 | | From the close-harmony brother acts of the '30s evolved Charlie and Ira Louvin, ranking among the top duos in country music history. |
 | | Hank Locklin (born Lawrence Hankins Locklin), one of country music's great tenors, was born February 15, 1918, in the small town of McLellan, located in the lumbering district of the Florida Panhandle. |
 | | The incomparable Ernest Tubb ("E.T." to all who knew him) became a legend as much for what he was personally as for the half-century career that stretched from his first radio date in 1932 to his death in 1984. |
 | | Bill Monroe is the father of bluegrass. He invented the style, invented the name, and for the great majority of the 20th century, embodied the art form. |
 | | Roy Acuff was called the King of Country Music, and for more than 60 years he lived up to that title. |
 | | Known as Mr. Country, Carl Smith was one of the most popular honky tonkers of the '50s, racking up over 30 Top Ten hits over the course of the decade. |
 | | Canada's greatest contribution to country music, Hank Snow was famous for his "traveling" songs. It's no wonder. |
 | | Del Reeves enjoyed a run of success on the country charts during the latter half of the '60s, often penning his own material as well. |
 | | Born in Knoxville, TN, on June 2, 1924, Carl Butler blended the popular honky tonk style prevalent in the '50s with the mountain harmony of his Tennessee upbringing. |
 | | Originally known as "the Hillbilly Heartthrob" and "the Singing Sheriff," Faron Young had one of the longest-running and most popular careers in country music history. |
 | | Webb Pierce was one of the most popular honky tonk vocalists of the '50s, racking up more number one hits than similar artists like Hank Williams, Eddy Arnold, Lefty Frizzell, and Ernest Tubb. |
 | | Hank Thompson was perhaps the most popular Western swing musician of the '50s and '60s, keeping the style alive with a top-notch band, tremendous showmanship, and a versatility that allowed him to expand his repertoire into romantic ballads and hardcore honky tonk numbers. |
 | | Stonewall Jackson was one of the most popular country stars of the early '60s, scoring a string of Top Ten country hits and becoming a fixture at the Grand Ole Opry with a pleading voice that seemed to reflect his hard, often abusive upbringing on a south Georgia dirt farm. |
 | | Lefty Frizzell was the definitive honky tonk singer, the vocalist that set the style for generations of vocalists that followed him. |
 | | Singer/songwriter and actor Claude King is best remembered for his one big hit, "Wolverton Mountain," the tale of one Clifton Clowers who is "mighty handy with a gun and a knife" and keeps his daughter sequestered in their mountain home away from potential suitors. |
 | | A native of west Texas who was active on The Grand Ole Opry, Billy Walker emerged from the talent-rich Dallas scene of the late '40s and early '50s. |
 | | Bob Luman started out as a rockabilly performer, switched to country, and then in the late '50s nearly ditched the music industry altogether; were it not for the interference of the Everly Brothers, Nashville would have lost a popular and talented performer to major-league baseball. |
 | | One of the few country stars born in Nashville, Kitty Wells (born Muriel Deason) had a string of hits from the '50s to the early '70s that earned her the title Queen of Country Music. |
 | | Sonny James, the Southern Gentleman, used the popular Nashville sound of the '60s to countrify pop hits of the past into a form accessible to many, broadening country music's appeal across the nation. |
 | | Probably the most famous bluegrass band of all time was Flatt & Scruggs and the Foggy Mountain Boys. |
 | | One of the most successful songwriters in country music history, Bill Anderson was also a hugely popular singer in his own right, earning the nickname "Whispering Bill" for his gentle, airy vocal style and occasional spoken narrations. |
 | | Porter Wagoner, the Thin Man from the West Plains, is a case of an artist often ahead of his time who has always appeared hopelessly behind the times. |
 | | Jim Ed Brown came to fame as a member of the '50s vocal group the Browns, where he was the band's lead male vocalist. |
 | | One of country's most historically minded new traditionalists, Marty Stuart was also one of the most eclectic, moving between honky tonk, rockabilly, country-rock, traditional country, and bluegrass. |
 | | Gentleman Jim Reeves was perhaps the biggest male star to emerge from the Nashville sound. His mellow baritone voice and muted velvet orchestration combined to create a sound that echoed around his world and has lasted to this day. |
 | | Ferlin Husky had three separate careers. Out of the three, the best known is his country-pop career, which brought him to the top of the charts in the late '50s, but he was also known as a honky tonk singer called Terry Preston and a country comic named Simon Crum. |
