Over the past three months, the Arkansas Times contacted hundreds of people who’ve made an impact on the musical landscape of Arkansas — critics, DJs, historians, musicians, record store owners, super fans — and asked them to contribute a list of their picks for the “greatest Arkansas music acts” and “greatest Arkansas albums.”
Having to quantify the rich, influential and enormously eclectic history of music in Arkansas, we quickly discovered, is no small task. How can one compare William Grant Still, the early African-American composer, to, say, Chino Horde, a massively influential, early-’90s punk band? Or the ultra-prolific, Harvard-lecturing rapper 607 to Bob Dorough, Miles Davis cohort and “Schoolhouse Rock!” composer?
A number shied away from our request. But nearly 100 took on the daunting task, and for that, we’re extremely grateful.
From their responses emerged a fascinating mix of consensus and far-reaching variety. The former we’ve spotlighted in lists and capsules devoted to acts, albums and local acts. We’ve also compiled all of the individual polls from our voters, many of whom included explanation for their picks.
And let us know what you think about the results. You can voice your opinion in our readers poll (arktimes.com/readersmusicpoll), which enters you into a drawing to win all six of Al Green’s ’70s albums. And find further conversations going on the Times entertainment blog, Rock Candy, on Twitter (@rockcandies) and on Facebook (facebook.com/rockcandies).
Top 10 Arkansas musical acts primarily known only locally
The complete list of nominated Arkansas musical acts
The complete list of nominated Arkansas albums
Every individual ballot (many with brief companion essays)
The methodology we used to calculate the poll.