Rolling Stone picks 200 top singers: How many from Alabama made it?

Rolling Stone has tossed off a list of “The 200 Greatest Singers of All Time,” and not everybody is happy about it: This is not a good time to talk to your Celine Dion-loving friend. But how many Alabama singers made the cut?

A few, as partisans will be pleased to note. But maybe more of them should have.

Among Alabama natives, the highest on the list is Hank Williams Sr., at No. 30.

Williams was born and raised in Butler County, receiving formative exposure to music from Rufus “Tee-Tot” Payne in Georgiana.

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Next among natives is soul singer Wilson Pickett, who’s from Prattville, at No. 76, then country/Americana songstress Emmylou Harris, born in Birmingham, at No. 79, then folk singer Odetta, also from Birmingham, at 171. On their way to very disparate careers, each of the three left Alabama early. Pickett came of age in Detroit, Harris grew up in North Carolina and Virginia, and Odetta was in grade school when her mother moved her to Los Angeles. But roots count for something.

Can we have it both ways? Of course we can. The list includes a few notables who might not have been Alabama natives, but who spent time living in the state or otherwise had significant connections. Tammy Wynette is in at No. 127, George Jones is at No. 24, and Little Richard, who’s buried at Oakwood University Memorial Gardens Cemetery in Huntsville, is at No. 11.

Rolling Stone says that “Before you start scrolling (and commenting), keep in mind that this is the Greatest Singers list, not the Greatest Voices List. Talent is impressive; genius is transcendent”

It clarifies: “In all cases, what mattered most to us was originality, influence, the depth of an artist’s catalog, and the breadth of their musical legacy. A voice can be gorgeous like Mariah Carey’s, rugged like Toots Hibbert’s, understated like Willie Nelson’s, slippery and sumptuous like D’Angelo’s, or bracing like Bob Dylan’s. But in the end, the singers behind it are here for one reason: They can remake the world just by opening their mouths.”

That just makes it sting a little more for fans of artists who arguably got snubbed. Celine Dion is a high-profile example, and BuzzFeed News notes a few others: Andrea Bocelli, Cher, Janet Jackson, Madonna – and Montgomery native Nat King Cole. (Cole is a Montgomery native who left the state in childhood, and the connection isn’t all positive, given the fact that he later endured a racially motivated assault on stage in Birmingham. But he’s rightly been honored with inclusion in the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.)

Lionel Richie, Percy Sledge, Dinah Washington and Big Mama Thornton, just to name four other natives, would seem like strong candidates for consideration.

The entire list can be found at rollingstone.com. While it includes many singer-songwriters who’ve graced the magazine’s cover multiple times over the decades, it’s an eclectic roster that draws from outside Anglo-American pop.

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