Top 5/Bottom 5: Country Bands & Duo's

[sabre14]

Seems like something we should've done a while ago. Same "Top 5/Bottom 5" format as an artist's discography, only rank your favorite (and least favorite) bands, groups and duo's.

TOP:
1. Carolina Rain (what could've been; it's a travesty they disbanded after Equity folded)
2. BlackHawk
3. Sugarland
4. Big & Rich
5. Eli Young Band
6. The Farm
7. Blue County
8. SHeDAISY
9. Rascal Flatts
10. Hanna-McEuen
11. Little Big Town
12. Ryan Shupe & the Rubberband
13. Halfway to Hazard
14. Brooks & Dunn
15. Autumn Hill
16. Whiskey Falls
17. Diamond Rio
18. Sawyer Brown
19. Zac Brown Band
20. Bomshel
21. Josh Abbott Band
22. Hot Apple Pie (like a couple on my list, they would be higher if they made more than one album)
23. Cross Canadian Ragweed
24. Alabama
25. Randy Rogers Band
26. Dixie Chicks
27. Joey + Rory

As you can tell, I have a soft spot for bands and duo's who never really broke out at mainstream radio.

Bottom:
1. Blackjack Billy (this group is terrible, imo, yuck)
2. The JaneDear Girls
3. Fast Ryde ("Make It Rain" was good but the other two singles were plenty enough for inclusion in my bottom...)
4. Florida Georgia Line (a couple good songs but their duds happen too often and the production on their tracks drive me nuts)
5. The Band Perry

I never really disliked any bands or group's music, up until the past 5-6 years.

[dm2081]

Top
1. Zac Brown Band
2. Florida Georgia Line
3. Brooks & Dunn
4. Alabama
5. Lady Antebellum

I don't really care to least my least favorites in this category lol

[someguy]

Top:

1. Dixie Chicks
2. The Judds
3. Sugarland
4. Farmer's Daughter
5. Brooks & Dunn
6. Zac Brown Band
7. Alabama
8. Diamond Rio
9. Sawyer Brown
10. Lady Antebellum
11. The Wilkinsons
12. SHeDAISY
13. Shenandoah
14. Blackhawk
15. The Mavericks
16. Little Big Town
17. Regina Regina
18. Maddie & Tae
19. Love And Theft
20. The Band Perry
21. Florida Georgia Line

[Deleted]

Ooh fun
Top
1. Lady Antebellum
2. Runaway June
3. Love and Theft
4. Maddie & Tae
5. The Wreckers
6. Big & Rich
7. Dixie Chicks (all 7 of these artists are among my all time favorite and Runaway June is just starting out)
8. Thompson Square
9. Rascal Flatts
10. Pistol Annies
Honorable Mention
Parmalee
The Civil Wars

Bottom
1. The JaneDear Girls (imo the worst "country" act I have ever heard)
2. The Band Perry
3. Dan + Shay (I have just never been that impressed)
4. Montgomery Gentry (more uneven than bad, but when these guys are bad it is awful imo)
5. Little Big Town (read 4)

[ky24941]

Top Groups:
1. SHeDAISY
2. Emerson Drive
3. Jolie & The Wanted
4. Dixie Chicks
5. Trick Pony
6. Family Brown
7. The Wilkinsons
8. The Rankin Family
9. Prairie Oyster
10. Larry Gatlin and The Gatlin Brothers
11. Girls Next Door
12. The Forester Sisters
13. Highway 101
14. Farmer's Daughter
15. The Oak Ridge Boys
16. The Desert Rose Band
17. The Last Bandoleros
18. BlackHawk
19. Diamond Rio
20. Alabama

Top Duos:
1. The Kinleys
2. Sweethearts of The Rodeo
3. Crystal Gayle & Gary Morris
4. The Judds
5. The Lynns
6. Brooks & Dunn
7. David Frizzell & Shelly West
8. The Bellamy Brothers
9. Foster & Lloyd
10. The Cactus Blossoms

Bottom:
1. Trailer Choir
2. Florida Georgia Line
3. A Thousand Horses
4. LoCash

[vann]

Top Group/Bands:
Lady Antebellum
Parmalee
Old Dominion
Radio Romance
Eli Young Band
A Thousand Horses
Rascal Flatts

Top Duos:
Thompson Square
Dan+Shay
Florida Georgia Line

[Dustin J.]

TOP (U.S. only)
1. BlackHawk
2. Restless Heart
3. Sixwire
4. Little Texas
5. Mockingbird Sun
6. Burnin' Daylight
7. Yankee Grey
8. 4 Runner
9. Rushlow (and Rushlow/Harris)
10. South Sixty-Five
11. Pinmonkey
12. Diamond Rio
13. One Flew South
14. Sons Of The Desert
15. Ricochet
16. Oak Ridge Boys
17. Gloriana
18. The Buffalo Club
19. Little Big Town
20. Frazer River
21. Whiskey Falls
22. Carolina Rain
23. Larry Gatlin & The Gatlin Brothers
24. Crossin' Dixon
25. The Statler Brothers
26. River Road
27. Love & Theft (trio)
28. Trick Pony
29. Regina Regina
30. Desert Rose Band
31. Lace
32. Palomino Road
33. 3 of Hearts
34. Hot Apple Pie
35. Calico Trail
36. SHeDaisy
37. Buffalo Rome
38. Southern Pacific
39. Emerson Drive
40. Halfway To Hazard
41. McBride & The Ride
42. Gibson-Miller Band
43. Zaca Creek
44. Smokin' Armadillos
45. Green River Ordinance
46. Blue Sky Riders
47. Loving Mary
48. Due West
49. Cole Deggs & The Lonesome
50. Exile
51. Brother Phelps
52. Shenandoah
53. Dave & Sugar
54. The Remingtons
55. Blue County

[Ten Pound Hammer]

In alphabetical order:

TOP GROUPS

4 Runner

Alabama

Diamond Rio

Hot Apple Pie

The Kentucky Headhunters

The Mavericks

McBride & the Ride

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

The Oak Ridge Boys

Pinmonkey

Pirates of the Mississippi

Restless Heart

SHeDAISY

Shenandoah

Sons of the Desert

Zac Brown Band

TOP DUOS

Big & Rich (their highs make up for their lows big time)

The Bellamy Brothers

Hanna-McEuen

Joey + Rory (don't always like their music, but their chemistry and dedication were impossible to ignore)

The Kinleys

The Warren Brothers

====

I honestly can't think of any duos or groups that I categorically dislike for reasons other than "never really felt like a duo/group". As I've said many times, I harp on Brooks & Dunn and Sugarland a lot because they seemed to have zero chemistry and all of their singles felt like solo releases, or Eli Young Band and Parmalee because their lead singers are boring as toast, and none of their songs seem to have any instrumental interplay or harmony to them. But at least most of them gave me other reasons to like them. I wouldn't even count Rascal Fats Flatts as bad because they've had a lot of excellent songs that I feel mostly make up for the Huff-era garbage.

[tim]

Top Favorites:
1. Alabama
2. The Judds
3. Confederate Railroad
4. Sawyer Brown
5. Pirates of the Mississippi
6. Blackhawk
7. Shenandoah
8. Dixie Chicks
9. Diamond Rio
10. Highway 101

Honorable Mentions:
Brooks & Dunn
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
Asleep at the Wheel
Josh Abbott Band
The Bellamy Brothers
The Mavericks
Brother Phelps
BR5-49
Ricochet
Restless Heart

Bottom:
1. Dan+Shay
2. Emerson Drive
3. Trick Pony
4. Florida Georgia Line
5. Lady Antebellum