I didn't hear a cry for Slim Whitman's name, nor Roger Miller's nor Homer and Jethro nor......

Slim Whitman, seriously? He's cornpone even to me and I've been listening to the stuff for 40 years. Maybe it's because I'd never heard of him until he started selling albums on TV in the late 1970s.

Roger Miller's actually an interesting choice, though. He's got some clever lyrics, very smooth vocals, and there's a humorous appeal to many of his songs.

You didn't exactly say it, but it reads like you're implying that Townes Van Zandt wrote "Dead Flowers". That's a Jagger & Richards composition.

I was just referring to his singing rendition but, yes, I presumed he wrote it and the Stones version was a cover rather than vice-versa. Certainly, it's been covered a lot.

My Okie blood tells me that Buck Owens has to be on the list. Some of those "artsy fartsy" country singers there just don't belong.

Where's Conway? Where's Charlie Pride? You east coast dandies have a weird idea about what country music is.

You misunderstand the point of the list, which is to introduce "gateway" country singers to non-country fans to get them past their cultural prejudices to the genre.

I'm a big Charley Pride fine but I grew up on that kind of music; I'm not sure "Kiss An Angel Good Morning" or "Is Anyone Goin' to San Antone" would pass muster with a twenty-something from New England.

Conway Twitty might, actually. His stuff was uneven but he was a rockabilly artist who became a pop-country artist. Glen Campbell might be another good choice from that era.

Buck Owens would be a Phase II kinda guy. He's too corny for starters, I think, but he had some terrific stuff.

Where's Conway? Where's Charlie Pride? You east coast dandies have a weird idea about what country music is. Charles Austin is spot on. He better be from the South or West.

So, am I the only Willie Nelson fanboy out there or what?

D'oh, no Willie's a given. Indeed, I was going to offer him up as an obvious alternative to Van Zandt and Dylan as a country-folk songwriter.

An easier rule of thumb to follow is simply not to listen to anything recorded after 1979.

Aside from a few Willie albums and some of the "comeback" work of Johnny Cash--country has remained stagnant for at least the past 20 years.

I'd throw in Johnny Cash, Buck Owens, Willie Nelson, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline and Glen Campbell.

I like Robert Earl Keene and Lyle Lovett a lot, but are you sure they're country? Was Elvis country? Or Neil Young?

It used to be called 'Country and Western', but I'm afraid there's not much Western music any more.

There was a brief resurgence in the early 1990s, with Garth Brooks incorporating several Western-themed songs into his early repertoire and, more importantly, launching Chris LeDoux into prominence. George Strait, himself a pretty fair roper, had some rodeo songs, too, notably "Amarillo by Morning."

It used to be called 'Country and Western', but I'm afraid there's not much Western music any more. In so far as there was a distinction between the two genres, Western music more about the Western outdoors -- I'm thinking of songs like Cool Water, Tumblin' Tumbleweeds by The Sons of the Pioneers.

Interestingly, I was watching a TV program on Hank Williams, and he once went to a reknowned black blues singer saying he wanted to learn to play and sing the blues. The old fellow disuaded him and told him the "country music was the blues for white folks." Judging from the songs Hank subsequently wrote, he took that to heart.

I'll agree with all of yor choces, and add Don Williams to the list, particularly if you like a gentler sound.

Hank Jr said in his autobiography, years ago, that there was a mix there, that couldn't be denied... and he cited, the Allman bros "ramblin' man" as a country tune. And certainly, there's a lot of country and blues in the roots of rock; It's illogical to thnk that doesn't flow both ways.

That's one reason the Countryworld went through such a shakeup in the middle 70's... they tried to deny that linkage and became, in my view, ar too plastic to be genuine. Frankly, Southern Rock did more for Country music in terms of shaking the place up, than it did for Rock.