5 All-Time Kings Of Country Music
Today (2/26) would have been Johnny Cash’s 93rd birthday. He died in 2003 at age 71, and the music world, not just country music, lost a hero.
Cash is even portrayed in the new Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, and of course, he played and worked with a young Elvis Presley in the 1950s before becoming a household name and representing everything about country music for decades.
As we celebrate Johnny Cash, it got me thinking about who would be the top five Kings Of Country Music. Compiling a list of five all-time Kings of Country Music is no easy task, especially getting to know many of country music’s biggest stars through interviews over the years. I have my favorites, and many of them are in the top five; some of my favorites did not make the top five but would definitely make the top ten or twenty. Let’s start with future Kings of Country Music.
Future Kings
In country music today, Luke Combs comes to mind when discussing a possible future King Of Country music, as does Chris Stapleton, Cody Johnson, and many more.
Blake Shelton
Blake is also a future King of Country Music as he brought country music to many American living rooms through his coaching of future country stars on NBC’s The Voice. Blake knows how to pick and write great country songs. He has won many awards, including Entertainer of the Year, and also honors those country stars before him and the Grand Ole Opry. If the list were 10, Blake would have made it for sure.
Keith Urban
I love Keith and his music, and I listen to him all the time. Keith’s shows are also epic, and he involves his audience more than anyone else. A two-time Entertainer of the Year winner, it was hard for me personally not to put him in the top five, but he would be in the top ten. And no one can play a guitar like Urban can. If the six-string instrument had an ambassador, it would be Keith.
RELATED: George Strait’s Own Version Of A Classic
5. Kenny Chesney
Kenny’s contribution to country music runs deep. He has won the CMA’s Entertainer of the Year award four times in his career in 2004, 2006, 2007, and 2008. Chesney won the same award from the ACM in 2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007.
Stadium Tours
His stadium tours have brought millions of fans together to listen to their favorite country star in stadiums all over the country. In the summer of 2024, his “Sun Goes Down” tour sold out stadiums all over the U.S., including three nights in Boston alone.
CMT
Kenny was the very first country artist to win a CMT Music Award for Video of the Year at the show’s debut in 2002 for his music video, “Young.” He has steadily charted country music songs and brought many to number one from the late 1990s to today.
Beach Country
The country superstar’s love of all things ocean and beach has brought country music to the seashores and islands, giving more people a chance to hear that unique country sound.
Song Master
Chesney once told us, “When I look for songs, I obviously feel like I’ve got to have a little bit of me in it, but that’s not always the case. I look for songs that pique someone’s interest. I look for songs that give somebody the courage to take a chance in their own life. I look for songs that give somebody the courage to fall in love or actually to get away from someone.”
Kenny is a song master and definitely a King of Country Music in his own right.
4. Johnny Cash
I’ve been thinking about this list for weeks and asked one or two friends and family members who they think would be the all-time King of Country Music. Without fail, all of them had Johnny Cash at the top of their list. Then I got to think, yeah, Cash is the one artist that anyone, whether a country music fan or not, thinks about and associates country music with. He has been the inspiration for many country stars today. And he’s inspired a lot of rock and rollers too: that makes sense. In his early days, he was labelmates with Elvis Presley, Carl Perkins, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Roy Orbison at Sun Records.
Other Artist’s Influence
Keith Urban told me once that he fell in love with country music after his father and he saw a Johnny Cash concert as a kid in his native Australia.
Dolly
Dolly Parton told me of the first time she saw Johnny Cash perform, “He was just magnetic, and I was a young girl and in the audience, and I was maybe thirteen, and that was my first experience of what sex appeal was and thinking grownup thoughts. I always kidded him that he was my first crush, my first grownup crush.”
