I am and have always been a fan of the Dixie Echoes. However, I thought the Dixie Echoes went from a real show stopping group in the early 1970s to a very mediocre quartet by the end of the decade. Dale Shelnut was the glue that held the group together, but by the end of the decade he was piecing together a rag-tag group of kids that just weren’t very good. Even the great showman Shelnut needed a bit more of a supporting cast.

Dale was a master of humor. As I once heard Dale describe the mid-70s Dixie Echoes from the stage like this:

“I bought the quartet and one day I went out to get on the bus and there I was . . . just me and the bus. I looked at the bus and said, “BUS, can you sing??”"

Downings
Hinsons (The mid ’70s especially)
Oak Ridge Boys
Kingsmen
Stamps Quartet
Happy Goodmans
Rambos
Dixie Echoes
Rex Nelon Singers
Speers

You know, I still enjoy the CWG recordings I have from the ’70s – and I have 15 released in that decade! – but I can see where they might not have mass appeal.

I’ll buy the Chuckys of today or even the Chuckys of the 1960s, but the Chuckys of the 1970s were just a shell of their greatness.

Have you really listened to those 70s recordings of the CWG? I have recently played all of those 70s recordings by the Gang and they don’t amount to much. They were no longer a touring group and went into the studio once a year to “mail in” their Columbia contract.

I could never in good conscience list them above groups like the Speer Family or even Higher Ground (a trio with harmonies many years before their time).

By the way, I have all the projects from that era by the CWG as well as the Speers and every other group you list other than the Rambos.

I would list the top ten groups (in no certain order) of that era like this:

Imperials (multiple Dove award winners)
Oak Ridge Boys (more Doves)
Speer Family (even more Doves)
Statesmen (my favorite group, but this was not their era)
Stamps (until Elvis died)
Happy Goodmans (and it hurts to admit this)
Downings
Blackwood Brothers (but they were on the slippery slope after 1976)
Cathedrals (not as good as the 60s, but better than the 80s)

You suggest some great groups. Problem is, under the rules I set, I had to keep my list down to 10. So…go for it, make a better list, and post it here in the comments! Then you can decide who to drop.

The problem is not too few but too many good groups to keep it down to just 10. After all, who should I drop? Dixie Echoes in the days when Dale Shelnut ruled the live stage? Florida Boys in their peak Gospel Singing Jubilee years? Chuck Wagon Gang, with a sound so like that of today that if you like them now you’re guaranteed to like them then? (That’s the idea, too, recordings that hold up well today, as opposed to the best of the decade then.)

So go for it—blow us all away!