Bratton]

38 votes and not one vote for 2000+. To be fair I'm not sure the majority of what Nashville pushes out now is really even country music though.

 

[cole854]

Strait, Alabama, Travis, Reba...dominated the 80's. Vince, Jackson, Black and Garth the 90's. Pretty good stretch there.

 

[JIMFKFT]

The best era is Willie Nelson.

 

[DreadLox]

38 votes and not one vote for 2000+. To be fair I'm not sure the majority of what Nashville pushes out now is really even country music though.

Country music needs stories. I quit listening when it was just a bunch of jingle phrases strung together.

 

[CaptainBoogerBuns]

1968 to 1973. Jeannie C Riley through Charlie Rich. Right in there with Waylon, Johnny Paycheck, Merle Haggard and that Bakersfield sound.

 

[trueblujr2]

I am guessing for most of us it will be the era you grew up listening to but which was best in your opinion? Obviously some of the artist bled over into multiple decades but I based the names off of the decade they got their start or made it big and it's just a short sample not all big artist. For me, I like some songs and artist from each one but the best would be the 80's and 90's.

Yep. But that’s my era too, the 80’s, 90’s list is pretty big. Alan Jackson, Clint Black, Dwight Yokum, Toby Keith, Kenny Chesney, John Michael Montgomery, Faith Hill, Jo Dee Messina, Tanya Tucker, Travis Tritt, then some of my faves, Doug Stone, Clay Walker, Sammy Kershaw, Hal Ketchum, among many others.

 

[CB3UK]

I'm not a big country music fan at all. But I vote 70s. Jerry Reed, Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Hank Jr, and tGOAT Waylon Jennings.

Everyone else pales starkly in comparison to that lineup.

 

[BMoore2]

Country music needs stories. I quit listening when it was just a bunch of jingle phrases strung together.

A lot of people might object to the language David Allen Coe used, but man, one thing is for sure: he could tell a story and did it well.