Country Music Critics Poll
We asked 96 critics from all over North America, from big-city newspapers and small, from magazines both mainstream and alternative, to vote on the best country acts and records of 2004. With Loretta Lynn, Gretchen Wilson and Big & Rich all finishing at or near the top, the results just might say something about the future of country music.
How We Voted and Tallied Ballots
For this year's poll, the Scene asked critics who write about country music to rank their Top 10 albums and singles from last year, using a descending point scale of 15-14-13-etc.; critics were also asked to vote on their top three choices in eight artist categories using a 4-3-2 point scale. On unranked ballots, we assigned a set number of points to each entry: 10 for albums and singles, and 3 for artists. Point totals then were tallied to determine the results.
How did we define country music? The purpose of this poll was to reach a critical consensus not only about the year's best music and performers, but also about what constituted country music in 2004. To that end, we left matters of definition to the voters, most of whom viewed country music on a continuum that encompasses mainstream country, bluegrass and alt-country, while some made cases for rock and rap acts who exhibited sensibilities that might be construed as country.
We defined a single as any recording released commercially as a single or promoted as a stand-alone airplay track in 2004. We defined an album as any audio recording that contained at least 25 minutes of music; live albums, tribute albums, soundtracks and multi-artist compilations competed in the album category.
This Year's Voters
Grant Alden, Don Allred, Billy Altman, Brian T. Atkinson, David Baxter, Mike Berick, Jim Bessman, Peter Blackstock, Wayne Bledsoe, Bliss Bowen, Jim Caligiuri, David Cantwell, Jon Caramanica, Matt Cibula, Joshua Clover, John Conquest, Carol Cooper, Rick Cornell, Greg Crawford, Kandia Crazy Horse, Charles R. Cross, Erik Danton, John T. Davis, Dan DeLuca, Kerry Dexter, Kerry Doole, Danielle Dreilinger, Dan Durchholz, Chuck Eddy, Dan Ferguson, Tim Finn, Chet Flippo, Bill Friskics-Warren, Holly George-Warren, Jon Gilbertson, Marc Greilsamer, Frank John Hadley, Erik Hage, Russell Hall, Jim Harrington, Stacy Harris, Shane Harrison, Will Hermes, Dylan Hicks, Geoffrey Himes, Lorie Hollabaugh, Silas House, Edd S. Hurt, Josh Jackson, Mark Kemp, Frank Kogan, Nick Krewen, Steve LaBate, Andria Lisle, John Nova Lomax, Malcolm Mayhew, Barry Mazor, Michael McCall, Don McLeese, Kendra Meinert, Fred Mills, Rick Mitchell, Stuart Munro, Kyle Munson, Jim Musser, Chris Neal, Wendy Newcomer, Bob Paxman, Rick Petreycik, Amanda Petrusich, Bobby Reed, David Royko, Lloyd Sachs, David Scarlett, Craig Seymour, Craig Shelburne, Hazel Smith, W.M. Smith, Anders Smith-Lindall, David Sokol, Jeff Spevak, Michael Streissguth, Bruce Sylvester, Bob Townsend, Shannon Wayne Turner, Ron Warnick, Jon Weisberger, Andy Whitman, Ellis Widener, Tom Wilk, Chris Willman, L. Kent Wolgamott, Mikael Wood, Ron Wynn, Gregory Yost, Lee Zimmerman
Our Voters Wrote for the Following Publications in 2004
Acoustic Guitar, All Music Guide, Amazon.com, Amplifier, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Atlanta Journal Constitution, Baltimore City Paper, Billboard Magazine, Bluegrass Now, Bluegrass Unlimited, Boston Globe, Charlotte Observer, Chicago Sun-Times, Chicago Tribune, City Pages, Close Up, CMA, CMT Magazine, CMT.com, Country Standard Time, Country Weekly, Creative Loafing, Detroit Free Press, Dirty Linen, Entertainment Weekly, Other, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Goldmine, Grammy.com, Green Bay Press-Gazette, Gritz, Harp, Hartford Courant, Houston Press, Iowa City Press-Citizen, Journal of Country Music, Kansas City Star, Knoxville News Sentinel, Los Angeles Times, Miami New Times, Nashville City Paper, Nashville Scene, New Orleans Gambit, Newsday, New York Times, No Depression, Oakland Tribune, Pasadena Weekly, Paste, Performing Songwriter, Philadelphia Inquirer, Pitchforkmedia.com, Pop Culture Press, Red Flag Media, Relix, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, Rock & Rap Confidential, Rockrgrl, Rolling Stone, Seattle Weekly, SonicNet, Spin, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Tennessee Tribune, Texas Music, The Des Moines Register, Third Coast Music, Tracks, Trouserpress.com, VH1.com, Village Voice, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post
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