His Legacy
As a journalist, I never interviewed Cash; he was before my time, but I did see him in person at a show taping one time. I also interviewed his siblings, Tommy Cash and Joanne Cash, for a radio special and heard many first-hand stories about the Man In Black. I also covered his funeral service in Nashville in 2003. At the funeral (north of Nashville in Hendersonville), everyone from Nashville and Hollywood was there, including actor Joaquin Phoenix, who played Cash in the 2005 movie I Walk The Line.
Hall Of Fame
Johnny Cash’s influence and music were like no other in country music, and there will never be another like him. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1980 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1992. You simply cannot count Kings of Country Music without the name Johnny Cash.
3. Tim McGraw
Tim is what many of his contemporaries call a “song master.” McGraw has a knack for picking the right songs to record at the right time. While he does write songs himself, he doesn’t often record his own songs, choosing instead to record the best songs whether or not he wrote them.
Number-One Songs
Since his career began in the early 1990s, he has been steady with his song selection and has scored number-one songs consistently in three decades. His career has lasted that long, and that is a tall order for anyone in country music to achieve.
McGraw also has a style that is like no one else. His career with his wife, Faith Hill, has also been a reason he is one of the Kings Of Country Music, as the couple is often referred to as “Country Music Royalty.”
Acting
Taking cues from Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson before him, Tim also dove into acting in Hollywood and became a great and convincing actor. One of his most recent roles was in the Paramount series 1883, where he played opposite his wife Faith and, in my opinion, gave an Emmy-worthy performance as James Dutton.
Awards
McGraw consistently tours and has won countless awards in country music, GRAMMYs, and beyond. There is no doubt in my mind that in a few years, he will get the honor of being invited into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
And let us not forget the name of Taylor Swift’s very first single on the radio… “Tim McGraw.”
2. Garth Brooks
Garth is a name associated with country music and always will be. His career started in 1989 in Nashville, and by the early 1990s, he was all anyone in any music circle was talking about. His live shows were like nothing country music had seen before, as his energy was boundless on stage and infectious. Other country singers had played arenas before, but Garth was the first country artist to really create an arena rock spectacle.
Setting Records
It was Brooks who started setting music records in all of music and sold more albums than almost anyone in music, getting to a point where his numbers surpassed Elvis Presley’s. According to the RIAA, Garth has sold over 157 million albums.
Entertainer Of The Year
Brooks brought so much to country music, winning the CMA’s Entertainer of the Year seven times and then taking his name out of the running himself in later years so other artists could win the career-defining award.
Gracious And Kind
I have been fortunate to have interviewed Garth many times in my career, and he has always been gracious and kind. He has a way of making everyone he talks to feel like the only person in the room. He often asks about yourself and even makes a point to recall moments you’ve told him about before. His personal touch with people has undoubtedly helped him become so loved in the industry.
He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2012.
1. George Strait
George actually is referred to as the King of Country Music, and he has earned it. Strait had scored over 60 number-one songs in his incredible career, which started when he began playing songs in the Army in the 1970s.
No-Brainer
He is a no-brainer for the all-time King of Country as many artists on this list followed him and cite him as “The King,” including Garth Brooks, who often talks about his country music hero.
My Interview With The King
George has always been a bit elusive, and to interview him is a big deal in Nashville. I have been fortunate enough to interview the “King” twice in my career, and he is as gentle and sweet as you can imagine. I found he was a lot like he is on stage, showing style and grace with a smile.
One of those interviews was in 2012, when he retired from touring, saying he would only do special events. He told me of his choice at the time, “I wanna quit doing it before they quit coming. I sort of had 60 being in the back of my mind as the magic number and thought it might be time for me to think about it. And so, after a lot of thought and sleepless nights, I just feel like I’m making the right decision.”
Made Good On His Promise
The King upheld his promise to do special events and concerts. He played in several big city stadiums with Chris Stapleton and Little Big Town in 2023, 2024, and new dates are set for 2025.
Honors
Strait has sold nearly 70 million albums and earned more than 60 major entertainment industry awards, including induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2006.
George is the all-time King Of Country Music in my book, and I think many of you would agree.
