Best Acoustic Guitar Players Of All Time?


Piggybacking on the unique guitar theme, I thought it might be fun to get your list of acoustic masters.

Here is my list:
1. Michael Hedges - This will more than likely be a controversial #1 choice, because I know Michael was heavily influenced by Leo Kottke, but I think Hedges took all his influences to a higher compositional level. He was a total freak on the acoustic guitar and paved the way for so many of the new fingerstyle players. He may not be the best of all time, but he gets my vote anyway.
2. Andres Segovia
3. Leo Kottke
4. Chet Atkins
5. Al DiMeola
6. John McLaughlin
7. Tommy Emmanuel
8. Duck Baker
9. Doyle Dykes
10. Don Ross
11. Antoine Dufour
12. Andy McKee
14. Preston Reed
15. Peppino D'Agostino
16. Pierre Bensusan
17. Billy McLaughlin
18. Tim Sparks
19. Mark O'Conner
20. Tony Rice

I'm sure there's many more I've missed, but I'll leave those gems up to you guys!
128x128dawgbyte
Hard to pick just one but if pressed
Hedges.
He really sounded like there were multiple guitars being played all at once
I was lucky enough to see M Hedges a few times in some intimate settings...He was a marvel to watch and listen to...Doc Watson was another to enjoy...and being in NC the Merl Fest is truly a treat for acoustic and flatpickers delight...
ok, i won't totally condemn the thread as there are some really good posts with useful information (I had never even heard of Michael Hedges, but thanks to this post, I did enjoy some of his works on Youtube and agree that he is a fine artist.) With that said, i would like to see these lists made more "genre specific".. Who is better, Andres Segovia or Rory Block? How about Doc Watson or Julian Bream? ... To list the best artists is great but to
rate them best to worst is silly. Besides, everyone knows that Roy Clark is the absolute best guitarist of all time!
Genre specific?

How about best acoustic guitar playing Hee Haw second banana?

Here's Jerry Reed with Chet:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni8KBhnebwE