 | | Eddy Arnold moved hillbilly music to the city, creating a sleek sound that relied on his smooth voice and occasionally lush orchestrations. |
 | | Proclaimed the International Ambassador of Country Music thanks to his performances around the world during the 1970s, George Hamilton IV began his career in the late '50s not as a country artist but as a teen-oriented pop star. |
 | | Singer/songwriter Don Gibson was one of the most popular and influential forces in '50s and '60s country, scoring numerous hit singles as a performer and a songwriter. |
 | | Ray Price has covered -- and kicked up -- as much musical turf as any country singer of the postwar era. |
 | | Although he is better-remembered for his historical songs, Johnny Horton was one of the best and most popular honky tonk singers of the late '50s. |
 | | Though other performers sold more records and earned greater fame, few had as profound an impact on contemporary music as Emmylou Harris. |
 | | Best known for her international crossover hit "Harper Valley P.T.A.," Jeannie C. Riley was born Jeanne Carolyn Stephenson in Anson, TX, where she developed a love of country music as a girl. |
 | | Bobbie Gentry remains one of the most interesting and underappreciated artists to emerge out of Nashville during the late '60s. |
 | | One of the rare father-daughter duos in country music history, the Kendalls were also the most successful, racking up a series of hits during the late '70s and early '80s. |
 | | Henson Cargill had tried his hand at being a lawyer, rancher, and deputy sheriff before settling on country music as a career after returning to Oklahoma from Colorado State University. |
 | | The average man on the street would most likely recognize Jimmy Dean from the line of smoked sausage that bears his name, but prior to entering the pork products business, Dean was a successful television personality and a country hitmaker noted for his half-spoken narrative songs. |
 | | As country music swung back toward traditional styles in the 1980s, an inheritor of the soulful honky tonk style of Lefty Frizzell and Merle Haggard rose to the top of the business and notched hit after barroom hit. |
 | | When Rodney Crowell first gained widespread recognition as a leader of the new traditionalist movement of the mid-'80s, he was, in fact, a singer, songwriter, and producer with roots and ambitions extending far beyond the movement's parameters. |
 | | Best known for her chart-topping smash "Satin Sheets," Jeanne Pruett was a country-pop singer and songwriter who enjoyed a measure of success in the '70s and early '80s. |
 | | Hank Williams is the father of contemporary country music. He was a superstar by the age of 25; he was dead at the age of 29. |
 | | Billie Jo Spears landed a few big country hits during the '70s, thanks to a sultry, bluesy voice that made her a perfect torch balladeer; while she never quite edged her way into stardom in the U. |
 | | Buck Owens, along with Merle Haggard, was the leader of the Bakersfield sound, a twangy, electricified, rock-influenced interpretation of hardcore honky tonk that emerged in the '60s. |
 | | Bobby Bare's story is nearly as fascinating as his music. Bare's mother died when he was five. His father couldn't earn enough money to feed his children, forcing the family to split up. |
 | | Singer/songwriter Leroy Van Dyke was best known for penning the country novelty standard "The Auctioneer" and the country-pop smash "Walk on By," his biggest hit. |
 | | No artist in the history of country music has had a more stylistically diverse career than Marty Robbins. |
 | | Born Edward Garvin Futch, it's no wonder that his name was changed by a record executive to Eddy Raven on his very first single, released on tiny Cosmos Records in the late '60s. |
 | | By the time he was in his mid-thirties, Kentuckian Ricky Skaggs had already produced a career's worth of music. |
 | | After an aborted career as a '50s teen idol, Billy "Crash" Craddock returned to his first love, country music, and earned the nickname "Mr. |
 | | In the early '70s, Donna Fargo was an unusual country star for a couple of reasons. She was one of the few female country singers to write her own material, and one of the few country singers of any sort to cross over to the pop charts in a big way, which she did in 1972 with "The Happiest Girl in the Whole U. |
![Charlie Louvin [2007] Album Cover](http://images.slacker.com/isv1/album/v1/818559/aol/1/center/5,0/70.jpg "Charlie Louvin [2007] Album Cover")
![Echoes of the Louvin Brothers [Bonus Tracks] Album Cover](http://images.slacker.com/isv1/album/v1/346011/aol/1/center/5,0/70.jpg "Echoes of the Louvin Brothers [Bonus Tracks] Album Cover")
![Charlie Louvin [1980] Album Cover](http://images.slacker.com/isv1/album/v1/346023/aol/1/center/5,0/70.jpg "Charlie Louvin [1980] Album Cover")
![Lonesome Is Me [Hilltop] Album Cover](http://images.slacker.com/isv1/album/v1/346021/aol/1/center/5,0/70.jpg "Lonesome Is Me [Hilltop] Album Cover")
