Comments on: 100 Greatest Men: #68. Mark Chesnutt

By: Tom P

Tom P — Wed, 16 Jan 2013 15:08:13 +0000

I love your lists and love this site. We all have different opinionls of course. I have to agree with Paul Dennis on this one. I think Mark Chestnut is good but he should not be above the singer that Paul mentioned. A good singer but most of his songs with the exception of “Too Cold at Home” don’t really stand the test of time.

By: Sweetcheeks

Sweetcheeks — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 14:05:10 +0000

I’d say Travis Tritt and Mark Chesnutt belong somewhere together. At radio Chesnutt had a few more top 10 songs and a few more number 1 songs. However, Travis Tritt sold more albums and — I think — got more publicity. I’d have expected Tritt to be ahead of Chesnutt, but both with similar rankings. Both seemed to have success on radio for about 10 years and neither seems likely to be able to have a mainstream radio hit or record a gold selling album anymore. Of course, the list is of “greatest men” not most popular. But I’d say Tritt and Chesnutt are fairly close (though I’d say Tritt was “greater” than Chesnutt”).

By: Paul W Dennis

Paul W Dennis — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 11:14:02 +0000

I really liked Mark Chestnutt but I find it unfathomable that you could possibly rate him above the likes of Travis Tritt, Gene Watson, Ferlin Husky, Vern Gosdin, The Everly Brothers and Johnny Paycheck.

Mark should be sitting between 90-100

By: Motown Mike

Motown Mike — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 04:49:06 +0000

Plenty of Mark Chesnutt in my 90′s playlist on my MP3. A guy who made a pretty good career recording little to know pop fluff or filler.

Some of my favorites are Old Country, Your Love is a Miracle, I Just Wanted You to Know and of course, my personal favorite, Bubba Shot the Jukebox.

By: bob

bob — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 03:17:20 +0000

Somehow I missed him in the 90′s so I bought a Best of MC from 2001 to catch up. I have enjoyed his old music. I bought a few more recent songs on I-Tunes that I really like, “Things to Do In Wichita” and “When You Love Her Like Crazy”.

By: Sweetcheeks

Sweetcheeks — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 01:25:58 +0000

Michael A – “Vicki Vance Gotta Dance” was on Almost Goodbye. Part of the lyrics included these lines, “Oooh she can’t stand still/She’s dancing on the wall/Dancing on the windowsill.”

Also, in “Ive Finally Broken Mine” (from the Wings album), he sang, “I kept on throwing rocks/At the window of our future/An begging your forgiveness once again.”

Anyway, Chesnutt was a great singer and I wish he had more popular success. His star seemed to fade a bit starting in 1995.

I was really happy when “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” revived his career for a bit. Sadly, the album lacked another radio hit. It had a cajun-inspired tune, a western swing inspired tune, some forgettable honky-tonk songs, a ballad that was surely “too country” for radio in 1999. So the follow up was a kinda boring song called “This Heartache Never Sleeps,” which took over a minute to get to the hook and failed to make the top ten on radio. MCA only released 2 singles from “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing.” I guess it knew the title track was really the only hit worthy song. Its a shame. With a decent follow up single, Chesnutt might have gotten his career back on track.

Chesnutt’s been making some good records on the independent labels, but his voice was so suited for radio. I just wish had could have adapted to the trends at radio in the late 1990s and early 2000s to stay in the spotlight longer. I think he had one of the best voices of the 1990s.

By: Jonathan Pappalardo

Jonathan Pappalardo — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 01:12:29 +0000

“Old Flames Have New Names” would also be filler, I guess. I’ve never really liked that song

By: Michael A.

Michael A. — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 00:23:34 +0000

Well… he may have had some filler. I recall a song from an album (Almost Goodbye, I think) called “Vicki Vance Gotta Dance”. ;-)

By: Jonathan Pappalardo

Jonathan Pappalardo — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 23:06:00 +0000

I was listening to Willie’s Roadhouse the other day and Wade Jessen was interviewing, I believe Gene Watson (don’t quote me). I only heard it for a minute or two but they were talking about Mark Chestnutt and how “Too Cold At Home” sounded different than anything else at country radio at the time.

Gene (or whomever it was) was saying how he’d hear different versions of the song depending on the city – they’d change out “Dodgers” for each market’s baseball team. I love that song and love it more now than I did growing up. Straight up country music is indeed my favorite.

When “Thank God for Believers” came out in 1997, I never looked at it as anything special but I’ll have to go back and listen to it.

To his essential singles list I’d add – “Brother Jukebox,” “It Sure Is Monday,”
and “Gotta Get A Life.” He could do anything in his day from honky tonk ballads to shuffles without them seeming less then or like filler. He’s just that good a vocalist.

Good call mentioning “Bubba Shot The Jukebox.” That one’s underrated and deserves more attention.

By: Michael A.

Michael A. — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 22:11:07 +0000

Nice. One of my favorites. In my opinion, “I’ll Think of Something” is one of the Top Ten Singles of the 90s.