Kane Brown recently provided a rather interesting “Mount Rushmore of Country Music.”
There’s nothing like sitting around with some fellow country fans and chatting about personal favorites and all time greats. Those are often two different conversations, but in a recent interview with Hard Rock Bet, Kane Brown meshed the two together when he was asked to name his all-time country music Mount Rushmore.
If you aren’t familiar with “Mount Rushmore” conversations, they’re obviously inspired by the national monument in South Dakota that features George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Theodore Roosevelt, and Abraham Lincoln carved into the side of Mount Rushmore. Since those four presidents are historically viewed as some of the most important in American history, having a Mount Rushmore conversation in another topic is basically asking… who are the greatest four people in (insert category here)?
There are a lot of names that come to mind if country music were the category. Granted, Kane Brown covered one of those big names that would likely be included. But the others that he went with varied from questionable to too-soon-to-tell. Here’s who the “Miles On It” singer went with:
“Definitely got to put George Strait up there. Oh man. It’s so hard because country music’s doing so well right now. I feel like you got to put Morgan (Wallen) up there, man. Morgan’s got to go. I’m going to put Shania Twain. This is so hard. See, I would put Ella (Langley) up there right now because she’s killing it, but it’s too early.”
At least Kane Brown caught himself and said Ella Langley might be a little “too early” to confirm. He went on to add himself in the conversation for “most influential” artists in country music right now…
That’s the thing about Mount Rushmore, right? It’s permanent. They aren’t out there in South Dakota cycling in and out presidents. Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln have been up there for a long time (since 1941), and they’ll be on Mount Rushmore long after we are all gone. Recency bias didn’t get in the way when those four presidents were chosen for the memorial… it sure seems like it affected Kane Brown’s list.
Like I mentioned earlier, George Strait is a fine pick, but even the “King of Country” might not make the cut when you consider the legends of the genre. And like the four presidents featured on Mount Rushmore, we’re looking for names that helped act as a foundation for what it’s known as today. So with that being said, you simply can’t leave out names like:
-Johnny Cash
-Dolly Parton
-Hank Williams
-Willie Nelson
-Merle Haggard
-Loretta Lynn
-Waylon Jennings
– George Jones
I know there are more than four names there, but you’d think that a country music Mount Rushmore would have to be some sort of combination of those 9 names (throw in George Strait if you’d like and make it nine options, maybe Reba for a nice top 10). And it’s also important to note… Kane Brown was asked what his Mount Rushmore of country music would be. As previously stated, everyone has their favorites, and the country-pop singer just so happens to like George Strait, Morgan Wallen, Shania Twain and Ella Langley…. I guess. Rather shocking to be honest… even for him.
If it’s a subjective list, that’s all fine and dandy. But if we’re looking at an objective country music Mount Rushmore… I don’t think that collection of names is holding up.
We actually asked our fans a few years back, and held it to a vote, and Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings and George Strait emerged victorious. More on that story HERE.
