T-282. Big Band of Brothers (30 points)
Total number of songs: 10
Average song score: 2.7
# of 5-point songs: 0
# of 4-point songs: 2 (Hot’lanta; Les Brers in A Minor)
Top 50 track bonus: none
Personnel bonus: none
Recommended listening:
Hot’lanta;
Les Brers in A Minor;
Stand Back
Most probably haven’t heard of them, but Big Band of Brothers is pretty much exactly what t sounds like, a jazz tribute to the Allman Brothers Band. And they are really good. They have some legit musicians perform with them (including Jack Pearson and Wycliffe Gordon), and their arrangements are outstanding. “Hot’lanta” and “Les Brers” were obvious choices for songs that would work well as jazz tracks, but some of the songs are surprising. Those who have read my Allman Brothers thread may recall that “Stand Back” is actually not among my favorite of the ABB’s better-known songs, but I really dig it with the big band jazz flavor.
T-282. Big Joe Turner (30 points)
Total number of songs: 22
Average song score: 1.81
# of 5-point songs: 0
# of 4-point songs: 0
Top 50 track bonus: none
Personnel bonus: none
Recommended listening:
Baby, I Still Want You;
Rock the Joint Boogie;
Roll ‘em Pete
My namesake (not really), Big Joe Turner has been called the “Boss of the Blues.” He made influential recordings of a number of influential blues and early rock and roll songs like “Shake, Rattle, and Roll,” “Sweet Little Sixteen,” and “Corrina, Corrina.” He wrote the blues standard “Roll ‘em Pete,” as well as “Honey Hush,” the latter of which has been covered by, among others, Chuck Berry, Paul McCartney, Fleetwood Mac, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Elvis Costello.
T-282. Chet Atkins (30 points)
Total number of songs: 17
Average song score: 1.76
# of 5-point songs: 0
# of 4-point songs: 0
Top 50 track bonus: none
Personnel bonus: none
Recommended listening:
Dill Pickle Rag;
In the Mood;
Yakety Axe
Maybe the most influential country guitarist of all-time, Chet Atkins is known as one of the pop-friendly pioneers of the Nashville sound. Depending on your affinity for pop music you may see that as a good or bad thing, but either way there is no denying his immense talent. While primarily known as a country musician he explored many other genres and you can hear clear jazz influences in his work.
T-282. Dio (30 points)
Total number of songs: 9
Average song score: 3.11
# of 5-point songs: 0
# of 4-point songs: 2 (Holy Diver; Rainbow in the Dark)
Top 50 track bonus: none
Personnel bonus: none
Recommended listening:
Rainbow in the Dark;
The Last in Line;
We Rock
Vocalist Ronnie James Dio is one of the greatest of all metal singers. Some may argue that he is the best. He finishes #22 on my list of my favorite vocalists and therefore just misses the cutoff for a personnel bonus.
Unlike some other artists where I groups a bunch of their projects together, several of RJD’s bands – Black Sabbath, Dio, Elf, Heaven and Hell, and Rainbow – all have their own entries because I think of them as distinct entities. Unfortunately, that means the points get spread out and the ranking for a great artist is otherwise lower than it potentially could be.
T-282. Johnny Shines (30 points)
Total number of songs: 14
Average song score: 2.14
# of 5-point songs: 0
# of 4-point songs: 1 (Sitting on Top of the World)
Top 50 track bonus: none
Personnel bonus: none
Recommended listening:
Delta Pine Blues;
Ramblin’ Blues;
Sitting on Top of the World
Johnny Shines is another artist that may not be as well known and that’s a real shame. Shines was an early pioneer in the delta blues, touring for two years with Robert Johnson. His failure to experience financial success led to him at one point giving up his music career. Decades later, he reconnected with some of the greats in the Chicago blues scene and his career experienced a resurgence. Among those he played with in addition to Johnson are Mississippi Fred McDowell, Big Walter Horton, and Willie Dixon. As a delta blues picker, he is one of my favorites.
T-282. Primus (30 points)
Total number of songs: 7
Average song score: 2.15
# of 5-point songs: 0
# of 4-point songs: 1 (Harold of the Rocks, live)
Top 50 track bonus: none
Personnel bonus: #8 bassist Les Claypool (partial bonus)
Recommended listening:
Harold of the Rocks, live;
Jerry Was a Racecar Driver;
My Name is Mud
The previous top spot for weirdest artist on the list went to Dr. John. He is now easily knocked from that spot as I don’t think it is actually possible to be weirder than Primus. I don’t really even know how to describe their music, so I’m not going to try. I kind of like it – sometimes. In small doses I often think it is really interesting, but I can’t listen to their stuff for long periods.
With this entry, we have our first instance of a band getting a personnel bonus with Les Claypool coming in at #8 on my list of favorite bassists. Because the total number of Primus songs in my library was so small, I only awarded a fraction of his personnel bonus points (this is the discretion I mentioned earlier).
Interested to hear discussion on this one.
T-282. Waylon Jennings (30 points)
Total number of songs: 20
Average song score: 1.85
# of 5-point songs: 0
# of 4-point songs: 1 (Lukenbach, Texas [Back to the Basics of Love])
Top 50 track bonus: none
Personnel bonus: none
Recommended listening:
Are You Ready for the Country;
Lonesome, On’ry, and Mean;
Lukenbach, Texas (Back to the Basics of Love)
When I first went through and looked at the rankings after running all the numbers in my spreadsheet, Waylon Jennings stood out as one of the artists that was most obviously mis-ranked. Several of his songs are rated lower than they should be (probably all three of the songs in my recommended listening for this entry could be level 4, for instance). I think I have a little bit of an anti-country bias that affected these rankings. Taking a quick look at the spreadsheet, Waylon could probably actually have around 40-50 points more than he does, which would put him closer to 200-230 in the rankings. Maybe after I finish posting the entire list I’ll go back and make adjustments and run the numbers again.
Anyway, Waylon is great. Outlaw country is probably my favorite subgenre of country music and Waylon does it as well as just about anyone. If you asked me to give my gut feeling ranking of favorite country artists, it would be between him and one other who has yet to appear on the list for the top spot.
