You could reasonably argue that RS doesn’t focus on country music performers. Fair enough but then why did Willie Nelson make it at #77 and Chet Atkins at #21?
I’ve heard arguments that he is too much of a clown and all-round entertainer to be taken seriously as a guitarist. This makes no sense to me.
I’ve heard him called a ‘one-trick-pony’ with his signature piece of Malaguena. Once you move beyond that one piece, these’s not much depth to him. I don’t know, could be?
I’m not trying to defend a position here. I want to understand how modern guitarists see his body of work. Is he a respected legend or merely a once competent musician now well past his relevance? To my ignorant senses, he has never failed to impress me but that doesn’t me I know enough to intelligently spot greatness.
I think most grown up guitarist have a decent respect for Roy’s playing and career.
I doubt the kids know, but thats ok, it can be learned later.
The general public on the other hand, has NO IDEA AT ALL what talent is. To them the best is either the loudest, the fastest, or the one with the most money.:rolleyes:
I may be biased…I learned to play, starting with The Roy Clark Big Note Songbook.
That list missed Charo, too. She’s another one who isn’t in the mainstream of pop/rock/blues, but is a hell of a guitar virtuoso. She’s a protege of Segovia.
Oh, and yes, Roy is a great guitarist. Never mind that RS list… it’s made to piss people off before settling on the typical top 10 one would expect from RS… but note this complaint is coming from one who has been tired of being told that Hendrix is the undisputed guitar champ for pretty much my entire life.
That is an inaccurate headline for that piece. It looks like it was supposed to be “rock - Blues guitarists.” I’m pretty sure their editorial position isn’t that electric guitarists comprise the whole top 100 players to ever play or record.
To me Hendrix is not better than Roy. I’d like to see hendrix attempt some of Roys stuff.
For acoustic there’s Leo Kottke, Bert Jansch, John Fahey. A lot of the middling electric guitarists, who were songwriters too, of the 60s were great acoustic players, like CSN and Y. These people are no “less” great guitarists.
I think Roy was unappreciated because of being country and “pickin’ and grinnin’” on Hee-Haw.
Alice Cooper on Glen Campbell. I didn’t know Alice and Glen were close and golfing buddies and all, but Alice said that Campbell was known in the industry as one of the best guitarists around. When he said that Van Halen approached Cooper and asked if he could set him up with guitar lessons from Campbell it really blew me away.
The first issue of Guitar Player Magazine I bought as a teenager in the '70s featured a profile of another guitarist whose name you’d never find on a Rolling Stone list - jazz great Howard Roberts. Howard furnished a quote that went something like this:
“People ask me all the time whether I think Roy Clark is a good guitar player - I don’t know why, I guess because they don’t like him. Let me say for the record that I think Roy Clark is a terrific guitar player.”
Those lists of 100 Greatest Kazoo Wizards and Rodeo Clowns aren’t worth the electrons it takes to display them on your screen.
I tend to agree with that assessment. The most charitable way to look at them is that they can provoke useful argument among people who are passionate about the subject. Most are just clickbait produced by know-nothings and trolls for idiots.
It did manage to spur my questions regarding how is Roy Clark regarded today and I do thank all those who have responded to that inquiry.
